Chapter 1360 — On the Eve of the Descent

Heavenly Venerable Xiao was a being of vast wisdom. In Heavenly Venerable Yu he had seen the future of several hundred thousand years hence: he had seen the rise of the acquired races and the demigods, unstoppable, and he had seen the ancient gods fall from their station.

He could not hold back that tide. Yet for the sake of his own rule, and for the rule of the ancient gods, he had to kill Heavenly Venerable Yu.

So long as Heavenly Venerable Yu was gone, he could still become the common lord of all under heaven!

Shen Mu pondered it. Surveying the methods of every Heavenly Venerable — beings of the order of Heaven Duke, Earth Count, and Earth Mother Yuanjun — none of them measured up to Heavenly Venerable Yu.

Not even the road Shen Mu himself now walked, the road of alliances and counter-alliances, came anywhere near him.

That road of alliances and counter-alliances was heavy with plots and schemes, heavy with reckonings upon the hearts of men; it had none of Heavenly Venerable Yu's grandeur.

The road Heavenly Venerable Yu walked was the road of kings, the road of emperors — a pity that the ancient god Heavenly Emperor had recognized his strength at the very first moment and struck him down.

His downfall lay in being too outstanding, while his strength could not keep pace.

The magnanimity of Heavenly Emperor Taichu was immense: he could tolerate countless people — Heaven Duke, Earth Count, Heavenly Consort Yuanmu, all of them he could tolerate, and even Shen Mu, that fellow who had tripped him up time and again, he could tolerate as well.

But let anything threaten his power, and he would tolerate nothing.

Let anything threaten his power, and whoever it was, he would root them out — even his own son!

"The dao wound left by Divine Emperor Langxuan has healed as well!" Master Dan cried out suddenly, elated.

Heavenly Venerable Yue's spirit surged. She drove her cultivation art with all her strength, and at once felt it circulate free and unhindered; she now had the confidence to stake everything on one fight!

Heavenly Venerable Xiao looked at her and shook his head. "You cannot escape now. Even standing within Heavenly Venerable Mu's domain, you cannot escape my grasp."

Heavenly Venerable Yue drew a long breath; her sleeves and skirts began to stream, ribbon after ribbon drifting slowly through the air, and with the ribbons moved strands of dazzling divine light.

Heavenly Venerable Xiao's brows lifted. Behind him, the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu gripped the Yuanmu and gave it a gentle turn — and at once every heaven and every world of the Yuan World shifted along with the motion of the Yuanmu's branches, leaves, and crown!

Such power as even Earth Mother Yuanjun in her day had never achieved — and Heavenly Venerable Xiao could achieve it!

The displacement of the Yuan World's heavens and worlds altered space itself; Xiao's purpose was precisely to throw space into disorder, to leave Heavenly Venerable Yue no way to escape!

Shen Mu spread his five fingers and laid his palm flat. Heavenly Venerable Yue danced within that palm, slender and graceful, light as a swallow; one string of space after another surfaced, and these strings, plucked by the shifting heavens and worlds, gave out a tangled music.

Heavenly Venerable Yue's figure flitted upon string after string, yet however she leapt, she could never leap beyond the heavens and worlds, never leave the Yuan World — could not even leave the peach forest!

The space she could move through grew smaller and smaller, until nothing remained but the span of Shen Mu's palm!

Twang! Twang! Twang!

The strings of space quivered violently, and of a sudden countless attacks came at Heavenly Venerable Xiao and the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu from every direction. Xiao's body stood firm as a mountain; the divine artifact gave a low shout, shook its frame, and revealed three heads and six arms, its fists blasting out on every side and shattering Heavenly Venerable Yue's attacks to powder!

It stepped forward and drove a fist forth, vast and magnificent, smashing through Shen Mu's divine treasury domain and striking straight at Heavenly Venerable Yue, there in the palm of Shen Mu's primal spirit!

That punch was aimed not at Shen Mu but at Heavenly Venerable Yue; yet its surging, tremendous force fell upon the divine treasury domain, shaking it loose and crumbling, shattering it!

Within that domain the stars winked out, Xuandu came apart, Youdu ceased to be, and even the Ancestral Court sank into earth, water, wind, and fire, on the verge of annihilation!

The divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu was too powerful — trapping Heavenly Venerable Yue with the Yuanmu, forcing its matchless flesh into Shen Mu's divine treasury domain. Such overbearing force was enough to drive a man to despair!

At that very moment Shen Mu's body swayed, and behind him a gate rose, bearing up the heavens and rooted in the earth; behind that gate lay Youdu!

Heavenly Venerable Xiao's brows lifted, and a faint smile touched the corner of his mouth.

The Heaven-Bearing Gate opened. In the darkness behind it, paper boats hung with lanterns gathered, more and more of them, until of a sudden all the paper boats merged into a single skiff that sailed out from Youdu and through the Heaven-Bearing Gate!

On the skiff a gaunt old man raised his head; a bony hand reached out and met the palm of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu!

Boom —

A dreadful throb erupted. Behind the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu, heavenly palace after heavenly palace suddenly appeared, a magnificent spectacle, linked into a single heavenly court; the artifact's power soared, and it pressed the gaunt old man back until he stumbled into the Heaven-Bearing Gate.

"Heavenly Venerable You, though you too are honored as a Heavenly Venerable, you are no longer at the center of power in the heavenly court. Your contact with the myriad divine abilities and arts has been far too little!"

Heavenly Venerable Xiao still stood there, unmoving, and smiled. "You are out of date."

That old man was Heavenly Venerable You. In the instant before he fell back into Youdu, an incomparably vast palm reached out from behind him and caught him up.

Behind that palm were a pair of enormous eyes burning like the demon fire of Youdu, and then a third eye surfaced, gazing across Youdu toward the Yuan World.

Having lifted Heavenly Venerable You, the palm became a fist, blasted through the Heaven-Bearing Gate, and clashed head-on with the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu.

At the same time, Heavenly Venerable Yue flew up from Shen Mu's palm; strings of light spread out in every direction and wrapped themselves around the crown of the Yuanmu, and all her divine abilities burst forth at once!

Heavenly Venerable Xiao's brows rose in a smile. He straightened and alighted upon the shoulder of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu, which was staggering backward.

He gave a low shout, and a heavenly palace leapt from behind his head and filled into the heavenly court of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu.

The heavenly court behind the head of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu held thirty-five heavenly palaces in all; with this one palace of his filling it, it became at once a perfect Grand Heavenly Court of thirty-six palaces!

He had never cultivated the heavenly court realm, and was still short one heavenly palace; therefore he could only borrow the body of the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu and make up the last deficiency with his own innate heavenly palace, barely attaining the heavenly court realm.

To do so would raise his power, for one fleeting instant, to a level to rival his own peak — but the hidden cost was great: his own flesh could not bear it!

Yet now it was not his flesh that deployed the Grand Heavenly Court, but the divine artifact Heavenly Venerable Yu!