Chapter 1703 — A Sword in Hand, Alone Across Ten Thousand Miles

The second is the Jade Capital way, also called attaining the Dao through force; it belongs to the borrowing of power, borrowing the strength of the Jade Capital City, and is a side door.

The third was created by the Second Young Master, and is called the Guixu way of attaining the Dao.

.

. " Emperor Haotian's heart was badly shaken, but he showed nothing.

"May I ask how one attains the Dao by this Guixu way? " Palace Master Lingguan was about to speak when suddenly, of the three Dao Fruits floating behind his head, the one in the middle split with a crack! A sword light came without warning, shooting out from that Dao Fruit, and with a single hissing stroke cut Palace Master Lingguan's head from his shoulders!

Palace Master Lingguan was holding up a great wine cup, and his head fell right into the cup with a gulp, and wine mixed with Dao blood spattered everywhere!

That sword light was matchlessly sharp, like a sword that cleaves open heaven; it swept the four directions and all eight quarters, and in an instant cut Emperor Haotian's detached palace in two!

As the stroke passed, many of the holy ones in the hall shrank back their heads and sprawled on the ground to dodge the sword light; not a few could not dodge in time and had their heads sliced off!

Emperor Haotian shouted in fury and rose to block the sword light; he had barely checked it when he saw the head in the great wine cup Palace Master Lingguan held burst with a bang, dissolving into a mass of chaos qi!

The chaos qi rose slowly from the huge cup, and out of that vast and hazy vapor a figure stepped forth, drawing the chaos qi into itself.

The figure seemed to be made of the chaos qi itself; the hair at his temples was grizzled, and his brows and eyes were those of Shen Mu.

And behind Palace Master Lingguan, from the Dao Fruit cloven by the sword light, another sword light flew out and was caught in the hand of the Shen Mu formed of chaos qi. Caught off guard, Palace Master Lingguan hastily stirred his Dao Fruits and Dao Flower to seal the wound at his shoulders, lest the sword light invade his physical body!

"In youth I had many a wondrous deed. " That Shen Mu danced his sword, the sword light like a bolt of silk, sweeping the four directions; beneath the shattered, rising palace, the five great masters of the Five Imperial Thrones were struck with hissing strokes, blood flying in all directions, and the five throne-level powers tumbled backward!

Shen Mu turned his blade backhand and touched its point to Taichu's brow; Taichu at once stretched his body backward, raising a single finger before his brow to hold off the sword light.

"Much did he mock Yumen's warden and the Lord who pacified the distant lands, Huto and Xinxi.

" The Shen Mu of chaos qi chanted on and on, sword light crossing and recrossing as he made havoc of the banquet; one after another the civil and military grandees of the Heavenly Court were hit; some were pierced through the body by the sword light and nailed to the ground, sliding along it; some had just sent out their primordial spirits and were about to strike when a single thrust ran them through!

Emperor Haotian sprang into the air and rushed at him, long sleeves streaming, attacking the Shen Mu formed of chaos qi. The moment he made his move, the other civil and military grandees dared not join the attack; the two figures flew and tumbled, and soon whole swathes of palace collapsed.

Ministers and officers scattered to dodge, and many could not dodge in time: some were batted away by Emperor Haotian and spun through the air like windmills, others were run through by the sword light and fell in their own blood.

"One sword to guard me on a ten-thousand-li road; who cares for the Southern Sea or the Northern Pole!

" The Shen Mu of chaos qi came and went through the detached palace swift as light, swift as lightning, never meeting Emperor Haotian head-on, but attacking the ministers and officers instead. Taichu charged in from one side to cut off the Shen Mu phantom together with Emperor Haotian, but the phantom would not stand and fight them; at a touch it fled, now turning to chaos qi, now taking form and wounding foes with a single sword stroke. "Wine-gut and poet's gall have grown narrow of late.

Facing the west wind, I climb high and gaze far, over jumbled hills and slanting sun.

If only I had a good bow and a swift horse, I might yet match strength with you gentlemen. " Shen Mu sang to voice his will, slaughtering right and left amid the confusion; for a time panic gripped the detached palace, and the civil and military officials of the Heavenly Court scattered and fled in all directions. Suddenly Palace Master Lingguan steadied his wound, flashed forward, and threw himself across the phantom's path; he struck out a palm, and Shen Mu burst with a bang into a mass of chaos qi.

As the chaos qi was about to gather again, Palace Master Lingguan swept his sleeve and gathered it all into his sleeve.

Palace Master Lingguan spread his five fingers; the chaos qi flowed from his sleeve into his palm.

He clenched his hand hard, and the chaos qi exploded with a bang, the sword-dao power hidden within crushed outright by his grip. The dragon head at his navel roared in towering fury: "Seventh Young Master, you dare toy with me like this?

I will teach you what it is to be unable to live and unable to die!

" In the Ultimate Void, Shen Mu found the place marked on the Taiyi Terrestrial Chart and looked around, unable to keep from feeling some doubt, for the void was utterly empty; there was nothing here at all.

"Not even the wind of cold silence; that is what makes it strange. " The vertical eye at his brow opened, and he gazed all around, seeing this stretch of the Ultimate Void through and through.

Suddenly his eyes lit, and a ray of light shone from the vertical eye at his brow; where the light fell, the Ultimate Void slowly receded, revealing a small patch of Great Luotian Heaven.

That Great Luotian Heaven was pitifully small, a plot no more than ten feet square, no more than a thatched hut and an old tree behind the hut.