The Heaven-Watching Bureau dared not speak much, and could only stand to one side, watching obediently. Shen Mu located Jiang Baigui and Emperor Yanfeng, and set out at once to find them. Jiang Baigui and Emperor Yanfeng had already come to the rear of the Ancestral Court and passed through the North Heavenly Gate, comprehending the Dao principles within.

This was the fourth Heavenly Gate.

When the two emerged from the gate, Jiang Baigui let out a long whistle, and Heavenly Palaces rose one after another from the ground, their treasure halls vying in splendor; a perfect and flawless Great Heavenly Court had at last taken shape! He felt the Heavenly Court was firm, never to be shaken again! Jiang Baigui exhaled a long breath of true essence, which turned into sword qi and became a long rainbow across the sky. Seeing this, Emperor Yanfeng was both delighted and envious.

The path Jiang Baigui walked was different from his own; he could not cultivate it.

The two walked out of the Ancestral Court's North Heavenly Gate and saw Shen Mu waiting outside.

Shen Mu explained the matter of forging his sword.

Jiang Baigui said, "My foundation is not yet complete.

I must make a trip to the Jade Terrace. Will I be in time?

"

Shen Mu said, "I await your esteemed arrival!

Three months from now, we meet in the Heaven Yin Realm.

"

The two departed.

Only then did Shen Mu hurry to the Heaven Yin Realm, where he met the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, and explained his idea. The Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, hesitated. "The Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, and I shared but a fleeting affair. In those years I could not even protect myself, and wishing to join hands with him, I muddled my way into bedding him, and bore Yan'er.

I would rather not see him. But little brother, you are my benefactor, and since you have asked, I will certainly invite the Azure Dragon to lend his strength.

"

Shen Mu bowed in thanks. The Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, summoned Yan'er.

"Come with me to see that heartless, faithless father of yours.

" The two women hurried off. In the Heaven Yin Realm, Lady Heaven Yin sat by the sea, chin in hand, staring listlessly at the water, from time to time snatching up a mountain peak and tossing it into the sea. Her form was too vast; to her, a mountain peak was no more than a pebble.

These days, her Heaven Yin Realm grew ever more clamorous. Strange folk in outlandish dress kept arriving from Jingping and the Ancestral Court, making a great racket, and she was not quite used to it. Some of these fellows were deities, some were power-wielders of the Heavenly River realm. The blacksmiths liked to go bare-armed, loud-voiced, and mighty; those who cultivated formations liked to run hither and thither, measuring everything; and some stared at her, meaning to measure the Heaven Yin runes on her body.

As for those sword-cultivating fellows, they were even more hateful, flourishing their swords there day after day, streak after streak of sword light disturbing her peace. By now the Jingping gods and demons who had come running to her Heaven Yin Realm numbered thirty or fifty thousand, and more kept arriving in an endless stream.

Some days later, King Yama arrived. Only then did Lady Heaven Yin perk up.

After all, King Yama had once fought shoulder to shoulder with her, and counted as an old acquaintance; at last there was someone to chat with and relieve her boredom. But King Yama was a man of few words, hiding under his cloak every day, and spoke little with her.

A few days later, Emperor Shitian Li Youran arrived.

Lady Heaven Yin glanced at this handsome man and felt his looks were no less than Yin Tianzi's. At once she found him detestable and could not be bothered with him. Then the Founding Emperor Shen Ye came.

Lady Heaven Yin rather liked this human Venerable Shen, but the Founding Emperor's sword Dao was too strong; before she even drew close she felt unwell, and had to move farther off. The Founding Emperor had brought a young man whose looks were not so detestable as Li Youran's.

Lady Heaven Yin talked with him a while, and only then learned that the young man was named Qin Hanzhen, and was Venerable Mu's father. Talking with him, Lady Heaven Yin always felt rather strange. More than ten days later, a big, adorable, sturdy-headed girl came dashing cheerfully into the Heaven Yin Realm.

Only then did Lady Heaven Yin breathe a sigh of relief.

This girl was the Western Emperor, cheerful and quick-tongued, and at last she had someone to relieve her boredom. A few days after that, the Northern Emperor, the Black Tortoise, and his consort arrived. Lady Heaven Yin grew happy; at last old acquaintances had come, and naturally there was much to talk about.

The Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, came too, black cloth covering his face. Lady Heaven Yin's expression immediately darkened.

The Azure Dragon was arrogant and lecherous by nature, and she had never liked him. The Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, also looked somewhat unhappy.

Clearly, inviting the Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, had cost her no small amount of grief.

"I am only here to help.

"

The Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, looked around, saluted the two Black Tortoise Emperors and the Western Emperor, and only then saluted Lady Heaven Yin, saying with displeasure, "We who have come to lend our strength have arrived, yet the one forging the sword has not? What sort of conduct is this! "

The Founding Emperor Shen Ye strode over.

The Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, felt a chill in his heart, stepped forward and saluted, saying politely, "When did Venerable Shen arrive? "

The Founding Emperor said indifferently, "A month before you.

It is quite nice here.

"

"Yes.

"

The Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, smiled.

"It is indeed not bad here. "

Some days later, a great monk and a Daoist arrived, sat down in silence, and said nothing. The Eastern Emperor, the Azure Dragon, did not recognize the two, but saw many from Jingping come forward to greet them with warm concern and treat them with great respect. He could not help but wonder inwardly, "Could this monk and this Daoist be Great Brahma and the Dao Ancestor? No, that cannot be. I have seen them.

.

. I thought Venerable Mu had invited only me to help him forge his sword. I never imagined he would invite so many personages of standing!

"

The crowd waited another ten-odd days. Then the Blind Elder came at last, leading the Silent Artisan, whose eyes were closed.

The Silent Artisan carried the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground on his back. By now the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground blazed fiercely, burning through the void, intensely, so that even the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, felt her heart leap at the sight: "This man's Dao fire and Dao realm, his cultivation is extraordinarily high!

"

The Blind Elder led the Silent Artisan to the Sea of Heaven Yin in the Heaven Yin Realm. Suddenly the Silent Artisan opened his eyes, and the power of the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground surged at once, burning through the Heaven Yin Realm and revealing the Xuandu World! The Silent Artisan set the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground down, and it spread out.

The Nine Heavens twisted the cosmic void, making the many heavens and myriad worlds seem to hang upon the Nine Heavens, mysteries beyond words!

The Silent Artisan's body shook; the muscles of his upper body swelled, and he shed his usual image of a shabby, eccentric old blacksmith, becoming like a giant who took the world as his furnace and the earth as his anvil, remaking all things under heaven! At the same time, Shen Mu, stripped to the waist and bare-armed, came walking across the sea's surface, bathing with the Silent Artisan in the Dao fire.