Chapter 1340 — Two Champions in Inner Strife

The Divine Emperor Tai's head was like a mountain range; a moment before, it had felt to Shen Mu like a hundred thousand Great Black Mountains — though that, of course, was the Divine Emperor Tai's divine consciousness meddling with his thoughts and mind, weaving him an illusion. The Divine Emperor Tai did not excel in illusion-realms of the divine consciousness; his attainments in such arts fell far short of Heavenly Venerable Gong's.

His divine consciousness had rippled and set the void swaying a little — and that was precisely why Shen Mu had seen through him. "Heavenly Venerable Mu, you grow more and more brazen.

" The Divine Emperor Tai's long hair hung in clumps; it was naturally curly, and long, and coiled upon itself.

Now, stirred to wrath, the clumps of curls streamed and flew, and he said mildly, "In all my life of several billion years, you are no more than a little grasshopper hopping to and fro, able to leap only from spring to autumn. . .

" Before his words had faded, Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain had already erupted!

The Divine Treasury Domain swelled with a howl; the Divine Emperor Tai laughed coldly, his streaming curls rearing and swaying like great serpents, and he let Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain expand to its very limit — and even so, it did no more than enclose his head within the domain. The Divine Emperor Tai's head occupied near half the space of Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain; before that enormous head, Shen Mu's drifting heavenly palaces and heavenly court looked utterly insignificant, like miniature cities floating before it.

And Shen Mu's true body seemed smaller still. A smile came over the Divine Emperor Tai's face.

Regarding the phantom shapes of ancient gods scattered great and small through the domain, he sneered, "This is your domain.

Not bad at all. But the domain — I created it! From the most ancient of times to this day, of the countless millions of cultivators, I was the first to create a domain.

I am the pioneer!

" "You dare use the Supreme Consciousness Domain before me?

" Shen Mu laughed aloud, his body soaring into the air; the broken sword in his hand was made whole once more, its sword-light flashed, and he thrust at the Divine Emperor Tai!

This sword of his invoked the Sword Dao Domain! The Sword Dao Domain was one among the domains of his Divine Treasury Domain. Now the sword domain erupted, and the gods within the Divine Treasury Domain each unleashed their magic power and cultivation — the Way of Heaven of Xuandu, the Youdu Great Way of Youdu, the Yuandu Great Way of Yuandu, and with them the ancient gods of the Four Extremes Heaven and such ancient gods of the heavens as Tianyin and Guixu — all of it poured into this single sword, raising its might to the absolute limit!

The Divine Emperor Tai's face was expressionless as he watched the flying sword-light.

He truly did not dare employ the Supreme Consciousness Domain; to employ it was the road to death. Shen Mu had already mastered Heavenly Venerable Ling's Unchanging divine art, and if he were to employ the Supreme Consciousness Domain, his domain would in the very first instant become a weapon turned against him, trapping him within it unto death.

But the Supreme Consciousness Domain was not the only thing he knew!

His other body, the Heavenly Consort Qiang — a being who stood among the Ten Heavenly Venerables — did not cultivate the divine consciousness at all!

Ever since Heavenly Venerable Yun, Heavenly Venerable Ling, and Heavenly Venerable Yue had slain him in the Great Void, he had understood that his divine consciousness harbored enormous flaws; and so, after he transformed into Heavenly Consort Qiang, the path he walked was not the old road of attaining the Dao through divine consciousness. In truth, the path he walked was the same as the other Heavenly Venerables': borrowing the Heavenly Consort's identity, gathering the divine arts and methods of the world, taking the cultivation of vital qi as his foundation, studying the Way of the Innate, and perfecting himself thereby.

On this path, he was already one of the ten most accomplished beings of the present age! His long hair streamed and flew like great dragons in flight, meeting Shen Mu's sword domain; the sword domain erupted at once — clang, clang, clang — countless crisp rings like steel striking steel came forth!

Strand after strand of long hair was severed by Shen Mu's sword domain and fell from his head!

Those severed strands writhed, and the tips of the hairs suddenly twisted into hideous forms, transforming into ferocious black dragons that lunged at Shen Mu, fangs bared and claws outspread!

More of the Divine Emperor Tai's long hair came flying, dancing like long dragons, piercing to and fro with incomparable keenness, meeting Shen Mu's sword domain head-on — and even turning defense into attack; strand upon strand of hair, like the sharpest swords in the world, the fiercest dragons, the most piercing spears, struck at Shen Mu and pierced through his sword domain!

Shen Mu held the sword in one hand and pressed a finger to the point between his brows; the vertical eye at his brow opened, and at once the black dragons transformed from those black hairs turned back into strands of hair and dropped from the air.

"The Unchanging divine art? " The Divine Emperor Tai frowned.

The divine art Shen Mu had employed was the Unchanging divine art, striking his transformed hairs directly back to their original form!

"Can it be that before this brat, no divine-consciousness art can be used at all?

" Shen Mu's sword-light had already arrived, come right before him; the radiance of the blade cut through strand after strand of long hair and was about to pierce into the hollow between his brows!

"I will waste no more words on you!

" The Divine Emperor Tai abruptly opened his mouth and roared; the dreadful waves of sound shattered space, and Shen Mu's sword domain collapsed in an instant!

And it was not only the sword domain that shattered, but Xuandu, Youdu, and Yuandu as well!

Within Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain the gods great and small crumbled one after another; the starry sky was annihilated, the earth vaporized, earth, water, wind, and fire gushed forth — a veritable portent of the end of the world!

Shen Mu faced his ferocious might and smiled; the sword-light in his hand scattered abruptly, and his fleshly body swelled madly!

His flesh and sinews coiled and knotted, like a giant who had split heaven from earth; spirit and flesh as one, god and flesh as one, he stood front to front against the roar of the Divine Emperor Tai's head! Upon the surface of his body, sinews and flesh built themselves into patterns of runes; a great bell hung suspended above his head, and its tolling shook the air, its creation majestic and strange, so that the shattered Divine Treasury Domain was restored whole in the space of a breath, and the destroyed deities were reborn one by one!

The fifteenth heaven of divine arts: Creation Unfolds the Primeval Dark!

His entire Divine Treasury Domain suddenly contracted in the span of a single turn and entered his body; the gods of the heavens, great and small, took up their dwelling in the various orifices of his flesh!

The eighteenth heaven of divine arts: the Crimson Bright Divine Body Unsurpassed! The Crimson Bright era was divided into the age of Emperor Chi and the age of Emperor Ming: one wrought creation upon the primal spirit, forging the mightiest of primal spirits; the other wrought creation upon the flesh, forging the mightiest of flesh.

Now the methods of Emperor Ming and Emperor Chi were displayed upon him in all their fullness!

Shen Mu's flesh was vast; standing before the Divine Emperor Tai's head, his frame was in no way the smaller.

Then came a clang, a crisp ring like metal striking metal, and one after another, incomparably thick arms burrowed out from beneath Shen Mu's arms!