Chapter 1613 — A Young Hero Unrivalled in All the World

The Second Young Master drove the lotus root on, and in the sky above the Sea of Chaos below, countless abysses of Guixu appeared, scattered everywhere, now flashing forth, now vanishing, beyond the fathoming of gods or ghosts, devouring and wearing away the Dao Chains.

Lotus seeds, too, were struck out from the twin lotus; at each strike, a patch of the void was annihilated outright.

Plainly, the twin lotus of the sixteenth epoch of the universe had ripened: seeds within the flower, root-stock below—unlike the twin lotus of the seventeenth epoch, which had only root tendrils, and neither seeds nor root-stock.

She knew that Shen Mu and the Goddess of Guixu had most likely met with some extraordinary fortune and grown greatly in strength, and so she brought out even the means she kept at the bottom of her chest.

Yet the Dao Chains' might was simply too great; it suppressed her cultivation and strength, and the Sea of Chaos ground her down besides, so that the fighting power she could bring forth was not high.

Though not high, it was by no means to be taken lightly. If a full-force blow of hers fell upon Shen Mu or Yuanmu, the two of them would likely be turned to flying ash, with nothing left behind at all.

Fortunately she was compelled to contend with the Dao Chains; otherwise Shen Mu and Yuanmu would have had no chance of escape whatsoever.

The two rushed to the lower reaches. Yuanmu's eyes locked upon every drifting Guixu divine art of the Second Young Master, and she dodged this way and that with Shen Mu. Suddenly a lotus seed came flying—like a stone cast into a still lake, cast into Shen Mu's God-Treasury Domain.

The seed's power erupted; the next moment it became a vast abyss, sweeping up the God-Treasury Domain, and the boundless starry sky, the countless worlds, all fell into the seed.

Madam Yuanmu leapt up into the air to meet the lotus seed, rousing her Guixu divine art; body and primal spirit shuddered and turned into an abyss of her own, meeting that seed head-on, hard against hard.

Shen Mu at once steadied the God-Treasury Domain and halted his fall toward the abyss.

Crack, crack, crack—Madam Yuanmu's body burst apart. In a single simple collision she was reduced to a blur of blood and flesh; from head to foot, primal spirit included, not one patch of intact skin remained.

Her essence qi, like a long rainbow, was drawn into the abyss the seed had become.

Shen Mu roared, rousing his domain, and Yuanmu's body and primal spirit were restored whole in an instant. The two set their teeth and strove against that lotus seed.

Suddenly strand after strand of white hair pierced through the God-Treasury Domain, and in the next moment the two were run through by a hundred and more white hairs.

The white hairs tore in every direction, and the two were shredded into countless pieces.

With a whoosh the lotus seed swallowed the countless fragments the two had become.

"The treasure tree is undying, and so am I!"

The seed was flying toward the woman upon the lotus leaf when suddenly it swelled larger and larger, and the next moment burst into pieces; a World Tree, lush and verdant, towered up from the ground.

Countless vital essences whirled madly about this World Tree; sun and moon and stars, heavenly palaces and treasure halls, swiftly took shape; world after world of the heavens appeared one by one, and Shen Mu and Madam Yuanmu stood beneath the tree.

Shen Mu bellowed, rousing the Zaiji Void; the domain grew immeasurably thin, with no thickness at all, and with a swish it flew along the surface of the Sea of Chaos, bearing them away from the Second Young Master.

The Second Young Master, contending with the Dao Chains, shook the twin lotus; a lotus leaf flew out, overtook Shen Mu and his companion, and lightly clung to the thickness-less God-Treasury Domain.

The lotus leaf withdrew, flying back toward the Second Young Master, and the God-Treasury Domain upon it flew back with it.

Behind Madam Yuanmu's head thirty-six heavenly palaces appeared, and she said in a stern voice: "Lord Mu, lend me your treasure halls!"

In her heavenly court the number of treasure halls was not great—only twenty-nine. At her words the fifty-eight halls behind Shen Mu's head flew out and settled into her heavenly court.

Shen Mu roused the Taishu Heavenly Palace, and at once those fifty-eight halls and her twenty-nine joined into one; many of the halls overlapped, but the total came to as many as sixty-seven.

Madam Yuanmu's cultivation and mana surged; palm after palm she struck that lotus leaf, driving it back.

Shen Mu once more roused the Zaiji Void and went howling far away.

They drew closer and closer to the twin lotus of the seventeenth epoch. Upon the lotus leaf beneath the flower, the corpse-bones of the Divine King Boyang could now be seen clearly.

Just then strand after strand of white hair came flying; swish, swish, swish, they wrapped themselves about that twin lotus, and dragged twin lotus and leaf together backward.

The bones of the Divine King Boyang swayed and toppled into the Sea of Chaos, which swiftly dissolved them into nothing.

"That is my lotus!"

Madam Yuanmu soared into the air and clutched the lotus stem; her body grew larger and larger, and with a shout she tore the twin lotus up by the roots.

She nearly fell into the Sea of Chaos; the next moment Shen Mu's God-Treasury Domain spread beneath her feet, and Madam Yuanmu landed upon the Ancestral Court. She brandished the twin lotus, shook off the white hairs, and the twin lotus spun and bloomed at furious speed, driving behind Shen Mu.

Behind Shen Mu, the Second Young Master's palm came thrusting through the mist of chaos; five Dao Chains were coiled about her five fingers, swiftly stripping her palm to stark white bone—yet the power of this blow was still beyond measure.

Yuanmu screamed; all her strength poured into the twin lotus; and beneath the World Tree Shen Mu's body swelled and swelled as he tore the World Tree up by the roots and met the Second Young Master's palm.

Boom!

In that collision the two bodies burst apart again and again—burst, and at once were restored, and burst once more, until even their primal spirits were smashed to utter nothing.

Thankfully Shen Mu's Undying Divine Art erupted, and they snatched back their lives after all, holding off this blow of the Second Young Master's.

The Second Young Master reached out her palm again, but the five Dao Chains bound her tighter and tighter, dragging her into the Sea of Chaos.

She gave a roar of unwilling fury and sank into the Sea of Chaos.

"Old Seven, if I break free, I will come looking for you!"

Shen Mu set the World Tree upright and planted it down hard; its root tendrils danced and drove into his spirit-fetus Ancestral Court.

Madam Yuanmu likewise planted the twin lotus into the Sea of Chaos. The two were covered in wounds from head to foot, yet they looked at each other and smiled, rose into the air, and flew toward the upper reaches of Guixu.

The tide of Guixu erupted, making them faster and faster. Their hearts were light; the mouth of the Guixu abyss drew nearer and nearer.

They came to the flower chamber of the twin lotus. Within the chamber all was tranquil; stamen after stamen danced in the tide.

Shen Mu stood at the edge of the flower chamber and looked down. The tide's streams of light were fierce; the Sea of Chaos below still made his heart quail.

"We have escaped with our lives after all. Little lover, without you, I truly would not know what to do."

Madam Yuanmu bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth and said with a titter, "However shall I repay Lord Shen?"

Shen Mu turned around, his eyes full of affection. "How does my lady wish to repay me?"

"Naturally..."

Madam Yuanmu, shy and timid, kneaded a corner of her garment—then suddenly raised her hand, summoning an abyss to cap them, and laughed: "Naturally, to send Lord Shen to the Western Paradise! While you live, I cannot be at peace!"