Chapter 1714 — The Young Lord Descends

To break Hongmeng's Transformation into the Dao, Shen Mu, guided by Lan Yutian, cultivated the Hongmeng body and forged a Hongmeng primordial spirit. To this day, though he is still some way from the mana of his peak, the strength of his physical body is truly fearsome!

His body could be called the strongest body in history, more powerful by far than the body of the ancient god Heavenly Emperor Taichu—and yet this sword of Heavenly Venerable Yun's had broken through his body's defenses. That was remarkable indeed!

Heavenly Venerable Yun's steps shifted; the Taichu Imperial Sword wove in crossing arcs, soaring up and down around Shen Mu, and he unleashed every kind of exquisite sword formula.

Shen Mu still sat unmoving, his hands appearing before and behind him; all manner of divine powers and dao arts erupted—now transforming into the Five Great Veins, now deploying the Tribulation-Breaking Sword with a finger, now becoming the Heavenly Capital's Chapter of World-Opening, now unleashing Hongmeng divine powers—and blocked every last one of his attacks.

Heavenly Venerable Yun was forced farther and farther back; the Taichu Imperial Sword's power could no longer pierce Shen Mu's divine powers and threaten his true body.

Suddenly he gave a long whistle and withdrew his sword. Above his head the Innate One Qi rushed into the sky, and the Taichu primordial stone in his brow shone brighter still. He roused the Taichu primordial stone and mobilized the Dao Tree and Dao Fruit, and actually sought to fuse the Innate One Qi with the Dao of divine consciousness, transforming them into the great divine power of Taichu!

His aptitude was indeed outstanding; after his rebirth he had set about comprehending the Dao of Taichu, and had already achieved something in it!

The path he walked differed from Shen Mu's, from Taichu's, and from Heavenly Venerable Hao's: he walked two roads abreast, cultivating the Dao of divine consciousness to refine the Great Emperor's Dao Fruit while at the same time cultivating the Innate One Qi, seeking to fuse the two Great Luotians into one and reach the state of Taichu's attainment of the Dao!

His Taichu divine power was indeed incomparably exquisite, and faintly showed a tendency to stand shoulder to shoulder with the ancient god Taichu.

Just as his Taichu divine power came near Shen Mu, Shen Mu raised his right hand, fingers spread wide, and at once great and small abysses of the Abyss of Return, hundreds of them, surfaced around him, swallowing all his divine powers; not the least shred of power could come near.

Heavenly Venerable Yun halted, disbelief on his face.

The great and small abysses of the Abyss of Return around Shen Mu dispersed, and had not endangered his Great Luotian of divine consciousness.

Heavenly Venerable Yun hung the Taichu Imperial Sword upon his Dao Tree, stepped forward, and said with a frown, "If the Second Young Master has means like yours, then the ten thousand dharmas cannot touch her, and no divine power can wound her. To wound her, there is only close-quarter combat!"

Shen Mu shook his head. "She is steeped in the Dao of the Abyss of Return; her attainment surpasses my own. Moreover, the Dao of the Abyss of Return only advances, never retreats; if she cannot be killed, then the longer the battle drags on, the stronger she will grow! More terrible still: if the Second Young Master possesses Heavenly Venerable Hao, she will try to break the seal of the Master of Miluo Palace and release her true body! Should her true body come into the world, I fear that even the First Young Master of Miluo Palace, were he to appear, might not be her match!"

Heavenly Venerable Yun's frown deepened. After a while he said, "To kill a being like that is too difficult."

Shen Mu's eyes flickered. "In years past, when you had nothing at all, you contrived the deaths of the Great Emperor and Taichu, those two supreme sovereigns. Now that we have so many Heavenly Venerables, can you contrive a way to kill the Second Young Master?"

Heavenly Venerable Yun's brows lifted; he looked straight into Shen Mu's eyes and said in a low voice, "To contrive the Great Emperor's death, I sacrificed a million creators, and only then was the Great Emperor slain. Langwan hates me to this day for my ruthlessness. To contrive the death of the ancient god Heavenly Emperor Taichu, I did not scruple to hand half the strength of the Heaven Alliance to Heavenly Venerable Hao, so that later the Heaven Alliance split, with consequences for hundreds of thousands of years after. To achieve my ends I stop at nothing. Are you certain you want me to contrive the Second Young Master's death? How many would you sacrifice?"

Shen Mu's eye twitched.

Heavenly Venerable Yun said bleakly from his divine platform: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you are not me, after all, nor are you a Heavenly Emperor of a generation. The Heavenly Emperor Yun of the Xiaohan Heavenly Court can sacrifice everything, sacrifice every soul around him, myself included, to achieve his ends! And you are not that kind of man."

He smiled. "So you are Heavenly Venerable Mu, and not Heavenly Emperor Mu. How to be rid of the Second Young Master—I will think of something; you need not trouble yourself over it."

Shen Mu rose. "Once you have thought of something, you must tell me. You must not act on your own!"

Heavenly Venerable Yun smiled. "You may set your mind entirely at ease."

Shen Mu gave him a long, deep look, then turned and descended from the Great Luotian.

In the Heavenly Court's camp, at the Heavenly Emperor's annex palace.

In the end Heavenly Emperor Hao could not hold himself back; he set about cultivating the method of the Mirror of the Abyss of Return.

"I must ask you, Brother of the Dao, to guard me."

Heavenly Emperor Hao was cautious after all, and summoned the Lord of the Lingguan Hall. The Lord of the Lingguan Hall said in a low voice, "Set your mind at ease, Your Majesty. Do you fear the Seventh Young Master will seize the chance to strike? With me here, he cannot kill his way in."

Heavenly Emperor Hao shook his head. "It is not Heavenly Venerable Mu I fear. What I fear is the Retired Emperor and the Empress Mother."

The Lord of the Lingguan Hall was slightly taken aback, then said indifferently, "You creatures of the Seventeenth Epoch are too filthy by half—you must guard against even your own kin. Set your mind at ease; they will not dare to run wild."

He sat down in meditation, and Heavenly Emperor Hao was reassured. He set about cultivating the Mirror of the Abyss of Return, dissolving the cultivation of his Abyss of Return body.

The Mirror of the Abyss of Return that Yuanmu had taught him proved unexpectedly easy to cultivate, and Heavenly Emperor Hao's Abyss of Return body was possessed of immense cultivation, the very pinnacle of Heavenly Venerables. Once all his cultivation was dissolved, the Prime Embryo Divine Treasury would be extinguished with it, leaving only a pool of chaos within the Abyss of Return!

The Chaos Pool was like a bright mirror. Heavenly Emperor Hao employed his own Dao Heart and gazed into the Chaos Pool.

And as he gazed, upon the Chaos Pool in the great abyss another face was reflected.

Boom—Heavenly Emperor Hao's mind reeled: "I have been tricked! The one who taught me the Mirror of the Abyss of Return was not the Empress Mother, but the Empress!"

Scarcely had the thought formed when his mind went suddenly dim and muddled!

Heavenly Emperor Hao acted on the instant: he roused his Dao of the Innate One Qi, ten thousand heavenly wheels rose behind his head, and he held his Dao Heart in a death grip. Yet another consciousness came surging in, sweeping all before it, and directly erased the consciousness of his Abyss of Return body, replacing it utterly!

Heavenly Emperor Hao's Dao Tree flew to him and stood behind him; the Dao Flower bloomed, and ray upon ray of light shone into his brain.