Chapter 1288 — From the Azure Heavens Above to the Yellow Springs Below

Heavenly Venerable Hao scrambled to his feet in haste, a chill of dread creeping into his heart; then he saw that the inner demons of Mu Tianzun had not revived, and he let out a breath of relief. "Without the power of the inner demons, you are far from my match.

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" Boom, boom, boom! The blood and qi within him surged outward like a raging tide, flinging his head up off his neck, and his thirty-five heavenly palaces very nearly collapsed whole! That full-force clash with Shen Mu a moment ago had made his wounds graver still.

His injuries had been desperately severe to begin with, and he had been restoring himself by devouring and refining the inner demons of Mu Tianzun; but the woodcutter's single stroke of Restoration divine art had crammed the thirty-five heavenly palaces he had so painstakingly expelled from his body right back inside him, and had nearly killed him outright.

His battle with the Martial Combat Heavenly Master and Bai Yuqiong had heaped wound upon wound, worsening him further yet, and now, after trading one hard blow with Shen Mu, he could no longer hold his injuries in check at all.

Even though Shen Mu now had no inner demons of Mu Tianzun left to command, he could not afford to fight on.

He had to find himself a place of quiet safety, spin his heavenly palaces into Great Dao cocoons, and devour outer things to heal his wounds.

In former days, he need only heal his injuries and his cultivation and strength would climb another tier, surpassing what they had been. But now, after all the havoc the woodcutter and Shen Mu and the rest had wrought, even if his wounds healed, the Dao wounds upon his thirty-five heavenly palaces would likely never heal; his cultivation and strength would be greatly diminished from before, and how long it might take him to return to his peak, he could not begin to guess! "And what is worse — at this rate, I truly will die.

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" Divine blood spurted from Heavenly Venerable Hao's neck, expelling the excess blood and qi from his body, and his head flew back into place.

He hesitated no longer, flying backward, and before his feet even touched the ground he stamped down upon it; the earth burst apart with a thunderous roar and his body shot skyward. Shen Mu, riding his Divine Treasury Domain, arrived in the space of a single breath and ground to powder the spot where Hao had just stood, then soared into the air; countless rays of sword light burst from the Divine Treasury Domain, striking his body one after another like comets, piercing clean through him!

The countless rays of sword light gathered behind Heavenly Venerable Hao — a move concealed within a move — and became a whole sword domain at his back!

Heavenly Venerable Hao's blood ran cold. He threw back his head and roared, and in that roar countless threads of Dao patterns drilled out from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose, swiftly spinning into cocoons that in an instant wrapped him round, dense beyond counting.

Shen Mu's sword domain erupted and shredded the Dao cocoon before it had taken shape; divine blood sprayed through the air.

Heavenly Venerable Hao cried out, and the Great Emperor's Consciousness Daluo Heaven flew forth to meet Shen Mu's sword domain. Shen Mu clenched his five fingers, and the sword domain that had been swelling without cease suddenly contracted sharply, grazing the very edge of the Consciousness Daluo Heaven by the narrowest of margins, never touching it. The Consciousness Daluo Heaven was a divine art of the Great Emperor, a divine art that trapped Heavenly Venerable Hao's primal spirit; the Silkworm Maiden's Seven Soul Grass had been formed from a sacrifice of consciousness, and so it could pass into the Daluo Heaven without triggering its power.

Once the Seven Soul Grass entered the Daluo Heaven, it was like a fish in water, taking root in Heavenly Venerable Hao's primal spirit body, drawing on its nourishment and refining his soul. Yet if Shen Mu's sword domain had so much as touched the Consciousness Daluo Heaven, he would have fallen into Heavenly Venerable Hao's ploy of killing with a borrowed blade and slipping free like the golden cicada shedding its shell.

The power of the Consciousness Daluo Heaven would have erupted, not only grievously wounding Shen Mu, but giving Heavenly Venerable Hao's primal spirit its chance to escape!

Heavenly Venerable Hao thought to himself that it was a pity, and sped upward.

Beyond the heavens lay the entrance to the Great Void, and there the Heavenly Court's armies that had fled the Great Void would surely be waiting; his battle with the Great Emperor would certainly have reached the Heavenly Court's ears, and his own faction would have set out at once for the Great Void.

Once he walked out of the Great Void, he would be safe!

Just then, Shen Mu splayed his five fingers and struck a palm at the sky. Heavenly Venerable Hao's body rose into the air, higher and higher, and just then he saw the sky grow thin, thinner and thinner, until it had no thickness at all.

His body too was stretched, drawn out, as though it would grow infinitely thin along with the sky, and at last dissolve into the void!

"Daluo Heaven Above: Gathering the Circle to Completion!

" "So it was indeed you who stole into Zhaoyang Hall with Yun Tianzun all those years ago!

" Heavenly Venerable Hao's heart stirred slightly.

In that year he and Yun Tianzun had robbed the Zhaoyang Hall, one after the other, and had met another master who wielded this very move; but that man's magic power had been far inferior to his, and he had shattered it by main force with his own heaven-overturning strength.

Now Shen Mu used the move once more, and he recognized it at once. Shen Mu's voice came to him: "Heavenly Venerable Hao, back then you had the magic power to break my divine art.

Do you still have it now?

" "No.

But I have perfected the Innate One Qi!

" Countless wounds burst open across Heavenly Venerable Hao's body. He cast off a portion of the cultivation he could no longer hold in check, his body quivered lightly, merged with Shen Mu's Daluo Heaven, then gave a light shake and escaped from the move Daluo Heaven Above: Gathering the Circle to Completion.

Shen Mu was startled; then another pair of arms drilled out from beneath his own, four arms locking inward, the Heavenly River rolling and surging as it wrapped around Heavenly Venerable Hao, and the Four Poles Heavens rose up humming!

Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise appeared, and all together they smashed toward Heavenly Venerable Hao at the center!

"The Heavenly River Surveys the Four Poles!

" Boom!

Heavenly Venerable Hao spat blood and fell from the heights like a comet striking the earth, crashing into the land of the Great Void; flames shot up to the heavens from the ground, and a mushroom cloud rose slowly into the sky. Shen Mu, head down and feet up, hooked his palm downward.

His palm force was stamped from afar upon the place where Heavenly Venerable Hao had fallen, and the earth did not sink — instead, with a thunderous roar, it was torn up from the ground. His Dao law took shape in the land of the Great Void as a Primordial Tree; the Primordial Tree propped up Heavenly Venerable Hao's battered body and roared up to meet Shen Mu's palm.

The Primordial Tree swiftly grew to the crown of the mushroom cloud and collided with Shen Mu's palm print.

A violent tremor spread in every direction, and a ring of white light formed in the air, white light like a blade, slicing level outward on all sides, as though it meant to cut the sky of the Great Void in two. In the very instant that Shen Mu's palm force struck home, Heavenly Venerable Hao's figure vanished.