Chapter 1538 — The Vast Tribulation Presses Down the Great River

Shen Mu unfolded his sword Dao; the Tribulation Sword, like light and lightning, interwove in the air, cutting apart soul after soul and cleaving the Dao Fruits, then he hurled the Tribulation Sword, and the sword light whirled shrieking around the Dao Tree below and cut it apart!

"In Dragon Han the wind and rain rise in darkling yellow; the tribulation's vastness presses down the great river!

" His blood up from the killing, he reached out and the Tribulation Sword fell into his hand; the sword in his hand stabbed forward, whish, whish, whish. The white-bone deity, its body just reassembled, rose from the water, and met a myriad sword lights coiling around it; it was stunned for a moment, then suddenly its white bones snapped and collapsed — within the Dao bones that made up its body, Dao chains were severed one after another and became Dao patterns, then the Dao patterns were severed and became Great Dao runes!

In the sword light the Great Dao runes too were dissolved, shattering and perishing one after another.

The white-bone deity gave a great cry and collapsed upon the river's surface, shattered utterly clean, leaving not a trace!

Shen Mu swept his sword and slid the Tribulation Sword back into its sheath, standing erect at the prow of the little boat. Behind him, layer upon layer of Dao realms, like heaven upon heaven, spread out, becoming twenty-nine heavens.

Sword light interwove above the twenty-ninth heaven, forming the thirtieth.

Around him, the Dao Trees in the chaotic qi one after another hid themselves and vanished, retreating deep into the chaotic qi. The wandering souls in the fragments of Daluo Heaven drew away and sank into the long River of Chaos; the Dao Fruits spun and vanished one after another as well.

"This move shall be called Breaking the Tribulation.

" Shen Mu raised his right leg and set his right foot on the upturned prow of the boat the staff had become, blind to the strangeness all around, gazing ahead.

This one sword of Breaking the Tribulation truly pressed down the great river, pressed down the long River of Chaos, so that those strange beings who sought to drag him into the water and land themselves made no further move against the little boat. The Breaking Tribulation Sword was aimed at the very composition of the Great Dao, working backward through the steps by which the Great Dao was composed, deconstructing the Great Dao: from domain it broke down into Dao chains, then from Dao chains it decomposed into Dao patterns, from Dao patterns into Great Dao runes, and then annihilated the Great Dao runes!

Others, the Ten Heavenly Venerables for instance, dealt with the strange beings in this long River of Chaos by sheer strength, striking these existences from bygone cosmos back down into the river; though this injured them, it was not fatal.

But once Shen Mu's Breaking Tribulation Sword was complete, it could break apart an opponent's Great Dao and threaten their very lives, and so the beings in this long River of Chaos were unwilling to provoke him.

Behind Shen Mu the thirtieth heaven took shape — the thirtieth heaven of the Dao realm; once this realm of the Dao was complete, his Great Dao was branded within the Tribulation Sword, and the sword's power rose another degree.

"Grandpa Silent Artisan forged this sword far too wondrously.

" Shen Mu could not help but marvel; when he had hurried here, the Silent Artisan had still been comprehending the Dao in the Dao Fire Ancestral Ground, and this forging of the Tribulation Sword would surely raise his art of casting to a terrifying new height!

The finest heavenly artisan under heaven — a title truly earned!

With the strange beings of the long River of Chaos gone, the dugout canoe the staff had become raced forward, gradually penetrating deep into the great river of chaos.

The long River of Chaos was of unknowable breadth, as though one could never reach the far shore; gradually Shen Mu sensed the ripples of a divine ability coming from ahead, and his heart stirred; the vertical eye at his brow looked forward.

Suddenly two blades of light scissored in, silent and without breath; Shen Mu ducked his head, and the two blade lights crossed above him — they did not catch him, yet a cut appeared on his neck, and blood flowed.

After the two blade lights scissored past, they vanished into the chaotic qi.

Shen Mu raised his head, drew the Tribulation Sword, and thrust forward! At that thrust the chaotic qi churned, the sword light vanished into it, and suddenly a very pleasant cry of alarm came from ahead: "Kaihuang Shen Ye?

You would ambush this palace? " "I am not Kaihuang.

" Shen Mu said, "Great Emperor, do you also call yourself 'this palace'?

" The voice ahead fell silent for a moment, then the Lady of Heaven Qiang's voice came, giggling: "So it is Heavenly Venerable Mu. Your skills have grown, boy.

That thrust caught me off guard and wounded me.

" Whoosh— A Dao Tree, its roots dancing, appeared before Shen Mu; the tree waved its roots over the surface of the long River of Chaos, walking upon the water like an octopus.

The Lady of Heaven Qiang stood upon that withered Dao Tree, a tattered Dao Fruit hanging at her side; within the Dao Fruit was a woman, peering at Shen Mu through the holes in the fruit.