Chapter 1793 — Dwelling in the Coffin

The World Tree's boughs and leaves withered, its roots contracted with furious speed, and the span it sheltered shrank ever smaller. This time the Old Man of the Boundless had taken too grievous a wound, and had no choice but to lie low and nurse himself back to health.

Within the Ancestral Court, the prehistoric stowaways felt the summons and flew one after another toward the World Tree; even the Three Elders of Fengshu withdrew from outside Jade Capital City and returned to it.

Tens of thousands of powerhouses ringed the World Tree's outer reaches, standing in grim readiness.

The World Tree was their one hope of living into the next epoch; on no account could it be lost.

Elsewhere, within the Miluo Palace, the Third Young Master, the Fourth Young Master, and the rest struggled to their feet and said in low, heavy voices, "March on the Seventeenth Epoch!"

Doo—

A clarion horn sounded through Jade Capital City. With the Old Man of the Boundless and Taiyi both gravely wounded, the Miluo Palace had at last swept away the obstacles to the blood sacrifice!

Though this time they had failed to send Shen Mu back into the past, the Miluo Palace's strategic aim had been achieved!

In times past, the Old Man of the Boundless had been quietly siphoning off the blood sacrifice's energy and letting stowaways descend, so that the Miluo Palace's great design of descent could never be carried out.

Now the Old Man of the Boundless could scarce save himself, and could steal the blood sacrifice's energy no more!

Taiyi was the other who barred the Miluo Palace's descent; for six billion years he had stood guard over Great Black Mountain, forever thwarting the blood sacrifice. Now that he too had been gravely wounded, the Miluo Palace's two great enemies would be unable to hinder it again for some time to come!

In this battle, though all the Miluo Palace's Dao-attaining ones bore wounds, some were light and some heavy. The gravest hurt belonged to the Hall Masters and the Third and Fourth Young Masters, who could not descend until their wounds healed; but those more lightly wounded could descend.

Outside Jade Capital City, the light of the Dao kindled. There the blood sacrifice's energy was transmuted, and the bodies of Dao-attaining ones began slowly to surface!

"This time both our great enemies have been gravely wounded. When the Miluo Palace's Dao-attaining ones descend, if they entrust the Great Dao to the void, it will swiftly heal the Old Man of the Boundless's injuries and swell his strength."

The Fourth Young Master, Zixiao, suppressed his wounds and passed down the order: "Upon entering the Seventeenth Epoch, do not entrust the Dao to the void!"

In the Taiyi Daluo Heaven, Shen Mu had just landed when the giant Taiyi beside him suddenly gave a muffled groan and toppled onto his back.

Bang!

The giant Taiyi dissolved into a mass of Taiyi qi, scattering loose through the Daluo Heaven.

"Brother Dao!"

Shen Mu's own wounds were not grave, and he hurried to ask after him—only to see that mass of Taiyi qi gather itself, and after a moment a woman Taiyi stepped out from within it.

Shen Mu let out a breath and laughed. "Brother Dao, your Dao arts and divine powers are truly outlandish..."

Before his words had died away, bloody holes burst open all over the woman Taiyi with a series of sharp cracks; blood gushed forth, and she fell onto her back, her body collapsing into another scattering mass of Taiyi qi.

Shen Mu's heart lurched. After another moment, the Taiyi qi condensed once more into an old man Taiyi, whose flesh too was riddled with holes, bleeding from every side.

The old man's body likewise could not hold, and collapsed of itself.

That mass of Taiyi qi became a young girl Taiyi, who could not hold either.

Shen Mu watched Taiyi shift form again and again, never once able to keep one. In this battle, Taiyi's Dao wounds were branded into his very origin—his injuries were exceedingly grave!

In times past, when Taiyi changed form he severed cause and effect, and the wounds upon his body ceased to exist. But in this battle, Taiyi had faced the Old Man of the Boundless and the Miluo Palace!

Of the Old Man of the Boundless's power, nothing need be said; the Miluo Palace's Third and Fourth Young Masters were more terrifying still; and to these add sixty or seventy Hall Masters each bearing several Dao fruits, along with countless Dao-attaining ones of the Miluo Palace—no second force like this could be found across all seventeen cosmic epochs!

His Dao wounds had reached his origin; no mere shifting of form could heal them now.

Suddenly the Taiyi qi became a youth Taiyi. Shen Mu hastily examined his wounds and said swiftly, "Brother Dao, among your injuries are Dao wounds from the Miluo Palace—those are the gravest. The Dao wounds the Old Man of the Boundless left on you are, by comparison, not so dreadful. And the Miluo Palace's Dao wounds are not so troublesome to resolve. Wait a moment!"

The youth Taiyi could not wait; his flesh collapsed once more into Taiyi qi.

Shen Mu pondered briefly, then opened the vertical eye at the center of his brow, illuminating the Ancestral Court, searching in fine detail. After a long while, he let out a breath.

In that brief span Taiyi had already changed form more than ten times in succession, each time unable to hold his shape beneath his grievous wounds.

He had just become a giant Taiyi when Shen Mu swiftly said, "Brother Dao, hold the bodily state you have now; change no more. I have a way to heal your wounds!"

Blood flowed ceaselessly from the giant Taiyi's wounds; at once he sat down cross-legged and suppressed them.

The Golden Ship of World-Crossing flew in. The two boarded, and the giant Taiyi sat at the prow, continuing to hold down his Dao wounds lest they worsen.

In this three-way battle, it was not that the stronger took the lighter wounds; on the contrary, having fused the Dao fruits of eleven cosmic epochs, his power had surged, and so he had drawn the Miluo Palace's and the Old Man of the Boundless's especial attention—and the heaviest injuries of all.

In a three-way struggle, the one with the greatest advantage is certain to be the one destroyed.

The golden ship turned about and sailed out of the Taiyi Daluo Heaven.

Xing'an sat quietly before the God-Coffin of Burying the Dao, eyes fixed straight ahead, waiting in silence. With Taiyi taking the field, the prize would surely fall into their hands.

He was already savoring in advance the look of astonishment on Shen Mu's face when Shen Mu was delivered here bound hand and foot, and he himself drove the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails into him.

A faint smile crept unbidden to Xing'an's lips. He raised his head, and saw the Golden Ship of World-Crossing sailing toward him, slowing by degrees.

Smiling, Xing'an rose to his feet—then saw Shen Mu, bearing the wound-covered Taiyi on his back, leap swiftly down from the ship and come charging forward without a word.

Thud. Taiyi was dumped on the ground.

Xing'an was dumbstruck.

Shen Mu seized the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails and said without raising his head, "Brother Xing'an, are you not going to help?"

Xing'an still had not recovered his wits, but he saw Shen Mu driving the Dao-Slaying Divine Nails one by one into the giant Taiyi's wounds. Shen Mu urged him again, and only then did Xing'an come to himself. He hurried forward, and the two of them together drove a hundred divine nails into every part of Taiyi's body.

Shen Mu let out a breath, lifted Taiyi, and laid him in the God-Coffin of Burying the Dao. "His wounds are too severe," he said. "For now, let the coffin suppress them. When my own wounds have healed and I have devised a way to undo his Dao wounds, I will treat him then."

Xing'an watched in silence as he lifted the coffin lid and set it over the coffin, unable to speak.

The Box stood at his feet, tilting its body curiously to one side, covertly studying his expression.