Chapter 1755 — Half Righteous, Half Wicked: A True Wild Scholar

Xu Shenghua once again drove the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails all over Shen Mu's body, and the wounds at last stopped bleeding, so that he felt a little more at ease.

The Dao-Slaying Divine Nails were part of the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin, whose chief purpose was to restrain the power of the one imprisoned within, leaving him no way to escape the casket.

And when the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails were thrust into his wounds, the first thing they suppressed was the dao wound within those wounds.

With peerless divine arts the Third Young Master had left fifty wounds upon his body, and the dao wounds were exceedingly strange and hard to heal. It was precisely because of these Dao-Slaying Divine Nails that Shen Mu had awakened so soon.

Xu Shenghua had seen this too, and that was why he had advised Shen Mu to seal his wounds with the nails.

"The one who drove those nails into you drove them in altogether the wrong places."

Xu Shenghua studied one of the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails closely and said, "Had it been me, I would surely have avoided these wounds. Strange. Who would help you in such a way?"

Shen Mu did not know the reason behind it either, and mused, "Perhaps that man, though he dwells in the Heavenly Court, has his heart set on Jingping, and is a rare righteous soul."

"That must be it."

Xu Shenghua nodded and said, "As for the Ancestral Court, what do you intend to do?"

Shen Mu frowned. Though his other wounds were gone, his injuries were still extremely grave and would be slow to mend; he would have to gradually comprehend the dao arts and divine powers hidden within the dao wound, fathom its mysteries, and only then could he break it.

And that would take time.

With the strength he had now, he could not possibly deal with the upheaval at the Ancestral Court.

The upheaval at the Ancestral Court had been wrought entirely by the spirit officials of Miluo Palace, whose aim was to release those prehistoric powerhouses trapped and unable to free themselves beneath the roots of the World Tree, and to sow chaos.

The more these prehistoric powerhouses slaughtered, the stronger the blood sacrifice would grow, and in the end it would bring Miluo Palace down upon this universe!

The stowaways, contending for power, would surely set their hands against the myriad heavens and worlds, which would inevitably trigger the Third Young Master's blood sacrifice; and should any among them attain the dao and brand the Ultimate Void, that too would just as surely hasten this universe's destruction!

Therefore these prehistoric powerhouses still had to be eliminated.

Yet eliminating them would not be easy either. Just now Xu Shenghua had said that prehistoric dao-attainers had already stolen over through the roots of the World Tree, intending to storm the Heavenly Court.

In its present state, Jingping found it hard enough to fend off the Heavenly Court's assault, and had no strength to spare for those stowaways.

"Let us return to Jingping first and talk of it there."

Xu Shenghua again lifted Shen Mu up and laid him into the coffin. Shen Mu was about to struggle, but Xu Shenghua said, "This coffin was made to measure for you; it can hold down your dao wound, and is even more effective than the coffin nails. Stay inside, and you may gradually comprehend how to break the dao wound."

Shen Mu said hastily, "Do not nail the coffin shut!"

"Rest easy, I will only leave it ajar."

Xu Shenghua set the lid back on, leaving a crack, then raised the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin and set off on the road, saying, "Sect Master Shen, who was it that crossed blades with Taichu and Her Majesty the Empress in the void? His methods were formidable, and he was clever besides, borrowing the Ultimate Void to restrain Her Majesty's strength."

"That was Lord Shang."

Shen Mu said, "My wounds are grave now and I cannot see the Ultimate Void. Lord Shang faced Taichu and the Empress alone — how went the battle?"

"They were still fighting a moment ago, but when they saw me rescue you from the coffin and saw you wake, Taichu and the Empress departed."

Xu Shenghua said, "That Lord Shang is now within my shadow."

Shen Mu laughed heartily, which abruptly jarred his wounds and left him coughing again and again. He said, "My might still stands — I frightened Taichu and the Empress away."

Xu Shenghua tilted his head and thought, then said, "It was more likely seeing me arrive that made them withdraw. You have hardly any fighting strength left now."

Shen Mu gave a snort.

Taichu was full of alarm and doubt. Xu Shenghua had opened the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin outright just now, and it had truly overawed him, forcing him to retreat.

To begin with, his duel with Lord Shang in the Ultimate Void had already left a shadow on his mind.

Lord Shang was an exceedingly terrifying man; in their last battle it was by Lord Shang's hand that he had been wounded, and had Lord Shang not been ignorant of the Dao of Taichu, he would have been doomed.

And this time Lord Shang had again chosen to meet him and Her Majesty the Empress, two great dao-attainers, in the Ultimate Void, and the fight had left his heart pounding with fright.

One must remember that the Second Young Master's incarnation had died in a battle in the Ultimate Void, slain by Lord Yun, and even the Haotian Emperor had been gravely wounded on account of it.

Her Majesty the Empress, like the Second Young Master, had also taken the path of attaining the dao through Guixu. In the Ultimate Void she was hamstrung and trod with care; ceaselessly the Wind of Cold Silence blew, contending against her Guixu wind of heat-death and sapping her strength.

For the two of them to fight Lord Shang, that battle had been truly grueling.

What was more, Xu Shenghua had dismantled the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin far too deftly, so that Taichu misjudged his strength, feared he would come charging up into the Ultimate Void, and so retreated without a fight.

"Just who is that man? How could he break the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin taught by the Third Young Master Lingxiao so easily?" Taichu frowned deeply.

Her Majesty the Empress said, "That is Young Master Xu, Xu Shenghua of Shangcang. In my day I even wished to summon him as an intimate guest and keep him as a kept man. But his talent and bearing are unmatched in this age, and before I knew it he had won me over, so I took him as a friend in the dao."

Taichu raised an eyebrow and sneered, "In your day you were infatuated with pretty-faced fellows like Lord Yutian, and now you dote on Xu Shenghua. So it turns out, Zitong, that you like this sort of man."

Her Majesty the Empress said mildly, "Between Lord Yutian and me there is not a trace of impurity, and between Young Master Xu and me it is as clean as jade. I need hide nothing from you. Ever since you began your affair with that wretch, I have kept kept men beyond counting; to take revenge on you, there is no need to hide it. Those two are modest gentlemen, and in my heart there is only respect and admiration for them."

Taichu's face darkened, and he laughed aloud, "Have you forgotten how Lan Yutian plotted against you?"

"Lan Yutian is Lan Yutian, not Lord Yutian."

Her Majesty the Empress sneered, "Taichu, in my heart you can never compare to Lord Yutian, bright and open as clear wind and calm moon, nor to Young Master Xu, modest as jade!"

Taichu was furious, and vanished in a flash: "Harlot!"

Her Majesty the Empress watched him go, and laughed, "With Young Master Xu's strength, he could never have broken the Dao-Burial Divine Coffin — there must be something fishy about that coffin! Most likely Venerable Star An tampered with it!"

Taichu departed in wrath, his form vanishing from sight.

Her Majesty the Empress slowed her pace, and before long she saw Xu Shenghua coming, bearing Shen Mu's coffin.

Xu Shenghua halted and saluted the Empress, saying, "Your Majesty, it has been a long while."