Chapter 792 — The Nine Ancient Emperors

Shen Mu pressed the teleportation rune and looked deep into the Sea of Blood. There an abyss split the blood sea apart, and a woman dressed in emerald green rose slowly from the waters, the sea closing again behind her. She wore a green dress embroidered with leaves of every kind; her hair was coiled up with withered branches like deer antlers, and behind her head hung a halo, and within that halo was a tender green sprout, like a seed just breaking through damp soil and putting out two young shoots.

"Elder Sister," said Shen Mu. The teleportation formation runes around him drifted slowly but did not kindle. He smiled. "How should I address you, Elder Sister?

What does the Earth Mother wish to see me about?

" The woman in green came to a halt before him. "My name is Gongsun Yan.

I am a maidservant of the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign. She bade me invite the honored guest to come, but did not say why. This way, honored guest.

" Shen Mu jumped down from the dragon qilin's head, signaled to Yu Tianzun to stay on the water qilin's back and not dismount, and said with a smile, "Sister Yan, your dress is truly beautiful. " Gongsun Yan was delighted.

"Truly? I cut and sewed this dress myself, with great pains and much care.

" Shen Mu followed her forward. "I have long heard the Earth Mother's name, though I have never once met her.

Sister Yan, how did she come to know of me? " Gongsun Yan led them across the Sea of Blood. "That I do not know. Perhaps Lady Tianyin mentioned you when she came to visit the Earth Mother not long ago. Lady Tianyin was plotted against in the late Dragon Han era, and the Earth Mother, grieving for her own kind, was much troubled by it. Yet Lady Tianyin came back to life and sought out the Earth Mother of her own accord.

I was keeping watch outside the palace at the time, so I could not go in and hear what they spoke of.

" Shen Mu breathed a sigh of relief. After Lady Tianyin's resurrection she had indeed been absent from the Tianyin Realm for a time; Shen Mu had once gone there to seek her, and those of divine ability in that realm said she had gone out to visit an old friend, and that friend must surely have been the Earth Mother. "Lady Tianyin must have told the Earth Mother that I was the one who revived her.

That she sent Gongsun Yan to receive me this time means she must want something. " Thinking this, Shen Mu smiled.

"Sister Yan, along the way I saw many god clans and demon clans hurrying here, and a great many demigods as well, all surging toward this place. The road was perilous indeed. What is going on?

" Gongsun Yan brought them to the far shore of the Sea of Blood and up onto land, but instead of heading for Jade Capital City she led them around it. "The powers within the Earth Mother's Primordial Realm are tangled and many. Now that the Primordial Realm has reappeared, many factions are stirring, all hoping to fish in troubled waters. These god clans and demon clans were once the many heavens under the Earth Mother's command; they have slipped in with designs of their own. The Earth Mother is very angry. As for those demigods, it was not the Earth Mother who summoned them; someone used her name to call them here. " Shen Mu's heart lurched.

"Someone used the Earth Mother's name to summon the demigods here?

" The water qilin was startled too, and said hastily, "Impossible! When I woke, I felt with perfect clarity that it was the Earth Mother who called us here! She is the world lord of the Primordial Realm; when she calls us, that sense can never be mistaken! Brother dragon qilin, did you not feel the Earth Mother's call?

" The dragon qilin said, "I felt it.

But I was plowing a field at the time, so I paid it no heed. " Shen Mu mused, "If it was not the Earth Mother who summoned the demigods, then who could borrow her name and bring the Primordial Realm's demigods here? By what means could that person call the demigods of the Primordial Realm? To make every demigod hear the call and be unable to tell true from false, that cannot be simple.

" Gongsun Yan shook her head. "That is beyond my knowing. Ever since the Earth Mother passed away, I have kept watch in the underground palace, quietly waiting for the day she would revive.

I know little of the world outside. " Jade Capital City was vast, stretching over a great expanse, and Lingxiao Hall stood within it. Waves of dread power rolled out from that place; from time to time mighty divine abilities burst forth, spreading outward with Lingxiao Hall as their center.

Shen Mu looked that way and thought, "The one who borrowed the Earth Mother's name must be in Lingxiao Hall, though I do not know who. Who has such audacity, to impersonate the Earth Mother and make demigods serve him? Celestial Master Zixi has gone there; I wonder whether she will meet danger. " Then he shook his head.

Though the scholar's strength was not the greatest among the Four Celestial Masters, her overall fighting power was the greatest of them all; even Celestial Master Wudou had come off the worse against her several times, and was wholly convinced that she deserved to rank ahead of him. Celestial Master Wudou was an existence of the Emperor Throne realm, and even he admitted he was no match for her; so Celestial Master Zixi should be in no danger. They circled around for a long while and came to a small earthen mound.

On the mound stood a dilapidated temple, and a plaque thrust into the soil bore several characters. Shen Mu pulled the plaque from the earth and brushed off the dust.

The writing was exceedingly ancient.

He looked at Yu Tianzun, who said, "Brother, it says here: Temple of the Earth Mother Primordial Sovereign.

" Gongsun Yan walked into the ruined temple and urged them on.

"Come quickly! " Shen Mu hesitated, then put the plaque away in his Taotie Pouch, thinking, "I will keep it for now.

It may prove useful.

" They entered the temple. It was not large, but it was clean, plainly swept often by someone, and to one side were several side rooms with their doors closed.

"Is that where you live, Sister? " Shen Mu asked.

Gongsun Yan nodded.

"This is where I live. Behind the temple there are a few mu of fields where I grow vegetables and fruit. The fruit I grow is delicious; a pity we came in such haste that there is no time to offer you any. After you have seen the Earth Mother, I will pick some for you.

" Shen Mu thanked her.

The woman was a little naive and artless, with no guile in her, which made her especially easy to get along with.

Gongsun Yan came into the temple's main hall. Shen Mu looked up and saw facing him a statue of a woman, with a full brow and a square jaw, a smile at the corners of her mouth.

Behind the statue was an ancient tree carved of bronze, and the statue stood beneath it.

Gongsun Yan bowed to the statue, and suddenly the temple floor split open, revealing a path leading down into the earth, with a faint light glimmering in the darkness. Shen Mu studied the seal on the floor and thought, "This seal is rather crude.

" Gongsun Yan laughed.

"You are a muddled one. What is there to look at on the floor?

Let us go down! " Shen Mu followed her. The dragon qilin hurried to stay close behind Shen Mu, never leaving his side, glancing about in a panic.

The water qilin, bolder by nature, carried Yu Tianzun with a steady gait.

Shen Mu felt that what was underfoot was not a stair. He looked down: it was an incomparably thick tree root. The root was thicker than the road from Jingping to the Western Lands, and covered in moss. As they walked along it, each step lit a footprint in the soft moss like foxfire; only after they had gone a dozen paces did the prints behind them slowly dim.