Chapter 1578 — Crushing a Mighty Foe in One Blow

He walked very slowly, studying bit by bit the shifts in Heavenly Lord Ming Fangyu's moves as he attacked Lord Ling, and even stepping back a few paces so that he might see more carefully. Lord Ling's death repeated endlessly, and Shen Mu did his best not to let it disturb him.

He watched with ever greater care; he did not belittle the Great Emperor merely because the Great Emperor had again and again come off the worse in dealings with him.

The Great Emperor was, after all, one of the mightiest beings since the beginning of history; even Heavenly Emperor Taichu had never lodged himself in the Daluo Heaven, and yet this one had not only imprinted the Daluo Heaven with his divine consciousness, but had also grown a Dao Tree, opened a Dao Flower, and borne a Dao Fruit.

One had only to understand that even Kaihuang, first among the Dao Realm, had to this day never borne a Dao Fruit. If he wished to wipe out the Great Emperor completely and free Lord Ling and Lord Yun, he must face the Great Emperor within the Daluo Heaven, the one transformed by the Way of Divine Consciousness!

That was the Great Emperor's true source.

Only by destroying him could the Great Emperor be uprooted entirely, with no hidden peril left behind!

"Since the cosmos was opened, no Dao-attainer has ever died, and of Dao-attainers there are only three or four in all.

But this time, who can say?

A Dao-attainer may well die! " His eyes flickered, and he said silently in his heart: "In the days to come, more will surely die!

But first, how does one truly kill a Dao-attainer like the Great Emperor? " The Great Emperor was only half a Dao-attainer, but even half a Dao-attainer was something Shen Mu had never dealt with before.

Whether he could slay the Great Emperor was crucial to the battles ahead, and rich in lessons.

He studied Ming Fangyu's strikes over and over until he knew Ming Fangyu's every move by heart, then sat down in silence and deduced the transformations of Ming Fangyu's divine abilities.

He had no choice but to be so cautious, for he must undo Lord Ling's Unchanging divine ability before he could free Lord Ling from that unchanging state.

And to break the Unchanging divine ability and free Lord Ling meant that Ming Fangyu, who held the Heavenly Emperor's body in his grasp, would be freed as well!

The Great Emperor's primordial spirit, Ming Fangyu, cultivated the primordial spirit above all, and to stand among the Heavenly Lords he must surely command vast divine powers.

Heavenly Emperor Taichu's body was the mightiest flesh in all history; the two joined together would be hard for Shen Mu alone to contend with.

Therefore Shen Mu had to master every shift of Ming Fangyu's moves and know every facet of him with perfect clarity.

Sitting there, Shen Mu actually closed his eyes and sank into a deep slumber, and soon the sound of snoring arose; dream after dream surfaced upon the Heavenly River, and within those dreams many tiny Shen Mus appeared, every one of them bearing the Great Emperor's manner, mimicking his every gesture and movement to perfection.

They unleashed the Great Emperor's ultimate techniques, deducing bit by bit how his moves evolved; many of the tiny Shen Mus even fought one another using the Great Emperor's ultimate techniques, and naturally there was slaughter, rivers of blood flowing through the dreams. It had to be said that the Great Emperor was a man of near-universal talent. He held many identities: the Great Emperor's flesh was so mighty that it could contend with the ancient god Heavenly Emperor; his avatar of divine consciousness, Lady Qiang, was the foremost master of divine consciousness under heaven; and his primordial spirit Ming Fangyu was a Heavenly Lord famed for the surpassing strength of his primordial spirit.

A mighty body, and mastery of close combat. A mighty primordial spirit, and mastery of the Dao arts.

A mighty divine consciousness, and mastery of visualization and soul-control.

Apart from Lord Gong, the Great Emperor had scarcely a single weakness! Shen Mu had studied the Great Emperor's Supreme Daluo Divine Consciousness, and his own Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace was founded upon it; once, that Divine Consciousness Heavenly Palace had been his mightiest heavenly palace.

After who knew how long, Shen Mu suddenly woke from the dream, and his heart stirred: someone had touched the phantom images he had left behind!

Only, he did not know whether that person was Lord Hao or Lord Xiao, or Kaihuang Shen Ye!

Still, Kaihuang, whose Dao Realm had been cultivated to the thirty-sixth heaven, was surely a true Dao-attainer; his Dao heart was keen enough to discern the divine ability hidden within those phantom images. And once he saw it, he would not touch them.

Lord Hao's and Lord Xiao's attainments in the Dao Realm were no match for Kaihuang's; only those two would have set off his phantom images.

"That was fast!

" Shen Mu's heart quivered; the newcomer had passed through his phantom images at tremendous speed, and at such a pace he would arrive here before long. To his surprise, just as the man was about to arrive, he abruptly vanished from Shen Mu's senses!

Shen Mu frowned and looked back along the way he had come, but saw no shadow of anyone.

"Old foxes, every one of them!

" Shen Mu steadied himself.

The one who had come in was either Lord Hao or Lord Xiao.

He thought: "Since he did not show himself outright, Lord Hao is the likelier.

Lord Hao is in no hurry; he is not among those with the greatest stake.

Those with the greatest stake are myself, the Great Emperor, and Lord Xiao.

So Lord Hao can sit back and reap the fisherman's profit. " He waited quietly, and after two or three days he sensed someone touching the phantom images he had left. This man was exceedingly cautious: no sooner had he touched the first phantom image than he did not touch the second.

Shen Mu waited a long while, and the man touched no other phantom images.

"This one is Lord Xiao.

" Shen Mu frowned slightly; Lord Xiao had come several days later than he had expected, and it left him uneasy.

"With Kaihuang gone from the Land of No Sorrow, might Lord Xiao not seize the opening?

" He mused a moment and said silently in his heart: "If I were Lord Xiao, the moment Kaihuang left I would slip into the Void of the Far Shore, take the Taichu primal stones, destroy the Creators there, and absorb all their divine consciousness to swell my own strength.

And if that boy Lord Mu means to plot against me and use the Great Emperor's hand to be rid of me, then he will surely be waiting for me, making certain that I enter Lord Ling's divine ability.

" Here Shen Mu raised his head and let out a foul breath: "Lord Xiao was delayed a few days, which means the Void of the Far Shore is in dire straits! And Lord Xiao's strength has likely risen greatly! " He steadied himself; to scheme against a being like Lord Xiao was indeed exceedingly difficult. "And who knows whether Lord Xiao has already entered the Ultimate Void and forcibly imprinted his power upon it.

If he could manage that, his strength would rise to yet more terrifying heights! Whether Kaihuang could best him would be an even bet.

" Shen Mu closed his eyes.

After a moment he opened them, and his Divine Treasury domain spread out. Wider and wider his Divine Treasury domain grew, until it shrouded the whole mist of the Heavenly River; Shen Mu touched his right index finger lightly to the point between his brows, and the vertical eye there slowly opened. In the instant that eye opened, his domain and his body were at once separated from the mist of the Heavenly River!

Before him there remained only a stretch of the Heavenly River!

That was the stretch of the Heavenly River Lord Ling had severed, the stretch that had become the matter of the Unchanging!