Chapter 1335 — The Chief Culprit and Prime Villain

In the Chaos Sea, Tai Yi, kind-browed and benevolent, smiled at the dumbstruck Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian and said, "A splendid pageant, is it not? Yet there are fellow Daoists who have not yet made a move.

" The onlookers were already numb with shock. They looked up, and from their angle the tentacles above the Chaos Sea were immensely thick and black, their bark flaking like dragon scales and reflecting the unfathomable turmoil of the Chaos Sea. "Earth Mother, you dare snatch my prize?

" Though Heavenly Venerable Xiao's palm had been severed, his furious snort came from within it, and that fist came crashing down.

Countless roots of the Earth Mother turned in that instant into an altar, and upon the altar the true body of the Earth Mother rose slowly to meet the blow head-on! Terrifying ripples swept out in all directions above the Chaos Sea, yet when they brushed the Chaos Sea and met Tai Yi's staff standing upright in the waters, they fell at once calm and still, without a ripple.

In the sky, however, the countless roots of Earth Mother Yuanjun snapped and fell fluttering from heaven, smashing into the Chaos Sea, where before long they were assimilated and became wisps of chaotic qi within the sea. Xu Shenghua's gaze fell upon Tai Yi's staff, and he showed surprise.

"This staff seems mightier than the Origin Wood by no small measure. What wood is it made of?

" Tai Yi caught his look and smiled. "Of this wood, Heavenly Venerable Mu has plenty at home, though I burned it all.

Do not tell him I still have one here, or he will scheme to take mine. " Xu Shenghua was bewildered.

"Cult Leader Shen has plenty at home? When did he grow so rich? He plainly wears the pinched look of a pauper, coveting whatever fine thing another family owns.

Most likely he is even now scheming after someone else's wealth.

" Old Tai Yi laughed. "Look quickly, another fellow Daoist is about to stir trouble!

Yet the prime mover is still on his way. " At that moment Shen Mu was still hurrying hither by boat, racing with wind and lightning, secretly blaming himself for hiding too high, for hiding himself away in the Twenty-ninth Void.

Heavenly Venerable Xiao's right fist drove the Earth Mother's form sinking down, and just as she was about to plunge into the Chaos Sea, the altar suddenly split apart and countless roots contracted, burrowing into the earth and vanishing.

Earth Mother Yuanjun suffered the loss because she had only one soul left and because Shen Mu had pared away her cultivation, and she had no choice but to avoid his edge. Above Heavenly Venerable Xiao's severed right hand, the struggle between the lotus and the Four-Directions Cauldron went on, the two Heavenly Venerable treasures each bursting forth with unspeakably dreadful might, each striving to overbear the other and carry off Xiao's right hand together with the Grand Primordial Origin Stones clutched in it. Suddenly a rainbow light struck without warning across the sky, a pillar of radiance pouring in through the breach in the Ancestral Court seal, turning into a great palm seal that slammed down upon the lotus and the Four-Directions Cauldron, driving the two treasures to fall still faster, down toward the Chaos Sea!

"Heavenly Duke! " The Heavenly Venerables and the Great Emperor locked in battle across the sky were all startled, and they struck together to intercept, cutting off the blow sent from the Mystic Capital by the Heavenly Duke. In that very instant the demonic qi of Youdu gushed forth and in a blink drowned the Chaos Sea, and amid the demonic qi an Earth Earl rose slowly, his vertical eye at the brow opening to fix the falling right hand of Heavenly Venerable Xiao, his whip lashing out with a crack to coil about that Heavenly Venerable right hand and drag it toward the ocean formed of Youdu demonic qi.

"Heavenly Duke, Earth Earl, can you too not bear the loneliness, and have resolved to meddle in worldly affairs?

" Heavenly Venerable Xiao beat back Consort Yan and descended from heaven, sneering, "But the seal remains. You cannot descend in your true bodies, and you are no match for me.

If your true bodies did descend, you would be fettered by the Great Dao, and that would be the hour of your death. Why do you not swiftly withdraw? " He came borne on rage, even employing hidden means that forced Consort Yan to retreat, proof enough of his power, yet on his way to slay the Earth Earl the Great Emperor suddenly thrust in from the flank.

Heavenly Venerable Xiao's heart chilled, and the two clashed in midair and parted.

The Great Emperor sneered and abandoned him, speeding straight for the Earth Earl below. "The foster son's skill is not bad. " Heavenly Venerable Xiao sneered and likewise sped straight for the Earth Earl.

"Your wife, I have slept with her. " The Great Emperor's hair bristled in fury, and even as he chased the Earth Earl he fought savagely with him, while the Earth Earl, not descended in his true body, labored to reel in his Nether River Whip and at the same time sought to return to Youdu. Boom!

The ocean formed of Youdu demonic qi shook violently as the Great Emperor and Heavenly Venerable Xiao descended and blasted the sea of demonic qi apart, the surging presence of two Heavenly Venerable-level powers splitting the demonic ocean and laying bare the Chaos Sea beneath.

From beneath the Chaos Sea, Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian and the others looked up and could see only the thick legs and feet of those towering gods and demons, like pillars upholding heaven.

They trod upon the surface of the Chaos Sea, yet their weight fell not upon the Chaos Sea but upon old Tai Yi's staff. Xu Shenghua looked toward that staff and saw it pressed into a slight bend.

"Fellow Daoist, do you say this staff came from Heavenly Venerable Mu's household?

" Xu Shenghua asked. "Heavenly Venerable Mu's household has plenty of such wood?

" Old Tai Yi said with a beaming smile, "Whole mountains and plains of it. If Fellow Daoist Xu wants some, ask Heavenly Venerable Mu for a few hilltops.

Heavenly Venerable Mu is most generous and will surely not refuse.

" Xu Shenghua was greatly tempted.

Lan Yutian was tempted too and said, "I want a few hilltops as well.

" "Heavenly Venerable Mu will surely give them to you, rest assured, rest assured," old Tai Yi said with kind eyes and a smile.

Boom! Boom!

Boom!

Several more violent shocks came as the Earth Earl's sea of demonic qi burst apart entirely, for Consort Yan, the Ancestral God King, Divine Emperor Langxuan, and the others had descended, and the divine radiance of the Heavenly Venerables scoured clean, evaporating the sea of demonic qi until nothing remained!

The lava Earth Earl gripped the Nether River Whip and stood amid several Heavenly Venerables, the other end of the whip still tethering Heavenly Venerable Xiao's right hand.

Though the Earth Earl was ever detached, ever full of schemes, ever vast in power, at this moment he was utterly at a loss, standing there looking quite awkward.

Flight into Youdu was impossible for him. The ground where he stood was Youdu itself, yet now the demonic qi of Youdu had been dissolved away and beneath his feet lay the Chaos Sea, so that he was blocked fast with nowhere to go.

This lava Earth Earl was but his avatar, without the dread battle power of his true body, and ringed by wolves and tigers he could only be slain with a single move.

Suddenly the Chaos Sea rippled again as the Void Mother Beast descended, pressing close behind the Great Emperor and warily eyeing the Ancestral God King and the Earth Earl. She had nearly been refined to death by the Ancestral God King, and only when the Ancestral God King and the Great Emperor exchanged a head-on blow had she escaped from within the Ancestral God King's body, though her strength was thereby greatly impaired.