Chapter 665 — A Myriad Hearts as One

The Divine Son Chiming looked at the divine-power wielder of the Void Realm who had landed before him. His gaze rose slowly to Shen Mu's face, then passed beyond Shen Mu and reached into the distance, where he saw the plaza pocked everywhere with great pits, and in each pit was planted a divine-power wielder of the Void Realm. There were many who had not been planted in the pits, but most of them had been gravely wounded by Shen Mu — a few broken bones, or a snapped arm or leg.

Some had suffered no grave injury at all; they had merely been transformed by the art of Creation into sheep, and were now blundering about the plaza, bleating without rhyme or reason. If this had been a battlefield, the younger generation of the Void Realm would already have been slaughtered to the last man.

A civilization that had endured for ages would have been struck through in a single blow, leaving a gap in its line! The Divine Son Chiming rose, walked past Shen Mu, and came to the edge of the steps.

He paid Shen Mu no heed at all, but looked down below. "The Chiming Divine Dynasty has passed through two reigns.

Emperor Chi rose from the wilds, building his empire from nothing; Emperor Ming received his mandate amid chaos and peril, and saved the dynasty from ruin.

The people of my Chiming age strove with the ardor of a hundred generations, fighting valiantly, and opened up a radiant age! " His voice did not sound loud, yet it was deep and solid, piercing into every ear: "Yet ever since we hid ourselves away in this Void Realm, everything has changed. The people who took refuge here have day by day forgotten the foreign enemy who destroyed our homes, our nation, our kin; day by day forgotten the valiant, striving spirit of the two Chiming Emperors; forgotten that they were once gods of war; forgotten that their race is the race of the God of War!

To hide away in a little tower and make yourself a whole kingdom, and let winter, summer, spring, and autumn do as they please — wrong! You hid, and so you deserved this defeat! You deserved this humiliation! " His voice grew louder and louder. Below, on the plaza, the crowd was overcome with shame, not daring to raise their heads to look at him; even the gods of the Chiming age, Chixi among them, bowed their heads in shame. "It is precisely through this outsider's hand that I mean to humiliate you, to humble you, to beat you awake!

" There was anger in the Divine Son Chiming's voice: "It is through his hand that I mean to warn you, to tell you that you have forgotten your tradition, forgotten your hatred, forgotten the spirit of the Chiming age! Without that essence, spirit, and vitality, the Chiming age is truly dead!

Not dead at the hands of the Heavenly Court, not dead at the hands of the gods and demons who died fighting for you, but dead at your hands — the hands of you survivors!

" His voice slowed again, and in its solid depth there was a note of sorrow: "Do you know why I dare call myself only Divine Son? Do you know why I insisted on sending men out of the Void Realm to seek news of the outside? Do you know why, three thousand years ago, I insisted on reaching out to Kaihuang, even at the price of acknowledging him as sovereign? It is because I cannot bear. .

. " "Cannot bear to see you sink further into decay, cannot bear to see the Chiming age utterly destroyed in your hands, cannot bear to see you become sinners. . .

" "I want to bring you back into the true world. I want you to revive the essence, spirit, and vitality of the Chiming age, to recover your fighting spirit, to rally your banners once more — not to watch you sink day by day.

" He paced slowly before the steps: "I dare not claim the title of emperor; I dare call myself only Divine Son, only Your Highness — not because I am inferior to the emperor of some small state like Jingping, but because my subjects are unworthy of it! You are unworthy, and so am I!

" "Is Jingping's envoy strong? Yes, strong! He can fight six of you at once!

But think — has he fought that way all along? From first to last, out of your ten thousand, only six could ever land a blow on him? " His voice stopped, giving them time to ponder.

Below, the defeated divine-power wielders of the Void Realm wore bewildered looks, and then someone said in a low voice: "It is true.

After he charged into the crowd, only six could land a blow on him. " More and more nodded, whispering among themselves.

Just now Shen Mu had defeated them, and with them had shattered their faith and confidence; the pride of an age had been beaten into nothing by Shen Mu, and a mindset had taken root in them that Shen Mu could not be defeated. And now, little by little, a thread of hope was rising in them. Shen Mu could only defeat six at once — he was not absolutely invincible!

The Divine Son Chiming's voice rose again, coldly: "Yet in the days of the Chiming Divine Dynasty, one warrior of the Chiming age could fight six foes of the Heavenly Court!

One against six — that is why we won such unmatched renown, that is why we were called gods of war!

And now you have been broken by a newly risen state. Where have you put your ancestors? Where have you put the name of the God of War? Would you hand it over with both hands? You make me feel ashamed — but you can turn shame into courage! " "In the battle just now, you were a heap of loose sand, trampling one another, crowding, chaotic, without order.

Fewer than six of you could land a blow on him at once. You were not defeated by Jingping's envoy — you were defeated by your own hands, by the hands of your own people! Shame! A monstrous humiliation!

" He cried out in a loud voice: "The shame of Chiming — what is to be done about it?

" He paused, then shouted sternly: "Fight it back! Only then can the shame be wiped away, only then can you hold your heads high! Today Jingping's envoy defeated you; in the future you will defeat him.

In the past the Heavenly Court defeated my Chiming; then in the future, we will break the Heavenly Court! " Below, countless divine-power wielders of the Void Realm had their hot blood stirred by his words. Many, enduring their agony, cried out — a babel of voices, very chaotic — but gradually all their voices merged into one, becoming a soul-stirring torrent, shouts that shook heaven and earth, deafening! The torrent formed by the overlapping cries of those tens of thousands was so stirring, so rousing, that Shen Mu and Ling Yuxiu both changed countenance.

Shen Mu turned and looked down. He saw the divine-power wielders of the Void Realm, their momentum linked as one, like a prairie fire, like the earth meeting spring, like a spreading flood.

"Many wills make a fortress — this is the spirit of many wills making a fortress, the spirit of the Chiming age, revived. .

. " Shen Mu murmured.

The voice of the First Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, came from behind him: "This is what a good leader can do. Emperor Yanfeng is such a man; the Divine Son is such a man. Neither the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping nor you are such men — you cannot speak words that stir the heart like that. Only such a leader can bind people's hearts together.

" Shen Mu nodded: "A true leader can turn bad things into good, can twist hearts into a single rope. I cannot do that yet.

" Ling Yuxiu said in a low voice: "With a few words, this Divine Son has turned your defeat of ten thousand into a defeat of six, and then said that even six could not bring their full strength to bear, pressing your strength down another notch. He is a deep schemer. " Shen Mu laughed: "What he said is not wrong, though.