Chapter 895: Excavation

Upon entering the Shenmu, Haotian trembled slightly, his heart filled with astonishment.

He saw that the Shenmu was filled with towering trees and lush greenery, appearing like a primeval forest.

At a glance, the number of trees seemed vast, perhaps hundreds or thousands, impossible to see through.

But upon closer inspection, there were not actually that many plants; it was just that each great tree was so luxuriant, with countless branches, that each one possessed the momentum of a forest unto itself.

This space was verdant and lush, with canopies blocking out the sky and branches covering the earth. Counting them one by one, there were likely only ten or twenty great trees. The trees furthest inside all grew toward one side; the outer side seemed blocked by a barrier, unable to extend any further.

Looking at it this way, this space did not seem very large?

Then... what about the Shenmu?

This space was surging with Divine Power. Although Taixiong was watching, Haotian did not dare to release his Mental Power to investigate at will. He could only rely on his senses, his gaze laboriously piercing through the gaps between branches and leaves to search for the Shenmiao in the tomb he had imagined, yet he found nothing.

This place was too primitive; there were no traces of any architecture.

Could it be that over the passage of time, the once magnificent Shenmiao had now been submerged within the jungle?

As he thought this, his gaze suddenly flashed, and he discovered a shadow flickering through the woods that seemed extremely familiar. He hurriedly took a step forward to chase after it, but suddenly a hand reached out from the side and pulled him back.

He turned his head and saw Taixiong staring at him, saying, "Where are you going?"

Haotian thought about how he had indeed been reckless just now and said, "I have no ill intent. I just saw my God." When he said this, Taixiong frowned even more. Haotian also felt something was wrong and explained, "It wasn't my God, but something very much like my God's true form—the appearance of the Deer God. It was behind that great tree and passed through from there. Did you see it?" He pointed to the huge banyan tree in front.

Taixiong was thoughtful and said, "So, what you saw was a tree."

Haotian felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly said, "What? You didn't even see a tree? There are trees all around here."

Taixiong shook his head and said, "I didn't see it. You don't need to be nervous. This is a normal phenomenon. I was confused the first time I came, too; it was the Right Upper God who explained it to me. Everything in this place is a projection of the inner heart. What you see are trees, while others see different things; they are all the environments we are most familiar with or the things we desire most in our hearts."

Haotian was shocked for a moment, looking around in a daze, half-believing and half-doubting. The reason he felt it seemed credible was that it matched the miraculous power of the Main God's Shenmu, but what he found unbelievable was that the surrounding environment was truly too vivid. Not only were these great trees full of vitality, but the divine deer that had just flashed by was the very form of the Left Upper God from his memory, even leaking a trace of that divine might, as if it were back then.

Back then...

Haotian suddenly realized that this place was illusory. The trees before his eyes were very similar to the forest at the entrance of his own tribe, only the trees were magnified several hundred or thousand times. In this way, this theory of projection should be correct; it was just magnifying his own memories and dropping them into reality.

In that case... the divine deer just now was merely a shadow of his God from his memory; it was all like flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water—visible but untouchable.

His God had passed away after all.

He asked, "Emperor Taixiong, in your eyes, what does this place look like?"

Taixiong smiled and said, "It's strange to say. The scenery has actually changed from the last time I came."

He did not answer directly, and Haotian understood—he did not want to say.

Because the matter involved the inner heart and memories, he figured this was private, and not answering was normal. Haotian could have kept quiet too, but because he didn't know the truth, he had spoken carelessly—this actually might not have been without Taixiong setting a trap; such information could have been stated from the beginning, and not saying it meant he was holding back to fish for words.

He couldn't fall out over such a small pit, so Haotian could only swallow his anger.

Haotian asked, "Where is the Main God's Shenmu? Where is the body?"

Taixiong pointed to the surroundings and said, "It is all here."

"Everything you see, although a projection, is a product of reality and Spirit combined. For example, you say there is a tree here, then this might be a finger of the Main God. If you cut down this tree and can take it out, it will turn into its original form outside. That is what the Right Upper God did back then. It used Divine Power to sever a part in front of me and then took it out; in the end, that finger was stuck in the head of the Evil God."

This was another unexpected explanation that seemed reasonable upon reflection. Haotian's heart stirred, and he silently counted the great trees he could see, nineteen in total: "There is one that has already been taken by the Right Upper God. It seems these trees correspond one-to-one with the fingers. So if we take them all away, we will obtain all the fingers and toes of the Main God?"

Thinking about it carefully, the Main God's fingers being chopped bald was quite miserable, but since they were already here, he shouldn't think too much about it.

"Can it be done?"

"Yes, it is actually not that difficult. I watched when the Right Upper God did it before; it was unexpectedly simple." Taixiong pondered, "But I am wondering, where is the main body of the Main God?"

Haotian thought for a moment, his gaze involuntarily dropping to look at the ground he was standing on.

At this time, Taixiong also said, "Then it can only be beneath the ground, right? Only by digging up the earth beneath our feet can we see the Main God's torso. Then let's..."

Haotian shouted, "Wait!"

Taixiong looked at him, and Haotian said, "Emperor, have you ever thought that the Main God might not want to be disturbed?"

Taixiong laughed, "Of course, actually no one wants to..."

Haotian interrupted, "I am not talking about minor disturbances. Actually, after the gods fell, their Divine Power remained, so they could completely use their great power to make thieves coveting their bodies suffer terrible divine punishment. But the Main God did not do this; its Shenmu is easy to open, there is no danger after entering, and as you said, it is relatively easy to take away these things placed on the ground. Is it possible that all of this is permitted by the Main God?"

"Any god's tomb is closed once it is sealed, for fear of outsiders opening it again; how could it leave a key for later generations? I think perhaps the Main God is very benevolent and very great. It thought that later generations might encounter unsolvable troubles and come here for help, so it is willing to give up a part of its body to reward the younger generation. This is the compassion of an extraordinary deity."

"Thinking back, it fought the master of the Earth Barbarians and eventually fell, yet it still tried its best to leave a will and arrange the tomb. I think this was also a contingency it left to guard against the Earth Barbarians. Of course, the Humans don't pose a threat for now, but the crises are the same. I think it is happy to see us take its fingers to resist the Evil God. When the Right Upper God served at its side, perhaps it knew the Main God's intentions, which is why it easily decided to come here and disturb the Emperor's peace."

"However, we should stop while we are ahead. It is fine to take the power that can be easily obtained, but digging further will violate taboos. It will definitely trigger divine punishment. A single finger of the Main God is immense power for us; is the divine punishment it left behind something we can resist? Emperor Taixiong, do not lead yourself astray!"

Taixiong lowered his head slightly, then said, "What you say may have some truth, and we do have risks if we want more. However, this power... is not enough!"

Haotian said anxiously, "How is it not enough? Back then, one finger of the Main God poked a hole in the Evil God's head. Now the Evil God's power is greatly damaged, even worse than before, and we can take ten fingers, so how is it not enough?"

Taixiong shook his head and said, "The Evil God is indeed not what it was, but can the two of us, plus the motley crew you've gathered, compare to the Left and Right Upper Gods of that time?"

Haotian was speechless. Taixiong said, "What pierced the Evil God back then was not just the Main God's finger, but the strike the Left and Right Upper Gods gathered with their lives, not to mention taking advantage of the surprise, which was very lucky. Now that only you and I remain, how can we replicate the plan from last time?"

"But last time it was one finger, and now we have nine... nineteen!"

"What is the difference between one and ten?" Taixiong asked back, "Getting the Main God's fingers is just using them as weapons; there is no method to directly add the power to oneself yet, so the application is very limited. We are already struggling to handle one; can we use ten fingers like a monster with ten tentacles and smash them all together?"

"But if you dig down, even if you dig out the Main God's body, can you solve the problem of power infusion? This is just a divine body, not a war weapon specifically crafted. Digging down has huge risks, and the harvest is likely very limited."

Haotian instinctively felt that he could not let Taixiong dig further. Besides the reasons he had stated, there was a vague feeling that something was going terribly wrong.

Taixiong closed his eyes slightly and said, "Haotian, what do you think I came here for? I came to make a desperate gamble. I am telling you, if the Evil God continues to develop like this, it definitely cannot be contained. We are recruiting troops and making a big show of things now, but it is actually a false bustle. The outcome will definitely not be good. You ask me what chance of victory we have if things go on like this. I tell you, zero percent! Ten deaths and no life! If I hadn't had the chance to see the Main God last time and admire the power buried here, realizing this was a trump card, I wouldn't even have had the courage to stand up and resist!"

"If I dig down, there might be a half-percent chance of survival... no, a glimmer of hope, and that is already a gain. It is better than wasting away and waiting for death outside. If there is indeed a huge divine punishment below, the kind that destroys the world, that is also fine. If I trigger it, then I will die quickly. If I am lucky enough not to trigger it, I still have a plan!"

"This plan is called... perishing together!"

Taixiong stared at him with burning eyes: "This divine punishment might also be the final weapon for us to turn the tide, isn't it?"

Haotian's heart began to pound; he was thinking, and even somewhat persuaded.

Taixiong said, "I even hope there is indeed that kind of unstoppable power here, but I must first confirm that the divine punishment really exists, and that your guess just now was not a delusion... Priest Haotian, will you help me?"