Chapter 1283 — The Transformation of Zero and One

They all gazed at the Great Dao cocoon. A road had been hacked through it by the inner demons of Mu Tianzun, yet the air that seeped from it was still heavy with menace.

For all their numbers, those inner demons had never fought their way down to the deepest heart of the cocoon, and this venture of theirs would surely be fraught with deadly peril. The crowd steadied their nerves, and then Heavenly Lord Xi burst into laughter.

"Wen Ji. . .

Wen Tian'ge is a loyal minister and a man of honor, utterly devoted to the Heavenly Court, a servant beyond reproach!

Then let Brother Wen lead the way into this great cocoon.

What say you, Brother Wen? " The woodcutter said flatly, "Since that is so, I shall naturally lead the way for you all.

" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The woodcutter's cultivation was not high, but his wisdom was beyond measure, and he alone could unravel the killing traps hidden within Heavenly Venerable Hao's Great Dao cocoon. The woodcutter stepped forward first, entering the mouth of the cocoon, and studied the Dao-pattern threads upon it.

These silken strands were the overflow of the Great Dao that Heavenly Venerable Hao had shed while unconscious. "These Dao-pattern threads must be because Heavenly Venerable Hao's wounds were too grave. His flesh could no longer contain the Great Dao of heaven and earth, and it became a burden to him, so it was expelled from his body.

" The woodcutter murmured on: "Judging by the delicate structure of these threads of the Dao's grain, the Dao-pattern threads are formed from his heavenly palaces. Different heavenly palaces make different Dao cocoons. This is the first layer of the Dao cocoon.

" The others followed him, listening as though lost in fog.

The Dao-pattern threads had taken the form of cocoons. Many inner demons of Mu Tianzun had already died here; the group walked past their corpses. In their efforts to break open the Dao cocoons, the inner demons had suffered grievous losses.

Strangely enough, those inner demons had themselves been spun into cocoons, hanging upside down along the passage. The group avoided the corpses; some of the inner demons were not yet dead, their bodies pierced through by the Dao-pattern threads of the cocoons, their eyes glaring at the passersby.

"Heh. The little look of Mu Tianzun.

.

.

" Lü Zheng laughed. They had not gone far before they indeed came upon the second layer of the Dao cocoon.

The Woodcutter Sage continued his careful examination. The cocoon had been hacked open by the inner demons, who had forced a passage straight to its depths. "Judging by Heavenly Venerable Hao's cultivation realm, his Dao cocoon should be divided into thirty-five layers.

But Heavenly Venerable Hao is the son of the Heavenly Emperor and Lady Yuanmu; the Heavenly Emperor's Innate One Qi and Lady Yuanmu's Great Dao of the Returning Abyss, he has mastered them both. " He looked at the inner demons of Mu Tianzun wrapped into cocoons and hung upside down in the passage, his expression grim, and said in a low voice, "The Innate One Qi is one, so the Returning Abyss Dao is zero. One, zero, zero, one. .

.

there must be some trick to it.

" "Wen Ji, you thief, are you up to this or not?

" Heavenly Lord Xi could not help himself and shouted, "If we don't press on, and Heavenly Venerable Hao recovers—" He said no more. The Red Emperor, Qi Xiayu, her eyes flickering, gave off clouds of radiance like a nine-hued phoenix, and when the glow dispersed she had changed both her clothes and her face.

Upon her head she wore a circlet crown; she was dressed in short sleeves and a black skirt, hung all over with trinkets of every color, like a village girl of the western lands of the Yuan Realm, utterly unrecognizable as her former self. Heavenly Lord Xi was alarmed, and changed his own appearance as well.

He was, after all, a Heavenly King of the Heavenly Court; if Heavenly Venerable Hao were not killed, Hao would certainly find some chance to do away with him! The Woodcutter Sage was still studying the inner demons of Mu Tianzun hanging in the passage.

Suddenly he drew out his great axe and tried to cut down one of the cocoons wrapped around an inner demon. But the cocoon was exceedingly tough, and for all his strength he could not cut it open. "Let me.

" Yan Yunxi came forward, forcing down her injuries, and swept out a sword strike that cut the cocoon down.

The fine filaments within it writhed like tentacles and lunged at her!

Yan Yunxi was startled; her sword light flashed, and there came a dense clatter of ding-ding-ding, for the filaments were incredibly tough and clashed against her treasured sword, striking out sparks of fire!

Yan Yunxi severed the filaments, frowning slightly. Bai Yuqiong had wounded her too grievously; swinging her sword now jarred the injury, and she felt the pain return. Yet strangely, as her sword clashed with the filaments, she vaguely sensed that some of her vital essence seemed to drain away, stolen by them.

"Zixi, do you feel that some of your vital essence has drained away?

" asked the woodcutter. Yan Yunxi nodded. "There is something odd about these filaments.

" The Woodcutter Sage said, "Cut this inner demon of Mu Tianzun open and see whether his body, too, is full of filaments.

I have a rather bad guess that needs verifying.

" "Dead old man! Stinking old man! " The inner demon of Mu Tianzun was still alive, and roared in fury, "Wait till your grandpa gets out and eats you!

" Yan Yunxi struck out with her sword and split the inner demon's belly open.

His belly parted, and what poured out was not heart, liver, lungs, or kidneys, but countless fine filaments.

The filaments were like tiny swimming snakes, and they all reared up and lunged at Yan Yunxi. She cut them apart, her frown deepening. The others frowned as well.

Niu Sanduo muttered, "These fellows' insides are all filaments.

What does that mean?

" "Just as I thought," said the Woodcutter Sage. "This is the work of zero and one.

Heavenly Venerable Hao's Returning Abyss Dao is zero.

The Returning Abyss Dao devours all things and makes the Dao cease to exist, and it has devoured the energy within these inner demons of Mu Tianzun! The Innate One Qi is one; it converts zero into one, transforming the energy of the inner demons into one! Heavenly Venerable Hao is indeed unconscious, but he is unconscious on purpose! " The hearts of all present jolted. The Woodcutter Sage went on: "He deliberately carried a piece of collapsed void down into the Great Void and evolved it into the Demonic Realm of the Great Void!

He means to exploit the strangeness of that realm: to let his inner demons, borrowing the realm's peculiarities, be turned into reality, to devour the energy of inner demons and so heal himself as fast as possible.

Through the process of zero becoming one, he is healing his Dao wound. He need only devour the inner demons of Mu Tianzun, and then devour and refine these Dao cocoons, and he will return to his peak state, stronger even than before! " Their faces changed drastically, and looking at that deep passage, they all hesitated. Suddenly Heavenly Lord Xi laughed aloud and cried in ringing tones, "So, you rebels, you mean to murder Heavenly Venerable Hao! I, Xi Muhong, am matchless in loyalty and righteousness, and have come to guard the imperial person! " His air of rectitude was such as to inspire awe and admiration. The Woodcutter Sage glanced at him and said mildly, "Heavenly Venerable Hao is still sunk in slumber; he cannot hear your words.

If he were awake, so many inner demons of Mu Tianzun would not have come here to die, nor would he have let us come this far.

He could command the thirty-five layers of Dao cocoons to attack us. " The Red Emperor Qi Xiayu nodded.

"As it is, these Dao cocoons only strike back when attacked.