Chapter 1631 — The Tide Has Turned

The Taichu Emperor Sword shifted in Yun Tianzun's hand, and torrents of dao might burst from the imperial blade. His swordsmanship was unlike either Shen Mu's or Kaihuang's.

Kaihuang's way of the sword stood peerless, his strokes inheriting his dao; the instant he struck, the majestic thirty-six heavens unfurled, and those heavens of his sword dao had so enraptured Lizheng, once the Sword God of Jingping, that they became the man's inner demon. Shen Mu's swordsmanship was more protean still, hailed as the foremost sword art in a million years; he had entered the dao by way of divine powers, his sword itself a divine power, steeped in tribulation. But Yun Tianzun's swordsmanship had taken another road altogether.

Plain and grand, less nimble in its transformations than Shen Mu's, less magnificent than Kaihuang's, it nonetheless bore a supreme imperial might! That imperial might came of the Longhan Era, when he had reigned as the human race's Celestial Emperor over the Xiaohan Heavenly Court for several hundred thousand years—a reign longer even than Taichu's!

Nor was that all: in his time upon the throne he had executed Taidi, slain Taichu, struck down Taidi, the sovereign of the ancient age, within the Great Void, and struck down Taichu, Celestial Emperor and ruler of the ancient gods, within Yuandu, cutting the ancient gods' dominion short outright! His swordsmanship carried the majesty of two great beings slain, and so it bore a supreme imperial might, a momentum that swept all before it!

The authority he commanded with sword in hand surpassed even that of Taichu, the ancient gods' Celestial Emperor! Such was his might, his momentum!

Taichu's face turned grave; he drew the Emperor Sword he himself had forged and met the stroke. Two men, two swords; in the instant they clashed, Taichu felt at once that his own imperial might could not contend against it, and was pressed down instead!

Yet Yun Tianzun's weakness was plain as well: in mana he was far the inferior.

Behind Taichu's head a Grand Heavenly Court emerged, and the Lingxiao Hall bestowed by the Third Young Master blazed with light, sending his mana surging, crushing down with matchless strength!

In the Ultimate Void, two Daluo Heavens collided; above the Ancestral Court, another two Daluo Heavens writhed and intertwined.

Beneath those two Daluo Heavens, Hao Tianzun and Kaihuang sat facing each other on a platform, neither rising. Both seated on the ground, Kaihuang drew his sword and thrust at Hao Tianzun; the Wheel of Ten Thousand Daos behind Hao Tianzun's head swept past him and planted itself between them.

The wheel revolved—fifty-eight treasure halls, thirty-six heavenly palaces spinning ceaselessly within it—and churned the great dao concealed in Kaihuang's thrust into chaos.

Clang, clang, clang! Kaihuang's thrust rang out thirty-six times in succession.

At the first note, the Taihuang Pingtian Sword burst forth and became the Heaven of Taihuang; at the second, the Taiming Qitian Sword burst forth, and from within the sword emerged the Heaven of Taiming.

After the thirty-sixth sword-note, a Daluo Heaven of the sword dao pierced clean through the Wheel of Ten Thousand Daos! At the same moment the Wheel of Ten Thousand Daos revolved, and with each revolution it burst forth with an incomparably weighty note of the dao, and before it another Wheel of Ten Thousand Daos appeared.

The wheel revolved through twenty-eight heavens; twenty-eight wheels surged forward in layers, drawing Kaihuang into them. The twenty-eighth heaven of the Dao Realm.

His dao realm was inferior to Kaihuang's, and the Wheel of Ten Thousand Daos was likewise innate primordial qi that had not reached the pinnacle of innate primordial qi—yet this wheel was a component of his Grand Heavenly Court.

The power held within a perfect heavenly court was simply too vast; a mere twenty-eight heavens sufficed to imprint the Ultimate Void! The two completed their killing arts at almost the same instant—and at that same instant each fell under the other's killing art! Kaihuang rose to his full height, and saw all around him ceaselessly revolving heavenly palaces and treasure halls, which became a vast wheel around him, spinning madly, crushing.

Hao Tianzun, for his part, saw a dao tree appear before him, and his expression shifted despite himself. "Were it not for the Fourth Young Master's Zixiao Hall, I would surely be unable to block this thrust of yours.

A pity.

" Behind his head the phantom of the Zixiao Hall emerged, meeting the dao tree that Kaihuang's final thrust had become.

Youdu. Deprived of Langwan's empowerment, Yue Tianzun's form was at once exposed in the thirty-fifth heaven of the void. The power within the void swept in, etherizing flesh and spirit alike, flattening her body beyond measure, stretching it in every direction.

Yet Yue Tianzun invoked the Zaiji Xukong Scripture, and flesh and spirit were restored at once.

Her art was named Zaiji Xukong—Spanning the Poles of the Void. Zai and Ji were two extremes, one infinitely great, one infinitely small; the Void signified yet another quality of her art.

As early as the Longhan Era, when she dealt with Taidi, she had already learned what she knew of the void from the Creator. The Void Bridge in the Great Void was built within the thirty-fifth heaven of the void, and the three chambers at its far end she had designed and built herself, fusing the dao of space with the dao of the void to perfection, forging them into an insurmountable pass that held invaders back.

That the three chambers were not destroyed by the thirty-fifth heaven of the void was thanks to her art, the Zaiji Xukong Scripture.

By then Yue Tianzun had already been able to enter the thirty-fifth heaven of the void, and now it was naturally nothing to her; in the battle of the Daluo Heaven of consciousness, she could even use her divine power to send Ling Tianzun into the Ultimate Void!

Yet just as she gained firm footing in the thirty-fifth heaven of the void, suddenly the first through thirty-fifth heavens of the void twisted violently, becoming one massive wheel of flame! Fire Tianzun's body rose slowly, growing larger and larger; the thirty-five heavens of the void coiled around Yue Tianzun and, behind his head, became a void-ring of dao fire!

Without Langwan's aid, she at once fell under Fire Tianzun's control!

At the same time, the two Taiji ancient gods each raised a palm, and the Taiji Starfield spun and took shape, trapping Langwan within. Langwan at once roused her consciousness; the divine powers of her consciousness were unfathomable in their transformations.

She visualized divine powers of every form, visualizing even Shen Mu's divine powers and Kaihuang's sword dao, and hurled them at the two ancient gods outside the Taiji Starfield. "God King, there is no need to struggle. " The two ancient gods spoke in unison: "Your way of consciousness has not reached its peak and cannot threaten us. The dao of Taiji gives birth to and transforms all things, gives birth to and transforms all daos—it is the very bane of your consciousness's visualizations.

Struggle, and you will only suffer for it.

" Langwan shouted, and her body abruptly swelled, revealing the true form of a Creator. She stood towering within the Taiji Starfield like a giant toying with the stars, cradling the River of Stars in her hands!

Having revealed her true form, her consciousness grew vaster and deeper still, visualizing even the stars to throw the Taiji Starfield into disorder. The two ancient gods sighed, rousing the starfield.