Chapter 1715 — The Lotus Seed Returns to the Pond

"So it is Lingguan.

You have already set foot upon the seventeenth epoch? " From the mouth of Emperor Haotian, transformed into a woman, came a woman's voice, mocking him: "How pitiful — you do not even have a head!

In your wounds I see the residue of the Dao arts of Old Seven and Lord Shang.

.

.

" Scarce had she spoken when her features changed once more, reverting to the face of Emperor Haotian. Alarm showed on Emperor Haotian's face, and he said in a low voice: "Brother Lingguan, lend me your aid, quickly—" His features shifted again, and became the likeness of the Second Young Master, Wuji!

The Lord of the Lingguan Hall raised a hand and gaped at the sight: the faces of Emperor Haotian and of the Second Young Master of Miluo Palace turned back and forth without cease, and Emperor Haotian's body likewise switched endlessly between male and female!

The spectacle was monstrous beyond words, yet he dared not ask.

The Second Young Master of Miluo Palace was ruthless beyond measure; within Miluo Palace none dared offend her, and only the Master of Miluo Palace dared rebuke her.

The Second Young Master never forgave the least slight and carried all things to extremes, and by the close of the sixteenth epoch she had wrought slaughter that reached the heavens!

— nor did she kill common living things alone; she slew Dao-attainers as well, and even those of Miluo Palace who had attained the Dao! When the Second Young Master slaughtered her way through the four quarters, heaven after heaven collapsed inward into her body and perished, a sight that was the nightmare of every Dao-attainer.

Lord Shang, who had attained the Dao through killing, was notorious the world over, yet beside the Second Young Master he was as a small sorcerer before a great one.

There were even whispers in the palace that the Second Young Master had not gone mad and begun her massacre in the sixteenth epoch; in truth she had turned her hand against Dao-attainers long before that, only without ever being found out. Sweat soaked the Lord of the Lingguan Hall.

He rose quietly and drew back. The Second Young Master of Miluo Palace had descended in Emperor Haotian's flesh; not only could Emperor Haotian not withstand her — even if he himself struck, it would avail nothing.

"I have already offended the Seventh Young Master; if I offend the Second Young Master as well, then truly my doom is at hand!

" He retreated to the palace gate, when suddenly behind Emperor Haotian's head the phantom images of the Zixiao Hall and the Lingxiao Hall surfaced at once, and both treasure halls blazed with radiance. The power of the two halls was raised in an instant to its utmost: the Zixiao Hall shrank, came to Emperor Haotian's brow, became an inch in length, and clung there, guarding his flesh.

Emperor Haotian's body ceased its changes at once. The Lingxiao Hall remained within his celestial court, warding his primordial spirit, shielding it from the Second Young Master's invasion.

"Third and Fourth — the Master has withdrawn from the world, and you have grown so capable!

" The laughter of the Second Young Master came from Emperor Haotian's mouth: "Must you set yourselves against me?

" In Emperor Haotian's celestial court, the Dao of the Abyss of Return took the form of the Second Young Master: a woman of lovelier features than even the Empress, with a small black mole at the right corner of her mouth, like a bruise left by some wound.

She stood beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate, and Emperor Haotian's celestial court twisted about her; it seemed that the very space and time where she stood were collapsing toward her as their center.

She had seized but a small portion of Emperor Haotian's cultivation — his other, unperfected Dao of the Abyss of Return, made her own — yet the battle power she could bring forth exceeded even that half of him which had attained the Dao. And the Third and Fourth Young Masters were so wary of her that they dared not attempt to refine her.

Suddenly, from the Zixiao Hall came dark and obscure words of the Dao — plainly the Fourth Young Master, speaking to her amid the calamity that had destroyed the sixteenth epoch.

But those words were of the highest profundity, spoken in the Hongmeng Dao speech, and even the Lord of the Lingguan Hall could not understand them. The Second Young Master tilted her head and listened a while, then gave a cold laugh and answered in the Hongmeng Dao speech as well.

Her Hongmeng Dao speech was more abstruse and profound than the Fourth Young Master Zixiao's; plainly her attainment in the Dao of Hongmeng stood higher.

Then the voice of the Third Young Master came from the Lingxiao Hall, likewise in the Hongmeng Dao speech. Emperor Haotian heard it all as mist and cloud, understanding nothing of what the three of them said.

Yet in the exploration of the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, the Fourth Young Master Zixiao had once taught him a few words of the Dao speech, that he might use them to strike at Shen Mu by stealth.

He could not comprehend them, but dimly he could guess at the meaning of a syllable or two.

Only, every syllable of the Hongmeng Dao speech held information vast and complex beyond all measure; to explain a single syllable of it in the divine tongue would take a year and half a year.

And even then, one might still fail to expound the principle held in that one syllable!

The three Young Masters of Miluo Palace asked and answered in the Hongmeng Dao speech. After a moment, the Second Young Master gave a snort, and her form suddenly dissolved.

Emperor Haotian let out a breath of relief. From the Lingxiao Hall came the Third Young Master Lingxiao's voice: "Friend Haotian, the Second Young Master will borrow your body for a time.

During that time, she will abide with you.

" Emperor Haotian's heart clenched, and his scalp went numb.

The Fourth Young Master Zixiao said: "You need not fear overmuch. She is but lodging within your body; in days to come she will leave.

And with her here, the day you trample Jingping flat will not be long in coming.

" Emperor Haotian was about to speak, but silence fell within the two treasure halls: the Third and Fourth Young Masters had gone far away. His heart of Dao fell into disarray.

Within his own body dwelt a dreadful being who could at any moment change his sex and his features, and who could at any moment devour him and refine all that he was; the very thought left him unable to sit or stand at ease.

"Perhaps I can refine her. . .

" Scarce had the thought formed when the voice of the Second Young Master Wuji came, laughing: "That is not a bad notion — no wonder you have climbed to your present station.

But there are too many who wish me dead: the other Young Masters of Miluo Palace, the Dao-blasphemers of the Heaven Capital, and any number of other small fry — all of them want me gone. Even the Master wants me gone! " She was quite delighted: "Yet though the cosmos has been born and destroyed thirteen times in succession, not one of them has managed to destroy me; instead I grow ever stronger. I mean to use your body now — step aside for a while.

" Emperor Haotian's face changed greatly, and he saw his own body begin to transform at once, from male to female, every male trait vanishing away! Lady Yuanmu poked her head in and caught exactly this sight, and broke into a giggling laugh.

The Second Young Master Wuji turned to look; Lady Yuanmu hastily drew back her head and vanished, her voice drifting from afar: "Haotian, you are the same as your mother now — worthy of being my own flesh and blood!

Your mother also has another person dwelling in her body!