Chapter 1584 — Unrivaled for Six Billion Years

That was the Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness.

In the Primordial Era, countless Creators had offered sacrifice to Taidi, making his flesh and his divine consciousness immeasurably mighty, breaking past every limit.

With all the myriad races sacrificing to him, Taidi branded the Ultimate Void with his divine consciousness, and thus the Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness came into being: the Dao Tree grew, the Dao Flower bloomed, the Dao Fruit formed, and from then on he was deathless and indestructible. Yet his cultivation had come from sacrifice, not from his own practice; his comprehension of the Dao of Divine Consciousness had reached only the thirty-fifth heaven, and so his Dao Fruit was a green fruit that could never ripen.

He had been plotted against by the Primordial Sage of Miluo Palace. In those years, when they explored the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, he and Taichu's party had come upon Pixiang Hall; after taking that hall, they found within it the Primordial Sage of Miluo Palace, a mighty being who had passed through two great tribulations of destruction.

So Taidi and the others paid homage to the Primordial Sage of Miluo Palace, and the Sage harbored treacherous designs; his path was that of attaining the Dao through faith, and he made Taidi and the rest believe in him, that their faith might help him descend.

Taidi and his companions were trapped in Pixiang Hall with no way out, and in the end it was only by Taichu's power that they escaped it, sealing Pixiang Hall away together with the Primordial Sage of Miluo Palace. What the Primordial Sage of Miluo Palace had taught Taidi was the way of attaining the Dao through faith, but he had deliberately sabotaged Taidi and taught him only part of it.

Taidi fused the Dao of Faith with the Dao of Divine Consciousness and made the Creators of the Primordial Era sacrifice to him; only thus could his divine consciousness reach straight into the Ultimate Void and lodge itself there. But because the Sage's teaching had been incomplete, he was tainted by the sacrificial power of the Creator race, and could never advance another step.

His goal was not merely the Heavenly Emperor's physical body, but Xiao Tianzun—and the Dao of Taichu! Shen Mu, Kaihuang, Hao Tianzun, and Xiao Tianzun fought one another ferociously, for the Heavenly Emperor's body and for his destruction—but was he not himself waiting for this very chance, to devour Xiao Tianzun and transform his divine consciousness into the Dao of Taichu?

Shen Mu and Kaihuang wished to destroy him; Xiao Tianzun and Hao Tianzun wished to devour him; but he too was waiting for this chance to make himself whole!

And now, at last, the chance had come! Kaihuang wielded his sword and fought Xiao Tianzun fiercely; of these two, one had attained the Dao through the Dao-realm, the other through power. Xiao Tianzun held the advantage of a deeper, more vigorous cultivation, and the might of the Dao of Taichu was terrifying; Kaihuang held the advantage of a profounder attainment in the Dao-realm, and his attacks were stronger.

Neither could slay the other in a single move.

Though Xiao Tianzun had the worse of it, so long as Kaihuang could not kill him he would rely on the mysteries of the Dao of Taichu to restore himself; and Kaihuang, by the sword-Dao that split heaven from earth, broke apart his Taichu primal qi and whittled away his cultivation. As for Shen Mu's side, it was a pure contest of strength against divine arts. The Heavenly Emperor's body was mighty, and Shen Mu's divine arts surpassed all others; Hao Tianzun, because what he cultivated was the Zixiao Hall, had greatly altered his divine arts and Dao techniques.

Their struggle too was deadlocked, and in a short time neither could gain the upper hand.

But Shen Mu, relying on the Heavenly Emperor's body being stronger—and not his own—met whatever divine art or Dao technique Hao Tianzun used with a life-for-life style of fighting.

Hao Tianzun fought with immense difficulty, grinding his teeth in hatred. Just as both sides were wounded, suddenly a Cold Silence Wind came howling down, and all the heavens in an instant stretched out without limit, everything growing immeasurably thin! These heavens grew flatter and flatter, as though stretched to a layer of no thickness at all!

The four were startled; the moment that cold wind touched their bodies and souls, their flesh began to change, growing flat, spreading in every direction, the material particles that composed their bodies stretching infinitely apart from one another! Xiao Tianzun's body began in an instant to swell, spreading outward, stretched until it was hundreds of li wide, flatter and flatter. "The Ultimate Void!

" He roared, rousing the Great Heavenly Court formed of his thirty-six heavenly palaces; with a shake of his body he forcibly contracted his flesh against the Cold Silence Wind, and his body drew back in and returned to normal. But even though he had raised himself to the Heavenly Court realm, the Ultimate Void still worked upon his flesh and soul, threatening his life, forcing him to rouse his Dao arts and divine powers to resist it. On another side, Kaihuang roused his sword-Dao; as his swordplay unfolded, a sword-Dao domain formed about him, and he too fought the Cold Silence Wind of the Ultimate Void.

Hao Tianzun likewise roused his own Great Heavenly Court, using immense dharma power to suppress and resist the Ultimate Void, his heart cold with dread. Shen Mu's soul hid within the Heavenly Emperor's body and felt nothing amiss; but his own body could not hold out.

The moment the Cold Silence Wind touched it, his flesh became immeasurably thin. And so it was with Ling Tianzun.

Her cultivation was lower, no match for Shen Mu, still less for Hao Tianzun, Xiao Tianzun, and Kaihuang; under this Cold Silence Wind her flesh and soul began at once to dissolve.

"Primal Embryo Divine Treasury Domain! " Suddenly Shen Mu roared, and his divine-consciousness domain unfolded; at once a World Tree, lush and green, rose from the ground, propping up a heaven and earth within the Ultimate Void.

With Ling Tianzun's and Shen Mu's bodies inside the Primal Embryo Divine Treasury Domain, the dissolution of their flesh and souls halted at once.

Ling Tianzun roused the Unchanging Divine Art; her flesh and soul were restored as before, and she looked around her with a touch of alarm and uncertainty.

They forcibly suppressed their own flesh and souls, yet still found it hard to hold down the effects of the Cold Silence Wind! Fortunately their cultivation was strong enough; the Cold Silence Wind did affect them, but not enough to take their lives all at once.

They looked up and saw a Dao Tree standing in their midst, its branches thick with leaves, its crown vast. They looked around and could no longer see those heavens; the whole of them had utterly dissolved into emptiness, gone without a trace!

Taidi's Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness had come at last!

"Where the Dao Tree does not grow, the Dao Flower does not bloom, and the Dao Fruit does not form—all are ants!

" Beneath that Dao Tree, a majestic Creator came walking from behind the trunk, laughing heartily. He looked at the crowd and said leisurely, "I watch you ants, striving against one another in a lowly world, battering yourselves bloody—it is really quite amusing.

" "Juyu!

" Xiao Tianzun snorted coldly. "Taidi!

" Shen Mu's eyes lit up.

Hao Tianzun smiled, eager to try his hand. Kaihuang stood with his hands clasped behind him, studying the Dao Tree, paying Taidi no heed at all.

Shen Mu, meanwhile, looked Taidi up and down, praising him without cease, and said with a laugh, "Eldest Brother, so this is your Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness?

You branded the Ultimate Void with the Dao of Divine Consciousness, and thus formed the Ultimate Luotian?