Chapter 1633 — Victory and Defeat in the Space of a Lightning Flash

Shen Mu arrived before the Karma Fire Stele Forest, his gaze flickering. He said in a low voice, "Where are A'Chou and the Earth Earl?"

Langxuan Divine Emperor still sat atop the Karma Fire Merit Stele, swinging his legs. He laughed and said, "You ask only about A'Chou, and not about the Heavenly Lord? Mu Tianzun, A'Chou and the Earth Earl have fallen into my hands, and the reincarnated Heavenly Lord has also fallen into my hands. If the Heavenly Lord heard your words, he would be heartbroken."

Shen Mu smiled faintly and asked, "Then where is the Heavenly Lord?"

Langxuan Divine Emperor waved his hand, and suddenly a golden rope dropped down from midair. The Heavenly Lord, his hands bound behind his back and tied together with his legs, was suspended in the air by that golden rope.

Below him was the karma fire of the stele forest, burning ceaselessly, just high enough to scorch the Heavenly Lord.

Shen Mu looked up. Though the Heavenly Lord was burned beyond recognition, he was at least still alive. So Shen Mu continued, "Then what of A'Chou and the Earth Earl?"

Langxuan Divine Emperor clapped his hands again, and another golden rope dropped down from the sky, suspending A'Chou and the Earth Earl, bound in the same manner as the Heavenly Lord.

Shen Mu could not help but laugh. "Serves them right!"

Langxuan Divine Emperor said curiously, "Mu Tianzun seems not the least bit worried about them."

"Worried?"

Shen Mu said leisurely, "Back then they actively sought death, courting it in every possible way, and never once asked my opinion. They forced me not only to risk my own life for them, but to drag my friends' lives into the bargain as well. If it were only my own life, so be it, but making my friends risk their lives for those two old bastards—that I am not happy about. Divine Emperor, do you have a whip? Whip them a few times for me!"

Langxuan Divine Emperor's gaze fixed on him. A divine whip slid from his sleeve, and without turning his head, he lashed it with a crack onto the Heavenly Lord's body.

"Well struck!" Shen Mu cheered.

Langxuan Divine Emperor released his palm, and the divine whip flew up on its own, cracking endlessly against the suspended Heavenly Lord and A'Chou.

Shen Mu's three eyes blazed with light, and he cheered again and again, feeling a surge of delight in his heart.

Langxuan Divine Emperor saw that he did not seem to be feigning, and said suspiciously, "Mu Tianzun, you do not seem to feel any pain for them."

"Pain? Bah!"

Shen Mu said angrily, "Those two old things courted death themselves. If they had died, so be it—but at the very least, after rebirth your strength should be roughly what it was before! Yet the two of them, even after rebirth, are the sort to be captured in a single move by you. Truly a great disappointment!"

The Heavenly Lord was overwhelmed with shame.

His current strength was indeed far from what it had been in his previous life.

As for A'Chou and the Earth Earl, because their three souls had scattered and Shen Mu had not yet revived them, there was no consciousness or thought within their bodies, and so they felt nothing at Shen Mu's words.

Langxuan Divine Emperor's gaze flickered. He laughed and said, "How about I just kill them, then?"

Shen Mu did not seem to mind. He waved his hand and said, "Divine Emperor, by all means kill them. I have been honored by the ancient gods as the Great Dharma Master of Myriad Kalpas Immortality. If you kill them, I can still revive them. At most you destroy their physical bodies and their cultivation—they will simply start over."

Langxuan Divine Emperor raised an eyebrow. Using this method to force Shen Mu into submission seemed rather difficult.

"Then I shall kill them!"

Langxuan Divine Emperor laughed and said, "I would very much like to test whether my Primordial Divine Ability can shatter your myth of Myriad Kalpas Immortality!"

"Oh?"

Shen Mu's right hand came to rest on the hilt of the Kalpa Sword. His knees bent slightly, his body leaning a little forward. He smiled and said, "Divine Emperor, you may kill them. But in the instant you kill them, you too will die."

The swinging of Langxuan Divine Emperor's legs stopped. His body involuntarily tensed, and he stared fixedly at Shen Mu's every movement. He laughed and said, "Mu Tianzun, are they hostages I use to threaten you, or hostages you use to threaten me? Right now I feel as though I am being coerced by you."

Shen Mu's expression was calm as he said, "Or perhaps both are possible. Langxuan, with your wisdom, you should be able to guess that Hao Tianzun sent you here to block me in order to borrow a knife to kill. He does not seek to kill me—he seeks to kill you. Because you are his elder brother, and you pose the greatest threat to his throne."

Behind Langxuan Divine Emperor's head appeared a heavenly court, with his Dao Fruit floating above the Lingxiao Hall. He laughed and said, "Mu Tianzun wishes to sow discord between us, lord and subject? Do you think that with your strength, you can kill me?"

"It is not sowing discord—it is the truth."

Shen Mu's Dao heart was utterly empty and serene. He said calmly, "Ever since you tried to refine me in the heavenly court, I have gained seven or eight parts certainty in how to slay you. Any Tianzun of the heavenly court—save for the accomplished Primordial and Hao Tianzun—I am confident I can slay. Gong Tianzun died at my hands. The Divine Emperor should know this."

Langxuan Divine Emperor narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly at him, and suddenly said, "Killing the Heavenly Lord and the Earth Earl requires only a single move from me!"

"Killing you also requires only a single move from me!"

Shen Mu said indifferently, "Moreover, you can slay the Heavenly Lord in one move, but if you wish to kill A'Chou and the Earth Earl, one move will not suffice. The Earth Earl prepared for this day for countless tens of thousands of years—perhaps from the very day A'Chou and the Earth Earl attacked the heavenly court, he began his scheming. Over these eight hundred thousand years, he forged A'Chou and the Earth Earl with karma fire, tempering an indestructible golden body. Never mind you—even if your father Primordial came in person, he might not be able to annihilate his karma fire golden body in a single move!"

Langxuan Divine Emperor's palms were slick with sweat. He laughed heartily and said, "You need only one move to kill me? Mu Tianzun, you flatter yourself too much!"

His heavenly court rumbled, and twenty-eight treasure halls surrounded it, making his combat strength grow ever stronger, his momentum ever more formidable!

The Karma Fire Merit Stele he sat upon could no longer withstand his pressure. It crumbled bit by bit, and the crumbling parts turned directly into dust, even assimilated into Primordial Qi!

Weng—

Shen Mu's Primal Embryo Divine Treasury domain spread out, the World Tree manifesting behind him, and his momentum likewise surged!

Langxuan Divine Emperor activated his Dao Fruit. It spun above the Lingxiao Hall of his heavenly court, and his primal spirit took its seat upon the imperial throne within the Lingxiao Hall. His voice was loud and booming, deafening: "Mu Tianzun, you are too arrogant! After I obtained the Dao Fruit, my cultivation and abilities rose in a straight line! My comprehension of the Primordial Dao far exceeds yours—it even far exceeds my father Primordial's! I have already cultivated to the thirty-fifth heaven of the Primordial Dao Realm!"

His momentum surged and crushed down upon Shen Mu. Mere momentum alone caused the Karma Fire Stele Forest around Shen Mu to collapse and disintegrate endlessly!

At the same time, the divine whip that had been lashing the Heavenly Lord suddenly coiled around his throat, constricting tightly!

The Heavenly Lord said not a word, his face turning red from the choking.