Chapter 1723 — The Simplehearted Venerable

The Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon's soul lay within Taichu's One Qi Great Luotian, and Taichu's One Qi Great Luotian now floated above the Heavenly Court's main camp, facing the thirty-three heavens of Carefree Village across a vast distance. The very moment Shen Mu's power invaded the One Qi Great Luotian, beneath the Dao tree within it Taichu rose to his feet, smiling.

"Heavenly Venerable Mu, you came after all! You cannot bear to lose fighting strength like the Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon; you need him to conquer the world for you! But you do not know that I have been waiting for you a long while!

" Beneath the Dao tree, beside its roots, stood a bronze jar taller than a man, its mouth sealed tight.

Now that bronze jar trembled without cease, as though some force were shaking it, striving to shatter it and release what lay within. "When your power reaches my Luotian, it has already grown weak, and at that moment I can injure your spirit-origin in return — and your fleshly body as well!

" Taichu bellowed, and in the blink of an eye his fleshly body became immeasurably burly. Through the long ages his flesh had always been the finest under heaven, able even to withstand the blows of a Dao Achiever — until recent years, when Shen Mu surpassed him.

Shen Mu had forged a Hongmeng body, unmatched in toughness, stronger even than Taichu's ancient god Heavenly Emperor body!

And matching the ancient god Heavenly Emperor body was his vital qi, the Innate One Qi! The Innate One Qi was both vital qi and the Great Dao; it could transform into any Great Dao under heaven. Though his Innate One Qi had not been cultivated to the point of achieving the Dao, it was no small thing either.

He walked the path of achieving the Dao through force, borrowing the power of the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City, and in the sheer depth of his mana he far surpassed those who achieved the Dao through the Dao realm.

"And what you never expected is that my treasured halls are now complete!

" Taichu stirred the Innate One Qi, and behind him the Great Heavenly Court appeared, its seventy-two treasured halls ringing the thirty-six heavenly palaces. Ever since the battle in the Ultimate Void between Heavenly Emperor Hao and Shen Mu, after which Heavenly Emperor Hao had no choice but to retreat, he and Taichu had reached an understanding: father and son exchanged their respective great halls, holding nothing back.

Both Heavenly Emperor Hao and Taichu had cultivated the seventy-two treasured halls; in achieving the Dao through force, father and son had both reached perfection.

Taichu's mana was stronger than ever.

His ancient god Heavenly Emperor body strode forward, circling the bronze jar without pause, arms whirling, the Innate One Qi turning into divine arts that met Shen Mu's soul-drawing power head-on, running counter to it. His divine arts moistened all things in silence, tracing Shen Mu's power all the way back, following the Soul-Summoning Charm to injure Shen Mu's fleshly body and spirit-origin in return.

This was the prepared striking the unprepared. Shen Mu was pouring every ounce of his strength into drawing out the Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon's soul; neither his fleshly body nor his spirit-origin had any defense at all.

To strike him down now, at this moment, was the perfect opportunity. Taichu's spirits soared; he let out long whistles again and again, one divine art after another following the vine to the melon, killing toward Shen Mu.

And still Shen Mu's power came on without cease, striving to shake the bronze jar — but the bronze jar stood within the One Qi Great Luotian, and though the Luotian had now left the Ultimate Void and come to the Yuan Realm, it was after all the achievement of the Great Dao. Shen Mu's power, arriving here, was weakened layer upon layer, no longer at its peak.

And more: the bronze jar was suppressed by the One Qi Great Luotian. For Shen Mu to shake that jar was to contend against the entire Luotian, to contend against Taichu's cultivation.

Time and place were both on Taichu's side; victory was in his grasp.

In a single instant he unleashed countless great divine arts, the power of a Dao Achiever displayed in full. Then, suddenly, the corner of Taichu's eye twitched. Beneath the bronze jar, dense and countless marks had abruptly surfaced.

Those marks spread in rings, ring upon ring, layer upon layer, expanding outward; and by the time he noticed them, the ring-shaped marks had already spread from the jar's base across half the Luotian. The ring marks were exceedingly strange, like the growth rings of a tree — and within that brief span they already numbered in the hundreds of millions.

"This is.

.

.

the World Tree! " Taichu understood in a flash.

"Damn him!

He was scheming against me too!

" Boom!

The growth rings revolved, and the marks within them turned to light that shot into the sky.

A world-shaking roar rang out, and above the Heavenly Court's main camp, upon Taichu's One Qi Great Luotian, a colossal tree appeared — thick as half the Luotian — branches flying, roots driving deep into Taichu's One Qi Great Luotian! Those roots were immeasurably thick, like mighty mountain ranges, splitting the earth of the One Qi Great Luotian apart, toppling its peaks; Taichu, caught off guard, was blasted away by the enormous trunk and flung down out of the One Qi Great Luotian! His Dao tree was crushed flat as well; the whole Luotian gave a great crack and split cleanly into two halves.

At the same time the bronze jar burst with a bang, and the three souls of the Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon flew up, summoned away by some nameless force. And the World Tree, having split the One Qi Great Luotian open, dissolved into countless motes of light and scattered into the air, leaving only the two halves of the Luotian falling from the sky!