Chapter 1740 — Once More Treading the Road of the Old Garden

When the earth looses its killing intent, dragons and serpents rise from the land.

Among the Three Hosts of the Heavenly Court, the Earth Host was greater in scale even than the Water Host of the Heavenly River; it was only that the Water Host enjoyed the greatest renown of the three, and so eclipsed the Earth Host's brilliance. The gods and demons of the Earth Host came for the most part from the many heavens of the Heavenly Emperor's star-diadem, and among them were as many as eight commanding generals: Yaoguang, Kaiyang, Yuheng, Tianquan, Tianji, Tianxuan, Tianshu, and Beidou, who between them embodied the supreme authority of that star-diadem.

Of them all, the Great Emperor Beidou held the highest power; the divisions of Yaoguang, Kaiyang, and the rest all answered to his command, and he was honored as the Heavenly Lord. It was this Northern Dipper Heavenly Lord who now marshaled the seven divisions of the Earth Host to besiege the Grand Clarity Realm, striving to break inside and cut down Lan Yutian.

When the Grand Clarity Realm, topmost layer of the Sorrowless Land, erupted, the thirty-three heavens fused into a single body; heaven after heaven sloughed off its surface and collapsed, exposing the immense divine-metal structures within, and dreadful sword-lights shot upward from inside those thirty-three heavens, so that seen from afar the Sorrowless Land's thirty-three heavens were as one giant sword.

The Earth Host's armies, scattered through the many heavens within the Sorrowless Land, found themselves facing sword-light and sword-qi that flooded every heaven — a sword dao revived!

In that instant, one thought alone remained in every mind: flee for their lives! Yet there was no road of escape left to them; the thirty-three heavens had become a vast ocean of sword dao, and that sword dao was not merely the sword dao of Kaihuang Shen Ye — it was the spirit of an age, the tragic song of the Kaihuang era. When the light of the Sorrowless Land burned brightest and most sublime, that dazzling radiance lit the skies of the Yuan Realm and blotted out the suns the Xuandu host of gods and demons had dragged behind them.

The Northern Dipper Heavenly Lord stood at the entrance to the Grand Clarity Realm of the Sorrowless Land, watched this scene, and of a sudden wept tears like rain, murmuring, "There is no way out now. .

.

" Kaiyang, Yuheng, Tianquan, Tianshu, and the other emperors came rushing up to ring him round, and together they strove to break out beyond the heavens, crying sternly, "Heavenly Lord, if we do not go now, we never will! " The Northern Dipper Heavenly Lord was dazed and muddled; he looked down at the countless hosts of gods and demons of the Earth Host spread across the thirty-three heavens — but the Sorrowless Land had erupted, and millions upon millions of gods and demons were all buried in that vast ocean of sword dao.

Taihuang Heaven, Taiming Heaven, Qingming Heaven, Xuantai Heaven, Yuanming Heaven. .

. Heaven upon heaven had become a hell of sword dao!

Grim sword-qi turned those places into a slaughter ground where not even gods and demons could live. The Earth Host — the army that possessed the most gods and demons in all the Heavenly Court, the strongest force in ground battle — could scarcely hope to escape this calamity!

"There is no leaving now! " The Northern Dipper Heavenly Lord wept aloud: "None of our officers and soldiers can leave!

Nor can we.

.

.

" Before he had finished speaking, the whole of the Sorrowless Land's power burst forth, as though Kaihuang Shen Ye, that supreme sword-dao sovereign, had himself drawn his blade.

The great emperors of the Emperor Throne realm — Kaiyang, Yuheng, and the rest — disintegrated in the sword-light, split apart, shattered into countless fragments, and vanished into that radiance, leaving nothing whatsoever behind.

The Earth Host of the Heavenly Court's Three Hosts, the army that had crushed the Sorrowless Land's forces in ground attack and defense, was now buried within the Sorrowless Land itself.

True, no small number of Earth Host remnants had never entered the Sorrowless Land, but they no longer amounted to anything; the Earth Host, as one of the Three Hosts, had been struck from the rolls.

In the sky, Lan Yutian commanded one divine artifact after another, gathering the power of the Sorrowless Land; viewed from afar, he seemed to wield the Grand Clarity Realm of the Sorrowless Land as a sword hilt, and the other heavens as its guard, its edge, its blade, its point, its radiance! The whole of the Sorrowless Land's power was roused, like a great sword planted between heaven and earth.

That power was fading swiftly; the Sorrowless Land was only the sword-heart of the Sorrowless Sword, and lacking the Sorrowless Sword itself, that it could slay so many gods and demons of the Earth Host was already a feat beyond measure.

Driven on by Lan Yutian, Taihuang Heaven and Taiming Heaven crashed together and overlapped, then struck Qingming Heaven, Xuantai Heaven, Yuanming Heaven!

In the space of a single breath, the powers of the Sorrowless Land's heavens had all collided, forming a thirty-two-fold heaven sword domain, and it crashed into the final heaven — the Grand Clarity Realm! With a thunderous boom, the Dao-sword domain of the Grand Clarity Realm and the thirty-two-fold heaven sword domain merged completely!

Lan Yutian's aim was to seize the moment before the Sorrowless Land's power scattered entirely, and turn its residue against Lady Yuanmu to slay her. Just then, Lady Yuanmu, who had fallen into the cycle of reincarnation, suddenly awoke; at the sight before her she could not help but shudder with dread, and with a fierce shout she unleashed the full strength of a Dao-attainer of the Ruins of Return! Within the Grand Clarity Realm, the Dao-sword domain revolved around an enormous Ruins of Return, and domain and Ruins clashed violently, a spectacle to shake heaven and earth!

That was sword dao contending against the wind of heat-death, against the great abyss that devours all things, a fury beyond measure; the sword domain revolving about the Ruins of Return was scorched red by the wind of heat-death, wreathed in raging fire. Suddenly a single lotus leaf rose slowly out of the Ruins of Return, and Lady Yuanmu stood amid that leaf and roused its power.

That lotus leaf was the equal of a Dao-attainer's Dao-tree, and when a Dao-attainer calls upon their Dao-tree, it means their very life is at stake. Lady Yuanmu called upon the lotus leaf and drove the strength of a Dao-attainer of the Ruins of Return to its utmost; a tremendous roar that shook heaven and earth rang out, and the sword domain abruptly burst apart!

Lady Yuanmu turned into a streak of black light, broke through the sky, and vanished.

At that same moment, the Sorrowless Land exploded into fragments, and immense sword-like shards of metal rained down from the heavens, jutting every which way from the ruins of the old Sorrowless Land.

For ten thousand li in every direction, fallen swords lay strewn about, forming a desolate graveyard of swords.

In the distance, Di Yiyue and the other officers of the Sorrowless Land stood desolate, each straightening up. The Woodcutter Sage said quietly, "Gentlemen, the Water Host, the God Host, and the rest of the Heavenly Court's armies will soon catch up with us.

Let us leave this place with all speed.

" The officers turned in silence and marched east toward Jingping. The woodcutter looked back; the Heavenly Court's God Host was swiftest of all, and already it was visible far off on the horizon.

With the strength of the God Host, one of the Three Hosts, it was more than enough to cut them down to the last man.

The Sorrowless Land still had no few officers and soldiers left, but they were no longer enough to stand against the Heavenly Court.

"Heavenly Master Wen, must someone remain behind? " Su Maiqing halted his steps and asked.