Chapter 1276 — Not Worth Mentioning

Bai Yuqiong's Dao heart was indeed inferior to Shen Mu's, for the number of her heart demons was greater.

When she saw the heart demon Yin Tianzi take form, a second heart demon was taking form as well: Celestial Master Zixi.

Celestial Master Zixi of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court was the one her heart adored; yet the two stood on opposing sides. To love and never obtain, never to be together — and so he became a heart demon.

The heart demon Zixi was more handsome, more dashing and ethereal, than Yan Yunxi in male disguise.

And yet, after the elegant and free-spirited heart demon Zixi appeared, her third heart demon was born as well.

Her third heart demon was, astonishingly, a heart demon Shen Mu!

This heart demon Shen Mu was hideous of countenance and brutish of face, and only with effort could one discern Shen Mu's likeness in him.

Her three great heart demons had finally revealed themselves!

"Lord Mu, are you a match for your own heart demon?

" Bai Yuqiong cried, unable to spare a glance for Shen Mu. On the other side, Shen Mu laughed.

"It is only a heart demon, not the true Lord Yu.

I must face my own heart demon and overcome it, if the demon in my heart is to be wholly destroyed. " "Lord Yu?

" Bai Yuqiong's face paled with shock. That plump boy she had picked up — he was Lord Yu?

In that single instant of distraction, the heart demon Yin Tianzi, the heart demon Zixi, and the heart demon Shen Mu struck nearly at once. The heart demon Yin Tianzi shook his body, and countless primeval divine insects flew forth, surging toward Bai Yuqiong in a sky-blotting tide.

Through nearly two hundred lifetimes, Bai Yuqiong had mostly died beneath the mouthparts of these primeval divine insects, drained of all her vital essence and blood — dead in an instant!

The heart demon Zixi, by contrast, appeared far more graceful: all at once he divided into two, the two into four, the four into eight. Of the eight Celestial Masters Zixi, some excelled at the zither, some at chess formations, some at calligraphy, some at the art of painting.

Still others excelled at the sword Dao, at the martial Dao, at the saber Dao, and at the arts of calculation!

These eight Celestial Masters Zixi each employed their own arts and attacked together; and in the very instant the eight moved, three more Celestial Masters Zixi emerged behind each of them, thirty-two Celestial Masters Zixi in all! Yan Yunxi was a woman of boundless ambition.

In the Kaihuang Era, Yan Yunxi's talent crowned all the heavens, and she walked among the myriad worlds in the guise of a man.

Her aim, like that of every Lord, was to cultivate a complete Heavenly Court.

But she walked the Acquired Dao, not the Innate Dao of the Ten Lords. Moreover, though she cultivated many paths, only eight of the Acquired Daos reached perfection in her; she could not perfect all thirty-two heavenly palaces.

More crucially still, when her cultivation reached the Lingxiao realm, she found that any further step was unspeakably difficult.

She could never take that step, and so remained trapped in the Lingxiao realm, without the slightest advance for twenty thousand years.

Even so, she was one of the most powerful beings of the Kaihuang Era. While the heart demon Zixi attacked Bai Yuqiong, the heart demon Shen Mu charged at her as well.

This heart demon Shen Mu was the impression Shen Mu had left on Bai Yuqiong when he killed Yu Wufei and Yin Jiuzun.

She had always feared Shen Mu, feared that he would awaken the Vermilion Bird spirit soul within her.

In Bai Yuqiong's heart, this heart demon Shen Mu surpassed even the true Shen Mu in mana! She was caught in a siege!

"I am a Celestial Master of the Imperial Throne realm! Every skill I possess was won through two hundred lifetimes of slaughter, bought with my life in battle against Yin Tianzi — not through the lingering shade of my ancestors, nor through the Southern Emperor's spirit soul!

" Bai Yuqiong's imperial might erupted.

Through nearly two hundred lifetimes of reincarnation and rebirth, she had endured hardships beyond counting; her arts were not merely the Dao of Space she had learned from Lord Yue.

In truth, the schools she had taken as masters were beyond counting! Whether the Buddhist sect or the Daoist sect, or the gates of other Lords, of Celestial Masters, of Heavenly Kings — she had studied under them all!

Behind Bai Yuqiong's head, heavenly palace after heavenly palace surged forth, raising her momentum to its utter pinnacle in an instant. The woman was in a fury, awe-inspiring and unapproachable!

"Among the four great Celestial Masters, in cunning I am not the strongest — but in battle strength, the other three together are no match for me! " In the space of a single instant, she folded space, forming one spatial mirror image after another; within those mirrors, Bai Yuqiong after Bai Yuqiong, each with different heavenly palaces, killed toward the heart demon Yin Tianzi, the heart demon Zixi, and the heart demon Shen Mu at once!

On the other side, Shen Mu watched the heart demon Lan Yutian walking toward him.

Lord Yu was not his heart demon — Lan Yutian, Fatty Lan, was.

"There was never any Overlord Body in this world — but there are the strongest of men.

" Shen Mu relaxed, and gazing at his own heart demon, said in a low voice, "The village chief encouraged me with the Overlord Body, made me confident, made me never give up, made me believe I possessed the finest spirit body. Heh heh — but in truth, every legend and rumor of the Overlord Body in this world comes from me. It was I who traveled back to the ancient times, back to Longhan and Shanghuang, and left behind the legends of the Overlord Body, the legends of me. " On the other side, the heart demon Lan Yutian gave a humming sound as he unfurled his divine treasury domain, the same as Shen Mu's — yet his method of cultivation was utterly opposite. The heart demon Lan Yutian was like another four-faced god, with absolutely no blind spot whatsoever; his strength was almost identical to Shen Mu's!

"In truth, there is no Overlord Body at all.

" Shen Mu's divine treasury domain bloomed, and his gaze shone bright with powerful confidence: "If there is one, then it can only be me!

From Longhan to this day, unique and unparalleled — there is no second!

" Boom— The two divine treasury domains clashed, and the collision of domain against domain was as though two universes smote each other and annihilated each other! Shen Mu laughed aloud.

Within his divine treasury domain, the Taichu Ancient Mine, the Taiji Ancient Mine, the Taisu Ancient Mine, and the Taishi Ancient Mine blazed with radiance; within the four great veins the Dao hung thick, divine light steamed upward, and the powers of four great Daos converged upon him!

"This Great Void Demon Domain is nothing but a crippled Dao of Divine Sense; it can manifest the heart demons of others!

" Shen Mu's sinews and body surged; he crushed the heart demon Lan Yutian's ancestral court by main force, and said in a low voice, "But it cannot perfectly manifest my heart demon! For my Dao has already surpassed what the Dao of Divine Sense can encompass — it is of a higher order!

" The heart demon Lan Yutian mobilized all his power, and his Dao roared and quaked as though ten thousand Daos sang at once — but the next moment, a sword light of Taichu flew in and cleaved him cleanly in two!

Shen Mu flicked his wrist; the broken sword was restored as before, and he returned it to its sheath, saying bleakly, "What I slew was not the heart demon Lan Yutian either, but only another me — and not even the complete me. . .

" The broken sword slid into its sheath with a ring, its lingering note unending. The heart demon Lan Yutian was in truth only another him.