Chapter 1838 — Wuyai as the Sacrifice

Amidst the myriads of Dao Domains, Young Master Zixiao attacked Shen Mu and the Lunar Heaven Sovereign almost simultaneously. Young Master Lingxiao striking to kill the Lunar Heaven Sovereign was merely a fallback; he would far rather slay her with his own hand, ridding himself of this powerful foe who could disturb his Dao-heart!

Shen Mu, bearing the Lunar Heaven Sovereign with him, drove into his myriads of Other Realms, urging his Divine Treasury Domain to its utmost, standing firm at the domain's center. No matter from which direction Young Master Zixiao attacked, he could respond with composure.

Yet Young Master Zixiao's ferocity still exceeded his expectations. The Great Chiliocosmic Dao Domains invaded his domain like mirror-faces hung all about it, each mirror holding a different world within.

Young Master Zixiao's figure appeared within those myriads of worlds, striking at him, ravaging his domain.

What was harder still to withstand were the divine powers Young Master Zixiao directed at the Lunar Heaven Sovereign, forcing him to divide his attention to protect her, his wounds growing ever heavier.

In a duel between experts of their caliber, to speak nothing of divided attention—even the slightest misstep could mean being slain on the spot!

Protecting the Lunar Heaven Sovereign left him greatly on the defensive.

Young Master Zixiao's fleshly body was merely that of a Mira Palace Dao-Achiever; its own attainment was not high. But because that ancient zither was in his possession, his strength even surpassed Shen Mu's.

The Lunar Heaven Sovereign furrowed her brow. She stood at Shen Mu's back, watching his wounds multiply—yet Shen Mu never once bade her act, and so she could only hold herself still.

Suddenly, Shen Mu raised his hand. The Chaos Sea hanging in the firmament came howling toward him.

His Chaos Sea and Guixu Lotus had all along been suppressing the Guixu Abyss, guarding against the Second Young Master. Now, it seemed, because he could no longer hold off Young Master Zixiao, he was forced to recall the Chaos Sea and Guixu Lotus, returning himself to his peak!

Far off, Elder Wuyai's battle with Young Master Lingxiao had also reached its critical juncture. Elder Wuyai's battle strength was exceedingly high; had Shen Mu not borrowed the power of the Chaos River, he would have been no match for him at all. In this battle with Young Master Lingxiao, even though his foe held a Dao Spear in hand, Elder Wuyai displayed the full might of the World Tree, divine powers and Dao arts surging forth without end, leaving Young Master Lingxiao hard-pressed to cope!

"That Chaos boy has already recalled the Chaos Sea and Guixu Lotus—it seems he is going all out."

Elder Wuyai's gaze flickered. "Without his suppression, Young Master Wuji can make her move! This time, at last, we can be rid of both great foes—the Mira Palace and Chaos!"

So he thought. Yet the firmament of the Ancestral Court showed no change whatsoever, still silent and still—Young Master Wuji did not make her move as he had expected.

Elder Wuyai's heart panicked, and at once Young Master Lingxiao seized the opening, breaking through the World Tree's roots. The Dao Spear's tip whirled, piercing through countless divine powers, arriving at Elder Wuyai's brow!

Elder Wuyai retreated again and again, his heart all the more flustered, all the more certain of his notion: "Young Master Wuji is a Blasphemer against the Dao as well. She is waiting for Lingxiao and me to wound each other gravely, and only then will she act, to sweep us all up in one net!"

His Dao-heart grew unsteady, and at once his moves fell into disorder.

Though his cultivation was mighty, it derived chiefly from being a Dao-Achiever who cultivated the Dao Realm and entrusted himself to the void. Elder Wuyai himself had never cultivated the Dao Realm to elevate his Dao-heart.

This was precisely why his Dao-heart could not keep pace with his strength—a fact Shen Mu had long ago perceived.

Elder Wuyai's wounds multiplied; he fell back step by step, nearly driven out of Jade Capital City. In his panic he cried aloud: "Chaos, trade opponents!"

Shen Mu recalled the Chaos Sea and Guixu Lotus. His aura surged. He urged the Cosmic Bell—the bell now great, now small, its quaking unceasing—blocking every divine power that erupted from Young Master Zixiao's myriads of Dao Domains.

Behind him, the Chaos Hall spread open. The World Tree took root within the sixteen Chaos Rivers, Dao Fruits and Dao Flowers blazing with radiance, power surging in unending streams—at last holding off Young Master Zixiao's assault!

Elder Wuyai came hurtling over, the World Tree's roots like ten thousand dragons dancing, interweaving and crisscrossing, stabbing into Young Master Zixiao's myriads of Dao Domains. He bellowed: "I will deal with Young Master Zixiao—you take Lingxiao!"

"Agreed!"

Shen Mu crossed paths with him, meeting the oncoming Lingxiao.

Elder Wuyai at once began to curse inwardly. His divine powers were vast, the divine powers and Dao arts he commanded far exceeding Zixiao's in number—yet upon clashing with Zixiao, he immediately perceived that though his divine powers and Dao arts were many, their refinement fell far short of Zixiao's. The World Tree's roots were severed by Zixiao in countless numbers!

On the other side, Shen Mu against Young Master Lingxiao likewise suffered greatly at once. Young Master Lingxiao's Dao Spear pierced his Cosmic Bell again and again, skewering the bell through, diminishing the might of his treasure.

Shen Mu against Zixiao, Elder Wuyai against Lingxiao—that had been the optimal arrangement. Now, with opponents exchanged, the advantages of both were utterly undone!

Shen Mu and Elder Wuyai were in woeful straits, their wounds multiplying and deepening. Just then, in the skies above the Ancestral Court, a pair of great eyes suddenly appeared, watching the battle unfolding in the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City with keen amusement.

Those eyes sank lower and lower, until they pressed almost upon the skies above the Ancestral Court's Jade Capital City.

"The scent of the weak..."

Young Master Wuji's figure emerged from the heavens, Guixu Lotuses standing straight and tall behind her, planted within the sixteen Guixu Abysses. She giggled: "Third Brother, Fourth Brother, Seventh Brother—and Wuyai too—every one of you reeks of the weak!"

Behind her, chains transformed from red rope knots bound her fast—yet they could no longer suppress her cultivation and strength!

"Let me send you all on your way together!"

Young Master Wuji laughed aloud. Guixu Lotus after Guixu Lotus merged with one another, and the Guixu Abysses too began to devour one another, tending toward becoming a single great abyss!

Behind her, red rope chains exploded one after another with beng-beng sounds. The red rope knot seal Shen Mu had left was crumbling at flying speed—and of the other seals, Elder Wuyai had already broken nearly half!

The Young Master Wuji of this moment could no longer be suppressed!

"Strike!"

Shen Mu, Young Master Lingxiao, and Young Master Zixiao suddenly bellowed in unison. The three, mid-slaughter, abruptly turned their divine powers, all striking together at Elder Wuyai!

Elder Wuyai, caught utterly off guard, had no way to withstand the combined siege of three Young Masters.

In the span of a single instant, Elder Wuyai was suppressed by the three!

"Sacrifice Wuyai!"

The three shouted in unison. Elder Wuyai, together with the entire World Tree, was lifted up by the three Young Masters and sent flying toward the red Guixu Abyss in the heavens!

Elder Wuyai's mind went utterly blank.