Chapter 1852 — The Origin of Chaos Runes

Second Young Master Wuji attempted to leap out of the Hongmeng rune system and has walked the farthest. In Dao attainment alone, I truly cannot match you.

But I am the only one who has truly stepped beyond the Hongmeng rune system. " Young Master Zixiao's expression altered.

He drew his Dao sword, and from the myriad alien Great Luotian heavens beam after beam of sword light flew shrieking into the mass of Chaos Qi. Yet once they pierced inside, it was like clay oxen entering the sea—not a whisper of them remained! The mass of Chaos Qi gradually dissipated, and Shen Mu's figure became clear. "Our master never attained the accomplishments of his seven Young Masters, but his comprehension of the Hongmeng Dao stands above our own—that is why none of us can surpass him. Second Young Master Wuji wanted to step out from under his shadow, so she chose to attain the Dao through Guixu.

But even her Guixu attainment is still founded on Hongmeng runes. I am different.

I developed Chaos runes on the foundation of Hongmeng runes.

This Chaos rune of mine, I name it. . . " His form materialized, and there before him was the Dao-attainment sword thrust forward by Young Master Zixiao. Shen Mu raised his hand, caught the oncoming sword beam between two fingers, and a smile crept across his face. "Yuan. " With those two fingers he clamped Young Master Zixiao's Dao sword fast, and every hidden transformation within the blade came to an abrupt halt.

Zixiao immediately pulled his sword back and unleashed the Dao Tree sword at Shen Mu.

"Yuan—that is the name of the Chaos rune.

" Behind Shen Mu, the World Tree reappeared, the Guixu Lotus reappeared, and the Ancestral Court surged into a boundless vastness. He raised his hand and pointed one finger, pressing against the tip of the Dao Tree sword.

In a deep voice, he said, "There is but a single Hongmeng rune, and our master used the One to evolve the myriad things.

But Yuan is different. Yuan abides between being and nonbeing. It may serve as a Hongmeng rune, or it may turn into any other rune whatsoever—dim and remote, chaotic and confused, beyond all grasping. " A Chaos Sword abruptly appeared in his hand and met the Dao Flower sword of Young Master Zixiao—it was the Tiandu Heaven-Opening Chapter! The two blades collided, and the Chaos Sword burst apart.

Zixiao's sword light passed clean through Shen Mu's body, but Shen Mu seemed not to feel it. Another Chaos Axe appeared in his hand as he unleashed Taiyi Fells the Tree.

Zixiao gave a long howl, and the Dao Fruit sword chopped the Chaos Axe apart!

Above the Miluo Palace, the two figures flashed up and down. At last, Zixiao drove forth his most powerful sword, the Dao Hall sword, to face Shen Mu! Though he could not comprehend Shen Mu's Chaos runes and Chaos Dao, Shen Mu was still his inferior in cultivation base.

More importantly, despite possessing the so-called Yuan rune, Shen Mu's divine abilities were not Chaos abilities—they remained the old abilities he had always used. Zixiao had spent three and a half billion years pondering how to unravel Shen Mu's divine abilities, and unraveling them now came to him with practiced ease.

At that same time, Young Master Lingxiao, sprinting over the Chaos Long River, suddenly felt his countenance flicker. He twisted his body and bounded aside, narrowly evading a sword beam that shot out from the Chaos Qi on the river's surface.

"Old Fourth's Sword Dao ability! " Shock flooded his heart.

The long river lay dim and vast with chaos, and all at once, through the fog, the Dao-sword might of the Fourth Young Master, Zixiao, howled toward him. Lingxiao's face changed drastically as his Dao spear whirled, breaking one Sword Dao ability after another, his heart sinking all the while.

"This is the Chaos divine ability that slew Heavenly Venerable Haotian! " His thoughts were a clear mirror. He had once studied the death of Heavenly Venerable Haotian.

Haotian had been struck by a single sword from Shen Mu and, ninety-three years later, had been blasted to death by Old Man Wuya's countless divine abilities!

And Old Man Wuya's abilities, hurled at Shen Mu during the Guixu War, had vanished after falling into the sixteen Chaos Long Rivers that surrounded Shen Mu. That was the first application of Shen Mu's Chaos divine ability. Now, Zixiao's divine ability had come from nowhere—which meant that, at this very moment, Shen Mu had likewise laid hold of Zixiao's ability and was turning it against him!

"Old Fourth is caught inside his Chaos divine ability, and I fear he does not yet know that Old Seventh has borrowed his strength!

" Ding!

Ding!

Ding! Ding!

The spear fell like rain, blocking one great Sword Dao divine ability after another.

Lingxiao's face grew heavier and heavier. He was very near the Miluo Palace now, but he was being obstructed by Zixiao's Sword Dao might, and his speed faltered.

Meanwhile, the order of the sixteen long rivers kept shifting, and he would only drift farther and farther from the Miluo Palace. "Old Fourth has a flaw in his Dao heart—that is why he was co-opted without knowing it.

" He strained to rein in the power of his own Dao spear, desperate to prevent Shen Mu from borrowing it to attack Zixiao.

But the gap between his strength and Zixiao's was not large; if he did not fight with all his force, there was every likelihood he would be wounded by Zixiao's sword! At the same moment, in Yujing City, Shen Fengqing seized command of the Six-Path Heavenly Wheel and drove it directly into the Dao Tree Forest. The Six-Path Heavenly Wheel, made of Chaos Stone, spun frenziedly as it rolled over the trees!

On the wheel, three thousand Jingping Dao-achievers cut loose in slaughter!