Chapter 1832 — Sudden Turmoil in Guixu

Chaos Hall led the others in retreat from the World Tree, and the Boundless Elder did not lead his host in pursuit either; the two sides had, astonishingly, come to a truce just like that.

"The Boundless Elder doesn't dare pursue.

" Shen Mu returned to the golden ship, parted the mountain-piles of treasures, and led everyone into the golden hall aboard the ship. He invited them to sit, then said, "Last time Miluo Palace attacked, we joined the clamor and wounded him. He drove Miluo Palace back, and I seized the opening to strike. At times like this the Boundless Elder is at his meekest—no matter how you beat him, he won't hit back. You are.

. . Zhu Santong!

" He looked at Zhu Santong, and at once traced his soul back to his previous life, recognizing this old acquaintance.

He smiled.

"Daoist Zhu, your cultivation is still weak, about the same as the Yin Son of Heaven of old—how did you come running here? " His Dao of Reincarnation had grown ever more unfathomable; with a single glance he could discern Zhu Santong's origins.

Shen Fengqing said, "He insisted on coming. I could not dissuade him, so I had no choice but to let him. " Zhu Santong was secretly displeased.

"When did you ever dissuade me? If you had tried even a little, I. .

.

I probably still couldn't have helped running over.

" Granny Zhu took out a vast sea of texts from her spirit treasury and handed them to Shen Mu. "The fruits of these years of reform are too many. I've brought you the useful portions. Look them over yourself. " Shen Mu accepted the texts and let out a hearty laugh. "Since you've come, you've come—it's no great matter.

So long as you aren't beaten into chaos, there's still hope.

Though everyone in the ancestral court has the strength to beat him into chaos. .

. " He tilted his head in thought, then smiled.

"What soil doesn't bury a man? Dying anywhere is the same.

" Zhu Santong's face darkened. "These two brothers say the exact same things—no wonder they're true brothers.

.

. " Shen Mu's body flickered, and one miniature Shen Mu after another stepped out, spreading to every corner of the golden hall, swiftly leafing through the texts Granny Zhu had brought.

"We haven't been idle these three thousand years in the ancestral court.

Emperor Yu and Brother Xu and the others have been sorting out divine abilities and Dao arts all along—first, cataloguing the various divine ability methods cultivated by the prehistoric powerhouses; second, recording the divine abilities and Dao arts we've pioneered in this period.

Once Baigui and the Dao Ancestor achieve the Dao, they'll return and transmit the Dao arts and divine abilities here to Jingping. " Jiang Baigui was also nearing the achievement of the Dao, but his path was the one opened by the Woodcutter Sage—a very hard road to walk. "You've just come from Jingping. For these days, don't be in a hurry to join the fighting—first study the Dao arts and divine abilities here. " Shen Mu's mind stirred, and several more golden halls appeared aboard the ship. "Don't worry about there being no battles—there will be plenty of battles from now on.

" Granny Zhu, Shen Fengqing, and the others followed Xu Shenghua toward another golden hall, where they saw Kaihuang Shen Ye, Jiang Baigui, and Taishi placing the spoils of the battlefield aboard the golden ship. These were the treasures they had taken from foes slain in the great battle just now—several hundred in all, each one an extraordinary masterpiece. The deck was already piled full.

Taishi picked out a few useless ones and casually tossed them off the ship. Mojiang, Li Zheng, and the others could not keep their faces straight.

They quietly stuffed the treasure fragments poking out of their Taotie pouches back in, thinking, "Sure enough, we've embarrassed little Shen.

" "Why didn't the Jade Capital come join the clamor when we attacked the World Tree earlier? " Granny Zhu asked Xu Shenghua. "The Jade Capital's Dao-achievers and Hall Masters are dying for us to go to war with the Boundless Elder—best if both sides fight to mutual ruin.

" Xu Shenghua explained, "If Miluo Palace's Dao-achievers wish to descend, they need more blood-sacrifice energy; otherwise there isn't enough to sustain the descent of Dao-achievers and Hall Masters. But the Boundless Elder is skilled at stealing blood-sacrifice energy.

In the past, the vast majority of the blood-sacrifice energy over six billion years was stolen by the Boundless Elder.

If we go to war with him, those slain and wounded are all Heavenly Venerable-level powerhouses, and not a few Dao-achievers among them; Miluo Palace can then take the chance to accumulate blood-sacrifice energy and bring down more Dao-achievers and Hall Masters. " His face showed worry.

"In recent years, Miluo Palace has accumulated a great deal of blood-sacrifice energy. Twelve Hall Masters have descended, and the number of Dao-achievers has reached a hundred. If Cult Master Shen were not here guarding this place, they would long since have flattened us. " Shen Mu could be called the backbone among them. In these three thousand years, countless fierce battles had occurred; had Shen Mu not turned the tide by force, they would long ago have laid their bones in the ancestral court.

Over these years, everyone's progress was plain to see, but Shen Mu's progress was even more astonishingly swift.

Taiyi had suppressed the Heaven-Opening Host and had not been seen for three thousand years.

The only one left who could hold his own in the ancestral court was Shen Mu alone, facing both the divine ability attacks of Miluo Palace's Third and Fourth Young Masters and holding off the Boundless Elder—under enormous pressure, to say the least. In these brief three thousand years, Shen Mu had forcibly raised his lotus platform to the sixth Dao grade. On the World Tree there were also two Dao fruits and three Dao flowers, all blossoming and fruiting from the Five Great Daos. "Lately our pressure has eased a great deal, but hidden worries lurk beneath. " Xu Shenghua continued, "The ancestral court's Jade Capital has had no new Dao-achiever descend for nearly eight hundred years, which makes one worry that the Jade Capital is preparing some major move.

" He stood before the golden hall, gazing far off at the ancestral court's Jade Capital.

"In these eight hundred years, there have been no fewer than a hundred great battles among the three sides, and small-scale fights beyond counting. The Boundless Elder seized a portion of the blood-sacrifice energy, about forty percent; Taishi dissolved a portion, about fifteen percent; the remaining forty-five percent must all have been taken by the ancestral court's Jade Capital.

The Jade Capital has accumulated energy for eight hundred years—it is already exceedingly formidable.

" Everyone's heart gave a start.

Zhu Santong's voice trembled. "Are Miluo Palace's Young Masters preparing to descend?

" Xu Shenghua shook his head and pushed open the door of the golden hall.

"Taishi, Imperial Preceptor Jiang Jingping, and I have calculated: if Cult Master Shen were converted into blood-sacrifice energy, the blood-sacrifice energy seized by the Jade Capital over these eight hundred years could be sacrificed to exchange for roughly one and a half Cult Master Shens. But Young Master Zixiao and Young Master Lingxiao are each no less than ten Cult Master Shens. So the Young Masters cannot descend.

" Everyone clicked their tongues in astonishment. Shen Mu could stand against the Boundless Elder; that Cosmic Bell spanned sixteen Chaos Rivers, its divine power vast and unheard of—and yet it was still only equivalent to one-tenth of a Miluo Palace Young Master's combat strength!