Chapter 1456 — A Friendship to Rival Hundred-Tempered Steel

Shen Mu could feel the might and puissance of his God-Slaying Platform waxing ever greater; and above all, now that the power of the two Blood-Bale God-Slaying Sabers had been refined by him, the power of the two sabers upon his own God-Slaying Platform rose with the tide, growing ever more fearsome. Zaifu, Tian Shu, Luo Wushuang, and Zhe Huali seized the same chance to remake the God-Slaying Platforms of their own Heavenly Palaces — but the benefits they won were not so great as his.

Of the baleful aura of the Ancestral Court's God-Slaying Platform that the five refined, four-fifths were refined by Shen Mu, and the remaining fifth was divided among Zaifu and the other three.

Even so, it was no trifling matter.

Their spirit treasuries held no Ancestral Court, only the God-Slaying Platforms within their Heavenly Palaces; that the four of them should divide a fifth among them was already a remarkable feat.

One must understand that the God-Slaying Platform of the Ancestral Court had gathered to itself the baleful aura accrued from the primordial era down to this very day, and now half of it had been refined by them — baleful aura enough to grant their Heavenly Palace God-Slaying Platforms a leap in quality!

Zhe Huali above all: before he stepped onto the God-Slaying Platform he had still been of the Jade Pool realm, and now at a single bound he had become a God-Slaying Platform realm cultivator; the benefits he had won were beyond all reckoning. In the God-Slaying Platform realm he now had few rivals left.

In the God-Slaying Platform realm, so long as no Heavenly Venerable stepped forth, none could contend with him.

Though the realms of Zaifu, Luo Wushuang, and Tian Shu had not advanced, their God-Slaying Platform realm had grown incomparably firm, and their cultivation of the Dao heart had advanced by leaps and bounds; the benefits they gained were likewise beyond imagining.

The baleful aura stored within their God-Slaying Platforms swelled the might of their sabers, and its influence upon their Dao arts and divine powers was vast besides; and furthermore, because the God-Slaying Platforms absorbed the baleful aura, for two such as Tian Shu and Zaifu, who came and went upon battlefields, it resolved the hidden peril of baleful aura coiling about their bodies and afflicting their Dao hearts.

The stronger their cultivation and strength, the swifter they refined the two baleful-qi God-Slaying Sabers, and the greater the benefits they gained. Give them but another three or five months, and they could refine the baleful aura of the Ancestral Court's God-Slaying Platform entirely and make it their own, and might even raise the merged battle art of the five to the height of the thirty-first heaven, or even of the thirty-second!

By then the five joined in battle would most likely possess strength akin to that of a Heavenly Venerable — at the very least they could be called lesser Heavenly Venerables! Of course, it was only with the five joining hands that they could raise the Dao realm of the Saber Dao to such a degree; apart, even Shen Mu could not attain the thirtieth heaven of the Dao realm.

Suddenly Shen Mu sensed the might of the two baleful-qi God-Slaying Sabers upon the Platform leap upward by a great measure, and his expression changed drastically; he said in a low voice, "Withdraw!

" His body moved; his spirit treasury domain bloomed layer upon layer, and bearing the other four along with him he flew back in retreat. At that very moment the might of the two baleful-qi God-Slaying Sabers surged madly, so that all before their eyes was blood-red, and endless sounds of slaughter filled their ears, deafening, setting their ears ringing, as though they had come to a battlefield of the primordial era where heaven was destroyed and earth annihilated.

The two evil dragons came slashing crosswise at them, one from the left, one from the right, shearing suddenly together!

Ka-cha!

The space of the Ancestral Court shook violently, quaked; the eyes of Shen Mu and the rest were drowned in blood-red, and they even saw the thirty-fifth layer of the void sheared apart together by the two God-Slaying Sabers.

Such might was not what the two God-Slaying Sabers could erupt with of themselves; it was the work of some incomparably powerful being urging their power to the utmost.

The might of the two God-Slaying Sabers was too terrible; had Shen Mu and the other four not absorbed a good part of the baleful aura, causing the two god-sabers to take on their peak state of form without substance, even a Heavenly Venerable would likely have found it hard to withstand their power. Were the god-sabers to take on true substance, their might would likely be enough to slay a Heavenly Venerable.

"Celestial Consort Qiang!

" Shen Mu turned his palm and brought out the hairpin of Heavenly Venerable Ling; his divine sense burst forth, becoming a heaven-shaking, earth-rocking sound that crashed out as he cried in a loud voice, "You promised us entry into the God-Slaying Platform — would you now go back on your word?

" He grasped the hairpin and swept it down with force; the power of the Unchanging Divine Power erupted, and he bore himself like one ready to risk everything in mutual destruction.

When he had earlier stirred the Unchanging Divine Power within the Primal Embryo Spirit Treasury, he had used only fragments of that power, not its full might; were he to unleash the full power of this divine art, time and space would be stilled, all material change halted, and even the transformation of matter made to flow in reverse.

But in that case, even Shen Mu himself would become Unchanging Matter and be trapped within this divine art. He could save Heavenly Venerable Ling, but to save himself he would have to invoke the power of the Great Beginning, and that would cost him dear.

Even as he stirred the Unchanging Divine Power, Heavenly King Tian Shu raised the Imperial Palace God-Saber and slashed down with force, cleaving forth a Heaven-Bearing Gate, and shouted, "To the Dark Capital first!

" Now that the Ancestral Court was open, the Dark Capital too had come within the Ancestral Court, and taking refuge in the Dark Capital was a sound plan.

Heavenly King Tian Shu was one of the few who could cultivate the Heaven-Bearing Gate and open the Dark Capital, and it was for this that he was honored as the Heavenly King of the Nether Capital — a title that Earth Earl himself had bestowed upon him. Shen Mu's figure drew back, guarding Zaifu and the other three as they entered the Dark Capital; but scarcely had Zaifu, Tian Shu, and the rest arrived in the Dark Capital when two blood-bale dragons came slashing suddenly out of the void, and with a ka-cha sheared the Dark Capital open.

The four were startled at heart; the two blood-bale dragons had sheared clean over their heads, numbing their scalps and sending cold sweat rolling down their brows.

"Shen'er is still over there! " Zaifu was about to rush back when he saw that the Heaven-Bearing Gate had already been sheared to powder by the two blood-bale dragons, cutting off his road back.

"Heavenly Saber, there is no need to worry.

" Heavenly King Tian Shu hastily embraced him to keep him from forcing his way through, saying, "What manner of cunning man is Heavenly Venerable Mu?

He is the leader of the Heaven Alliance besides, and bears the title of the Heavenly Venerable Who Transmits the Undying Dharma; Celestial Consort Qiang would not go so far as to strike him down.

" Zaifu was still for struggling when Luo Wushuang said as well, "Heavenly Venerable Mu has his ways of preserving himself.

He did not die through all his many years in the Heavenly Court, and he will not die now.