Chapter 1745 — A Youth's Chance Meeting with the Venerable Lord

At these words, Emperor Hao Tian flew into a rage: "Heavenly Venerable Mu goes too far in his insults!

" Shen Mu had humiliated him to his face, before the assembled armies of the Heavenly Court; the fury in his heart was only to be imagined.

Yet Taichu, the Empress, and the others said nothing, nor did the Ancient Gods of Taiji speak, and his heart went cold, for he knew at once that they had seen through his true condition. He had fallen from the realm of the Dao Tree and Dao Flower, stripped of two realms; Heavenly Venerable Yun had slain the Second Young Master's incarnation, and with it his Guixu Dao-body had been destroyed as well.

Such a collapse in strength could not escape the eyes of Taichu, the Empress, and the rest; doubtless, seeing his cultivation and power so diminished, they had begun to covet the throne! Among them were even the two Ancient Gods of Taiji!

Emperor Hao Tian was about to speak, to salvage some shred of dignity, when suddenly an obscure and incomprehensible Dao-speech issued from the Purple Cloud Hall, crushing even the urge to speak out of him. His heart trembled slightly; a warning stirred in him, and he understood at once where his problem lay.

In the past he had suffered defeat after defeat.

A million years ago, at the Jade Pool Grand Gathering, Shen Mu had beaten him like a dead dog; he had wasted a thousand years, unable even to care for himself, eating, drinking, shitting, pissing, and sleeping all from a sickbed. Even so, he had risen again, and afterward accomplished a string of earth-shaking deeds.

In the Land of Taixu, he had been intercepted by the Great Emperor; the two had wounded each other grievously, and then Shen Mu had shattered his plan to heal and advance further, hunting him six hundred thousand li across the front of two armies, ruining his reputation and nearly breaking him for good.

Later he had been coerced by the Goddess of Tai Su, forced to kneel and worship Tai Su, becoming Tai Su's puppet. Even so, he had risen again from the ashes: not only had he healed his wounds, he had spied out Tai Su's Dao arts, and in the end refined Tai Su, slain the Great Emperor, attained the Dao through sheer power, cultivated the Great Luo Heaven, overawed the other Heavenly Venerables, rooted out dissent, ascended to the throne of the Heaven Emperor, plotted the death of Kaihuang Shen Ye, turned Shen Mu's hair white in a single night, and achieved a hegemony unmatched in the world!

Ask yourself: in all heaven and earth, who else could have come so far through such violent rises and falls?

Only Hao alone! And now?

Was he to sink into ruin just like this?

He refused to accept it! He could rise again; he could borrow the power of the Third and Fourth Young Masters and then turn on them; he could seize the initiative, fight his way back to glory, defeat Shen Mu, wipe away his former shame, take the power of the Third and Fourth Young Masters for himself, monopolize the Seventeenth Epoch, and become the shadow looming over this cosmic epoch! Just then, a vast and mighty force surged from the Lingxiao Hall; Emperor Hao Tian's body was instantly beyond his control, and even his consciousness was shoved aside!

The defiance in his heart turned to despair; weak and helpless, he knew the Third Young Master was borrowing his body to speak with Shen Mu.

Such power, such unfathomably deep cultivation, was enough to shatter the conviction he had just kindled!

He was a mere appendage, a tool: when the Third and Fourth Young Masters wished to use him, they took him up without asking; when they were done, they cast him aside wherever they pleased, without his consent!

"Old Seven.

" From Emperor Hao Tian's mouth came the voice of the Miluo Palace's Third Young Master, cold and indifferent: "You cannot contend with us, so why struggle so bitterly?

You have a chance now: return to the past cosmos, take the Master as your teacher, and quietly play your part as the Seventh Young Master, dreaming your grand dreams. Would that not be better? The only consequence of blocking our descent will be that we destroy everything you care for and cast you back into the past.

" From the Purple Cloud Hall came the Fourth Young Master's voice: "Old Seven, if you return to the past cosmos of your own accord, you may yet save face. If we throw you back, you will lose the face of the Miluo Palace's Seventh Young Master as well.

" Shen Mu laughed heartily: "You speak as though you could contend with me. Three plus four equals seven — such simple arithmetic, Old Third, Old Fourth, do you not understand it?

Even added together, you are barely a match for me. " Suddenly Taichu's expression shifted; a vast and mighty force surged from the Purple Cloud Hall, and in an instant his consciousness was shoved aside!

He heard the Fourth Young Master's voice issue from his own mouth: "Old Seven, in the art of the tongue you are indeed exceptionally gifted, but strength does not rest on words.

We have labored in the Seventeenth Epoch for six billion years; the very foundations of cultivation in this cosmos were laid by us. Strip your soldiers of the four great realms — Yujing, Lingxiao, Dizuo, and Tianting — and what capital have you left to fight us? " Empress Niangniang glanced at the possessed Taichu and Emperor Hao Tian, then suddenly burst out laughing. Emperor Hao Tian and Taichu turned their heads in unison to look at her.

Empress Niangniang lowered her head to look at her toes, twisting the tip of her right foot against the ground, and chuckled softly: "Hao'er and my late husband have both fallen too. Now the only one left qualified to contend for the throne is this old lady.

At last this old lady can do as she pleases, hee hee. .

. " Shen Mu's gaze fell on her too, and he smiled faintly, thinking: "The Empress and Yuan Mu can hardly be told apart now; they have broken my reincarnation divine power and merged completely into one.

But Lan Yutian seems to have left something remarkable inside her — something I might put to use. . . " He withdrew his gaze and said calmly: "Old Third, Old Fourth, even now can you not see that the Miluo Palace has grown decrepit?

It has rotted to the point that even the Master despairs of it, yet you still believe you can conquer the future by leaning on the Miluo Palace.

As the Seventh Young Master, I did not return to the past because you drove me to my last extremity — I returned at my leisure because I defeated you here.

You. . .

" He tapped the ground with his finger: "All of you were defeated here! " "Old Seven, it seems you will not turn back until you have dashed your head bloody! " The Fourth Young Master's power controlled Taichu's body and primordial spirit as he stepped forward; the imperial majesty of a generation's emperor spread out, and everyone's expression changed drastically, unable to tell whether this was Taichu's imperial majesty or the Fourth Young Master's!

"In cultivation, you are no match for us at all. " The Fourth Young Master stood before Shen Mu; Taichu's body was immense, and the surging imperial majesty made him seem even more imposing: "You are not yet the Seventh Young Master. You cannot stop the descent of the Miluo Palace! " Behind him, the Dao-majesty of the Purple Cloud Hall surged abruptly, pressing down upon the present age; even those who had attained the Dao trembled before it!

Shen Mu's expression did not change.

He raised his head; behind him the World Tree swayed, his Great Heavenly Court pressed down upon the World Tree, and his primordial spirit stood before the Chaos Hall, facing the Fourth Young Master's Dao-majesty directly.

"Old Fourth, you simply are not up to it. " Shen Mu said calmly: "If we fight here, do you not fear that you and I will destroy the Heavenly Court's armies?

" "The Dao arts and divine powers of the Miluo Palace do not leak out.