Chapter 1094 — The Azure Bird Swoops, the Canopy Blots Out the Sky

As the two divine senses clashed, Shen Mu abruptly changed his tactic and transformed into the Primal-Embryo Divine-Treasury Domain: the spirit embryo became the One of the Dao; with it rose the twin breaths of yin and yang, which transformed into the Great Ultimate; then Heaven and Earth split apart; then arose earth, water, wind, and fire.

The starry hosts of all the heavens welled up, and the Heavenly Duke, the Earth Earl, and all the host of gods took up their offices and their stations, and then palace after palace of heaven sprang from the ground.

His domain bloomed open and smashed Great Hong's divine sense to pieces by sheer force! The heaving flood of the Celestial River abruptly subsided; the towering waves, several hundred zhang high, that Great Hong's divine sense had raised, fell with a hiss—the wind calm, the waters flat, not a single ripple.

The instant their powers collided, Great Hong flew toward the Empyrean Heavenly Court and stretched out a talon for the canopy. That canopy was the Venerable's carriage, forged by the Heavenly Court seven hundred thousand years later; the palanquin itself was an extraordinary treasure, assembled from all manner of rare substances, its painted patterns representing the Heavenly Duke, the Earth Earl, the ancient gods, the Four Imperial Sovereigns, and other deities.

The ten Venerables of the Heavenly Court had given this palanquin to Shen Mu in order to dismantle his alliance with the ancient gods.

Shen Mu offered the canopy up, and it transformed into the Heavenly Duke; in the very instant Great Hong struck at the canopy, Shen Mu's Divine-Treasury Domain expanded of its own accord and, with a soft swish, enveloped the Dragon-Han Heavenly Court.

Within his Divine Treasury, the vault of heaven mirrored his form; the Heavenly Duke, wearing Shen Mu's face, soared up, merged with the canopy's Way of Heaven, and forcibly fended off Great Hong's blow.

The great blue bird's talons met the canopy, and the Heavenly Duke beneath it could not hold firm, on the verge of shattering.

In the Empyrean Heavenly Court, the deities of the human race and of all the other later-born races snapped back to their senses; army after army of divine beings was about to surge out to do battle with the great blue bird, when Shen Mu's divine sense swelled and burst into a roaring shout: "I am Mu Venerable! All disciples, hear my command—together, drive the canopy!

Obey my direction!

" Within the Empyrean Heavenly Court were hundreds of thousands of divine beings; hearing this, they hastily sent their primordial spirits out of their bodies, marshaled their primal energies, and drove the canopy's might. In the sky, the canopy overhanging the Heavenly Court blazed ever more radiant, and the forty-nine Ways of Heaven sealed the Empyrean Heavenly Court fast.

The great blue bird swooped and struck several times but could not break through the canopy; then all at once it drew in its sky-filling blue feathers.

Shen Mu's eye twitched—Great Hong was already before him!

"Mu Venerable, are you determined to block me? "