Chapter 1253 — One Move That Claims a Life

Shen Mu activated the Reincarnation Heavenly Palace, and the Way of Reincarnation in that instant released him from the cycle, restoring his true self.

On the other side, Yu Wufei strained with every last shred of her strength to withstand the blow, yet still she could not hold.

She was a grandmaster of the Lingxiao Realm, pouring out everything she had—but Shen Mu's strike had likewise been delivered with everything he possessed. How terrifying, then, was the Dao's might within a Divine Treasury Domain?

Shen Mu rarely encountered a well-matched opponent; either the other's cultivation realm surpassed his by too far, or their strength fell too far short. Yu Wufei's cultivation base and mana both towered far above Shen Mu's, yet her comprehension of the Dao was shallow, and she had trained in the traditional Divine Treasury Heavenly Palace system.

She certainly had the power to slay Shen Mu—but Shen Mu had the power to slay her as well. However, Yu Wufei did not recognize Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain, and she had rashly charged into it, losing the initiative. This strike of Shen Mu's summoned every thread of great Dao power within the Divine Treasury Domain, and the first to hit Yu Wufei were the Forty-Nine Heavenly Daos.

The Heavenly Daos descended from the heavens, manifesting into forty-nine Heavenly Dao treasures!

The Heavenly Cord was shaped like a dipper and the Heavenly Mechanism like an umbrella; there were also the Heavenly Seal, Heavenly Fire, Heavenly Beggar, Heavenly Mystery, Heavenly Vault, Heavenly Wind, Heavenly Pole, Heavenly Time, Heavenly Square, Heavenly Yang, and Heavenly Yin—taking the forms of seals, crystals, fans, ladles, canopies, spurs, awls, sundials, square plates, sun pearls, and moon pearls, forty-nine treasure forms in all. As these forty-nine Heavenly Dao treasures came thundering down, the Heavenly River pierced through, fusing the power of the Forty-Nine Heavenly Daos into one—a might vast beyond measure!

Yu Wufei was pinned fast to the ground.

She tried to resist, but the Thirty-Six Great Daos of the Primordial Realm overflowed and locked her feet in place. Strand after strand of Primordial Capital Dao pierced her skin like roots, boring through her flesh and growing firmly into the earth of the Primordial Realm. Nor was that all—the Sixty-Four Great Daos of the Nether Capital swept in, sealing her primordial spirit so that it could not escape.

Nor was that all—the great Dao arts of the Four Extremes Heavens howled in and slammed down from every direction. Then the Dao arts of the Heavenly Yin Realm invaded her primordial spirit, and in a single blow her three souls and seven spirits nearly shattered.

Her soul broke apart, scattering into black soul-sand that burst from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. And this was not the most terrifying part. The power of Shen Mu's seventeen heavenly palaces coiled into a single force and thundered forth alongside the Profound Body Three-Elixir Art—containing not only the supreme divine-sense art of the Great Luo, but also Shen Mu's reincarnation art and his Sword Domain!

Even the five great mineral veins within his ancestral court trembled, each surging with strange and marvelous power.

Yu Wufei and the many female generals within her heavenly palace wore looks of utter despair; countless among the divine arts hidden in Shen Mu's strike were things they had never seen nor heard of before!

Just then, they heard the sound of a bell. The bell's chime threw Yu Wufei into ecstasy, and hope of survival unconsciously bloomed within her.

"Zhaojin has come to save me.

. . " She drove her cultivation with everything she had.

The female generals in her heavenly palace recoiled in horror, feeling their own power draining away at a terrifying speed, devoured by Yu Wufei!

Clearly, she intended to swallow every drop of their strength to preserve her own life, cling to any chance of survival, and await the Yin Heavenly Emperor's rescue. They were all great generals under the Yin Heavenly Emperor; they wanted nothing more than to curse her out loud, but at this moment they could not even force a sound from their throats.

The might of the Divine Treasury Domain erupted, engulfing them and Yu Wufei together!

Terrifying tremors surged outward in every direction, destroying mountains and rivers along the way.

The shockwaves even reached the divine city of the Heavenly Court in the Land of Grand Void. The great formation guarding the city stirred in response, and a colossal, magnificent divine light shot into the sky.

In an instant, the heavens were covered with dazzling runes of every hue, and all manner of divine tongues and demonic incantations resounded unceasingly amid the sonorous tones of the Dao! Gravely wounded by Shen Mu's strike, Yu Wufei sprayed blood as she hurtled backward, slammed brutally against the ground, then tumbled and rolled for over a hundred li before she could finally stop.

The female generals in her heavenly palace were not so fortunate—Yu Wufei had drained away their cultivation, so the very moment Shen Mu's divine power burst forth, they died beneath the full-force blow of the Divine Treasury Domain.

Yu Wufei finally came to a halt, her body a mass of wounds, her bones broken beyond count.

She struggled to rise but could not. Just then, a pair of feet stopped before her. "Zhaojin.

. .

" Yu Wufei lifted her head full of hope—and beheld the faint, mocking smile on Yin Jiuzun's face. Yin Jiuzun looked into the distance and saw that Shen Mu, who had been so imposing and awe-inspiring a moment before, was now lying stiff and straight on the ground.

Though he still breathed, his eyes were vacant and lifeless. This was precisely the sign of having been struck by the Reincarnation Bell—the soul fallen into endless reincarnation. The Reincarnation Bell seemed to give but a single chime, with no world-shattering force, yet the bell's power acted upon the soul itself: one ring, and the soul plunged into reincarnation—a hundred lifetimes in the span of a breath, or even eternal damnation with no hope of rebirth!

Shen Mu's present symptoms plainly showed a soul already cycled through reincarnation countless times, long since forgetting all its former abilities—now dull and dazed, nothing but an empty shell. "I'm afraid I've let Aunt down.

" Yin Jiuzun lowered his head and snickered.

"Aunt, do you still remember how you seduced my father, had my mother cast into the cold palace, and then secretly had her killed?

" Yu Wufei shuddered in terror and stammered, "That was your father's idea too—it had nothing to do with me. .

.

" Yin Jiuzun seized the bell's knob, swung the great bell overhead, and smashed it down with savage force! BONG— A ring of the bell resounded. Yu Wufei was shattered to pieces, her blood staining the bell's surface red.

Her primordial spirit was likewise crushed to fine dust—not even reincarnation was possible for her now. Yin Jiuzun hoisted the blood-dripping Reincarnation Bell and snickered.

"My father was a dashing romantic.

If you had not been so beautiful, how could he have fallen for another? If you must blame someone, do not blame my father—blame your own comeliness.

I would never blame my father.

A man is a man, after all.

.

. " He cradled the Reincarnation Bell and strode toward the fallen Shen Mu, chuckling.

"I have waited so long, and at last found this chance to earn merit. Venerable Mu, my father was not wrong—you truly have abilities beyond the ordinary. I lurked nearby all this time, and finally found an opening to strike you by surprise.