Chapter 1666 — Burying the Great Dao

Before each treasure hall stood the phantom of a Dao-attainer, and they were terrible in their power; standing there, their figures seemed to pierce through universe after universe, through time and space, enduring countless eons without extinction. Their Dao seemed capable of existing forever, never perishing; even if the universe were destroyed and the Great Canopy Heaven shattered, their Dao would endure eternal!

Their power spanned destruction kalpa after destruction kalpa, descending into this era, and for that a medium was required. Even for a young lord of the Miro Palace, for his power to descend into a future age, a medium was needed.

When the Fourth Young Lord of the Miro Palace slew the Opening Emperor, his medium had been the Haotian Venerable, who drew his lute string from a past universe and tethered it to a creation divine artifact; only thus could the Fourth Young Lord's divine power reach the Nether Capital and strike down the Opening Emperor. Shen Mu had cultivated their treasure halls, refining the seventy-two halls, and the seventy-two halls were the mediums of the seventy-two Dao-attainers of the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court.

The seventy-two treasure halls allowed their power to descend, allowed them to strangle Shen Mu's path to attaining the Dao! And yet.

.

.

"Within my God-Store Universe, you are all nourishment!

All of you are but a trial on my path to attaining the Dao!

" Shen Mu's voice came, accompanied by violent fluctuations; the fourth Dao-attainer's phantom was twisted by his divine power into a fried dough twist and cast into the Guixu, where it was instantly ground to pieces and devoured by the Guixu Abyss. His Dao tree projection was likewise shattered and absorbed by Shen Mu's World Tree.

Shen Mu's primordial spirit straightened its robes and continued onward.

There was no mistake.

In his eyes, these Dao-attainers who blocked his way were merely a trial to aid his attainment of the Dao.

He had indeed borrowed the power of these Dao-attainers to cultivate the seventy-two treasure halls; he had indeed given the seventy-two Dao-attainers an opening.

But for him, this was also an excellent opportunity. So long as he refined and absorbed all these Dao-attainer projections, refined and absorbed their Dao tree and Dao fruit projections, the seventy-two halls of the Jade Capital would no longer be a trap for him!

He could take complete control of the power of the Jade Capital's seventy-two halls, make it his own, and have no more worries behind him! This trial was of the utmost importance; no matter what, he had to succeed!

"Seventh Young Lord, to you this is a trial, but to us, this is an interception that concerns our future, that concerns the survival of the Jade Capital and the continuation of the civilizations of sixteen universe-eras!

" Before the Pixaing Hall, a familiar figure appeared ahead of Shen Mu.

He was like a schoolmaster, gentle and refined; two Dao fruits hung upon his Dao tree, and there was also a blooming Dao flower. The Dao flower had not yet borne fruit.

Though his face could not be seen clearly, Shen Mu knew who he was. He was the Miro Palace Primordial Sage, master of the Pixaing Hall.

The Miro Palace Primordial Sage had already died at the hands of the Ten Heavenly Venerables; the one appearing before Shen Mu was the Miro Palace Primordial Sage of a past universe-era, when he had still been alive.

He was a mighty existence who had lived through three universe-eras, his strength by no means ordinary; his phantom was hazy and indistinct, his power transmitted from the sixteenth era of the universe, so mighty that it distorted time and space.

The Miro Palace Primordial Sage bowed deeply, his voice booming and reverberating: "Primordial Sage pays his respects to the Seventh Young Lord!

In universe after universe of the past, we could not stop the Seventh Young Lord, but in this yet-unknown future, no matter what, we must try! " He was an existence who had attained the Dao through sacrifice; this bow was not merely a bow to Shen Mu's name as the Seventh Young Lord, but a bow aimed at Shen Mu's very life!

His Dao tree, Dao flower, and Dao fruit erupted in that instant with countless Dao patterns and Dao chains, blazing, seething, transforming into inconceivably terrifying divine power, attacking Shen Mu within that bow! His Dao arts and divine powers were aimed specifically at the primordial spirit; Shen Mu had once obtained the teaching rod refined from the branches of his Dao tree, and so long as the opponent had a primordial spirit, the strike would invariably find its mark!

Shen Mu had also studied the principle behind this. The reason the Primordial Sage's divine power never missed was chiefly that the Miro Palace Primordial Sage's Dao was the Dao of sacrifice.

The power of sacrifice was exceedingly strange, penetrating everywhere, formless and substanceless; it was the thoughts of all living beings, and wherever thought reached, there was no resisting it!

Boom! Shen Mu's primordial spirit was blasted high into the air, falling backward; his primordial spirit took the blow and was nearly split apart by the shock.

The Miro Palace Primordial Sage's form soared into the air, and the Dao tree behind him soared as well; Dao patterns and Dao chains combined in the air into an ancient, incomparably ancient altar.

The Dao of sacrifice he had taught to the Great Emperor had hidden flaws, preventing the Great Emperor from becoming a true Dao-attainer, but he himself was utterly without flaw.

Shen Mu's primordial spirit, suspended in midair, abruptly halted; the splitting primordial spirit suddenly stopped splitting, gathered its Dao into a sword, and met the Miro Palace Primordial Sage head-on!

The Primordial Sage roared; his two Dao fruits spun and swelled, erupting with terrifying Dao light, and thirty-six layers of heavenly Dao realms swept Shen Mu up in layer upon layer!

His two Dao fruits each possessed thirty-six layers of heavenly Dao realms, drawing Shen Mu into the Dao fruits.

Then the Dao flower flew up, wrapping the two Dao fruits within its blossom; the Dao flower spun and returned to the Dao tree.

The Dao tree stood erect, floating above the altar; the Primordial Sage stood below the altar and gave a fierce shout; the topknot on his head burst apart, black hair flying wild.

"Seventh Young Lord, receive the thoughts of all living beings from a past universe!

Supreme Sacrifice!

" He bowed deeply; on the altar, the Dao patterns and Dao chains within the Dao flower seethed, and seventy-two layers of heavenly Dao realms rumbled and quaked.

He meant to use Shen Mu's primordial spirit as a sacrifice to the countless living beings who had died in the destruction kalpa of a past universe!

Chi— In the instant of the Primordial Sage's bow, a sword light pierced through seventy-two layers of heaven, ran through the two Dao fruit phantoms, ran through the Dao flower phantom, split the Dao tree in two, and clove the altar apart!

The Primordial Sage rose; a sword scar appeared at the center of his brow, and the scar kept splitting downward along the midline of his brow, reaching the bridge of his nose, his philtrum, his chin, his throat, his chest, his lower abdomen.

The Primordial Sage's body trembled; he forcibly used his own Dao power to halt the sword's might. On the altar, Shen Mu's figure flickered in and out of view amid the flooding Dao light.

"Primordial Sage, the Great Emperor was ruined by your Dao of sacrifice; he slaughtered the Creator race and brought about this universe's first kalpa, and every calamity that followed arose because of it.

" Shen Mu flicked his sword; the blade in his hand vibrated and sang: "You all claim again and again that you act for your own people, your own living beings, but without your stowaway passage, how could the sixteenth-era universe have reached its end in a mere six hundred million years? Maggots!