Chapter 1803 — The Sacred Land Becomes a Prison

To attain the fortieth heaven of the Dao realm is to leap beyond the domain of the Dao Tree: when the Great Dao reaches its utmost, it forms a precious hall. The precious halls of the Celestial Capital's Thirty-Six Heaven-Openers were in fact learned from the Miluo Palace; the fortieth heaven of the Dao realm was the creation of the master of the Miluo Palace, devised to escape the flaws born of imitating the World Tree, and so he brought forth the Hall of Eternity.

The Celestial Capital and the Miluo Palace once enjoyed a period of peace, both laboring together for the future of the universe; only in the Seventh Epoch did they part ways, becoming as incompatible as fire and water.

Plainly, Kaihuang had not been idle through those forty-two vanished years: his sword Dao had advanced another two or three steps!

In the years past, though Kaihuang had achieved the Daluo Heaven of the Sword Dao and refined his Dao Tree and Dao Flower, he understood only fragments of the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth heavens of the Dao realm, and knew not how to wield them, for no road lay before him; he had made something out of nothing, the first man to attain the Dao through the Dao realm.

He was the pioneer of attaining the Dao through the Dao realm in the Seventeenth Epoch. And now Kaihuang had cultivated to the fortieth heaven of the Dao, equal to the realm of the Miluo Palace's seventy-two Hall Masters.

"In these vanished years, much has happened to this native of the Seventeenth Epoch!

" the three Hall Masters thought to themselves at once. What they did not know was that Kaihuang Shen Ye had once traveled to the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, crossed sixteen rivers of chaos, and met the Seventh Young Master Shen Mu in the Hall of Chaos beside the Miluo Palace.

He and the Seventh Young Master Shen Mu had talked long and deeply there.

It must have been then that he received Shen Mu's guidance and comprehended a deeper, loftier sword Dao, so that when he reappeared forty-two years later his cultivation and strength had made terrifying advances!

The Phoenix and Hehuan Hall Masters exchanged a glance, then came to stand behind the Zhaoyang Hall Master. Each looked at the head that let light through front and back, and both frowned deeply.

The Zhaoyang Hall Master's injuries were grave; the appearance of Kaihuang Shen Ye had caught them unprepared. The Phoenix Hall Master and the Hehuan Hall Master had each lost a Dao Fruit, and the sword wound at the Zhaoyang Hall Master's brow severely limited his cultivation and strength.

"Since you, fellow Daoist, have been able to achieve the precious hall of the Great Dao, you may be counted as having a bond with our Miluo Palace.

" The Phoenix Hall Master spoke with great courtesy: "You are Kaihuang Shen Ye? Your abilities are most extraordinary, and they secretly accord with the Great Dao of our Miluo Palace. I perceive in you the transmission of the Miluo Palace's Dao arts, a lineage handed down from our Miluo Palace.

That being so, why not leave the dark for the light and join us in great undertakings?

When the Miluo Palace descends in time to come, you shall be one of its seventy-two Hall Masters.

" Her words had scarcely fallen when the Ancestral Court began to rumble and quake.

Frowning, the Phoenix Hall Master looked toward the source of the tremor, and saw that in a distant place the earth was heaving upward, like a gigantic stone wall joining heaven and earth, growing ever taller until it reached beyond the sky. The three Hall Masters were somewhat baffled.

The Phoenix Hall Master withdrew her gaze and went on: "My friend, though you may already be worthy of the name of Hall Master, compared with our depth of foundation you still lack a measure of seasoning.

Not to speak of the several dozen Hall Masters and thousands of Dao-achievers of the Miluo Palace waiting to descend, take only the three of us: which of us has not endured countless aeons of cultivation? We have passed through tribulation after tribulation of destruction, tempered and honed; even should a few of our Dao Fruits be destroyed, our strength is scarce diminished.

" As she spoke, the quaking of the Ancestral Court grew ever more violent. The Phoenix Hall Master could not resist another glance at the stone wall rearing between heaven and earth.

Upon it rose towering mountains and rivers, and surging seas; the wall joined the southern edge of the Ancestral Court to its northern edge, and its height had already surpassed the Ancestral Court's World Tree, growing ever more magnificent. The other two Hall Masters noticed it as well and could not keep from looking.

Aboard the Golden Ship of Salvation, the Moon Heavenly Venerate, Xu Shenghua and the others likewise turned to look, their faces full of astonishment and uncertainty.

That stone wall was too magnificent! More magnificent still was that the mountains and rivers upon it were ceaselessly changing of their own accord, the courses of its mountains and rivers shifting like the transformations of runes, throwing up even the gorgeous spectacle of Dao patterns and Dao chains! Plainly this was no natural thing, but someone folding up the eastern reaches of the Ancestral Court by main force, twisting space itself!

Lan Yutian and the Nether Heavenly Venerate hurriedly looked to the Moon Heavenly Venerate. She shook her head and said quietly: "I cannot do it. My magic power is not enough, and to alter geography, to make of geography runes and Dao patterns and Dao chains, my store of knowledge is not enough either.

.

. " She looked toward Kaihuang Shen Ye, her expression perplexed. Now that Kaihuang Shen Ye had reappeared in the world, could it be that he already possessed such fearsome magic power, such breadth of vision and insight? But if it were his doing, why fold up the Ancestral Court? "I went to see the Seventh Young Master, and he told me certain things that are to come.

The first thing was that I would die.

" Kaihuang Shen Ye pressed one hand upon his sword-light and, gazing at the three Hall Masters before the Golden Ship of Salvation, said leisurely: "The second thing was that the Heavenly Court would be defeated. The third thing was that I would appear forty-two years later, to bear witness to the most magnificent upheaval of all. The Ancestral Court Cage.

" The three Hall Masters were bewildered; their gazes fixed upon his face.

"The Ancestral Court Cage?

" The Zhaoyang Hall Master's voice was hoarse.

"May I ask you, fellow Daoist, what is meant by the Ancestral Court Cage? " "The Seventh Young Master said that when he returned from the Abandoned Land he was deeply moved, and so he built an Ancestral Court Cage and sealed the Ancestral Court within it.

The Boundless Old Man and the Miluo Palace are both sealed inside that cage, cut off from all contact with the outside world.

" Kaihuang Shen Ye flourished his sword-light. "And we shall fight to the death within this cage against the forces of the Miluo Palace and the Boundless Old Man.

This is the first wall.

Soon there will be a second, a third and a fourth wall, sealing the Ancestral Court utterly!

"