Chapter 1563 — Merged Into One

In the distance, the two ancient Taiji gods were hurrying the Dao Tree toward the outskirts when they suddenly looked back and saw a vast ship blazing with golden light rise up out of Jade Capital City; its enormous hull passed over a hall that pierced the clouds, and scraped the roof of that hall until it collapsed, shearing away a great chunk of it.

"How formidable!"

The two ancient gods were appalled, and hurriedly mustered all their strength to drag the Dao Tree at a flying pace.

A violent tremor came from behind them. Lady Taiyin looked back and saw the golden Ship of Salvation arrive at a dense grove of Dao Trees, where tree after tree swayed its branches like tree-demons; thousands of branches and ten thousand limbs grew howling like countless tentacles, curling toward the golden ship in midair.

The enormous golden ship was dragged down out of the sky, and looked about to crash into the grove of Dao Trees.

The two ancient gods had just breathed a sigh of relief when the golden Ship of Salvation suddenly plunged into the grove and crushed its way through, flattening the Dao Trees to left and right, snapping their trunks, grinding the whole grove flat!

Some of those Dao Trees still bore shrivelled Dao fruits, and these too were ground into the earth — savage beyond words!

The two ancient gods drew a sharp breath. The golden ship rose into the air once more and came sailing toward them, dodging nothing in Jade Capital City and crushing everything in its path!

"That rogue Heavenly Venerable Mu — who knows out of what river he fished a ship like that. Truly formidable!"

They hauled at the Dao Tree with all their might, wishing they could burst out of Jade Capital City and flee that very instant; yet Jade Capital City was full of perils, and a single misstep could mean death here — and besides, they were truly old, too old to run.

Suddenly a soft crack-crack came from the Dao Tree behind them. The hearts of the two ancient gods stirred, and looking back they saw that the great cocoon on the tree had split open at some unknown moment.

A beautiful woman sat in the cocoon, hugging the silkworm cocoon and gnawing at it. The cocoon was made of Dao light, and the woman had already eaten away nearly half of it!

By the look of her, she was none other than Her Highness the Empress.

The two ancient Taiji gods halted and looked together at the space between the Empress's brows. The Empress and Lady Yuanmu looked exactly alike, save for one thing: the space between their brows.

Between the Empress's brows was a red mole, while between Lady Yuanmu's brows was a black one.

When the two ancient gods saw the red mole between the brows of the woman in the cocoon, they were reassured, and said in unison, "Congratulations, Dao-friend!"

The Empress swiftly devoured the Dao cocoon down to the last scrap, smiled, and said unhurriedly, "You two Dao-brothers, it is I who should be thanking you. Without your help, how could I have absorbed that little slut? How could I have recombined my flesh with hers?"

Behind her, heavenly palaces burst forth one after another, forming a whole Heavenly Court — thirty-six palaces in all!

"I absorbed that little slut, and I gained everything of hers — including the arts and divine powers of Heavenly Venerables Hao, Xiao, and Hong. So delicious, my sister was simply too delicious... For more than a year now I have been digesting her..."

She sat on the Dao Tree, and suddenly something stirred in her heart. She rose lightly, turned around, and there she saw a golden ship of matchless splendour bearing down on her with menace.

The two ancient Taiji gods each breathed a sigh of relief — but in the very instant the Empress turned, her lovely hair streaming up, the Ancient Taiyin and Ancient Sun Gods were struck dumb.

They saw that when the Empress's hair lifted, she had no back of the head at all!

Where the back of her head should have been, a face had grown!

A face exactly like the Empress's!

The only difference was the black mole between the brows of that face!

That face smiled at them seductively, and mischievously stuck out its tongue.

The two ancient Taiji gods shuddered with dread. "Lady Yuanmu!"

The Empress had not absorbed Lady Yuanmu — she had grown into one body with two faces!

The two ancient gods exchanged a glance, shivered, and swiftly slipped away toward the outskirts.

"The two of them have joined bodies, not merged! With the Empress's and Yuanmu's strange temperaments joined as one, will the world not fall into chaos?"

Boom!

A violent crash came from behind them. The two ancient gods looked back and saw the Empress pinned hard beneath the golden Ship of Salvation, with only a pair of pale calves showing.

At the prow, Shen Mu drew his sword and pointed it at the two ancient gods, reeking of killing intent. "Dao-brothers, where have you hidden the Empress? Hand her over, and we are still friends!"

"Are you blind?" the Empress groaned from beneath the ship.