Chapter 1573 — The First Clash

" No sooner had his voice fallen than the sky suddenly warped. In the south, flames rolled in billows, and a Vermilion Bird came flying. Its overwhelming divine might instantly set the waters of the Yong River boiling; the fish, shrimp, and water creatures in the river were scorched red and died on the spot!

"The Fire Heavenly Lord has not yet arrived, but the fleshly body of the Southern Emperor, the Vermilion Bird, has come first. " Shen Mu's face showed mockery.

"When it comes to slaying his own kind, the Fire Heavenly Lord is indeed the fastest of them all.

" "A mere treasure-delivering boy!

" The tens of thousands of Heavenly Court officers and soldiers roared in unison, and an indescribably terrifying consciousness descended from the sky, surging from the Great Luo Heaven of ultimate void consciousness, howling toward the onrushing fleshly body of the Southern Emperor!

That fleshly body of the Southern Emperor had been refined by the Fire Heavenly Lord. When the Fire Heavenly Lord learned that Shen Mu had reached the source of the Yong River, he knew he still needed time to get there, and so, even as he hurried along, he directly drove the Southern Emperor's fleshly body.

The Southern Emperor's fleshly body was the body of the Vermilion Bird, born of the fire of the Dao; wherever it passed, the sky melted, space collapsed, and distant space warped, forming layer upon layer of spatial halos around the Vermilion Bird, unbearably scorching and blindingly bright. The power of this fleshly body was too great; it could rival a Heavenly Lord.

Yet the very next moment, the Great Emperor's consciousness forcibly invaded the Southern Emperor's fleshly body, directly erasing the Fire Heavenly Lord's brand and seizing control of it! The Vermilion Bird flapped its wings, its flames growing ever fiercer and its speed ever greater; the next moment it reached the Yong River, its talons splitting the air as it grabbed for Shen Mu on the tower!

The Fire Heavenly Lord, still rushing over, flew into a towering rage: "Great Emperor, you broken-down pauper, you dare to contend with me?

" He was truly enraged. Just then, a sword-light of incomparable brilliance suddenly soared up from the Land of the Great Void.

That sword-light pierced through the terrible space formed by the collapse of the thirty-five layers of void at the Void Bridge, and with a single stroke ran through the Heavenly Court's great camp stationed there. Wherever the sword-light passed, Heavenly Court officers and soldiers turned to powder.

The Fire Heavenly Lord saw that sword from afar, and his heart skipped a beat.

That sword-light was the sword path of the Founding Emperor. Clearly, Shen Ye, the Founding Emperor, had suddenly struck at this critical moment! The Heavenly Court's great army was stationed before the Void Bridge in the Great Void, with Heavenly Masters and Heavenly Kings garrisoning it and the weapons of the four emperors of the ancient gods suppressing it; all had long been peaceful.

Now the Founding Emperor had killed his way out of the Void of the Other Shore into the Great Void — did he mean to take advantage of the Heavenly Lords' absence from the Great Void and ambush the Heavenly Court's army of gods and demons?

He had barely thought this when he saw an even more magnificent sight.

In the Void of the Other Shore, a splendid great ship, bearing the thirty-three heavens of the Land of No Sorrow, passed through the Void Bridge and came to face the Heavenly Court's great army! The Fire Heavenly Lord was deeply shaken: "Shen Ye has gone mad!

How dare he leave the Void of the Other Shore? Is he trying to kill himself?

" Now he hesitated and wavered, unsure whether he should go to the source of the Yong River or to the Void Bridge.

The Founding Emperor and Shen Mu were both of the human race. These two had repeatedly set themselves against the Heavenly Court and against the demigods, making it very hard for him to hold his place in the Heavenly Court; thus he wanted to be rid of them both.

Yet now the two had made great moves at the same time, making it hard for him to decide whom to kill first.

"Shen Mu is the greater danger!

If he succeeds, I fear there will be another Lord Ling! " The Fire Heavenly Lord's eyes flickered, but he flew swiftly toward the Land of the Great Void, thinking, "But Lord Mu has the Great Emperor tying him down; he cannot succeed.

So the greatest danger is still the Founding Emperor, Shen Ye!

" At the same time, Lord Hao's brows knitted deeply.

He too was on his way to the Yong River, traveling with the Heavenly Lords Gong, Xu, Zu, and Lang, but the strange change in the Land of the Great Void left him torn as well. "The Heavenly Court's great army cannot be slaughtered clean by the Founding Emperor and the Land of No Sorrow, or the Heavenly Court's control over the myriad worlds will be gravely damaged.

" Lord Hao then made up his mind and continued toward the Yong River: "But compared with the Founding Emperor Shen Ye, Lord Mu is the crucial one. And the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body must never fall into Lord Xiao's hands!

That body, born unimaginably powerful, is the strongest weapon in the world! " Others did not know how terrifying the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body was, but he knew it perfectly well.

The fleshly body of the Heavenly Emperor Taichu had never once been wounded! Even beings like the Lord of Heaven and the Count of Earth could not wound the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body. If Lord Xiao obtained that body, his Heavenly Palace would be complete and he would ascend directly into the ultimate void, branding his power into the Great Luo Heaven of the ultimate void.

The fleshly bodies of others could not enter the ultimate void; they would be assimilated by it.

But the fleshly body of the Heavenly Emperor Taichu would not.

"If Lord Xiao takes the throne before I do, he will surely strike ruthlessly and tear us all apart!

" In the very instant the Southern Emperor's fleshly body came flying on wings, Shen Mu had already taken out a hairpin and traced a line in the air — and a Heavenly River reappeared in the world from more than forty thousand years in the past!