Chapter 1808 — Mist Upon the Sea of Ruins

Before the Great Abyss of the Ruins, Shen Mu watched this scene in silence.

The Ruins lay at his back. To the crowd below, the Ruins hung inverted above the Ancestral Court — a world turned upside down.

Yet to Shen Mu and Ling Yuxiu, it was the Ancestral Court that was the topsy-turvy world.

— Of course, with Shen Mu deliberately concealing it, none of them could see the Ruins, nor did any realize they were rushing straight toward it.

Beside him sat Ling Yuxiu, studying the lotus pedestal beneath Shen Mu with open curiosity.

According to Shen Mu, that lotus pedestal was of the second rank of the Dao realm, and on the verge of becoming third rank.

The lotus seedpod was joined to the Sea of Chaos; unceasingly, chaos qi surged out from it and, around Shen Mu, transformed into Hongmeng primordial qi.

As he breathed in and out, that Hongmeng primordial qi passed through the Five Primal States and a whole series of transformations, becoming Shen Mu's cultivation.

Ling Yuxiu clicked her tongue in wonder.

Of attaining the Dao through the Ruins she knew little. Such attainment was profoundly mysterious: not only were those who achieved it few and far between, even those with extraordinary mastery of the Dao of the Ruins were hardly numerous.

In the Ancestral Court's Dao realm system of Lan Yutian and Xu Shenghua, the Dao of the Ruins was expounded upon, yet it had never reached any profound height.

Lan Yutian had once said that the Ancestral Court's Dao realm system was founded upon the World Tree, and that the Dao of the Ruins clashed with the World Tree; hence his and Xu Shenghua's accomplishments in the Dao of the Ruins remained modest.

Shen Mu could be called the only one who commanded the strengths of both.

The Golden Ship of Salvation and the two Palace Masters, Hehuan and Phoenix, drew ever nearer to the Ruins. Aboard the ship, the zither notes of Yue Tianzun sounded, and one space after another unfurled, shaping the ship into a domain of the Utmost Void. Kaihuang, Xu Shenghua and the others stood upon the deck, sword light weaving crisscross, all manner of divine powers erupting as they struck at the two Palace Masters while holding off Palace Master Zengcheng and the rest charging in from behind.

Yue Tianzun's domain of the Utmost Void was peculiar indeed, letting everyone aboard face divine powers and Dao soldiers attacking from any direction at any moment.

Though the Golden Ship of Salvation stood at the center, its defenders showed not the slightest panic.

And with the ship's speed, running down the two Palace Masters was more than easy.

But with Palace Master Zengcheng and the others delaying them, Kaihuang had no choice but to turn and deal with Palace Master Zengcheng and his fellow Dao-attainers, leaving Xu Shenghua, Lan Yutian and the rest to handle the two Palace Masters — and so he could not keep those two behind.

The three forces drew ever closer to the Great Abyss of the Ruins.

Palace Master Hehuan and Palace Master Phoenix felt a stir in their hearts: "It seems we overestimated Kaihuang Shen Ye. His strength is not so great after all; he is merely putting on a bluff. Perhaps we can seize this chance and cut them all down first!"

The two Palace Masters were just about to halt and charge onto the golden ship when suddenly several figures came flying toward them from beneath the World Tree — at their head, Huang Tang of the Three Elders of Fengshu!

As the saying goes, enemies' eyes burn red at the sight of one another. Two of the Five Elders of Fengshu were dead and only three remained; Huang Tang had become foremost among them. Seeing the two Palace Masters likewise rushing beyond the heavens, he came straight for them, killing intent blazing!

The prehistoric powerhouses under Huang Tang's banner charged at the Dao-attainers beneath Palace Master Zengcheng, and the two sides instantly fell into a melee.

Palace Master Zengcheng, single-mindedly bent on holding the golden ship back, paid them no heed. Of a sudden he roused his Dao Tree; a thousand strands of rosy light coiled toward the ship, the Dao Tree's roots drove into its hull, and his body was drawn toward the deck!

Before he could even land, the golden ship abruptly grew vast beyond measure. That man named Lan Yutian guided his Dao Tree's roots into the golden halls of the ship one by one, while the others unleashed their own divine powers to suppress those roots.

Palace Master Zengcheng was briefly stunned: "These fellows are so practiced at it — this is hardly the first time they have done such a thing!"

His strength was monstrous beyond compare, and he feared nothing. The next moment he landed on the deck, raised a hand, and the Zengcheng Treasure Hall settled into his palm, bearing the golden ship down until it sank a little.

On the other side, Huang Tang seized the moment to charge at Palace Master Hehuan and Palace Master Phoenix, his divine power erupting from afar as he joined the others aboard the ship in besieging the two Palace Masters.

"This old wretch does not know death when he sees it!"

The two Palace Masters were furious, yet they had no choice but to answer him with care.

The Five Elders of Fengshu were not greatly famed, but they were ancient beyond reckoning, long-lived enough that their cultivation was scarcely inferior to that of the Palace Masters of Miluo Palace.

Because Palace Master Hehuan and Palace Master Phoenix had descended in such haste, they had no time to entrust their great Daos to the void. One against one, neither held the advantage over Huang Tang; even if they won, they would likely be gravely wounded by his deathbed counterattack.

"I will hold Huang Tang off!"

Palace Master Phoenix halted, facing Huang Tang alone along with the oncoming Golden Ship of Salvation, and without turning her head said: "Fellow Daoist Hehuan, leave the Ancestral Court at once!"

Palace Master Hehuan knew well the weight of the burden she bore and that failure was unthinkable. Without a moment's hesitation she shot upward!

Palace Master Phoenix roused her Dao Fruit and raised her Dao Tree, standing before the Phoenix Hall, casually beating back the divine powers of Xu Shenghua, Lan Yutian, Yue Tianzun and the rest, while her gaze stayed fixed rigidly upon Huang Tang.

Huang Tang charged; abruptly his Daluo Heaven manifested, and his Dao Tree rose towering within it, lifting his cultivation and strength to their utmost limit.

Boom!

Daluo Heaven collided with the Phoenix Hall, and Palace Master Phoenix could not help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Huang Tang is too reckless, pitting his Daluo Heaven against my Phoenix Hall — he has truly underestimated me!"

Her Phoenix Hall burst into blazing flame, and the power of the fortieth heaven of the Dao realm erupted, suppressing Huang Tang's Daluo Heaven. Just then a branch lashed out of nowhere, striking Palace Master Phoenix like lightning and whipping the woman away!

The lash split her skin and tore her flesh; she spun like a top, unable to steady herself, her primal spirit nearly whipped away as well. She was shocked and enraged in equal measure.

"The World Tree! A treasure Old Man Wuya gave him!"

At once she grasped the crux of it. To keep from being sealed alive inside the Ancestral Court by Shen Mu and trapped like a beast in a cage, Old Man Wuya would surely attempt to break the deadlock.

The World Tree was a thing of myriad mysteries, a natural substance that does not change, and Old Man Wuya had mastered every great Dao past and present. The most direct way to break the deadlock was to plant a clone of the World Tree outside the Ancestral Court.

With the roots of the two World Trees joined and connected, he would no longer need to fear being sealed inside the Ancestral Court by Shen Mu.

"This branch must be one into which Old Man Wuya refined the World Tree's power again and again, ceaselessly tempering and fusing it. Perhaps a tenth of his own strength is stored within it — that alone could give it such might!"