Chapter 1854 — The Wonder of the Seventh-Ranked One

The simplest way is to make those Hall Masters lying in ambush for me help me search! If I find them, I find where the treasure lies!

" At this thought he drew in his aura, suddenly spun once about, and sent bolt after bolt of divine power flying in all directions. "I lose my way easily; having those Hall Masters guide me there is the best of paths!

" His divine powers were soundless and breathless, leaking no aura at all, save when they passed the ancient palaces of the city one by one, when a thread of aura would abruptly slip free. Only thus could he lure the snake from its hole and make the Hall Masters lying in wait betray themselves.

Swiftly his divine powers flew past most of the city's palaces; then all at once a light flashed in one great hall, and the divine power passing that place was erased in an instant.

"There it is! " Lan Yutian leaped up and shot straight for that hall.

As he neared its front, his speed abruptly slowed; as though strolling in a quiet courtyard, he climbed the steps one by one with unhurried gait and calm expression, walking into the hall.

"Daoist Lan.

" In the hall, Hall Master Huadu rose to greet him; as Lan Yutian climbed to the hall, he happened to step out through its doors, his face full of smiles, and said with leisure, "You are clever and quick, sir, but you have still fallen into my trap. This is not the place where Young Master Hundun's strange treasure is suppressed—this is my Huadu Hall.

Seeing you probing about on every side to lure the snake from its hole, I turned your scheme against you and drew you here. Is the stratagem not elegant? " Lan Yutian smiled and said, "Elegant indeed.

Brother Daoist, since Young Master Hundun's strange treasure is not here, where is it suppressed?

" Hall Master Huadu laughed.

"It is suppressed in Zixu Hall. " Lan Yutian walked straight toward him, smiling.

"Might I ask where Zixu Hall is?

" Hall Master Huadu said, "A hall named Zixu naturally stands on Wuyou Street. Zixu and Wuyou—the empty and the nonexistent.

Surely you knew, Daoist?

" Lan Yutian struck without warning, stepping forward, and a whole Zuting enfolded him: dao halls towered within it, ten thousand Great Daos whirled around him, and his very first move was the great divine power of Ten Thousand Daos Returning to One. Hall Master Huadu raised a hand to block, and his expression changed drastically—he could not withstand the power of Lan Yutian's blow.

At that very moment four more Hall Masters emerged from the treasure hall behind him, and the five Hall Masters joining hands at last blocked Lan Yutian's strike.

Lan Yutian smiled. "Wuyou Street, Zixu Hall—it is here! Out of my way! " Boom!

Behind him the World Tree rose, streaming with radiance and color; dao fruit after dao fruit appeared, and the Five Primal dao fruits blazed with light.

The five Hall Masters had never lodged their Great Daos in the void, and though their mana erupted in full, they still could not hold, falling back again and again, shaken beyond words.

Lan Yutian was another Shen Mu outright; in cultivation and strength he had long since surpassed the Hall Masters.

True, he was still inferior to Shen Mu in strength, yet the overbearing, kingly force of this strike and the peerless brilliance it displayed were no less—perhaps even greater.

"If this were only Huadu Hall, there would be no need for five Hall Masters to gather here. Since five have come, this must be where Young Master Hundun's strange treasure lies!

" Lan Yutian burst into the hall.

The five Hall Masters' faces changed; each hastily summoned his own treasure hall, and hall after hall came flying.

Their auras surged, and they surrounded Lan Yutian at the center of the hall, daring not to be careless in the least, as though facing a great enemy.

The aura about Lan Yutian grew ever denser, his bearing ever more outstanding; at this moment he was not himself, but Heavenly Lord Yu.

His gaze swept the great hall and found a meditation cushion set upon the seat of honor, along with many other cushions—this must be the place where Miluo Palace's master taught the Dao. The cushion on the seat of honor trailed rays of dao light upward like silken ribbons, strip upon strip; among the ribbons, primordial glyphs turned as purple light, flowing without cease. And beneath that cushion something seemed to bulge, as though something were hidden there.

Lan Yutian's figure flickered.

The five of Huadu were greatly alarmed and each struck at him—but all five hit empty air. Lan Yutian's speed was inconceivable; their five divine powers collided with one another, bursting with a heaven-shaking roar.

The five of Huadu each withdrew their strength, only to see that Lan Yutian had already reached the cushion and picked it up. The five of Huadu were shocked and furious, when suddenly Lan Yutian gave a soft sound of surprise.

The five of Huadu peered closer, and each gave a soft sound of surprise as well. Beneath the cushion was nothing at all.

Then the eyes of Huadu and the others, together with Lan Yutian's, fell upon that cushion.

Since there was no treasure beneath the cushion, then the treasure must be the meditation cushion of Miluo Palace's master itself. "Could this cushion have been given to Miluo Palace's master by the seventh Young Master?

" All were bewildered; the Hall Masters, Huadu among them, knew nothing of the story behind it. They knew only that Young Master Hundun, though the last of the seven Young Masters, was the most ancient of them—so ancient that as early as the first cosmic epoch, Miluo Palace's master had already met the seventh Young Master.

Perhaps this cushion truly had been given by Shen Mu to Miluo Palace's master.

Shen Mu's reputation in ages past was poor, and at once their thoughts turned to darker possibilities. "If the seventh Young Master gave a cushion to our teacher, it must be to borrow our teacher's Great Dao and refine the cushion into a supreme treasure! " "Put down the cushion!

" The five came at him with all speed.

Lan Yutian raised the cushion and met the five Hall Masters' attack—he was eager to see the power of this treasure.

Boom!

The cushion was shattered utterly, beaten by the five Hall Masters into a mass of chaotic qi.

Huadu and the others and Lan Yutian alike were dumbstruck, watching the mass of chaotic qi fall to the ground, at a loss.

Just then the chaotic qi struck the ground with a clear, ringing note; the qi gathered and condensed, transforming into another treasure—the treasure of Young Master Hundun, the seventh.

The corners of Huadu's and the others' eyes twitched.

The cushion had indeed been a treasure given by the seventh Young Master to Miluo Palace's master, and its purpose had indeed been to borrow the master's Great Dao to refine a treasure for him. But the process of refining this treasure, and the means by which it was refined, were unlike anything any of them had imagined. Only by destroying the cushion could this treasure truly be refined.

That is to say, Shen Mu had never refined this strange treasure at all; the ones who refined it were Miluo Palace's master and Hall Master Huadu and the rest.

Shen Mu had merely borrowed their hands to refine this treasure for himself.

"The legend in the Jade Capital City that our teacher suppressed the seventh Young Master's strange treasure, pressing it beneath a cushion—most likely the seventh Young Master himself spread it!

" In the flash of a spark the five of Huadu had reasoned out the whole of it, and their faces changed.

The mass of chaotic qi was absorbed by the treasure, and at last the seventh Young Master's strange treasure revealed itself.