Chapter 1713 — Bringing Down the Empress

Shen Mu shook his head. "Rest easy, Your Majesty. The Ten Heavenly Venerables are all of one blood and one branch; I gave up hoping for any of you long ago. I waited here for you, Empress, for reasons of my own."

His gaze passed over the Empress and came to rest on Xie Wuqi and Crown Prince Mingya.

The Empress stepped in front of him and blocked his line of sight.

Shen Mu was among the very mightiest experts of the age, yet she showed him not the least fear, and met him edge against edge. "I have already attained the Dao in the Abyss of Return. I would not claim that this skill of mine is unmatched under heaven, but even if the man in your shadow joined hands with you, he could not hold me here. If you mean to strike at me and use the occasion to be rid of me, then you underestimate me far too much."

Astonishment showed on Shen Mu's face. "Your Majesty has already perfected the planting of the chaos lotus?"

The Empress was startled inwardly. "You understand the chaos lotus as well?"

Shen Mu smiled. "Then tell me: has your lotus come into bloom?"

A chill ran through the Empress, and she took a step back.

His words left her shaken. From a single utterance of the Dao by the Master of Miluo Palace she had comprehended the true method by which the Second Young Master of Miluo Palace had attained the Dao; she reckoned herself unmatched under heaven, with only prehistoric beings such as the Lord of the Lingguan Hall above her in power, yet if it truly came to blows, even the Lord of the Lingguan Hall could not take her down.

That was why she had crossed the battlefield alone and pressed deep into enemy territory to see her own son, Xie Wuqi.

Yet what she had never expected was that Shen Mu not only understood the chaos lotus, but asked whether her lotus had come into bloom. Why was Shen Mu so thoroughly versed in the attainment of the Dao in the Abyss of Return?

Empress though she was, she had grown only a single lotus leaf; she had not so much as glimpsed the shadow of a lotus, let alone its flowering.

"It would seem Your Majesty has not brought your lotus to bloom."

Shen Mu opened his divine treasury domain, and within his great abyss of the Abyss of Return, chaos spread like a sea, and upon that sea of chaos floated, utterly still, one lotus blossom and two lotus leaves.

The Empress's gaze fell upon his sea of chaos. She stared at the lotus, and her voice came out hoarse. "You have already cultivated to this point? When did you attain the Dao?"

"So this is what it means to attain the Dao in the Abyss of Return."

Shen Mu surveyed his own abyss and shook his head. "I attained the Dao without knowing it myself, and I must thank Your Majesty for pointing it out. As I see it, the planting of the chaos lotus is not complete with a lotus blossom alone. There must also be the lotus root, the seedpod, the seeds; only then does one's cultivation count as accomplished. Your Majesty, even if you have attained the Dao in the Abyss of Return, you are still very far short."

Her face cold, the Empress suddenly laughed. "Heavenly Venerable Mu, yours is no true attainment of the Dao in the Abyss of Return. You merely planted a lotus from the seed the Second Young Master gave you. Your lotus of the abyss, like your World Tree, borrows from things outside yourself; it is not the fruit of your own cultivation. You cannot frighten me."

Shen Mu laughed heartily and withdrew his divine treasury domain. "Whether my attainment is real is not for Your Majesty to guess. I came to see you to make a request, one I have no right to ask."

"Say it, then," she said indifferently. "I may not agree."

Shen Mu's expression turned grave. "My request is very simple, and greatly to Your Majesty's advantage as well. Since you have attained the Dao, you must know how the attainment of the Dao in the Abyss of Return is achieved, and Heavenly Venerable Hao will surely come to you for the method."

A faint smile appeared on the Empress's face. "You mean for me to seize this chance and pass the art of the Mirror of the Abyss of Return to Heavenly Venerable Hao?"

Shen Mu shook his head. "I mean that you may teach him the true attainment of the Dao in the Abyss of Return if you wish, but you must never teach him the Mirror of the Abyss of Return."

The Empress was taken aback, then burst into a bright peal of laughter. "You fear the Second Young Master of Miluo Palace will come out of the abyss? That the great Heavenly Venerable Mu, Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace, should have someone he fears."

Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly. His gaze settled on her face, and his voice went cold. "Empress, have you not noticed? Your temperament now grows more and more like Madam Yuanmu's."

The Empress gave a sputtering laugh. "I used the method of reincarnation to be reborn and imitate that little slut's temperament, and I did it so seamlessly that not even Heavenly Venerable Hao or her paramour could tell a hair's difference. Heavenly Venerable Mu, you were the one who taught me this. Surely you understand."

Shen Mu's pupils contracted sharply. The vertical eye at the center of his brow opened and fixed upon her, and only after a long moment did it close again. "Of course I see it. The Second Young Master of Miluo Palace is more dangerous than the Third and the Fourth. If you teach Heavenly Venerable Hao the Mirror of the Abyss of Return, he will never withstand it; the Second Young Master will surely seize the chance and take possession of half his body."

"You are too late."

The Empress's face turned stern. "I have already taught Heavenly Venerable Hao the Mirror of the Abyss of Return. He is most likely cultivating it at this very moment. Heavenly Venerable Mu, is there anything else? If not, do not block my road home."

A roaring filled Shen Mu's head, and his voice came out somewhat hoarse. "You taught it to him? Empress, do you know what you are doing? Do you know why the Master of Miluo Palace had to suppress the Second Young Master?"

The Empress arched her fine brows. "What has that to do with me?"

Shen Mu drew a long breath and stepped forward until he stood before her, looking down at her from his height. "What the Second Young Master intends to do appalls even the Master of Miluo Palace; that is why she had to be suppressed. By teaching Heavenly Venerable Hao the Mirror of the Abyss of Return, you are setting that demon king free. And this universe has no second Master of Miluo Palace."

The Empress frowned, displeased that he had come so close. "Heavenly Venerable Mu, do you remember how I cut off your hand in the Ancestral Court last time? You are being far too insolent."

Shen Mu stepped closer still, until they were almost touching, and said coldly, "It seems you still do not grasp the crux of it. The Second Young Master of Miluo Palace means to destroy all life, destroy all universes, and return every universe to its most primordial state. Not only the Jade Capital City of Miluo Palace; the whole of the seventeen universes will be utterly destroyed by her."

Then the Empress's aura erupted. The whole of Taihuang Heaven was twisted by her terrible power, buckling in the middle like a pie pressed inward, collapsing toward her from every side.

"So it seems Heavenly Venerable Mu has still not learned his lesson."

The power of one who had attained the Dao burst out of her. She was just about to strike when her right hand was suddenly severed clean at the wrist, blood spurting forth.

A shock went through the Empress. She retreated at speed, rousing her Dao arts and divine powers; her hand regrew with astonishing swiftness. She gathered up all her magic power and pushed both palms forward.

A great abyss abruptly appeared. Taihuang Heaven was stretched like twisted noodles, dragged by the terrible force of the Abyss of Return, nearly splitting apart.

"Empress, you have disappointed me. In that case, what use have I for keeping you alive?"