Chapter 1764 — Triumph at Xuandu

Yet the mana of the Two Divine Might Guards was truly too strong; strain as she might, she could not banish them wholly. Just then a Daoist cry rang out, clear and long: "The Dao-Sword Shatters the Heavenly Dipper! " Sword-light came rending the air, following the Moon Heavenly Venerable's music, and plunged into the Void of Chaos. An old Daoist came walking, and behind him tens of thousands of Daoists of the Jing Ping sect; the Dao-swords in their hands all leapt forth, piercing into the Void of Chaos together with the music.

In the Void of Chaos, blood-light flashed; one form after another burst asunder, flesh and blood scattered. At once the Moon Heavenly Venerable's divine power ran unhindered, and in one stroke she banished the Two Divine Might Guards to the deepest reaches of the Void of Chaos.

"The Daoists enter the city!

" The old Daoist sheathed his sword and led his tens of thousands of Daoists in a charge into the great camp of the Heavenly Court.

The Moon Heavenly Venerable had banished two of the Heavenly Court's Ten Guards, and the drain upon her cultivation was vast. She hastened to drive what mana remained to quench the Dao-fire upon Gongsun Yan, and saw that the girl was burned black as charcoal, her breath as faint as a thread.

The Moon Heavenly Venerable waved her hand and sent Gongsun Yan back to a divine city of Jing Ping; there the pill masters came forward at once to heal her.

Little mana remained to the Moon Heavenly Venerable.

Three of her realms had been stripped from her in succession; deep as her Dao-realm was, for she had cultivated to the thirty-fifth heaven of the Dao-realm, her mana could not keep pace with it at all.

"Open! " She clenched her teeth, plucked her strings, and drove out all the mana that remained to her in a single burst.

With great cracks and crashes, the Heavenly Court's great camp, stretching hundreds of thousands of li, suddenly split into seven or eight parts, each drifting off in a different direction.

The Moon Heavenly Venerable spat blood; her ten fingers ran red, the strings of her ancient qin all snapped at once, and she fell from the sky. Lady Tianyin caught her in haste and was about to carry her back to the divine city in the rear, but the Moon Heavenly Venerable shook her head: "A moment's rest will serve me.

Pay me no mind — enter the city as swiftly as you can!

" Lady Tianyin set her upon her shoulder and strode toward the city. She drove the divine powers of the Tianyin Realm, and one after another the gods and demons of the Heavenly Court, before ever they came near her, burst in their primordial spirits, black soul-sand pouring from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, a sight of utter horror.

The armies of every road strove to charge the great camp of the Heavenly Court, and the bloody battle shook the heavens.

From the Heavenly River too came violent surges: the Two Xuanwu Emperors now showed their true form, now split in two to become Emperor Xuan and Emperor Wu, leading the officers and men of the Northern Pole Heaven in slaughter. Wei Suifeng laid his formations, drove the Great Heavenly Court, and rolled cutting into the Heavenly River Navy, sweeping all before him.

The Heavenly River had long since been dyed a great river of blood-red. And in Youdu, of a sudden Shen Fengqing stamped his foot hard. With a thunderous roar the dark demonic qi of Youdu broke the boundary between Youdu and the world of the living, and the vast Gate of Receiving Heaven appeared within the great camp of the Heavenly Court.

The Gate of Receiving Heaven opened, and countless gods and demons who had fallen in the battle of the Land of No Sorrow and the battle of Lanfeng Valley came howling out upon paper horses, charging into the great camp of the Heavenly Court. "Where is our Xuandu army?

" In the great camp of the Heavenly Court, an officer cried out in despair: "The Xuandu army is made to overcome the ghosts and gods of Youdu!

Let the sunlight fall on them, and their souls scatter and their spirits burst!

Where are Xuandu's Sun Wardens and Moon Wardens? Why have they not come to our aid?

" No one could answer him. By rights, even if Jing Ping held the vast advantage of terrain that was Youdu, he could not turn the tide; let the Xuandu army but arrive, and the ghosts and gods of Youdu would be pinned down beyond hope of stirring.

And the Ancestral God King would surely lead the Xuandu army to the rescue.

Yet now the Xuandu army had still not appeared, and the waiting gnawed at the heart. None had marked that the stars of heaven were in disorder, running wild in every direction, the aspect of the heavens greatly changed.

This was plainly a sign that all was not well in Xuandu itself; but none had the leisure to go to Xuandu and see what had truly happened.

"Where I stand, there is Youdu! " In the great camp of the Heavenly Court a voice suddenly rang out, heavy yet with a touch of youth, and the camp at once sank into darkness.

In the darkness two fires rose, like vast rivers of magma climbing ever higher.

Shen Fengqing was drenched in blood, plainly gravely wounded in his bloody battle with the Two Dragon Martial Guards; yet he drove the last of his mana and spun the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel.

Wherever the wheel's power passed, many gods and demons of the Heavenly Court were transformed into other races, and for a time all was chaos.

As the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel turned, one paper boat after another flew out of Youdu and charged into the great camp of the Heavenly Court.

The officers and men of the Two Dragon Martial Guards, though more than half were dead or wounded, still followed close behind, slaying without pause. Suddenly the sky blazed bright.

The stars moved with wondrous speed, drawing ever nearer to Jing Ping, and each star grew greater and more brilliant, until at last star after star smashed through the world-barrier of the Primal Realm and appeared in its skies as sun upon sun. The Youdu that Shen Fengqing had become melted swiftly away, like white snow beneath a blazing sun. Through the Heavenly Court's ranks a great cheer went up: "The Xuandu army is come!

" In the sky the divine suns and bright moons surged and arrayed themselves in formation; beam after blazing beam shot down, cutting into the great camp of the Heavenly Court.

At the same time an army of several hundred thousand gods and demons descended from the heavens.

From afar one saw only their banners streaming, and upon them a single character: Jiang. "Jiang Baigui, Imperial Preceptor of Jing Ping, having pacified Xuandu, comes to your aid! " Thunder rolled across the sky — the army beneath Jiang Baigui's banner crying out with one voice: "Xuandu has changed masters!

It has fallen to Jing Ping!

" Cheers shook the heavens, the cheers of Jing Ping's officers and men still locked in bloody battle.

Amid those cheers the morale of the Heavenly Court's armies collapsed in an instant, and despair spread on every side.

"Your Majesty, withdraw the army!

" The Empress, her hair in disarray and blood at the corner of her mouth, broke free of the Void Heavenly Venerable and Lan Yutian and rushed into the great camp of the Heavenly Court, crying sternly: "If we do not withdraw now, it will be too late forever!

" Haotian the Heavenly Emperor, his hair loose upon his shoulders, fought Shen Mu in bloody combat.

His eyes had gone red with slaughter; he felt that one last blow would bring Shen Mu down, yet Shen Mu would not fall, come what may.

"Your Majesty, flee!

" The retreating armies of the Heavenly Court came surging like a flood, drowning Haotian the Heavenly Emperor and Shen Mu alike.

An old minister wept aloud: "If you do not go now, you never will! Every officer and man here will die!