Shen Mu's spirits sank. After a moment, he said hoarsely, "If he hadn't joined the Heavenly Alliance, perhaps he might not have died. Because of one word of mine, his life was lost. I..." "It had nothing to do with you," the old envoy said. "Heavenly Venerable Yun was simply made that way. Though they honored him as a Heavenly Venerable, he spoke little on ordinary days, yet he had a warm and chivalrous heart. Heavenly Venerable Yue once said that even before Heavenly Venerable Ling proposed the founding of the Heavenly Alliance, Yun was already planning to gather the benevolent and the brave, to think of the future of the later-born races. Yun..." He fell silent for a moment, then dropped his head. "He once impersonated Heavenly Venerable Yu, and he also impersonated you and Heavenly Venerable Shen, acting in your names, so that humanity and the other races might keep one thread of hope in their bitterest moments. In the Dragon Han era, too many people died; in those days the human race and the other races could barely keep living. It was all he could do..."

Shen Mu stared blankly, lost in thought.

"The Lord of Earth should know who won among the courts, shouldn't he?" Shen Mu put down what was in his heart and asked.

"The Lord of Earth will not say." The old envoy shook his head. "I asked him once, and he wouldn't say. Only after that dark stretch of years passed did the Lord of Earth grow deeply dispirited; he now does only what duty requires and seldom asks after the outside world. I, too, once wanted to know who the final winner was—whether it was Heavenly Venerable Hao or the Ancient-God Heavenly Emperor—but I have never seen the true face of the one on the throne."

Shen Mu was taken aback. "Never seen his true face?"

The old envoy nodded. The boat was drawing near the Lord of Earth. At the bow, Heavenly Venerable Yu gaped in astonishment, staring blankly at the Lord of Earth's immeasurably huge and towering body, unable to get out a single syllable.

"Never." The old envoy's face was calm, still as a well without ripples, and he spoke unhurriedly: "The world says the Dragon Han era ended four hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and the Chiming era came after. Heh heh, but they little know that the Dragon Han era never ended. The Dragon Han era has always been here!"

Shen Mu's heart quivered.

The Dragon Han era had always been here! The Dragon Han Heavenly Court, which even the Lord of Earth was too discreet to mention, had always been here, like an enormous shadow hanging over every age—over Chiming, Shanghuang, Kaihuang, and even today's Jingping!

"That court holds many things beyond comprehension," the old envoy said. "The ancient gods of the ancient-gods' heavenly court are in that court, and the deities among the later-born beings and the half-gods are in that court too. I cannot puzzle out who was the ultimate victor... Let us go to see the Lord of Earth."

The paper boat sailed into the third eye on the Lord of Earth's brow. The old envoy moored the boat, and they went into the holy hall inside the eye. In the hall, the Lord of Earth—now countless times reduced in stature—lowered his head and studied Heavenly Venerable Yu, who was holding half a chicken. Yu felt uneasy beneath that gaze; after a while he mustered his courage and raised the half-chicken over his head. "Do you want something to eat? I think you're hungry too..."

The Lord of Earth flickered his gaze, shook his head, and sighed. "Poor thing. The Heavenly Venerable Yu of former days has actually become like this. Have you brought him to find that missing wisp of his soul?"

Shen Mu nodded and bowed. "Please work your magic, Lord of Earth, and find the whereabouts of that wisp!"

"Back then I bestowed my blessing on him. Even if you did not ask, I would help him search." The Lord of Earth opened the eye on his brow, and a panel of light shot out of the third eye. He said in a deep voice, "When I look at his physical body, I can already see that remnant soul of his crossing worlds beyond counting; the great cosmos flashed past in a breath."

Heavenly Venerable Yu stood within the light, fidgeting uncomfortably. Outside the light, Shen Mu and the old envoy saw world after world rush past inside it—towering green mountains, vast empty deserts, vanishing in a flash, followed in turn by countless stars flitting away. A moment later, abruptly, a celestial palace appeared in the light, beyond stately and beyond resplendent, with tall and majestic gods; then came a heavenly court of perpetual daylight. Hall upon hall in the light passed through Heavenly Venerable Yu's body, faster and faster, and then, abruptly, the leaping images slowed, gradually, slower and slower, until they settled before the gateway of one palace. The image passed through the gateway, through pavilions and towers and several more gates, and entered an inconceivable space. Then the image broke off.

The Lord of Earth said, "His remnant soul is suppressed in the Pixiang Hall of the heavenly court. The seals in that hall are too heavy; they cut off my sight."

Shen Mu heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. "As long as we know where it is, there is hope."

The old envoy's face was solemn, his brows deeply knitted. Clearly, Pixiang Hall was not as simple as Shen Mu imagined.

"Pixiang Hall is one of the seventy-two precious halls of the heavenly court, on the same scale as the celestial palace," the Lord of Earth said calmly. "Not to mention you—even an ordinary Lingxiao-realm expert could not infiltrate it."

Shen Mu smiled. "There's always some way in."

The Lord of Earth asked, "Do you know how to enter the heavenly court? Do you know where the heavenly court lies?"

Shen Mu stood in a daze. He truly did not know. Everyone talked about a heavenly court beyond the world, but where that beyond-the-world court actually was—even the Woodcutter Sage could not say. The Woodcutter Sage had never from beginning to end known who the enemy of the Kaihuang era really was. And the Crimson Emperor's consciousness within the Shen Continent did not know who the enemy of the Chiming era was either.

The Lord of Earth looked at him, then said, "You go outside first. I have something to say to the Palace Lord."

Shen Mu went out of the hall, poked his head back in, and with a sudden bang the great gates closed, shutting him out. "Stingy, and so mystifying!" Shen Mu muttered indignantly, yet his gaze could not help falling on the old envoy's little paper boat.

Inside the hall, the Lord of Earth looked at the old envoy and said, "His remnant soul cannot be retrieved for the time being. What do you intend to do with him?"

The old envoy was silent a while, then said, "He is the second kinfolk I have had. I must protect him."

"He is a blank sheet of paper now," the Lord of Earth said. "And a foolish blank sheet at that. If he follows you, he will shut himself away just like you; if he leaves Youdu, he will die miserably. Palace Lord, the reason you have lived through all these years is that you have remained in Youdu. If you went out, you would have died long ago. If he follows you, that is the only outcome."

The old envoy silently watched Heavenly Venerable Yu, who was secretly licking the grease from his fingers, and for a while he was at a loss. After some time, he raised his head and said, "I have seen it through. I really am not suited to bring him along. I want to entrust him to Heavenly Venerable Mu."

The Lord of Earth said, "Entrust him to him? Are you not afraid he will lead Heavenly Venerable Yu into the gutter?"

"But Heavenly Venerable Yu will not die," the old envoy said. "What I fear now is that Heavenly Venerable Mu will not be willing to take him. He was eager enough to treat Yu, and hot-blooded enough to seek vengeance for Yu, but ask him to take care of Yu—he certainly will not agree."