Chapter 1604 — The Ancient Fiend

The Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court.

A tall figure walked into this ancient divine realm. The body he wore was battered and broken: the crown of his skull had been pried open, his brains steamed with heat, and wounds of every kind covered his flesh.

More than that, there was a sword wound between his brows. Someone had run a sharp blade through his skull and planted within him a dao tree of the sword path.

From time to time that dao tree surfaced within his body, ceaselessly wrecking the workings of his flesh, so that every step he took was a torment. The sword wound made him bleed inwardly; each step he took left a footprint brimming with his blood, and the wound would not heal.

He was Heavenly Venerable Xiao, who had reclaimed the flesh of the Heavenly Emperor - or rather, he ought to be called Taichu, for Heavenly Venerable Xiao, as a Heavenly Venerable, was dead. Heavenly Venerable Xiao's body had been utterly destroyed in the battle at the Great Luotian of divine sense, by Kaihuang and the others, and no longer existed.

What now inhabited the Heavenly Emperor's flesh was one of the three souls of the Heavenly Emperor Taichu. The Heavenly Emperor's flesh was his true body.

His reclaiming of his own flesh also signified the return of Taichu, the second of the Five Primal Supremes. Taichu walked with difficulty through the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court.

All around was desolation: collapsed palaces and buildings everywhere, and the winds of cold silence and heat death howling through withered groves of dao trees.

His steps were heavy and steady.

After dodging a blow from Heavenly Venerable Ling and falling from the Great Luotian, all the injuries on his body had erupted at once, nearly dragging him to his death. He had to avoid the eyes of Heavenly Venerable Hao and the others.

He was very weak now; though the flesh still held boundless power, he was no longer invincible, and so he must be cautious. Only after walking so long did he finally arrive at the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court.

The Jade Capital had been sealed by the Heavenly Venerables, and Heavenly Venerable Xiao had been one of those who sealed it. They did not want outsiders coming here.

But as the former Heavenly Emperor, Taichu had naturally left behind a backdoor, to make it convenient for himself to enter the Jade Capital.

He pressed deeper and deeper, searching for the long river of chaos.

Suddenly his pupils constricted, and his gaze fell upon a sword.

It was not truly a sword, but rather the trace of a peerlessly powerful sword-path expert who had come here and once fought in this place, doing battle with an opponent through his unmatched sword dao, so that his dao was branded into the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court.

Taichu exhaled a turbid breath: "Kaihuang is here too. " He grew wary. As he was now, he was in no state to fight Kaihuang; if he encountered Kaihuang, he feared he could hardly preserve his own life.

He avoided the sword-path traces Kaihuang had left all along the way, and at last came to the long river of chaos.

He was about to cross when his pupils suddenly constricted. On the river's surface ahead, a figure stood with hands clasped behind his back, his back to him.

Beneath that man's feet a sword domain had formed.

Something uncanny in the river attacked him; a massive dao-bone palm of an enlightened one reached the man's brow, only to be pierced by a flash of sword light and sink back into the river. Taichu's pupils constricted, and his voice came out hoarse: "Shen Ye!

" Kaihuang turned around, glanced at him, and said mildly: "Your Majesty Taichu, you have come here through a thousand hardships, hoping to have the so-called Third Young Master of Miluo Palace repair your flesh - is that not so? " Taichu stood on the bank, gazing at this man.

In those years, Kaihuang, by means of Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine art, had returned to the early years of Longhan, taken part in the Jade Pool Gathering, and fought Shen Mu, displaying a divine art of the highest attainment.

At that time Taichu had unified the cosmos, was full of ambition, and had summoned all the gods of the world and the holy ones of every race to hold the Heavenly Court Gathering. Compared with the Heavenly Court Gathering, the Jade Pool Gathering seemed insignificant; yet even then he had taken note of this man, struck by the divine arts of Shen Ye and Shen Mu, and had conferred upon him the title of Heavenly Venerable, ranking him alongside the Seven Heavenly Venerables of Longhan.

He had never imagined that today this man would become his strongest and most troublesome opponent.

"With me here, Your Majesty cannot cross the river. " Kaihuang's tone was indifferent.

After attaining the Way, his desire for power had diminished greatly, replaced by the conviction that had run through him from first to last - his original heart.

He stood upon the long river of chaos like a long sword spanning from ancient times to the present, incomparably sharp, cutting through all things, blocking Taichu's path. "As one of the Five Primal Supremes of this universe, Your Majesty should not seek the aid of enlightened ones of old to achieve your ambition. " A dao sword slowly appeared in Kaihuang's hand, and he said softly: "If Your Majesty insists on going your own way, then your servant will have no choice but to bury Your Majesty upon this long river.

" Taichu laughed heartily, stepped into the long river, stood upon its surface, and faced him from afar.

"Shen Ye, you are indeed greatly capable.

The first to attain the Way, you astonished me. But attaining the Way through the Dao Realm is not the only road to enlightenment.

There are other roads to the Way, and so you are not invincible. " Taichu said mildly: "Do not forget, your Dao Realm system is also built upon the heavenly palace system.

It is by borrowing the power of the Jade Capital, the power of Lingxiao Hall, that you have achieved what you have today. If your Lingxiao Hall were destroyed, would you still have your present cultivation and standing?

The wise man adapts to the times - let me pass. " Kaihuang did not move.

Suddenly behind Taichu's head appeared the Great Heavenly Court formed of thirty-six heavenly palaces, and the phantom of a Lingxiao Treasure Hall pressed down.

He said in a deep voice: "Within the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, I can calmly borrow the power of the Third Young Master of Miluo Palace, and the Third Young Master can easily suppress your power and utterly destroy your Lingxiao Treasure Hall! Upon this river, I fear you not in the slightest! " Kaihuang rested his hand on the dao sword, gathering force, ready to strike.

Taichu roared, and his voice became the Dao Sound of Taichu, sweeping up the qi of chaos. His momentum surged, his primordial spirit enthroned within the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, his power coursing through all the heavenly palaces, and he stepped forward! Just then, suddenly, a lamp's light shone across the vast long river of chaos. Taichu hastily halted, holding his force in check.

Kaihuang frowned slightly, his hand still on the sword hilt, layer upon layer of sword domains stacking up, but he did not strike directly.

A child appeared, carrying a lantern, walking up from the depths of the long river of chaos, rising step by step, and soon came to the river's surface, shining the lamplight toward the two men. The child rose from the long river of chaos, and by the time he reached the river's surface he had become exceedingly old, white-haired, doddering. Only when the light fell upon the two men's faces did he chuckle: "Taichu, the Third Young Master has commanded me to come and guide you to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. Anyone who dares block your way will find only death!