Chapter 1857 — The Skull of the Third-Ranked One

Young Master Lingxiao was panting hoarsely, dragging his dao spear behind him, his face dark, his steps heavy as he trod upon the surface of the sea, walking toward Shen Mu one step at a time.

He had still come one step too late.

When the might of Zixiao's sword dao had erupted, he too had sensed that world-shaking sword force, and had even heard the zither notes of Zixiao's Dao-Attainment Melody.

It was by following that music that he had come here.

Zixiao's sword dao power had left him both shaken and delighted; he had thought Shen Mu could never withstand Zixiao's sword, that victory was already in his grasp. Yet when he arrived, what he saw was Zixiao's figure sinking into the river.

Zixiao had, just as he had feared, suffered the collapse of his dao heart, cast aside everything, and returned to the Calamity of Destruction to keep his dead wife company.

"Third Senior Brother."

Shen Mu saluted him. Though his wounds were grave beyond measure, he did not fail in courtesy. "Fourth Senior Brother has gotten what he wished for. What wish does Third Senior Brother have? Your foolish junior will do his utmost to satisfy it."

The fury in Young Master Lingxiao's heart gradually subsided. He too bore many sword wounds, inflicted by Zixiao's blade, but compared with Shen Mu his injuries were far lighter. He said indifferently, "Old Seven, I am not like Old Four. His dao heart had a flaw, and so you could take advantage of it. But my dao heart has no weakness at all; it is whole and transparent. Had you met me at the very beginning, you would have lost without question."

Shen Mu smiled faintly, retreating step by step. His dao blood dripped into the long river of chaos; the dao wounds Young Master Zixiao had left on him were truly too heavy, and even he could not recover from them in a short time.

"In a contest against Fourth Senior Brother, I truly had no chance of victory. When Fourth Senior Brother's strength erupted in full, it was dazzling beyond compare, and I could only marvel. I imagine Third Senior Brother possesses the same ability. Therefore, I have prepared another duel for you, Senior Brother."

The long river of chaos beneath their feet became a vast ring. Shen Mu walked upon the inner surface of the river, and Young Master Lingxiao, dragging his long spear, followed close upon his steps.

Suddenly, with a whoosh, another long river of chaos threaded through. Shen Mu's foot came down upon that river of chaos, and Young Master Lingxiao's foot came down upon it at the same instant, giving him no chance to flee.

Whoosh —

Another long river swept in. Shen Mu shifted his steps and stepped onto that river, and Young Master Lingxiao still followed him, his will to fight rising ever higher, his killing intent growing ever stronger.

He meant to strike with his strongest blow and slay Shen Mu outright, giving him no opportunity at all!

"Even in my prime, I would not dare claim I could defeat you, Senior Brother — much less now, when I am a spent arrow at the end of its flight."

Shen Mu moved his steps, so that Young Master Lingxiao's qi could never quite lock onto him. "The seven young masters of Miluo Palace all have the strength to pass through the Calamity of Destruction, but only three can pass through the Calamity of Creation. The First Young Master, Taishang; the Second Young Master, Wuji; and myself."

The moment his words fell, Young Master Lingxiao's expression shifted slightly. As he moved with Shen Mu's steps, all unknowing, what surrounded them was no longer the long river of chaos but a sea of chaos.

He looked around, and saw that the long rivers of chaos from before had vanished without a trace; he could not see at all where they had gone.

He looked up, and saw countless universes of the Sixteenth Epoch!

Those universes were like countless cross-sections of time, and these cross-sections formed the history of the Sixteenth Epoch universe!

He looked back, and saw countless universes of the Seventeenth Epoch — and they too were countless cross-sections; the entire history and future of the Seventeenth Epoch universe lay thus exposed before him!

Then everything turned to chaos. Whether the Sixteenth Epoch universes or the Seventeenth Epoch universes, all vanished!

He looked down, and could no longer see the sea of chaos.

At that moment, he saw countless Shen Mus, and countless versions of himself!

Before him and behind him, everywhere were himself and Shen Mu. Each self seemed to possess an independent consciousness, looking this way and that, yet the face of every self wore a wary expression.

Young Master Lingxiao reached out to wipe away the self before him, and at that moment he touched the back of his own head.

The other selves made all manner of movements: some reached for another self's face, some looked around in all directions, some stood upon another self's soles — each behaving differently.

He could not count how many selves there were at all!

"This is the omen of the Calamity of Creation about to erupt."

Countless Shen Mus suddenly looked toward him in unison. The sight was exceedingly strange and bizarre, yet Shen Mu seemed able to command countless selves.

Those Shen Mus walked about in one strange space after another, but no matter how they walked, they always faced him head-on, facing the countless hims.

"This is the scene after the Sixteenth Universe has been utterly destroyed. Chaos gathers at a single point; it looks like a sea of chaos, but in truth it is a bizarre single point where countless spaces are pressed together, incomparably dense."

Shen Mu's voice seemed to come from countless spaces, yet wherever it came from, it entered his ears all at the same time.

"The entire Seventeenth Epoch universe will be born from here. Third Senior Brother, please look."

Young Master Lingxiao looked in the direction he pointed, and saw Miluo Palace. He could not help but start slightly.

Miluo Palace had not, like him, divided into countless copies; Miluo Palace was still only one.

"The Master's Hongmeng runes are the One; from the One he evolved ten thousand daos, and they can be divided no further. Therefore Miluo Palace is also the One within the Calamity of Creation."

Shen Mu said, "Senior Brother Taishang inherited the Master's mantle, and can also achieve this step. Senior Sister Wuji is the Goddess of Guixu, possessing both world-destruction and world-creation, and she too can achieve this step. Within the Calamity of Creation, they can both be the only one. And of course, I can achieve this step as well."

Suddenly, the countless Shen Mus in the countless minutest spaces vanished, and in their place the one and only Shen Mu appeared before every Young Master Lingxiao, walking back and forth before him.

"The other young masters possess the strength to pass through the Calamity of Destruction, yet they cannot pass through the Calamity of Creation, because at the moment the Calamity of Creation erupts, their countless selves are destroyed by countless Calamities of Creation."

Shen Mu's gaze fell upon Young Master Lingxiao's face, meeting the eyes of countless hims. "And these countless selves are in fact the countless time cross-sections of your future self within the Seventeenth Epoch. Within your body are countless material particles; whichever of these particles undergoes the slightest change will create a possibility in the future. Every material particle has countless variations across the long Seventeenth Epoch, and countless material particles have countless possibilities in the future. But all of this is encompassed within the Calamity of Creation."

Young Master Lingxiao's mind roared. He saw countless selves — some questioning, some shocked, some terrified.

Those selves were himself, but they were his future selves, the countless selves after the changes in his own matter.

The moment before the Calamity of Creation erupted — its strangeness was beyond his imagining!