Chapter 1585 — Forty Thousand Years of Solitude

Shen Mu let out a breath of relief, excitement gleaming in his eyes. Taidi's strength had indeed exceeded his expectations; never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the Heavenly Emperor within the Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness could be so overbearingly formidable.

This did not match Taidi's former conduct.

If Taidi truly possessed such power, why would he have needed to feign compliance with the ten Tianzuns?

Why would he have gone to such lengths to recover his own fleshly body?

Why would he have battered and shattered his own body again and again in battle?

Why would he have gone so far as to send out his reincarnated body, Ming Fangyu, to assassinate Ling Tianzun with the aid of the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body?

"Most likely Taidi was plotted against by the Primordial Sage of Miluo Palace in Pixiang Hall. Only after he branded his divine consciousness upon the Ultimate Void and forged the Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness did he discover that he had fallen into the trap. Perhaps his divine consciousness cannot descend in full; each time only a small portion of it can come down. So by storming into the Great Luotian, we have instead played right into his hands."

Shen Mu's eyes flickered. "That way he can seize the chance to wipe us all out in one sweep! But the fleshly body of Taichu, the Heavenly Emperor, is not so easily controlled."

He had hidden certain small tricks within the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body, originally intending to use them against Xiao Tianzun or Hao Tianzun; as long as either of them seized this body, the "small tricks" he had left behind would activate!

Yet he had never expected that Taidi within the Great Luotian of Divine Consciousness would prove so strong that it was he who first snatched the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body from Shen Mu's grasp!

The small trick Shen Mu had hidden in the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body was precisely an array of Hongmeng primal qi runes. Branding it with Hongmeng runes served two purposes: first, to make it easier for him to command the Heavenly Emperor's body; second, to lie in wait to ambush anyone else who seized it!

"Taidi is this strong, so defeating him is indeed difficult. But now that he has taken the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body, there is a chance to defeat him!"

Shen Mu had barely thought this far when the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body suddenly spoke, its voice shaking heaven and earth: "What a mighty body! Taichu, I envy you. I have always envied you!"

Controlling this body, Taidi looked toward Xiao Tianzun and said in admiration, "The moment you were born, you had no need to learn anything, no need to ask anything. You were the foremost ancient god under heaven, possessed of boundless, overbearing power, wielding the Innate Primordial Qi, and the foremost fleshly body under heaven. I was different. I had to draw knowledge from other Creators, comprehend all manner of divine-consciousness arts, cultivate step by step, and face the challenges of other Creators, climbing one footprint at a time, before I could achieve anything."

He clenched his fist hard, feeling the peerless power surging from this body.

Even for a Tianzun, it was very difficult to fully unleash the power within this body. A moment ago, when Shen Mu controlled the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body, had he been able to draw out its full strength, he would long since have beaten Hao Tianzun to death.

To unleash the power of the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body, one needed not only a profound comprehension of the Dao of Taichu, but also an incomparably vast cultivation.

Taidi satisfied both!

The Dao of Divine Consciousness was born out of the Dao of Taichu, and he had spent countless years studying the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body and the Taichu runes in the guise of Qiang Tianfei and of Ming Fangyu, a Tianzun.

In his comprehension of the Dao of Taichu, he held an enormous advantage.

As for his magic power, his realm was even above Kaihuang's. Having cultivated a Dao Fruit, his magic power was absolutely unmatched!

He could fully unleash the power of the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body to its utmost, even more thoroughly than Xiao Tianzun himself could!

"Obtaining this body was never my goal."

Taidi swept his gaze around and smiled. "My goal is also the Dao of Taichu. To truly cultivate the Dao of Taichu, besides absorbing the divine consciousness of all the Creators, one must also control Taichu's fleshly body—even devour Taichu! In the past, the ten Tianzuns checked one another, and it was hard for me to get a chance to control Taichu's fleshly body alone, much less devour Taichu. Because Taichu had already reincarnated, and I did not know who he was. So I needed Taichu to deliver himself to my door. And what could be more convenient than Taichu coming to my door of his own accord, for me to devour?"

He laughed heartily. "Besides devouring Taichu, I also need to deal with a batch of opponents who threaten me. You have come to my door of your own accord, which saves me the trouble of seeking each of you out."

With his back against the Dao Tree, he stirred his body, and the Great Luotian and the Dao Tree moved with him. The next moment he stood before Xiao Tianzun and simply threw a punch!

Xiao Tianzun let out a long cry, and the heavenly palace and treasure halls behind him burst forth with brilliant light. In an instant he raised his cultivation and strength to their utmost!

Not only that, his comprehension of the Dao of Taichu also broke through at this moment, and in one breath he comprehended the twenty-eighth heaven of the Dao of Taichu!

He was not like the Divine Emperor of Langxuan, who had relied on another's Dao Fruit to comprehend the profound realms of the Dao of Taichu, nor like Hao Tianzun, whose cultivation was too mixed.

His twenty-eighth heaven was the pure twenty-eighth heaven of the Dao of Taichu!

Know that if he could comprehend the thirty-sixth heaven of the Dao of Taichu, he would need neither the Taichu Origin Stone nor the Taichu Divine Stone, nor to devour and absorb the divine consciousness of the Creators; by Dao realm alone he could attain the Dao.

It was precisely because entering the Dao of Taichu was so difficult, so exceedingly hard, that he had conceived the idea of devouring the Creators—of devouring Taidi.

Yet even so, the twenty-eighth heaven of the Dao of Taichu was an unimaginable achievement!

Had Taidi not applied this pressure, he could never have raised his Dao realm by another heaven in such a short time.

Boom!

Xiao Tianzun spat blood, his bones broken and tendons snapped, and he was sent tumbling and rolling backward.

However fearsome and mighty his great divine power of entering the Dao of Taichu might be, it could not withstand the might of a single punch from Taidi!

Taidi stepped forward again and pressed his great hand downward. Xiao Tianzun was forcibly sucked back and fell into his palm.

Taidi seized Xiao Tianzun by the head and lifted him up.

On the other side, a streak of sword light came racing over, stabbing toward the eyes of the Heavenly Emperor's fleshly body—it was Kaihuang making his move to rescue Xiao Tianzun.

Previously they had been mortal enemies who would not rest until one was dead, each longing to be rid of the other. But Taidi was simply too strong, and they had no choice but to join hands against him. If Xiao Tianzun were beaten to death or devoured by Taidi, then none of them would leave alive!

Taidi raised his other hand and blocked with two fingers before his eyes. Kaihuang's sword light struck his two fingers with two ringing clangs, and at once the fingers split open, shedding two drops of blood.

"Not bad."

Taidi said in admiration, "But you still have far to go. Shen Ye, you are half a step behind me, and that half step is the difference between heaven and earth! Now that I have obtained Taichu's fleshly body, the gap between you and me is even wider!"