Chapter 1582 — The Emperor First Tests His Edge

In the sky, stars still fell unceasingly, smashing down toward them, but in mid-fall they crumbled and disintegrated, at last turning into Taichu qi of the chaotic state and merging into the flood that destroyed heaven and earth!

Lord Xiao's strength was too great. His was the Dao attained through force, and in sheer power Shen Mu had never seen anyone reach Lord Xiao's level!

Taichu qi is the one innate qi, born before heaven, existing before heaven and earth were divided; it evolved Taishi, evolved Taisu, evolved Taiji, until at last heaven opened and earth split, and only then was there a world.

Lord Xiao was now driving the Dao of Taichu to its utmost, returning this ruined heaven to the state of Taichu, swelling his own strength!

And at this moment sword light blazed upon the God-Slaying Platform, dazzling beyond compare; the instant it shone, Shen Mu felt the sword dao flourish and swell, present everywhere.

"The Great Luo Heaven of sword dao?"

Shen Mu's heart leaped, and he sensed at once that the source of this sword dao was nothing other than the Great Luo Heaven of sword dao!

Yet by Lord Xiao's own words, this age should be the time after the Supreme Emperor Era fell and before the era of Lord Kai was born.

That is, Lord Kai had not yet been born.

Lord Kai had attained the Dao forty thousand years later, imprinting sword dao upon the Ultimate Void, achieving the Great Luo Heaven of sword dao, cultivating the Dao Tree, blooming the Dao Flower.

In sword dao attainment, Shen Mu was already the first man under Lord Kai, and his senses could not err.

But in the age they now stood in, there was no Great Luo Heaven of sword dao. How then did Lord Kai possess one?

That sword light pierced the rolling Taichu qi in an instant. If Lord Xiao was returning this ruined heaven to the chaotic state and turning it into Taichu qi, then Lord Kai was opening heaven and dividing earth with his sword, remaking the world!

Lord Kai's sword dao had always been vast and majestic; the first sword by which he entered the Dao was the Taihuang Heaven-Pacifying Sword, and all thirty-six heavens of his sword dao were swords that opened heaven and divided earth!

Amid the Taichu qi of the chaotic state, thirty-five heavens appeared, and then one more supreme heaven appeared, steadying the millstone-like rotation of the chaos.

The next moment, the sword light burst; the chaos exploded, and amid a wave of utterly terrifying energy, a figure came hurtling backward, spilling blood the whole way!

The sword light vanished.

Lord Kai still stood upon the God-Slaying Platform. Their exchange had been earth-shaking in might, yet not the slightest wisp of that power had fallen upon the platform.

The God-Slaying Platform was already battered and broken; one more heavy blow and it would surely shatter. Yet Lord Xiao's heaven-shaking strike had been borne wholly by Lord Kai, and the platform was untouched.

Shen Mu hurriedly looked at Lord Kai, and saw blood at the corner of his mouth — plainly his wounds were not light, and he was faring poorly.

But the one who had been knocked flying, spilling blood the whole way, was not Lord Kai; it was Lord Xiao, who had seemed the stronger.

Lord Xiao's wounds were graver than Lord Kai's!

"I understand!"

Shen Mu's eyes lit up and he cried out in joyful astonishment: "I finally understand!"

Lord Ling did not know what he understood and looked at him curiously.

Shen Mu clenched his fists in high excitement and said nothing. Lord Ling tilted her head and thought: "By any reckoning Lord Mu is no longer young — why is he still so childlike?"

She gathered her hair and set her hairpin in place.

"Taichu — it is I who attained the Dao, not the Great Luo Heaven of sword dao."

Lord Kai still stood on the God-Slaying Platform, watching Lord Xiao, who was still tumbling and spilling blood, and said calmly: "Whether there is a Great Luo Heaven of sword dao makes little difference to me. For I am the sword dao, I am Great Luo, I am the Dao Tree of sword dao, I am the Dao Flower upon the Dao Tree."

"Yes!"

Shen Mu said excitedly to Lord Ling: "That is exactly what I meant!"

Lord Ling smiled and thought: "A child's temper, after all."

"Now I can rest easy."

Shen Mu let out a breath, took out the Celestial Emperor's body, his eyes flickering, and said with a smile: "Lord Hao will soon break free. Ling, we must make ready!"

Lord Ling frowned. "Lord Hao's strength is no less than Lord Xiao's. I fear I cannot be of much help."

Shen Mu thought for a moment, then said: "In the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, I witnessed the ruin and death of sixteen cosmos, and came to understand the principle by which cosmos are born and die. It is the law of the conservation of mass and energy! The entire cosmos transforms mass and energy into one another, and the total mass-energy never changes. You have comprehended the immutability of matter; if you can advance one step further and comprehend the immutability of mass-energy, then perhaps even Taiyi will not be your match."

Lord Ling asked curiously: "What is the immutability of mass-energy? How do mass and energy transform into each other?"

Shen Mu crouched down. Beneath the Taiyi Cane there was still a patch of sand; he stretched out a finger and drew and scribbled on it, saying: "From the builder of the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, the master of Miluo Palace, I grasped a Hongmeng rune. These days I have studied it without cease — perhaps the secret of the transformation of mass and energy lies hidden within this rune. Only I have never quite understood the conversion between mass and energy; it requires calculations of immense complexity. And the dao patterns of the master of Miluo Palace conceal precisely these shifts among runes."

Lord Ling crouched down as well. After watching for a moment she took out her hairpin and also drew and scribbled on the ground, and the two of them calculated together.

On the other side, Lord Kai and Lord Xiao fought until heaven collapsed and earth split, yet the two of them turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to it all.

"Lord Mu, at last you have died by my hand! Hahaha!"

Lord Hao's voice rang out. Shen Mu glanced over and saw above Lord Hao's head a great bell, battered and broken, riddled with holes, leaking wind on every side.

He withdrew his gaze and went on calculating with Lord Ling.

Lord Hao had fought his way out from forty thousand years of time, wild with joy; then he suddenly saw that amid the storm born of Lord Kai and Lord Xiao's battle, a single cane propped up a patch of pure land, and there was Shen Mu, perfectly well, not dead at all, crouching on the ground with Lord Ling, their heads touching, writing something unknown upon the earth.

Lord Hao gave a muffled groan, and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Did you not say that if I slew the twenty-odd thousand of you across forty thousand years of the past, you would die?" he murmured.

"I never said I would die."

Shen Mu rose to his feet and said with a half-smile: "Besides, did you really believe it, worthy nephew?"