Chapter 1555 — That Young Master

"I should have let you die with more dignity.

" Shen Mu rose to his feet, his face blank. "To die in a decisive battle against me would have let you die like a Tianzun. But I will not give up this chance, and still less will I gamble away the chance to rescue Ling Tianzun. Next time, Tai Di.

Next time, I will let you, as Tai Di, die an honorable death at my hands! " All at once a woman's voice sounded at his side: "Mu Tianzun, have you always been this hypocritical, this false?

" Shen Mu turned and looked at the woman within the dao fruit floating in the air, and smiled. "Perhaps I am a hypocrite. But did you not also see me coming, and neither warn Qiang Tianfei nor go to her rescue? If it comes to hypocrisy, you and I are the same kind.

" He took out the God-Slaying Platform, summoned up the two God-Slaying Mystic Blades, and set them upon the platform to be nourished.

Though these two divine blades had fallen into his hands and would no longer be invaded by the breath of the Great Calamity of Destruction, neither could they recover to their peak; only by being slowly nurtured upon the God-Slaying Platform could they be restored to what they once were. The woman in the dao fruit said, "First, it was my own idea to lure her here; it was not the Master of Miluo Palace who invited her. So her life is not as important as you, or she herself, imagine.

If she truly were important, then never mind Mu Tianzun — even if every powerful being in your universe joined hands, they could not kill her. Second. . . " She paused, then said, "My own strength has been depleted far too greatly.

Guarding her the whole way here, my strength is no longer a match for Mu Tianzun. So, for the sake of my own life, I will not risk being slain by you in order to save her. " Shen Mu raised his eyes and surveyed the towering palace complex ahead; the magnificent Miluo Palace appeared before him.

Miluo Palace broadly referred to Jade Capital City — not only the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, but the Jade Capital Cities of the universes of the past.

Yet Miluo Palace could also mean, specifically, the palace before his eyes, where the Master of Miluo Palace dwelt. Shen Mu was slightly startled; his gaze was drawn, against his will, to a great hall. That was the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, more majestic and magnificent than the Lingxiao Treasure Hall of the Heavenly Court; seen from afar, it seemed the very foundation of the myriad daos.

Around it the light of the dao hung thick, like lotus blossoms one after another, holding up the hall, letting it rise and sink amid the chaos without being devoured by it.

When Shen Mu saw this Lingxiao Treasure Hall, he understood why the Heavenly Court had made the Lingxiao Treasure Hall its center of power, and why gods and demons had taken this hall as the name of the two great realms, Lingxiao and the Emperor's Throne. "When Tai Di and Tai Chu broke into the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court in those years, they must have seen this hall.

How did they get here? " Shen Mu looked around.

Sixteen Chaos Rivers blocked the way of Tai Di and the others; by rights, they could not have crossed those Chaos Rivers back then. Many riddles of history remained unsolved, shrouding his path ahead like fog, so that he could not see clearly.

"Yes — the Master of Miluo Palace needed Tai Di to come here, to pass on the layout of Jade Capital City and complete the Jade Capital Trap. There must have been a Dao-Achiever from prehistoric times who guided Tai Di here and let him see the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

" He had just thought this when the woman in the dao fruit said, "Mu Tianzun, after you. " Shen Mu steadied himself and walked forward, glancing about, and said carelessly, "Might I ask how I should address you, elder sister?

" The woman in the dao fruit sneered.

"Elder sister? Mu Tianzun, so smooth-tongued — worthy of the name Mu Tianzun. " Shen Mu halted and looked at her, half-smiling.

"You have seen me before?

" The dao fruit drifted onward and did not answer. Shen Mu followed her and probed, "You are a Dao-Achiever who has come ashore, but your cultivation has been destroyed and you cannot leave Jade Capital City.

And this is my first time here.

That means you and I have never met before.

Yet you speak as though you know me — which is strange.

Could it be that in the future, when I return to the universes of the past, I have met you? " The woman in the dao fruit gave him no pleasant look and said coldly, "Mu Tianzun, do not let your thoughts run wild. " Seeing she would not answer, Shen Mu asked no more. He looked about with great interest and laughed. "Tai Yi once said that after I achieve the dao he would send me back to the universes of the past, to block your way and keep you from coming ashore.

Does that mean I will achieve the dao in the future?

" The woman in the dao fruit rolled both her eyes. Shen Mu stopped. He saw, floating by the shore of a Chaos Sea, a golden ship.

The ship was immense beyond measure, moored at the shore — but it was already terribly dilapidated, its mast snapped, its sails riddled with a thousand holes.

Even so, the golden ship had not been wholly destroyed by the Great Calamity of Destruction. "What ship is that? " Shen Mu asked curiously.

The woman in the dao fruit said sourly, "That is the World-Ferrying Golden Ship.

I have heard it was forged by the Master of Miluo Palace to ferry the people of the world across the Chaos Rivers.

" "What happened to it afterward? " Shen Mu grew more curious.

"I have heard that he loaded all the living beings of an entire universe into the golden ship and crossed the Great Calamity of Destruction, trying to reach the universe of the future.

" The dao fruit drifted on, and the woman said flatly, "When the golden ship reached the universe of the future, the Master of Miluo Palace discovered that the ship was empty — there was no one aboard but himself. All the living beings of that universe had died in the crossing and turned to chaos.

So he abandoned the ship. " There was no feeling at all in her words, yet Shen Mu could picture that scene of doomsday; it was a while before he emerged from that desolation. He came to a great hall and stopped, looking up, and praised, "What a hall! What is this hall called?

" The hall was towering, with an aura of the great dao not inferior to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall; standing at its foot, Shen Mu felt himself small and insignificant. "This is the Taishang Yuqing Hall.

" The woman in the dao fruit grew impatient and urged him, "Hurry! Did you not wish very much to see the Master of Miluo Palace?

" Shen Mu peered into the hall and asked, "May I go in? " The woman in the dao fruit sneered.

"If you do not fear death, you may.

This hall has a master, and the Master of the Taishang Hall is not so easy to deal with as the Master of Miluo Palace. Besides, you have not achieved the dao; entering the hall is seeking death!

The heaven and firmament of this hall were refined from Daluo Heaven, and within the hall are the dao tree and dao fruit of the Master of the Taishang Hall.

" Shen Mu was startled and gave up the notion of entering the hall for a glimpse of the Master of the Taishang Hall. Catching up with the woman, he asked, "Then the Lingxiao Treasure Hall — whose hall is that? Was it also refined from Daluo Heaven? " The woman in the dao fruit said, "Naturally. Those who can take up residence in Miluo Palace are all extraordinary beings.

If the Lingxiao Treasure Hall had not been refined from Daluo Heaven, how could you have cultivated the Lingxiao realm? The Lingxiao realm is an imitation of the process of ascending to Daluo Heaven. From the foot of the Lingxiao Hall, to walking into the hall, to ascending the throne — that corresponds to coming to Daluo Heaven and rising step by step within it.