Chapter 1549 — Utterly Shameless

On the fourth long river of chaos, Qiang Tianfei lay sprawled on the little boat, too exhausted to breathe, and simply stopped resisting the eerie beings of the long river of chaos, as though she had resigned herself to her fate. Shen Mu drew his Kalpa Sword and swept it through the air, and a moment later a withered skeleton in the river was ground to dust by his blade.

All at once the rest of the crossing turned calm, and no more eerie events occurred.

Qiang Tianfei sat bolt upright, fixed her eyes on him, and suddenly laughed in fury: "You clearly have the means to suppress the eerie beings in the river, so why did you insist on making me fight and burn my mana?

" Shen Mu was still comprehending the Dao of Taiji, cultivating Taiji origin qi; he glanced up at her and said with perfect earnestness: "I supply the boat, you supply the strength — a fair trade. Besides, I did it for your own good.

The eerie beings in the river are Dao-attainers of primeval universes, and to cross blades with them is a blessing hard to come by for either of us. A Dao-attainer feeding you moves — where else would you find such an opportunity? Tai Di, you no longer have the heart of a powerhouse. " Qiang Tianfei could not out-argue him: the eerie beings in the river were Dao-attainers who could never transcend, forever mired in the kalpa of destruction, eager to drag others down with them. If one could truly trade blows with such Dao-attainers, it would indeed be a rare encounter — but an encounter bought with mortal peril.

And these Dao-attainers could not be killed no matter how one tried; at most one could beat them back into the kalpa of destruction. She was not like Shen Mu, who had mastered the Kalpa-Breaking Sword and could even damage their dao bones, threatening the very root of their being.

Facing such peril again and again, sooner or later she would capsize in a ditch. Another month and more passed before the little boat crossed the long river of chaos.

Shen Mu's World Tree drew another portion of chaos qi from this river, and after that absorbed no more.

Shen Mu felt that having passed through this river, his cultivation had advanced once again, and he thought to himself: "Why does the World Tree grow when we cross a long river of chaos? Could it be that the World Tree feeds on the kalpa of destruction, that only by drawing the energy of the kalpa of destruction can it grow?

" He grew all the more curious: if he crossed all sixteen long rivers of chaos, to what level would his cultivation rise? Could he catch up to the Tianzuns?

"Perhaps not. " He thought it over carefully. The ten Tianzuns of today had all begun cultivating treasure halls, using those halls to deepen their cultivation and consolidate the Heavenly Court realm, and their progress was very swift.

He himself could probably only keep pace with them, not fall too far behind.

"But if I entered the kalpa of destruction myself, the World Tree would surely draw even more nourishment, wouldn't it?

" A wild idea suddenly rose in his mind — so wild that it startled even him: "If I could pass through the sixteen rivers rather than walk upon their surface, would my World Tree grow into a great tree?

And to what level would my cultivation rise? " Bold as the idea was, he did not dare put it into practice.

As he was now, he simply lacked the strength to enter the long river of chaos, to enter the kalpa of destruction: neither his fleshly body, nor his primordial spirit, nor his great Dao could hold out for long.

On the fifth long river of chaos, Qiang Tianfei watched Shen Mu in silence.

After a long while, she suddenly asked: "Mu Tianzun, why have you not aged? " Shen Mu's heart gave a start; he woke from his comprehension and asked in surprise: "Why does Her Highness Tianfei ask such a question? " "Why have you not aged?

" Qiang Tianfei stared fixedly at him, her voice a little hoarse: "These past days I have been watching you.

My body has already entered middle age, yet you look exactly as you did before we crossed the river — not the slightest change in your features. Even I cannot escape growing old; why is it that you can stay forever young?

" Shen Mu's heart skipped. He looked at Qiang Tianfei, and only then did he realize that she truly was growing old.

They had been crossing rivers for half a year now; her looks were nothing like they had been, her youth had faded, and her fleshly body had entered middle age.

Shen Mu rose to his feet and looked into the chaos qi behind the boat.

There, Hao Tianzun, Langxuan Shenhuang, Zu Shenwang, and the other Tianzuns were all aging as well. Five long rivers of chaos in succession had set their fleshly bodies and primordial spirits aging without cease. Previously, the bodily functions and primordial spirit states of these Tianzuns had all been at their absolute peak; now their bodily functions and primordial spirit states had reached old age. This was the doing of the kalpa of destruction.

This Jade Capital City itself stood above the sixteen cycles of the universe, brimming with the afterwaves of the kalpas of destruction of the past sixteen universes; once inside the city, one discovered that one's boundless lifespan had an end.

But the Tianzuns were mighty, and a year or two within the city had shown little sign of aging in them; once they came out onto the rivers, however, their aging had greatly accelerated. "I can even feel that the great Dao I forged within my body is aging, growing old.

" Qiang Tianfei still stared fixedly at him. Within the halo behind her head, one heavenly palace after another emerged; the palaces linked together to form a Heavenly Court.

She said: "Look at my heavenly palaces and my Heavenly Court — what do you see?

" Shen Mu's gaze went to the back of her head. Those heavenly palaces and that Heavenly Court had once been incomparably sacred, radiant with layered divine light, majestic and solemn; but now the divine light shrouding them had dimmed, and the sound of the Dao had gone hoarse.

Nor was that all: the buildings within those palaces were covered in rust and dust, the Jade Pool was turbid, the Heavenly Gates looked as though they had borne the vicissitudes of a vanished age, and some palaces had already fallen into ruin.

"This is the consequence of one's own great Dao aging and decaying. But you have not. " Qiang Tianfei stared into Shen Mu's eyes: "I can feel that within my fleshly body — muscle, blood vessels, bones, skin, even the strands of my hair, even my origin qi — everything is aging from moment to moment.

I can feel the domain inside me slowly crumbling; I can hear the sound of dao chains snapping, the faint ripples of dao patterns breaking apart. I even sense that my great Dao runes are dissolving, that my spirit consciousness is collapsing without cease.

But you have not.

You are still young; nothing has changed. Why?

" Shen Mu touched his own cheek and said sheepishly: "Probably because I take good care of myself. . .

" "Bullshit! " Qiang Tianfei flew into a rage and roused her God-Slaying Mystic Sabers; two blood-colored dragons whirled around Shen Mu, howling, ready to cut him down at any moment.

"Bullshit!

Mu Tianzun, you must have some treasure that lets you evade the assault of the kalpa of destruction! " Qiang Tianfei, reeking of killing intent, snarled: "Even my God-Slaying Mystic Sabers have begun to lose their aura in these rivers! I refuse to believe you can fend off such an assault with your cultivation alone! Hand over your treasure! " Shen Mu slowly drew his sword and said mildly: "Tai Di, you are not even a woman — why care so much about your looks? That I can avoid death is my own ability; that you cannot is your incompetence.

" Qiang Tianfei sneered: "Mu Tianzun, don't imagine I don't know what you are planning.

You stay young while I begin to age; as one wanes, the other waxes, and sooner or later your cultivation and strength will surpass mine.