Chapter 1863 — The Primeval Womb of Great Calamity

Shen Mu lifted Shen Lingyun high and set her upon his shoulder. She was pitifully thin, all bones beneath her skin, scarce a few ounces of flesh on her. She sat on his shoulder somewhat uneasily, her small hands clutching tightly at his hair.

She turned her head and studied his profile. The white hair at his temples stirred a familiar feeling in her, the face that had been reflected in her hazy vision since the day she was born.

This face put her at ease.

In her memory, besides this face, there was another familiar one.

That was her mother.

Shen Mu looked toward the figures in the firelight. They were the Dao Achievers who had hunted Shen Lingyun; years ago they had intercepted the three of them on the River of Chaos, forcing him to send Shen Lingyun back to the River of Chaos of the First Epoch, into the First Epoch's universe, and father and daughter had been parted ever since. For Shen Lingyun that parting had lasted five years. Five years without father or mother, an orphan, living a lonely, helpless life.

For Shen Mu and Ling Yuxiu it had lasted three and a half billion years. That separation left Ling Yuxiu with a lingering resentment toward Shen Mu, and in those three and a half billion years they had never had a second child.

Shen Mu had it easier; he had only to wait three and a half billion years, but Ling Yuxiu had to keep on waiting. "Seventh Young Master! " "Chaos!

" Hoarse Dao-voices came from the sea of fire, voices holding shock, dread, excitement, and mockery.

"So you came back after all, choosing to become the Seventh Young Master, to become Chaos!

" they laughed.

Shen Mu's face was as calm as an old well, without a ripple.

His palm clenched into a tight fist, and he slowly raised his right hand.

"Gentlemen, do you remember?

On the River of Chaos I once said I would put every one of you into a coffin. " His five fingers spread.

"Today I have come to make good on that promise.

" Boom!

In the firelight, Dao Trees burst apart one after another. The furious roars of those prehistoric Dao Achievers rang out as they fled in all directions. Their Dao Fruits hung high, their Dao light piercing the sea of Chaos fire, but a vast Samsara rose up and gathered them all within it. Their Dao Trees were cut with perfect neatness in the sea of fire, turning into plank after plank, and on the planks strange runes flickered and shifted.

Those were Chaos runes, Yuan. Bang, bang, bang!

Plank after plank of Dao Tree material assembled in the sea of Chaos fire.

The branches of the Dao Trees became wooden nails, driven into coffin board after coffin board.

One after another, Dao Achievers from every cosmic epoch were seized by those coffins, dragged into their own coffins with shrill screams. Huge coffin boards flew up and came down upon the coffins, and the wooden nails were driven home, sealing the boards fast.

In the sea of Chaos fire, the Dao Weapons of these Dao Achievers melted one after another, becoming chains that threaded through the sea of fire, piercing coffin after coffin and locking them shut. "I am Chaos. " Shen Mu walked through the sea of fire with his daughter Shen Lingyun, the host of coffins drifting after him, drawn by the chains.

"When I returned to the past and came to the First Epoch, I was already invincible. " From within the coffins came thumping and shuddering, the Dao Achievers of the various cosmic epochs struggling, trying to break out of the coffins and escape.

Their cultivation and strength were immense.

Dao Achievers who dared intercept Shen Mu and his wife on the road were no simple figures; each of them was a match for a Hall Master of Miluo Palace. Yet before Shen Mu, now become Lord Chaos, they were still far, far too inferior. "There is no need to struggle.

I will create in this void a space that neither the Calamity of Destruction nor the Calamity of Creation can destroy, to serve as a place to store filth. " Shen Mu raised his hand.

In the shattering Ultimate Void, a vast region suddenly grew stable, and coffin after coffin flew past Shen Mu and his daughter, heading there. "It is not that I mean to protect you through the Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation. In truth, this space merely reduces the power of the Calamity of Creation many times over, delaying it for countless years.

" Shen Mu watched the host of coffins fly away, his voice becoming Dao-sound, steadily transmitted into the ears of the Dao Achievers within the coffins.

"The Calamity of Creation will always pursue you, again and again erasing your future, letting you watch your own death draw slowly nearer. The power of the Calamity of Creation will make you grow together with your coffins, so that you can never escape.

It will kill you little by little. And this process will last hundreds of billions of years!

You tore father and daughter apart, kept mother and child from meeting, sundered husband and wife. This is my punishment for you. " .

. .

The Calamity of Destruction of the First Epoch of the universe arrived as expected. The Master of Miluo Palace, through immense Dharma power, transformed into voice and summoned all the Dao Achievers and divinities of the entire universe, leading all living beings of all the heavens to the Ancestral Court, to board the Golden Ship of World Salvation and cross the great calamity of destruction aboard it. It was an incomparably magnificent sight. Upon the Golden Ship of World Salvation, golden halls appeared one after another, each hall within like a heaven of its own, containing the environment necessary for all living beings to survive.

The First Epoch was an incomparably glorious epoch; the height this universe had attained even Jingping could not match.

The golden ship the Master of Miluo Palace had built, exhausting the wealth of the entire universe, was naturally no small matter. When the Calamity of Destruction descended, and the vast golden ship passed through the heavy River of Chaos, withstanding the winds of heat-death and cold-death to cleave the river's surface, sailing upon the River of Chaos, the Master of Miluo Palace could hardly conceal his surging emotion.

The golden ship had not been destroyed in the Calamity of Destruction!

His voice was hoarse; he laughed long and loud. Amid the laughter, the Dao Trees of the Dao Achievers aboard the Golden Ship of World Salvation turned to ash, their Dao Fruits dispersing. Only then did he notice that his fellow Daoists had already become bleached bones when the ship passed through the Calamity of Destruction. The Master of Miluo Palace was stunned.

Standing at the bow, he watched the white bones of his fellow Daoists crumble and collapse. Suddenly he let out a great cry and rushed toward the halls aboard the golden ship. The first hall was empty; everything within it had been destroyed, turned into Chaos qi.

The second hall was empty. The third hall was empty. The Master of Miluo Palace, like a madman, rushed into hall after hall, rushed out of hall after hall.

He screamed like a madman, and in his screams there was no syllable, no Dao hidden within, only dry, wordless howls. He seemed to have suffered an incomparably severe Dao wound, rushing into those golden halls again and again, though some halls he had already entered more than once. "Daddy, what is he doing?

" In the River of Chaos, beside Shen Mu, the little girl Shen Lingyun looked up and asked her father.

"He is searching for his own Dao Heart, searching for his own ideals. " Shen Mu watched this scene from afar, then lowered his head and said to Shen Lingyun, "His Dao Heart has collapsed, his ideals have crumbled, and he wants to find them again. Perhaps in the future I too will be like him, seeking back my ideals, seeking back my Dao Heart. " The Master of Miluo Palace searched again and again, but only he remained aboard the entire golden ship.