Chapter 1812 — The Trial Ground for Attaining the Dao

The Zengcheng Hall Master shifted his form again and again, yet his Dao tree was destroyed and his treasured hall shattered, so how could he still dodge the sword light of Kaihuang Shen Ye?

Struck by a hundred and more swords, he leapt backward, seeking to spring clear of the World-Crossing Golden Ship and flee for his life.

Yet in the very instant he leapt beyond the ship, he sprang instead into a treasured hall, none other than the Sword Dao sanctum of Kaihuang Shen Ye.

The hall doors boomed shut, sword principles arrayed within, and only a wretched shriek was heard from inside; then rolling blood poured out through the opening doors.

Kaihuang Shen Ye put away his sword and stepped forward.

Suddenly the laughter of Second Young Master Wuji rang out: "Old Seven, you are indeed ruthless and merciless, laying deadly hands even on your own people, doing away with three Hall Masters besides. Teacher suppressed me all those years ago just because I dealt death to people of Miluo Palace; it seems you and I are fellow travelers! All who attain the Dao through Guixu share the same creed, and that you approve my creed gratifies me greatly!

" Shen Mu, his breath feeble, smiled at the words: "Second Sister, you and I are by no means fellow travelers. You wish only to wipe out all things and sink everything into Guixu, leaving Guixu alone in this world and yourself as the sole living being. That is your creed.

Mine is not so.

" Everyone aboard could not help but shiver with cold.

The Second Young Master Wuji of Miluo Palace actually meant to destroy everything and pack the whole universe into Guixu! Though they all deemed the Third and Fourth Young Masters of Miluo Palace savage and inhuman, stopping at nothing to gain their ends, the Third and Fourth at least sought a way to resolve the Great Annihilation of the universe.

This Second Young Master acted purely to sate her own lust for destruction!

The World-Crossing Golden Ship sailed across the Sea of Chaos toward one of the lotus rootstalks, and the huge face of Second Young Master Wuji appeared beneath the ship, swimming forward alongside it. Strand after strand of her white hair rose slowly from the Sea of Chaos, like drifting seaweed, gently caressing the World-Crossing Golden Ship, as she smiled: "You are wrong.

Old Seven, you are not the true Guixu Goddess, so naturally you do not understand the heavy charge the Guixu Goddess bears. The Guixu Goddess embodies both destruction and creation; besides ending the world, she must also create the world, fashioning a perfect world! " Her face gradually surfaced, her white hair falling into the water, rising slowly with her graceful body. The Red Cord Knot at once flared with power, binding and suppressing her by force.

Second Young Master Wuji let her white hair stream, withstanding the Red Cord Knot, resting both arms on the gunwale of the World-Crossing Golden Ship and her chin upon the back of her own hand, revealing a lovely face as she curiously surveyed the company aboard.

"Teacher worships noninterference toward the next universe; he wished to find a perfect way to resolve the Great Annihilation, and I once trusted him deeply, believing he could find it.

He failed again and again, and at last I despaired. " Wuji swept her gaze across each face, and all felt a chill in their hearts, feeling that beneath her glance they fell into boundless darkness, body and primordial spirit alike seeming about to perish.

Second Young Master Wuji kept her arms on the gunwale, her form swimming along with the golden ship, smiling: "Later, when I attained the Dao through Guixu, I finally understood where Teacher erred. He thought the Lord of Tiandu was wrong to open heaven, raising only a pack of lofty tyrants lording over all as the Heaven-Opening Host.

But his noninterference was wrong as well. Attainers are the destroyers of this universe, parasites; to create a perfect world there is but one road, and that is to destroy all Attainers!

Old Seven, you must agree with me, do you not? " Shen Mu, propped by Ling Yuxiu, rose unsteadily to his feet and shook his head: "Second Sister, our Daos differ and we cannot plot together; your creed and mine are not the same. " Second Young Master Wuji tossed her hair, shaking off the five chains of the Red Cord Knot; so long as the power of the Red Cord Knot was not urged to its utmost, for the moment it could do nothing to her. "Spare me the hypocrisy. " With one hand on the gunwale and her body leaning back as she roamed the Sea of Chaos, she said leisurely: "Your aim is to wipe out all Attainers and return the cosmic energy devoured by these parasites to the universe, and so is mine.

These Attainers are naught but grand thieves, stealing the mysteries of heaven and earth yet contributing nothing to the universe; their deaths would scarce atone!

" She let go, lying face upward beneath the sea's surface and circling the World-Crossing Golden Ship in her roaming, her voice now distant now near, now ahead now behind: "My aim, once they are removed, is to create the world anew. I will not meddle with the new world as Tiandu did; I will only let this new world unfold of itself.

Is that not the same as your creed?

" Suddenly her form appeared to the left of the golden ship, as if to climb aboard. Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly, the five fingers of his right hand splaying to form the seal of the Red Cord Knot. Second Young Master Wuji gave a low chuckle and fell backward face upward, sinking into the sea: "With your strength alone, and these small fry, you can never contend with Miluo Palace.

If you do not return to the past, you cannot kill the Third and Fourth, but if you release me, I will help you rid yourself of them! " Splash! She leapt from the water in excitement, like a fish dwelling in the Sea of Chaos, the five chains of the Red Cord Knot like long shimmering fins, most splendid.

Thud.

She dropped back into the water, her voice full of temptation: "Only the Second and Seventh Young Masters of Miluo Palace joining hands can destroy Miluo Palace!

I can also help you destroy Old Man Wuya; that old fellow is full of malice, let us kill him and refine him into a treasure, and the treasure shall be yours! I can even help you slay the Heaven-Opening Host! " She cried eagerly: "The Heaven-Opening Host of Tiandu lie hidden; those knaves are more wicked than you imagine, and killing them will not be easy!

But I can do it!

Old Seven! " The World-Crossing Golden Ship was suddenly locked fast by her hair and could not advance, and the form of Second Young Master Wuji rose before the prow, looking down from above upon Shen Mu: "With so many gains from joining hands with me, what do you still hesitate for?

" Ling Yuxiu, Xu Shenghua and the others were also rather moved; the words of Young Master Wuji were indeed alluring, for the strength of Jingping was far too weak beside Miluo Palace and Old Man Wuya, to say nothing of the abstruse and unfathomable Heaven-Opening Host of Tiandu.

By themselves alone, without Shen Mu, they would strain to deal with even a Hall Master level existence. Shen Mu's power was indeed extraordinary, but Jingping had only one Shen Mu, and every time Shen Mu staked his life and exhausted all wisdom to block the descent of Miluo Palace and to block Old Man Wuya! Every time, Shen Mu was either beaten to utter exhaustion or left gravely wounded and near death.

So it was this time as well; had Shen Mu not fought with all his might to hold off Old Man Wuya's small World Tree and the Third Young Master's divine art, they too could hardly have escaped death! If the Second Young Master lent aid, Shen Mu's burden would lighten greatly, and Jingping would have no fear of annihilation.

Shen Mu gazed up at the countenance of Second Young Master Wuji and suddenly smiled: "Second Sister, you speak so beguilingly that even I cannot help but be tempted. I ask you but one question.