"Then we leave by way of the White Emperor's Celestial Palace," Shen Mu said flatly. Yu Chudu hesitated, studying Shen Mu's expression, then ventured, "Martial Uncle, have you ever cultivated the Art of Creation? This nephew studied the Tiandou Dao Art under my master, and within it are the Seven Chapters of Creation, which can alter one's features and build, even transform one into the likeness of a demigod. Perhaps we could slip past the Celestial Court's eyes and leave no trace..." The Dragon Qilin, standing to one side, shook itself and became a Dragon Sparrow. "Is that what the Art of Creation does?" it asked with a laugh. Yu Chudu started, then nodded again and again. "Brother, you have studied the Tiandou Dao Art as well? But my master said he created the Tiandou Dao Art. How is it that you know it too?" The Dragon Qilin gave a chortling laugh. "This is not the Tiandou Dao Art. It is a technique from the Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon. The Tiandou Dao Art was born out of that scripture." Yu Chudu was dumbstruck. The towering image of Wei Suifeng in his mind collapsed at once, and he murmured, "My master said he created it... Then the Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon, surely my master created that?" The Dragon Qilin laughed. "The Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon was created by the First Celestial Master of the Kaihuang era, the Woodcutter Sage." Once more the image of Wei Suifeng crumbled in Yu Chudu's mind. He was utterly bereft. He had revered Wei Suifeng as a being from heaven, the loftiest figure in his heart, and now it turned out that even the Tiandou Dao Art had come from the Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon! "Martial Nephew, pay no heed to his nonsense." Shen Mu cursed him with a laugh, then said, "It is true that the Tiandou Dao Art came from the Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon, but that scripture is far too miscellaneous, its techniques too many, and every one of them only skims the surface without going deep. So the Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon is merely a scripture that can make one a god. The Tiandou Dao Art, by contrast, is a mighty art that my Eldest Senior Brother Wei Suifeng created by joining his own fortunes and insights to a host of other Imperial Throne arts." He paused. "It is only that it has grown outdated." Hearing this, Yu Chudu was about to argue on Wei Suifeng's behalf, but then he recalled that Shen Mu, at merely the True God realm, had slain Heavenly Venerate Haotian's disciple Jing Baichuan, and Jing Baichuan, like himself, was of the Yujing realm, yet Shen Mu had felled him with a single move. By that measure, the Tiandou Dao Art he had cultivated through such bitter hardship was indeed outdated. Once again the image of Wei Suifeng as invincible collapsed in his heart. Shen Mu glanced at him and said in praise, "Martial Nephew Yu, your aptitude and insight are truly not bad. In but a moment you have shattered the god in your heart, and your cultivation of the dao heart has advanced greatly!" Yu Chudu gave a sullen grunt. Shen Mu led them flying down toward the White Soil of the Nine Provinces below, and sighed. "It is precisely because your master's Tiandou Dao Art came from the Scripture of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon that I cannot study his art. His art and mine spring from the same source; cultivating the Tiandou Dao Art would not grant me one more celestial palace." Seeing that none of them had changed their appearance, Yu Chudu reminded him, "Martial Uncle, we had best alter our faces..." "No need." Shen Mu smiled. "My spiritual sense is as powerful as an Imperial Throne's. In anyone's eyes, we are not ourselves. Even an Imperial Throne expert, if he does not look closely, cannot see our true faces." Yu Chudu was left startled and uncertain. The White Soil of Jizhou was the Central Province of the Nine Provinces world, set at the very center of the Nine Provinces. Looking down from the sky, the peaks of this White Soil Divine Province were white, and the earth was white as well, a most peculiar sight. The White Soil teemed with white beasts, their fur snow-white without a single stray hair. The strange beasts here lurked among the mountain forests and were very hard to find. Yet the White Soil was also a place of unending war. Tens of thousands of divine ability users, led by gods and demons, seized cities and lands, hunting down mortals and divine ability users alike to make them slaves. Wars between nation and nation were commonplace as well. They wore snow-ferret furs, their white robes whiter than snow, and on the battlefield blood dyed their garments red, dyed the white sand red, and corpses lay everywhere. Shen Mu even saw that the customs of the Longhan era had been preserved here. When two great powers went to war and joined battle, they would often drag their slaves to the front of the lines, throw up crude altars, and offer those slaves in blood sacrifice to summon ancient gods or powerful demigods to their aid. Shen Mu did not see any ancient god of the White Soil descend, but he did see many demigods descend, some winged, some with a single eye and four arms, slaughtering across the battlefield and venting their divine might. "Why has this place become like this?" Shen Mu frowned and asked Yu Chudu. "It has always been like this." Yu Chudu shook his head. "Not only the White Soil. The other eight provinces' worlds are the same. I heard my master say that the rules here are the same as in the Longhan era: everything relies on blood sacrifice, on inviting gods down to fight for you, on seizing land and plundering wealth. When a divine ability user becomes a god, he ascends to the ancestral star of the Nine Provinces and waits for others to summon him down with blood sacrifice. My master wished to change the Nine Provinces and the Three Pillars Heaven, but he never had much success. When he was still alive..." Shen Mu's expression turned strange, and he said, "Emperor Yunluo is not dead yet." Yu Chudu started and blurted out, "My master is not dead? And there I was, weeping at his funeral for more than ten days straight!" He could not help shaking his head again. "My fellow disciples and I all thought our master had been dragged onto the God-Slaying Platform, beyond all hope of return, and we grieved for a long time. In the end we left Yunluo Palace and turned to banditry. Only now, my fellow disciples are all dead..." His face darkened, then he rallied. "When my master served here as Emperor Yunluo, he meant to change the traditions of the Nine Provinces and the Three Pillars Heaven. So the nine ancient gods of the Nine Provinces and the three ancient gods of the Three Pillars Heaven came to him and said: the rules of ten thousand ages cannot be changed; but out of regard for the fact that our master was of the human race, they would strike the human race from the list of sacrifices, as a face-saving gesture to him. My master refused, and they fought." Shen Mu asked, "And afterward?" "Those twelve ancient gods were beaten into submission and agreed to abolish blood sacrifice." Yu Chudu paused. "But the moment they turned around, they went and complained to the White Emperor. The White Emperor berated my master, saying that such were the rules throughout the Western Heaven. Did Emperor Yunluo mean to ruin the Western Heaven's rules? Only then did my master realize, heh heh, that the Western Heaven was still the Longhan era, and had never changed at all." He let out a long breath. "So my master bowed his head, admitted his fault to the ancient gods of the Nine Provinces and the Three Pillars Heaven, and struck the human race from the sacrifices. Those twelve ancient gods did not make things hard for him; they only mocked him a few times, and my master smiled and apologized all the while. After he came back, he wept for a long time." Shen Mu's heart trembled, and he said slowly, "Emperor Yunluo wept too?" Yu Ch