Yan'er flew several thousand li before at last she found Shen Mu in a cavern shaped like a splayed figure, hollowed out of a great mountain. Shen Mu was embedded in the cliff wall, his legs spread wide, his arms stretched flat, so grievously wounded that he could not stir a muscle. When Yan'er arrived, the mountain god set to guard the place was a shanxiao, and it was even then craning its neck this way and that, peering into the cave. Yan'er drove the shanxiao mountain god off and hastily pried Shen Mu out of the cave. Shen Mu coughed up blood again and again, yet of a sudden he burst out laughing, coughing blood as he laughed, until soon the blood came hissing out of him like a fountain. "Young Master, stop laughing, quickly!" Yan'er cried in alarm. "Laugh any more and you will spurt out every last drop of your blood!" Shen Mu roused the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art to steady his wounds, and with an effort sat up, smiling. "I am in no great danger. I have merely lost half my life, and I am not about to die. I have already unlocked the first rune!" Yan'er was startled. "Young Master, two whole years, and you have unlocked only the first rune? Then how long will it take you to unlock Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability in full?" "Two years?" Shen Mu was taken aback. He had thought a year at most had passed; never had he imagined it was two years. This was precisely why he disliked seclusion the way other wielders of divine abilities, and gods besides, delighted in it. Seclusion sounded formidable, but it meant cutting oneself off from the real world; a retreat might last decades, even centuries, and one would miss many people and many affairs, would miss the advances in the arts of the Dao and in divine abilities, and would step out of seclusion already fallen behind the times. These two years of seclusion were more than he could endure; fortunately, he had comprehended Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability through and through, and by means of the counterstroke of the Ancient God's Egg he had at last comprehended the first rune of the Ancient God's Great Way! Yan'er secretly rejoiced, thinking, "If it took the Young Master two years to comprehend the first rune of Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability, does that not mean he must stay here a long while yet? Then I can stay forever at Brother Pi's side..." Shen Mu rose and stretched his limbs. "Yan'er, we are going back. It is time we left the Southern Heaven." Yan'er was somewhat disappointed. "Why does the Young Master not stay on here and go on comprehending the divine ability?" "I have already comprehended Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability. There is no profit in staying any longer." They hurried back to where the dragon-qilin was, and Shen Mu put away the Ancient God's Egg. "It is time to leave. The Heavenly Court has attacked the Great Void, and I am eager to know how matters stand; besides, the day when I must break the Ghost Ship divine ability draws nearer and nearer." His wounds were not yet healed, so he could do no more than ride on the dragon-qilin's back toward the Spiritual Energy Transference Bridge of the Southern Heaven. When they reached the bridge, Shen Mu turned and looked back over that vast expanse of sky and earth. The Southern Heaven lay all in peace, without war, without turmoil. "The people here do not know that they might have another choice. But they have been schooled into such deep servility that they no longer know how to resist." Shen Mu patted the dragon-qilin, and it bore him and Yan'er into the Spiritual Energy Transference Bridge. His face was as calm as still water, but in his heart he said silently, "They are no more than livestock raised by demigods, who at most will politely ask your leave before they eat you. Death is not what is to be feared. What is to be feared is failing to win a better future for one's children and grandchildren. Perhaps the people who live here will even mock Jingping, laugh at us for overreaching ourselves, just as Heavenly Venerable Fire mocks me..." He burst out laughing. The Land of the Great Void. One after another the Four-Emperor divine artifacts pressed down upon the Collapsing Void; the Heavenly Court's great army swept on in all its might, driving straight in, racing to strike the Land of the Great Void. The Creators, meanwhile, came and went like ghosts through the void, seeking to strike by stealth; they wielded the Four-Emperor divine artifacts that Jiang Baigui and Emperor Yanfeng had seized, hoping to sow chaos and break up the Heavenly Court army's advance. Yet this time the army was led by the Heavenly Court's Four Heavenly Masters, and by the Four Emperors of the Southern, Northern, Eastern, and Western Heavens. The Four Heavenly Masters were of surpassing wisdom, and the Black Emperor, the White Emperor, the Azure Emperor, and the Crimson Emperor were of overmastering might; the Creators took their kills, but their own dead and wounded were many, and they had no choice but to withdraw. Divine King Langwo brought up the giant void beasts and led them into battle in person, inflicting grievous losses upon the Heavenly Court army; but before long Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Hong descended, sorely wounding Langwo, and the army of void beasts was forced to retreat. The Creator clan was utterly at a loss, and could only hold the Land of the Great Void and wait for the great battle to come. Yet everyone knew that this battle for the Land of the Great Void would be savagely, bloodily fought; the Creators of the Great Void were few to begin with, and none could say how many would live through it. "First Heavenly Master of Jingping, how do you think we should block the Heavenly Court's army and whittle down its strength?" Yan Yunxi asked with a smile. "Simple," Jiang Baigui said. "Hold the perilous ground. The Collapsing Void is the greatest perilous ground of all." Yan Yunxi's eyes flickered. "Divine King Langwo led the army of void beasts in a surprise strike, and came back sorely wounded. Even the strongest of the Creator clan can do nothing. Heavenly Master of the kingdom of Jingping, how will you hold the perilous ground?" "Are you testing me?" Jiang Baigui said, astonished. "You know yourself how to hold perilous ground. Do you mean to sound out my wisdom?" With a flick, Yan Yunxi snapped open her folding fan. "You are Jingping's First Heavenly Master, come to lend us aid. Speak your method; I want to see how much military strength you are worth." "How much military strength am I worth?" Jiang Baigui said mildly. "When the Jingping Calamity broke out, I was not worth a single soldier." The smile froze on Yan Yunxi's face. When the Jingping Calamity had broken out, Kaihuang gave a single order and Fengdu drew itself in; the gods of Jingping did nothing to help save Jingping's people. Now that Jiang Baigui brought the matter up, she felt somewhat in the wrong, and guilty at heart. "But I am not one of you. That is why I have come to help." "If I were you," Jiang Baigui said, "I would choose three thousand good-for-nothings and send them into the Collapsing Void. These wretches must be rotten in their Dao hearts, their minds filled with terror. Their inner demons will be born without cease, forming an unspeakably dreadful army of inner demons to block the Heavenly Court army's path." Yan Yunxi's eyes lit up. "You speak to my very heart," she said, smiling. "Then, Heavenly Master Zixi, how much military strength do you think I am worth?" Jiang Baigui asked. "The Heavenly River Navy, with its million mighty soldiers, is not equal to you." Yan Yunxi slapped her fan sharply and summoned the Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, Fang Youji. "Old Fang," she ordered, "in the Land of No Sorrow there are those who excel at flattery, who wallow in wine and pleasure and never strive to better themselves. Bring me three thousand of them and send them into the Collapsing Void to block the Heavenly Cou