Chapter 1589 — The End of the Road

"Still—there seemed to be someone else aboard Mu Tianzun's golden ship!"

Yun Tianzun was startled. A moment ago he had caught an inadvertent glimpse of a figure stirring on the golden ship besides Shen Mu, though he had not made out who it was.

But now Shen Mu had already sailed off to join the siege of the Great Emperor, and there was no time to ask; he could only stifle the question in his heart.

"Perhaps Mu Tianzun truly has the means to defeat the Great Emperor and set me free." For the first time, a feeling of hope rose in his heart.

He had been trapped here far too long, and the Great Emperor was far too powerful.

Kaihuang, Xiao Tianzun, Hao Tianzun and the Goddess Taisu were locked in a melee with the Great Emperor. Within a few short exchanges the four were once more covered in wounds; Taisu's companion supreme treasure was crushed again and again, yet each time it gathered itself anew.

Xiao Tianzun too found himself in peril time and again. The Great Emperor's thoughts dwelt on him ceaselessly, obsessed with obtaining him, devouring and refining him.

Against so powerful an opponent, even he stood on the brink of ruin.

Suddenly the Great Emperor flicked his fingers in rapid succession, sending Kaihuang's oncoming sword light recoiling backward; he threw his body sideways in a charge that snapped Hao Tianzun's bones and tendons, and with a single roar blasted the Goddess Taisu away!

Taisu, still in midair, was shattered to pieces by the impact of his sound waves!

He raised his palm, and beneath it the Great Luo Heaven of Divine Consciousness froze Xiao Tianzun in place!

Xiao Tianzun felt as though he had sunk into mire. He saw Kaihuang's sword light falling like rain outside, swifter by countless times than in ordinary days; Hao Tianzun's speed had grown faster as well, and the attacks of both the Goddess Taisu and the Great Emperor had become impossibly quick!

He looked up and saw the Great Emperor's palm like the blue sky, towering and boundless, pressing him down beneath the heavens.

His heart sank. He knew he had fallen into the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain at the center of the Great Emperor's palm, and that within that domain he was as small as an ant.

The Great Emperor's Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain was overbearingly tyrannical. This domain bore the words "supreme" for a reason—it was the highest, the unsurpassed. In the years of the Great Emperor's full glory, when his primordial spirit and his fleshly body still remained, it was by this Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain that he had galloped and thundered across the ancient age!

Within his Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain, everyone felt the passage of time slow to an unbearable crawl while time outside flowed with extreme swiftness—one slow, one fast—so that every movement, every attack, every divine art of one's own became utterly laughable.

The Great Emperor, meanwhile, could seize the moment to strike and slay a powerful foe outright, while the enemy trapped in the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain had no time at all to mount any resistance.

Earlier, the reason the Great Emperor had not dared to employ the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain was that Ling Tianzun was present. Now Ling Tianzun had departed, and he had no scruples left at all!

Xiao Tianzun saw the Great Emperor's finger descend. That finger leapt and danced at inconceivable speed, every strike exquisitely precise.

In former days Xiao Tianzun could have blocked it, could have broken the move apart; but now, though he desperately roused his own mana and strained to move his body, his body had no time to react!

"The Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain is nothing but a domain. I am a being who attained the Dao through force—with my power running through it, there is no domain I cannot break open!"

Xiao Tianzun roared again and again. Behind him the Great Heavenly Court formed of thirty-six Heavenly Palaces thundered with the sound of the Dao, its Dao light quaking, and in a single instant his vital essence surged to its absolute limit, dyeing the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain red!

The terrifying surge of power split his fleshly body open, blood streaming; at this moment the might of the Heavenly Court had already exceeded the limits of his body!

If he kept raising it further, this body of his would surely be crushed; after this battle, he would likely have to abandon his fleshly body altogether!

Even so, he madly raised his power, reckless of everything!

His speed quickened at once, yet against the assault of the Great Emperor's finger his reactions were still too slow!

Despair filled Xiao Tianzun's heart. Facing this strike from the Great Emperor, he had no possibility of survival left!

Just then, a massive golden ship came crashing into the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain. At its bow Shen Mu roused the Art of Immutability, and the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain was instantly reversed: the Great Emperor's finger slowed to an unbearable crawl, while the pressure on Xiao Tianzun abruptly lifted!

Startled and overjoyed, he struck with all his strength and drove the Great Emperor's finger back; the Great Emperor's palm too was shaken high into the air!

At the same time, the Golden Ship of Salvation passed through the frozen Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain. In a single instant the giant vessel became immeasurably vast, and with a thunderous crash it struck the Great Emperor, grinding across his face and bearing him down beneath its hull, dragging him for dozens of li!

The entire Great Luo Heaven of Divine Consciousness, together with the Dao Tree and the Dao Fruit, was knocked sideways, shifted dozens of li through the Ultimate Void!

"Xiao Tianzun, come into my domain!"

Shen Mu bellowed, and his Divine Treasury Domain unfurled, overlapping with the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain.

Xiao Tianzun leapt into the air and landed within his domain. At once he seemed to have a thousand faces and a thousand eyes, able to see before and behind, in every direction, and he could not help marveling inwardly.

Shen Mu had once joined hands with Yue Tianzun and You Tianzun against him; at that time the two Tianzuns had stood within Shen Mu's domain and grown vastly stronger.

Xiao Tianzun had always been curious about Shen Mu's domain. This was the first time he had observed his surroundings from such a vantage, and his heart went cold: "Mu Tianzun's domain is in no way inferior to the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain—in its subtle wonders it may even surpass it! This one cannot be allowed to live—"

The two were fighting shoulder to shoulder for the first time. They exchanged a glance, then each turned his head away, both finding the other's appearance loathsome beyond words.

"Mu Tianzun, you truly have a death wish!"

The golden ship abruptly halted. With a thunderous roar the Great Emperor lifted it, hoisting it onto his shoulder, and freed a hand to block Kaihuang's sword light and Hao Tianzun's Myriad Dao Heaven Wheel—overwhelmingly powerful!

His Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain swelled once more. He sneered, "Even Ling Tianzun I do not fear in the slightest! My qi of Taichu has no fear of the Art of Immutability!"

Boom!

A surge of Taichu qi filled the entire Divine Treasury Domain in an instant. Shen Mu's body convulsed violently, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, and he sensed at once that his Art of Immutability had been broken; the Supreme Divine Consciousness Domain came sweeping in again!

The consciousness domain collided with his Divine Treasury Domain. As the two different domains met, Shen Mu immediately felt his Divine Treasury Domain come under total suppression!