Chapter 1623 — How Many Steps to Slay the Yin Lord

His qi, his aura—none could call them weak. Among the Nine Heavenly Venerables of Longhan, the Fire Heavenly Venerable had opened the Heaven-Man Divine Treasury and stood ranked fourth.

His talent was extraordinarily high—otherwise he could never have opened the Heaven-Man Divine Treasury and carved his own indelible mark into the divine treasury cultivation system.

The Heaven-Man Divine Treasury was the treasury that linked heaven and earth as one. It joined the Five Luminaries and the Six Directions, and it also served as the bridge that bore up the Life-Death Divine Treasury that came after.

The Jingping Reforms had improved the divine treasuries and revised the Divine Bridge Treasury that the Cloud Heavenly Venerable had opened, yet he had scarcely altered the Heaven-Man Divine Treasury at all.

From this alone one could see the extraordinary caliber of the Fire Heavenly Venerable.

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable, however, seemed not to feel that dreadful Dao might in the slightest. The Fire Heavenly Venerable's dharma power was boundless and majestic, far more majestic than this mortal flesh of the Cloud Heavenly Venerable's—and yet the Cloud Heavenly Venerable remained calm and unhurried, and even the gaze he fixed upon the Fire Heavenly Venerable carried a trace of pity and sympathy.

"Fire, do you mean to be rid of me?"

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable smiled a half-smile. "This time, when you kill me, I imagine you won't be shedding tears again, will you?"

The Fire Heavenly Venerable said grimly, "Once I thought you were my Dao companion, and so I wept when I killed you. But only now do I see your true face. You are nothing but an ambitious petty schemer, no different from Shen Ye and Shen Mu!"

His killing intent surged. Beneath the mask, his pupils emanated boundless murderousness. "The harm you bring is greater than Shen Mu's, greater than Shen Ye's! They are fools, but you are cleverer. You will drag our human race into irredeemable ruin and shatter clean the fine situation I have painstakingly built! I absolutely cannot tolerate your living on!"

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable laughed heartily, and the pity in his eyes deepened. "Fire, have you never been curious how you knew I would inevitably take this road? Who told you I would pass through here?"

Behind him, Li Zheng gave a slight start.

He too was troubled by this very question.

Only five people knew of the Cloud Heavenly Venerable's journey to the Ancestral Court: Shen Mu, the Ling Heavenly Venerable, the Cloud Heavenly Venerable, the Moon Heavenly Venerable, and himself.

And yet the Fire Heavenly Venerable had seemed to know long in advance that the Cloud Heavenly Venerable would go to the Ancestral Court, and had even arrived ahead of them at a place they would inevitably pass through!

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable would never betray himself, and Shen Mu, the Ling Heavenly Venerable, the Moon Heavenly Venerable, and Li Zheng were even less likely to betray him!

So how exactly had the Fire Heavenly Venerable known the Cloud Heavenly Venerable would pass through here?

"Your being able to come here and wait for me means that person deliberately leaked word to your reincarnated body in Jingping, letting you know I would go to the Ancestral Court and would pass through here."

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable said calmly, "His goal is not to borrow your hand to be rid of me. He knows that even if you slay my mortal flesh, I will not die because of it—after all, I have already cultivated a perfect Primordial Spirit Great Luo Heaven, more perfect than the Great Emperor's. His goal is simply to make me utterly give up on you."

He revealed a mocking expression and said with ease, "That person is the Mu Heavenly Venerable, whom you despise. How could you ever best him? He is another me, the one who guides this incarnation's life. By divulging this news to you, he has two aims. First, to let me see your true face and cut off my hopes for you once and for all. Second, to draw you here—both to shatter your Dao heart and to seize the chance to be rid of you."

The Fire Heavenly Venerable's pupils shrank sharply.

That he could block the Cloud Heavenly Venerable here—it truly was news his reincarnated body had obtained by chance!

Upon receiving this news, he had immediately rushed here.

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable smiled. "The Mu Heavenly Venerable does things with both my ruthlessness and the art of killing the heart. If it were me, I would never give you the chance to see everyone desert you—I would stop at nothing to be rid of you. But he is different. He calculated that you would surely come. He calculated that the Xu Heavenly Venerable, the Ancestor Heavenly Venerable, and the others had already departed for the Nether Capital. He means to shatter your Dao heart and plunge you into despair."

Suddenly, the Dao fire in the canyon howled and whirled, transforming behind the Fire Heavenly Venerable's head into layer upon layer of Dao fire.

The Fire Heavenly Venerable looked warily around. If he had been lured here, then Shen Mu must have laid countless contingencies—he would surely cut him down here and now!

Shen Mu would absolutely not let this golden opportunity slip!

At that moment, the Fire Heavenly Venerable saw a Dao tree emerge in the sky. That Dao tree was rooted in the Great Luo Heaven of the ultimate void, and beneath the tree stood a figure, like a peerless sword. Even the heavens and earth as a scabbard could not conceal his edge!

The Kaihuang Shen Ye!

The Kaihuang Shen Ye had been guarding the Cloud Heavenly Venerable all along!

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable watched every move of the Fire Heavenly Venerable, and his heart grew ever more disappointed. He shook his head. "Fire, you are no longer the Fire of old who dared to fight and dared to brawl. Seeing the Shen Heavenly Venerable, you reveal a heart that fears battle. In those years, even when facing the Mu Heavenly Venerable, you dared to clash head-on with him, and even battered and bloodied, you would keep fighting him. No wonder your Dao heart cannot be as crystalline as the Shen Heavenly Venerable's. No wonder you cannot best the Mu Heavenly Venerable. And you also cannot best the Hao Heavenly Venerable."

He counseled the Fire Heavenly Venerable. "You are the human race's Heavenly Venerable. How could the Hao Heavenly Venerable ever feel at ease about you? I have met the Hao Heavenly Venerable—he was startled away by me. Knowing I have revived, how could he not guard against you?"

The Fire Heavenly Venerable gave a slight start.

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable raised his voice. "Brother Hao, since you have come, why still hide your head and show your tail? Now that you have attained the Great Luo Heaven, you are the mightiest being in this world—surely you need not stoop to petty schemes?"

Before his voice had even faded, another Great Luo Heaven emerged. The Dao tree was rooted in the Great Luo Heaven; the Dao flowers bloomed. The Hao Heavenly Venerable stood beneath the Dao tree.

Two Great Luo Heavens shone in mutual splendor.

The Hao Heavenly Venerable laughed heartily. "Those who know me—none better than Brother Yun."

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable smiled. "You and I have fought for three hundred thousand years. Our understanding of each other runs deep."

"And yet you cannot best me."

The Hao Heavenly Venerable said leisurely, "Now that I am here, I can hold off Shen Ye. The Fire Heavenly Venerable need only make his move, and you will surely die. Even Shen Ye himself—it may be that today he too will be buried here. Yun, you could not best me in your last life, and in this life it is still the same."

"Is that so?"

The Cloud Heavenly Venerable laughed. "I cannot best you, but the Mu Heavenly Venerable can. The Mu Heavenly Venerable may not be as ruthless as I am, but his mind is finer and more meticulous than mine. How do you know that the only one who came is the Kaihuang?"