Chapter 1580 — Forty Thousand Years of Storm and Song

Taisu, fourth in rank among the Five Primal Modes, had been born more incomplete than Taichu, second in rank; she had been brought by Shen Mu into the great calamity of destruction of the sixteenth cosmos, forced to emerge before her time, and even the primordial liquid in her egg had been taken by Shen Mu.

Innate deficiency and all, she was no match for the ancient Taiji deities, brother and sister—yet with a single move, Wish Fulfilled, she had made Heavenly Lord Xiao, a being of Taichu, suffer a heavy loss. Heavenly Lord Hao and Shen Mu each landed a blow, and the two changed moves almost in the same instant: Heavenly Lord Hao straightened from his bow and drove the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel to slash at Shen Mu, while Shen Mu, holding his cane reversed, bowed low!

A single strike of the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel smashed Shen Mu to powder; but as Shen Mu bowed, Heavenly Lord Hao's chest burst open, turning into a mass of primal chaos qi, laying bare his breastbone! Heavenly Lord Hao smiled faintly: "A trifling wound, not worth mentioning.

Lord Mu, that you could wound me is enough to be proud of.

" He had no sooner spoken than his expression changed drastically—before him appeared another Shen Mu! Without another word, Heavenly Lord Hao brought the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel crashing down, and that Shen Mu bowed low!

Boom!

Another violent surge swept from the God-Slaying Platform: Heavenly Lord Hao's chest was battered and torn, while Shen Mu was smashed to bits! Heavenly Lord Hao gritted his teeth and drove the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel; the wheel was like a huge millstone, grinding Shen Mu to powder, grinding him until not even a speck of dregs remained!

He bowed again, and the Goddess Taisu struck at once, reducing Shen Mu to a mass of Taisu qi, and he ceased to exist! Heavenly Lord Hao put away the Myriad Dao Heavenly Wheel, and Shen Mu stood whole and sound before him once more, bowing low to him.

Heavenly Lord Hao clenched his fist and struck; Shen Mu burst apart with a crackle, reduced to fine powder.

The Goddess Taisu, with no time to think, could not wait for Heavenly Lord Hao to pay her homage and struck on her own, wiping Shen Mu from existence!

Yet when the mass of Taisu qi dispersed, before them appeared another Shen Mu, again holding the Taiyi cane reversed, again bowing to Heavenly Lord Hao with the move One Qi of Primal Chaos, Journeying the Dao Together!

Heavenly Lord Hao roared in fury, and the Great Heavenly Court manifested behind him: thirty-six heavenly palaces swaying, treasure halls and heavenly palaces reflecting one another, a sight of vast magnificence.

His primordial spirit rose slowly, vast and boundless; his palm pressed down, and before it even touched Shen Mu, Shen Mu had been crushed by the terrifying pressure, reduced to the ashes of calamity!

A great hole split open in Heavenly Lord Hao's chest, laying bare his heart, beating pit-a-pat!

Awe-inspiring and bristling with killing intent, he displayed the supreme divine might of the strongest Heavenly Lord of the age!

Shen Mu appeared whole and sound before him once again, and again bowed low!

Heavenly Lord Hao cried out; the Lingxiao Treasure Hall radiated endless imperial might, evaporating the entire Heavenly River, leaving only the God-Slaying Platform, while storms raged over the desert all around, countless bones and corpses swept into the sky! Boom!

His blow fell, and the desert that had floated into the sky suddenly sank, smashing down hard upon the ground, crushing desert and Shen Mu alike! "Surely he will die this time?

" Beside himself with rage, his heart shattered by Shen Mu's blow: "Lord Mu, can you truly not die?

" His Dao heart was in disorder; in all the world there was but one man who could unsettle his Dao heart, and that man was Shen Mu. At the Jade Pool Gathering a million years ago, Shen Mu had left him a shadow that could not be erased; though Heavenly Lord Hao had cultivated to the Dao Realm of the thirtyfold heaven, his Dao heart steeped to the highest degree, in no way inferior to Shen Mu's, still, when he faced Shen Mu, his Dao heart would waver.

"Not dead yet.

" Shen Mu's voice came, and Heavenly Lord Hao's pupils suddenly contracted; he stared, and his expression changed drastically—there stood Shen Mu before him, whole and sound.

But not one Shen Mu—more than twenty thousand Shen Mus.

These Shen Mus were arrayed in a single line, as though they ran through a river of time forty thousand years long. "Heavenly Lord Hao, when you crept stealthily into the Heavenly River to track me, just how many of my phantom shadows did you pass through?

" More than twenty thousand Shen Mus turned to look at him at once, strange smiles on their faces: "As many phantom shadows as you passed through, so many of me there are.

Those phantom shadows of mine were not the Unchanging divine ability left for you and the Great Emperor—they were the Unchanging divine ability I left for myself.

" Heavenly Lord Hao looked with difficulty and found the desert gone, the Heavenly River restored; Lord Ling and Heavenly Lord Xiao were nowhere to be seen.

On this long river there were only he, Taisu, and more than twenty thousand Shen Mus.

He had been caught.

He thought silently to himself. The moment he had stepped onto the Heavenly River and passed through the mist, he had already been caught.

"Heavenly Lord Hao!

" The first Shen Mu bowed low, still that move, One Qi of Primal Chaos, Journeying the Dao Together, and said in a loud voice: "Let us see whether you can slay these twenty-six thousand four hundred twenty-three of me from forty thousand years past, or whether you, an existence who attained the Dao through force, will die at my hands, slain by me within these forty thousand years of time!

"