Chapter 1551 — Thrashing the Old Seniors

Shen Mu straightened up, his smile gone, and said mildly: "As I see it, those days ought to end."

Slowly he drew the Tribulation Sword. From his earlier wild abandon to his present solemnity, his expression shifted with perfect composure, and he said unhurriedly: "Gentlemen, the days when one Heavenly Emperor's family ruled this cosmos of heaven and earth must end. You have grown old."

His gaze swept from face to face, and mockery rose upon his own: "You truly have grown old. Rotten. Not merely because the annihilating calamity has assailed you and aged you and rotted you, but because within power itself you have grown old, grown rotten."

He bent a finger and flicked the blade lightly, gazing at its ringing edge: "And I am still young. As one wanes the other waxes. You are no longer my match."

"Insolence!"

The two dao trees stirred suddenly and came hurtling toward the little boat!

The nine Venerables were mighty in strength; though the breath of the Great Calamity of Destruction had assailed them all along the way, though they had aged to this degree, they were still Venerables, still possessed of boundless battle power!

Shen Mu's eyes were utterly calm. The little boat beneath his feet abruptly surged and raced away; he did not meet the Venerables on the two dao trees head-on.

The surface of the Long River of Chaos was in no way a place for battle.

To fight here was too perilous; one misstep and a man would fall into the water and be turned to the ashes of annihilation.

Though he was confident of fighting these Venerables, he would not plunge himself into such peril.

Upon the Long River of Chaos, two dao trees and one little boat tore through the waves, through layer upon layer of chaotic qi, faster and faster.

At the stern, Heavenly Consort Qiang, doddering with age, clutched the two God-Slaying Dark Blades. Suddenly she clenched her teeth, and another tooth broke off; she swallowed it back down into her belly, thinking: "In this battle, where am I to stand? Do I fight that fellow Shen to the death and seize his strange tree, or join hands with him against the nine Venerables?"

She could not make up her mind. If she sided with Venerable Hao, Venerable Gong would not tolerate her, and Venerable Hao would surely make her submit; and she, a Great Emperor of renown, who had roamed the world at will, could only be above others, never below them!

Nor could she cast in her lot with Venerable Xiao; Venerable Xiao would be the first to refuse her.

She knew Shen Mu exceedingly well, and her usefulness to him was growing ever smaller. If Shen Mu reached the far shore, he might well rid himself of her first.

For Shen Mu to save Venerable Ling and Venerable Yun, he must first dispose of her!

As she wavered, the little boat suddenly gave a slight lurch and reached the far bank. The boat rushed up onto the land and thereupon flung Heavenly Consort Qiang up, then transformed into a walking staff that Shen Mu slung behind his back.

Heavenly Consort Qiang's face shifted from gloom to light; watching the two dao trees charging at the bank and the Venerables and divinities upon them, she suddenly sent the two God-Slaying Dark Blades howling up, slashing at Venerable Xiao on the nearest dao tree, and cried shrilly: "Venerable Mu, I will hold off Venerable Xiao. Finish them!"

The instant the words left her mouth, she threw her strength into her arms, and the two killing auras that flew at Venerable Xiao curled back, one left and one right, chopping at Shen Mu's head!

But Shen Mu seemed long since to have foreseen that she would turn on him. Two sword-lights flashed, and with two clear rings the God-Slaying Dark Blades were cut apart.

Heavenly Consort Qiang was startled; the God-Slaying Dark Blades too had been assailed by the breath of the Great Calamity, and were no longer as formidable as before.

The broken blades in her hands writhed like dragons, about to rejoin; but Shen Mu had already closed in, sword-light flickering in his grip, and his first move was the Calamity-Breaking Sword, its radiance shooting forward like a long rainbow!

Heavenly Consort Qiang cried out. Behind her, one after another, decayed heavenly palaces leaped forth and formed a heavenly court; a mighty divine consciousness burst out and battered at Shen Mu, while in her hands the two killing-aura blades rejoined and fused, whirling like a long whip to entangle him!

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

A dense torrent of sound came forth; the two God-Slaying Dark Blades broke inch by inch within the sword-light, and then the rainbow of sword-light broke through Heavenly Consort Qiang's divine consciousness. Beneath the surge of the sword-light, hall after hall of her heavenly court was swept flat!

The sword-light drove from one end of the heavenly court to the other, and wherever it passed it smashed all before it like rotten wood and withered leaves, leveling everything!

Chi —

The rainbow of sword-light burst out from the far end of Heavenly Consort Qiang's heavenly court and rushed at Venerable Xiao. Venerable Xiao gave a cold snort; Divine Emperor Langxuan at once stepped forward and thrust out a finger of divine essence to meet Shen Mu's sword-light.

Within his own sight, he watched his finger sliced clean through by that sword-light, the first joint of his index finger split in two and flying off to either side, and then the second joint, and then the third!

At the same moment, Shen Mu had come before Heavenly Consort Qiang. He raised the Tribulation Sword and rammed the hilt forward with all his weight, smashing it into her old face.

Heavenly Consort Qiang's features twisted; tooth after tooth flew from her mouth, and her body spun away to crash down toward the Long River of Chaos.

Just as she seemed certain to fall in, she suddenly turned her palm over, and beneath her hand appeared a stump of the dao tree. Standing on the stump, Heavenly Consort Qiang giggled: "Venerable Mu, thank you for the ride! As for the three rivers below, I can cross them myself!"

Toothless as she was, her speech came out whistling and slurred.

Shen Mu sheathed his sword and said indifferently: "Great Emperor, you have gone the wrong way."

Heavenly Consort Qiang's heart lurched; she looked back and saw that she was caught between the two dao trees, which swept her along to the shore. The nine Venerables and the three ancient gods descended from the trees and set foot on solid ground.

Heavenly Consort Qiang had no choice but to come ashore, raging inwardly: "It is not that I went the wrong way; it was that blow of his that sent me off in the opposite direction! This brat is forcing me to make an enemy of him!"

"Gentlemen, from childhood I was taught by the Nine Elders of Yincan Village, and their discipline was strict; the Nine Elders taught me to respect the old and cherish the young."

Shen Mu's right wrist gave a light shake, tracing a sword-flower, and he slung the Tribulation Sword behind his back; lifting his left hand, he smiled and said: "But today I must perforce give old men a beating. Ten Venerables, three ancient gods, please."

He lifted his foot and stamped down hard; with a boom like thunder, his divine-treasury domain came howling and swelling outward, drawing all thirteen Venerables and divinities into it!