Chapter 1552 — You All Still Have a Long Way to Go

This land too bore the buildings of Jade Capital City — an early Jade Capital City, to be sure; someone must have begun raising it as far back as the age of the fourth universe.

But those palaces and halls had collapsed, unable to withstand the onslaught of the Great Calamity of Destruction, leaving only broken walls and toppled pillars.

Jade Capital City as it stood today was more like a composite, a gathering of the Jade Capital Cities the sixteen universes had built one after another.

Shen Mu's Primal Fetus Divine Treasury domain now lay spread across these ruins, and the crumbling palace pillars stood like mountain ranges planted within his domain.

Only, the aura of decay seeping from these relics of palaces and towers was deeply unsettling — wisps like the smoke curling from the craters of little volcanoes, and from time to time the sound of flowing air issued from within, like the sighs of the dead, filling a man with desolation. Beyond that there were dao bones stripped of all energy, lying every which way, buried in the ruins, a length of bone or a joint showing here and there.

To either side, two long rivers of chaos surged, and thread upon thread of chaos qi rose from both banks like spray, giving off the bleak breath of all annihilation.

Within those two rivers one could faintly see countless figures struggling, rising and sinking, then winking out, turned into strand upon strand of chaos qi.

The destruction of two universes was a splendor and a pageantry that even the Sage of Painting could not paint, that even the greatest poet could not set down.

Upon the ruins of Jade Capital City between the two rivers stood Shen Mu, the Calamity Sword on his back, gazing at the Ten Venerables and the three ancient gods, a brilliant light flickering in his eyes.

The Ten Venerables were all old men and old women, standing beneath the two Dao Trees, and Heavenly Consort Qiang was wedged between the two trees.

They looked all about and saw that Shen Mu's divine treasury domain was indeed marvelously strange: there was the Ancestral Court, Youdu, Xuandu, the myriad worlds of all the heavens, and even a great many innate divinities.

Not only that, Shen Mu's heavenly palace was within the divine treasury as well. This was the extraordinary quality of one who entered the Dao through divine arts, the thing that set him apart from others.

Other men's heavenly palaces were behind their heads, forming a Great Heavenly Court, their primordial spirits taking residence and seating themselves within.

Shen Mu was the Shepherd Venerable who had founded his Dao upon divine arts, and his heavenly palace seemed to have become a mere auxiliary, floating within the Primal Fetus Divine Treasury, rather maverick, rather singular.

Within this domain there was in fact heaven and earth: the Lord of Heaven Shen Mu dwelt on high, looking down upon them; the Lord of Earth Shen Mu dwelt below, gazing up at them; and in the heavens, Shen Mu the ancient god in every shape and form turned his eyes upon them one and all.

The ten Venerables walked on, panting, toward Shen Mu, looking this way and that, and one after another they said, "Not bad.

Not bad at all. " Heavenly Consort Yan even saw Guixu, and praised it: "The Shepherd Venerable has created even Guixu — remarkable, truly remarkable.

" "Then shall we break it?

" Venerable Hao looked at Venerable Xiao and asked.

Venerable Xiao nodded.

"Then let us break it.

" Venerable Hao glanced at Ancestor God King, who stepped forward and said in admiration: "The Shepherd Venerable's forgeries have reached a real standard — playing the sovereign within his own domain. You know you are courting death, don't you?

" He grinned, showing three teeth, and of a sudden roused his forty-eight supreme treasures of the Dao of Heaven, bellowing: "Blasphemy against the Dao of Heaven, blasphemy against the Lord of Heaven! What audacity!

Domain of the Dao of Heaven! " The forty-eight supreme treasures of the Dao of Heaven rose soaring, suddenly becoming one vault of heaven, and then another vault of heaven, vault upon vault piling upward, and in an instant they lifted up the Xuandu within Shen Mu's Primal Fetus Divine Treasury, isolating it outside!

At the same moment, Venerable Xu's two long horns twisted through nine bends and eighteen turns and grew with frenzy; the dried lava within them found its fire once more, and lava ran coursing through the horns!

"Domain of the Demonic Dao!

" Venerable Xu cried out in his quavering voice, and layer upon layer of the demonic Dao domains of Youdu swelled and spread, sinking downward, sealing off the Youdu within the Primal Fetus Divine Treasury.

Venerable Xiao struck at the same instant, taking out the Prime Wood and rousing it.

That Prime Wood too had been assailed by the Great Calamity of Destruction, withered and shriveled; yet urged on by his Taichu primordial qi it gradually gave off vitality again, so that even the Yuandu within Shen Mu's Primal Fetus Divine Treasury could hardly function, cut off from the world! The moment the three Venerables made their move, they pinned down three worlds of the utmost importance within his Primal Fetus Divine Treasury domain — masterly means, leaving his divine treasury unable to operate.

They walked on and came beneath the World Tree.

Shen Mu stood under the tree, the Calamity Sword in one hand held behind his back, the other hand forming a sword sign, calmly awaiting them.

Heavenly Consort Qiang's eyes darted every which way; caught between the nine Venerables and the two Dao Trees, she could neither advance nor retreat, and inwardly she cursed her luck.

Venerable Hao said: "Do not spread out. His domain is strange — attack him from any quarter and you face his front.

So there is no need to strike from every side to kill him.

We need only strike from one direction, overwhelming strength with strength, force with force, and we can cut him down.

" Shi Qiluo set down his chest of a hundred treasures — a battered, broken thing — and from it leaped two divine-artifact Venerables; these two were all he had left.

Even these divine-artifact Venerables had grown old now, turned into doddering, decrepit old men.

Shi Qiluo, commanding the two divine-artifact Venerables, chuckled: "Shepherd Venerable, have you any last words? " Venerable Huo had meant to make his move, but hearing this he paused and waited in silence.

Divine Emperor Langxuan raised his hand and looked at his severed forefinger; silently he roused his arcane art of creation, yet the creation runes had been assailed by the calamity of destruction, and even the arcane art of creation could not make that finger grow again.

Heavenly Consort Yan pulled out her hairpin, and saw her white hair streaming loose; she could not help heaving a plaintive sigh.

Venerable Gong raised up her long whip and her horn; Heavenly Consort Qiang shook the hilt in her hand, drew back her two divine-slaying dark blades, and made the blades whole again.

Behind Venerable Hao figures crowded and treasure light hung thick, coalescing into a great bell suspended in the air.

The two Taiji ancient gods sighed, roused the Taiji sand table behind their heads, gasped twice heavily, and stood ready to strike at any moment.

Only Venerable Hao and Venerable Xiao, aged though they were, remained composed, waiting for Shen Mu to speak his last words and then promptly see him on his way.

Shen Mu gave a scornful laugh, lifted his head to look at the pinned Xuandu, then at the Yuandu and the Youdu, and said in a low voice: "Old relics.

.

.

" Of a sudden the radiance that filled the sky was drawn in with a whoosh; the divine treasury domain, Xuandu, Youdu, and Yuandu included, came howling back and poured into his body! Heavenly Consort Qiang's face changed drastically; she raised her voice at once: "He has said his last words!