Chapter 1853 — The One Who Dissolved into the Dao

" Shen Fengqing, commanding the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, freed two of his arms and saluted Lady Nanxiang, saying, "My younger brother said that Lady Nanxiang would surely lend a hand at the moment of crisis.

His words were no empty saying.

" Lady Nanxiang returned the salute and said, "Nanxiang does not aid the Seventh Young Master, but Miluo Palace. The Miluo Palace of today no longer has the bearing and spirit it had when our teacher lived, and it has turned from our teacher's principles.

Rest assured, all of you: after this battle, win or lose, Nanxiang will do as our teacher did—dissolve her cultivation and return to heaven and earth.

" Shen Fengqing said, "You may reincarnate, Lady. The Jingping of the future will need beings like you.

" The other Hall Masters, their formation shattered and scattered, fought their way out and barely escaped the grinding of the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel; yet in that brief moment six Hall Masters had lost their lives, and with Nanxiang's defection, of the fifty-six Hall Masters only forty-nine remained.

Through this upheaval, the accomplished Daoists slain or wounded were beyond counting.

"Each has their own aspiration; there is no need to curse Nanxiang. She chose another path, and she surely has her reasons.

" Hall Master Huadu stopped the others' curses, saying, "Our struggle with the Seventh Young Master and Jingping is a contest of principles; there is no right or wrong in it.

We forty-nine Hall Masters can still fight if we unleash Miluo Joins the Dao!

So long as we break the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, we still have a chance of victory! " The forty-nine Hall Masters ceased their cursing of Lady Nanxiang and once more drove the great divine power of Miluo Joins the Dao.

Though seven Hall Masters were lacking, the power of Miluo Joins the Dao was still terrifyingly dreadful; under a single blow, Shen Fengqing could no longer control the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, and the Wheel broke apart—of its six vast paths of reincarnation, some shattered, some burst open and rolled away in all directions. Lan Yutian, Xu Shenghua, and the others hurried to act, saving many of Jingping's accomplished Daoists, but still many were smashed to powder and bone. The vast Wheel rolled into the dao tree forest, crushing not a few accomplished Daoists of Miluo Palace who had no time to dodge.

Even so, the accomplished Daoists of Miluo Palace still greatly outnumbered those of Jingping, and those of Hall Master rank were more numerous as well.

Lan Yutian, Xu Shenghua, and the others swept up the crowd and descended; Xu Shenghua looked back and saw the Ancestral Court Primordial Cauldron reassembled within the city of Yujing, its power as a mighty artifact utterly suppressed by Yujing, robbed of all force. Apart from the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, only the Ancestral Court Primordial Cauldron could stand against Miluo Palace; but with the Cauldron suppressed, their situation had suddenly turned very grim.

Suddenly Lady Nanxiang said, "The city of Yujing is merely a strange treasure for suppressing the Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation; it will not attack on its own.

Only because the Cauldron's power was too great did the two Young Masters rouse Yujing's might to suppress it.

If it leaves Yujing, it still has the strength for one battle. The remaining Hall Masters and accomplished Daoists are not enough to command Yujing.

" Scarcely had she spoken when Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian withdrew and retreated; two men, four palms, all pressed together upon the Ancestral Court Primordial Cauldron.

Whoosh— The Ancestral Court Primordial Cauldron flew whistling out of Yujing; Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian immediately turned and charged back, gathering up the crowd and breaking out of Yujing. Lady Nanxiang was, after all, a Hall Master of Miluo Palace, and mighty in strength; amid the chaos she too broke out of Yujing and joined the others.

"In Yujing there are all manner of strange treasures.

In the city is a well, forged by the First Young Master, Taishang, called Heaven-Reaching, which connects to past universes.

The First Young Master was kind, and sought to use this well to save the living beings of past cosmic epochs.

" Lady Nanxiang said swiftly, "There is also the strange treasure Flying Smoke, a treasure the Second Young Master refined when he attained the Dao, dissolving his own Dao realm to make it. The Third Young Master's strange treasure is the Great Prison—he hated evil as a foe, and used this treasure to suppress his enemies.

The Fourth Young Master's strange treasure is the Returning Light Mirror, which can capture people.

. . " "Nanxiang!

" Huadu led the host out of the city, and hearing this cried aloud, "Must you truly put us, your fellow disciples, to death?

Each has their own aspiration, true—but do you not remember the friendship of the comrades of the Dao in days past?

" Lady Nanxiang looked at the host of Miluo Palace charging toward her, all familiar faces, and sighed inwardly; she went on to name the strange treasures of the Fifth and Sixth Young Masters as well, saying, "These strange treasures, though not Dao-arms, are exceedingly powerful, and must be guarded against.

In the city there is also the Seventh Young Master's strange treasure, hidden beneath the meditation cushion of our teacher, the master of Miluo Palace.

Find it, and you will have a chance of victory. " She rose to her full height and alighted before the ranks, bowing to Hall Master Huadu and the others, and said, "Though I have stood against you all over a difference of principles, I truly cannot pass this barrier of my own Dao-heart, and cannot bear to raise my hand against you.

Since I have betrayed my fellow disciples, I should dissolve into the Dao and depart. In the next life, I will not know any of you.

" With that, her whole Great Dao crumbled away, leaving only her spirit.

One Hall Master was about to strike and annihilate her spirit to quell the hatred in his heart, but Huadu stopped him, shaking his head: "It is only a contest of principles, with no right or wrong. Let her go.

" You Tianzun raised his hand and gathered up Nanxiang's spirit, saying, "Fellow Daoist Nanxiang, until we meet in the next life. " With that, a divine power escorted her spirit flying toward the myriad heavens and worlds.