Chapter 703 — The Supreme Sage

The Woodcutter Sage laughed. "You need not agonize over it. He was never as clever as we are to begin with. He has a Tyrant Body—born with excellent natural endowments—yet he remains at the Heaven-Man realm even now. Clearly it is a slow brain that has held back his cultivation. Come, let us go pay our respects to Empress Tianyin in the Tianyin Realm."

Shen Mu said in a low voice, "Master's cultivation realm is the lowest among the Four Great Heavenly Masters—clearly that too is because of a slow brain."

The Woodcutter Sage took out his axe and a whetstone, and began grinding the axe against the stone, sparks flying everywhere. Shen Mu said no more, and hurriedly led them toward the Tianyin Realm.

The Dragon Qilin did not dare enter the Tianyin Realm, so Shen Mu had no choice but to let him follow He Yiyi to build roads.

The group looked around. Darkness flowed everywhere, black sand drowning all things. Only a single tall pagoda suppressed the monsters within the darkness, forcing them to the edges of the Tianyin Realm.

"So this is the soul black sand and the corpse-ghosts?"

Everyone craned their necks. Yan Jingjing too was here for the first time, and was very curious.

Xu Shenghua's cultivation realm was the lowest, the same Heaven-Man realm as Shen Mu. He tried to touch the darkness, and the Woodcutter Sage shook his head. "Beware the corpse-ghosts. Those things are extremely fast."

Xu Shenghua laughed. "The corpse-ghosts are suppressed by that pagoda. They cannot get through. I would rather like to catch one and study it closely."

"Wait a moment!"

Shen Mu vanished into the darkness. After a moment, he reappeared, carrying a corpse-ghost.

Xu Shenghua was just about to examine it closely when the Woodcutter Sage said, "Let us first pay our respects to the Empress. We must not neglect propriety."

The group arrived at the seaside. From afar, they could see Empress Tianyin seated there. They gazed up at her, and their hearts were deeply shaken.

"Such a powerful ancient god—and the Dark Emperor of the Nether Capital was actually able to kill her. How terrifying must the Dark Emperor's power be?"

Shen Mu led them forward. Empress Tianyin looked them over curiously and said, "Great Mage, are these the ones you said surpass you in wisdom and talent?"

"Empress, this is my master, the Woodcutter Sage, a pillar of the reforms during the Kaihuang Era. This is Imperial Preceptor Jingping, a pillar of the reforms in the present age. And this is Yama of Fengdu, who split his territory from the Nether Capital and entrenched himself in the Wilderness Ruins, with extremely high attainments in the arts of the soul. This is the Primordial Ancestor Human Emperor, who created the Heaven-Earth Heart-Sage Formula on his own, with a cultivation level reaching directly to Lingxiao—though that was twenty thousand years ago, when he was merely a prince in pursuit of learning. Although he has languished for these twenty thousand years, his natural gifts and comprehension are beyond question. And this is Xu Shenghua, a False Tyrant Body, and the man who accomplished the feat of merging the two great divine treasures, the Seven Stars and the Six Harmonies."

Shen Mu introduced them one by one, and said, "I am constantly astonished by their wisdom and talent, and filled with admiration for their learning. Their wisdom is in no way inferior to that of the Yin Son of Heaven. Perhaps they can help the Empress resolve the lingering threat of the Tianyin Realm once and for all."

Everyone saluted and said, "We greet the Empress."

Empress Tianyin raised her hand. "There is no need for such formalities. The Great Mage has already devised two ideas for me, but both are merely stopgap measures—they cannot resolve the fundamental problem of the Tianyin Realm. Since you are all people of surpassing wisdom, can you guess which two ideas the Great Mage conceived?"

She did not believe these few could surpass Shen Mu in wisdom either, and so she was moved by a desire to test them.

Imperial Preceptor Jingping pondered and said, "Could it be to hang a sun in the Tianyin Realm?"

Empress Tianyin's eyes lit up.

Xu Shenghua looked up at the sky and mused, "Perhaps to bore a hole through the feet of the Heavenly Lord and steal the power of the Heavenly Lord."

The Primordial Ancestor Human Emperor reflected and said, "I think it should be to block the rift where the Tianyin Realm connects to the Wilderness Ruins with a divine stone statue, so that the darkness cannot pour into the Wilderness Ruins."

Yama of Fengdu shook his head. "That will not work either. The Tianyin Realm will still fall into chaos. Lord Shen's idea must be to release the other self suppressed within his brow—to let the one whose nostrils grow atop his head devour the starving ghosts and the darkness here. Lord Earthshaker should be unable to come here, so we cannot call upon Lord Earthshaker—only that villain can be summoned."

Empress Tianyin was both startled and delighted. These four had devised two more ideas than Shen Mu—truly, their wisdom surpassed the ordinary!

She hurriedly looked at the Woodcutter Sage and said courteously, "Why does this fellow Daoist not speak of your solution?"

The Woodcutter Sage mused, "I am thinking—since the Empress was ambushed by the Dark Emperor of the Nether Capital and devoured by the corpse-ghosts, then after death the Empress should also have become a corpse-ghost, should she not? Since the Empress has been able to return from death to life, it is clear that the corpse-ghost affliction has already been resolved. Why then think of other solutions?"

Empress Tianyin was deeply shaken. She blurted out, "So it is you who are the cleverest person in the world!"

"I am not."

The Woodcutter Sage's expression was grave. "The one who resurrected the Empress—I fear his wisdom surpasses my own. May I ask the Empress: who is he?"

Empress Tianyin looked toward Shen Mu. Shen Mu smiled and said nothing, but could not conceal his complacency.

The Woodcutter glanced at him and said indifferently, "He clearly already has the means to solve the problem, yet does not know it himself. Clearly, he is not a clever man."

Shen Mu's face turned black as iron.