The tally the Founding Patriarch had left behind slowly shed its marks of age and little by little turned new, the jade tablet so crystalline it might have just been carved from the workshop. Shen Mu examined the characters and the runes upon it, his expression odd; these were indeed the writings of the Longhan era, differing only slightly from the characters and runes on the tally of the Jinwu General that Old Ox carried. Shen Mu had gone back to the early years of Longhan and had come into contact with the script of that age; though it differed from the writings of later ages, he could still recognize most of it. The characters on the tally were seal script among the divine writings, belonging to the bird-and-worm script. Within such characters lay the mystery of the great Dao of heaven and earth, and some sects in the world today that cultivate the way of talismans use this very bird-and-worm script, yet set beside the true divine writings they still fall somewhat short. After all, the divine writings of the early Longhan years lie so far in the past that much of them has been lost. The two tallies were not one and the same; the Jinwu General was the general of the Heavenly Court who guarded the Jade Capital, and his tally bore the two characters "Jinwu" carved in relief. This tally, by contrast, was cut in intaglio and read "Yulin." "The Yulin Guard of the Heavenly Court?" Shen Mu blinked. "The Yulin Guard of which Heavenly Court?" In the Longhan era there had been three Heavenly Courts, and each, presumably, kept its own Yulin Guard; judging from the Founding Patriarch's tally alone, it was very hard to tell which court's tally this was. And the runes on the tally were a kind of command art, used to issue orders to the gods. Command arts were one branch of formation arts, exceedingly profound, and in the world today those who had mastered them were exceedingly few. In this Jingping Reform, even the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping had no knowledge of command arts; luckily the Blind Elder, a great master of formations, had come out of seclusion and compiled a set of command arts for Jingping's armies. "Why would Eldest Senior Brother have left this tally behind? And where did he get it? He must have had deep reasons for leaving it! Perhaps this tally belongs to the Heavenly Court beyond the realm! If only we knew which Heavenly Court it belongs to, we would know the true identity of that Heavenly Court beyond the realm!" A thought leaped abruptly into Shen Mu's mind. "Could Eldest Senior Brother have crossed over into the Longhan era as well?" At once he shook his head. The tally was very ancient; if Eldest Senior Brother had crossed into Longhan and brought this Yulin tally back from that age, then it ought to look as new as Old Ox's. The reason the tally was new now was that Old Ox's tally had roused the command art within its runes and washed away the marks of the years; but the tally itself had in truth gone through ages beyond counting to become what it once had been. "Unless he crossed into the Longhan era and never came back." A strange feeling rose in Shen Mu's heart, yet he rejected the notion again; the conjecture was too absurd. If the Founding Patriarch had never returned, did that not mean he had been living all along in daylight or in darkness? A place of perpetual day or perpetual night—did such a place exist in this world? "As it happens, it does." His face turned strange again. "Xuandu lies always in daylight, and the Heavenly Court of the Ancient Gods likewise; Youdu, by contrast, lies always in darkness, with no alternation of day and night. If Eldest Senior Brother stayed in Youdu, Xuandu or a Heavenly Court, he could remain in the past forever. Why am I even thinking such things? It is impossible that Eldest Senior Brother stayed in the past." He laughed at himself, put away the Yulin tally, and walked with Old Ox toward the cliff, thinking: "The command art in these runes is meant to command the Yulin Guard, though I do not know which Heavenly Court's Yulin Guard. For all I know that court may already have fallen and ceased to be. The tally is most likely of no use now, but the command art within it can be handed to Grandpa Blind for him to study." Old Ox shied away from the Yongjiang beneath the cliff, plainly holding it in great dread. "Senior Brother Sanduo, the Martial Dao Heavenly Master told you to escort me to the Tianyin Realm, and the Tianyin Realm lies at the foot of this cliff." Shen Mu smiled. "You can go back now; there's no need to see me further. I'll go to the Tianyin Realm first and see whether Sister Di Yiyue has arrived, and then make my decision." Old Ox hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't much want to go back. The Old Master is a very dull man; all day long he thinks only of practicing martial arts and throwing punches, and I can do nothing but drink tea and smoke a water pipe, and when I'm bored to death I plow the fields. I've found that following you is more interesting. So long as you don't run wild and raise a ruckus, it's far more fun than being at the Old Master's side." Shen Mu laughed. "If the Martial Dao Heavenly Master learns that I've abducted you, won't he kill me with a single punch?" Old Ox roared with laughter, reared up on his hind legs and planted both hooves on his hips. "Would he dare? The Jinwu General of the Yuangu Heavenly Court stands here—will he be permitted to run amok?" The two of them laughed heartily. Shen Mu entered the Tianyin Realm with him, and Niu Sanduo chuckled: "I once saw Lady Tianyin in the Longhan Heavenly Court, and truly her divine powers are vast; I wonder whether Lady Tianyin still remembers us." When they reached the Tianyin Realm, they saw many of Jingping's scholars building pavilions and houses there, as though they meant to settle for good, and other scholars practicing the divine arts of the Tianyin Realm; Lady Tianyin herself, however, was not there. Shen Mu was astonished, and after making inquiries a scholar answered: "Replying to the Sect Master, Her Highness has gone to visit an old acquaintance, and has been gone many days." "Have Heavenly King Tian Shu and Heavenly King Di come by?" "We have not seen them." Shen Mu had no choice but to leave the Tianyin Realm. "Lady Tianyin has gone to visit an old friend? She died in the Longhan era, so her old friends must for the most part be Ancient Gods. I wonder which Ancient God she has gone to see?" Niu Sanduo took him on his back and ran full tilt, and soon they came to the far side of Taihuang Heaven; Shen Mu looked back and saw six or seven great solar arks and lunar arks moving through the sky above Taihuang Heaven. Over Luofu Heaven, too, were several solar arks and lunar arks, illuminating Luofu Heaven and making all things grow. By now Taihuang Heaven and Luofu Heaven actually held a scattering of cities, presumably built by the true god Pang Yu and Fu Riluo with the remnants of their followers. "How swift the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping is!" Shen Mu marveled again and again; by afternoon they had come to Jianglong City. Outside the city, divine-arts practitioners were harvesting rice; Niu Sanduo's hands itched at the sight, and he ran over to plow a dozen or so mu; only after Shen Mu called him again and again did the old ox tear himself reluctantly from the paddy field, grinning: "At last I've had my fill of it. These days have nearly been the death of me!" They entered the city and passed through the Between of Life and Death into Fengdu, where all at once a rumble of shaking came without cease; standing on the bridge, Shen Mu saw the heavens and earth of Fengdu shuddering without pause, the dark continent ceaselessly expanding, stretch after stretch of heaven and earth being opened up! Di Yiyue, Heavenly King Tian Shu and King Yama each employed their means to open up the heavens and earth of Fengdu; demon fire surged ceaselessly from the ground, linking with the Nai River of Fengdu. The