Chapter 1147 — Once, I Was Human

If this ancient god were to emerge into the world, able to take the form of any ancient god — even to become the Heaven Lord, the Earth Mother, or the Earth Lord, wielding their powers all at once — that alone would be terrifying enough! But what was more terrifying still was that he — or she — was even more skilled at manipulating the human heart!

Shen Mu had always been strange in this regard: whether it was Dragon Qilin or Wei Suifeng, or himself, once they came into contact with the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Canopy, they would be bewitched by the treasure.

Dragon Qilin aside, both Shen Mu and Wei Suifeng had weathered the great storms of Longhan's history, men whose dao hearts were unshakably firm — and yet even they could be seduced by the ancient god egg, falling in love with the treasure without ever realizing it. Just now, a strand of Shen Mu's divine consciousness had entered the ancient god egg, and it had immediately found the weakest point in his dao heart; he had nearly sunk into the egg and been unable to pull himself free!

And Shen Mu had not even broken the tender trap that the egg had woven for the flaw in his dao heart — he had merely extinguished that strand of his own consciousness. In other words, the flaw in his dao heart remained. So long as that flaw existed, he would still be bewitched by the being within the ancient god egg.

This was what he found most horrifying! Shen Mu put away the Lapis Lazuli Azure Heaven Canopy, his expression shifting between light and dark.

"Martial Uncle, this little girl is already dead. " Yu Chudu's voice came.

Shen Mu steadied himself, set the matter of the ancient god egg aside for the moment, and stepped forward to look.

The little girl had had every bone in her body crushed by the First Pillar Ancient God, her organs shattered; her breath had long since ceased.

In her hand she still clutched a beast bone she had not finished gnawing clean.

Yu Chudu's expression was bleak.

"In the heavens and myriad worlds, this sort of thing happens every moment of every day.

Martial Uncle, even if you are the Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, you cannot change any of it. Heh heh, even the Master never changed any of it. .

.

" "She can still be saved. " Shen Mu stepped forward and crouched down. At his fingertips creation runes flickered with a wavering light, exceedingly fine, the glow now present, now gone, drilling into the little girl's body.

His mastery of the Dao of Creation was profound, already at the summit of this age, and soon the wounds of the little girl's flesh were healed.

Shen Mu extended a finger and pressed it lightly to her chest; a heartbeat came, and her small chest rose and fell slowly. Yu Chudu could not help saying, "Martial Uncle, how terrible is the divine might of an ancient god?

His soul has scattered to the winds — she cannot be brought back! " Shen Mu rose to his feet.

Vital qi surged forth, and the little girl's body floated in the air.

In a deep voice he said, "She can be saved. I, the Great Master of Myriad Kalpas Without Extinction, am not a great master who belongs to the ancient gods alone.

" He roused the Soul-Pulling Guide, drawing in the black sand of shattered souls for the little girl, and the Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Gate appeared behind him. He began to borrow the power of the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord to remake the little girl's soul. This was the soul-remaking divine art after yet another refinement; what set it apart from before was that he had replaced the Gate of Heaven's Mandate with the Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Gate.

In truth he need not have borrowed the power of the Heaven Lord and the Earth Lord at all — with his own strength he could have brought the little girl back to life. Yet he had decided that he would disturb the Heaven Lord and disturb the Earth Lord regardless. Because he wanted to make his stance clear!

"Shepherd Heavenly Venerable—" The Heaven Lord's voice came from a place impossibly high and impossibly far, entering his mind, heard by him alone. With that voice he even "saw" the Heaven Lord's white brows, his long beard, and those eyes brimming with snow-white radiance, enthroned high in Xuandu.

"You borrow my power to resurrect a mortal. " No expression could be read on the Heaven Lord's face; his voice was long and drawn out: "You killed the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces, you killed the ancient gods of the Three Pillars Heaven, and now you borrow our power to resurrect a mortal.

Are you still the Great Master of Myriad Kalpas Without Extinction?

" "Heaven Lord, nothing here escapes you.

You saw me kill the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces, saw me kill the Three Pillars Heaven, and you did not stop me from cutting them down.

" Shen Mu's divine consciousness rippled through his mind as he conversed with that exalted being. "And now I would borrow your power to remake this mortal's soul. Will you lend it to me? Reviving her is simple; the power I borrow from you is so slight it is a single drop in the ocean to you.

" The Heaven Lord was silent a moment, then said, "Will you resurrect the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces and of the Three Pillars Heaven?

" "No. " Shen Mu's tone was extraordinarily calm. Slowly he said, "Heaven Lord, you have long known the answer.

I will not resurrect them. Ancient gods are not nobler than mortals.

If an ancient god does evil, I will cut down the ancient god as well. " "Right and wrong, good and evil — who is to decide them? " The Heaven Lord said, "The wolf eats the sheep — how innocent is the sheep? The sheep eats the grass — how innocent is the grass?

When the ancient gods take humans as sacrifices, is that not also the wolf eating the sheep?

Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, seen from the height of the Dao of Heaven, your so-called good and evil, right and wrong, are muddled beyond distinction.

The Dao of Heaven is impartial: it does not condemn the wolf for eating the sheep, nor condemn the sheep for eating the grass. " Shen Mu said, "That is why you are the Heaven Lord and I am not. I can only look at these things from the standpoint of a human.

Heaven Lord, you are not truly impartial either — you look at this world from the standpoint of the ancient gods.

You can sit by while the ancient gods butcher the living, sit by while all beings become sacrifices to the ancient gods; yet when I kill ancient gods, you still take offense. " The Heaven Lord was silent. "Will you lend me the power to resurrect this little girl? " Shen Mu pressed.

The Heaven Lord was silent again for a moment, then said, "Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, son of the Shen family, have you ever considered that you cannot change any of this? When the ancient gods are no longer the orthodoxy of heaven and earth, and the demigods replace them, they will prey upon the living all the same. Even if you kill the ancient gods, you will only let the demigods wholly replace them — and then the fate of all beings in the heavens and myriad worlds will be no better than it is now, perhaps even worse. " Shen Mu asked stubbornly, "Heaven Lord, will you lend me the power to resurrect this one small mortal? " The Heaven Lord was silent a long while, then said, "I will lend it to you.

But you cannot go on doing this.

You cannot keep slaughtering ancient gods.

If word spreads that you slaughtered the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces and of the Three Pillars Heaven, it will drive the other ancient gods into opposition against you and make them your enemies. " Shen Mu said, "Should I smile at them, sit by while they make sacrifices of my people, chat and laugh with them, and pretend I saw nothing? Teach me, Heaven Lord. " The Heaven Lord said, "You can look upon all beings from the height of the Dao of Heaven — all are equal, and there is no need to intervene. " "That is why I am not the Heaven Lord.

" Shen Mu laughed.