Chapter 1554 — The Duel of the Dao-Achievers
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The Great Heavenly Court, formed of thirty-six heavenly palaces and crowned with as many as forty-eight treasured halls, made Hao Tianzun's power far greater than anything the Seven Heavenly Venerables had commanded in the days of their prime! Beneath the press of his aura, Langxuan Divine Emperor, one of the seven, let out a stifled groan; with a thunderous crash he was forced flat to the ground, blood weeping from all seven of his orifices, unable to stir.
Elsewhere, Shen Mu was retreating with all speed, step after step back, and with every step the ruins of Jade Capital City before him were ground down, the very earth sinking under an unspeakably dreadful force. It was as though ahead of him a giant beyond compare were lifting an immense foot, pursuing him, stamping down at him again and again.
That was Hao Tianzun's power! Hao Tianzun had not even made a move; the mere force carried by his presence had left Shen Mu no choice but to fall back.
"Langxuan, my elder brother, this is attaining the Dao through force, the way of the heavenly palace and the Heavenly Court!
" The rejuvenated Hao Tianzun raised a hand, and in his palm appeared a Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel.
At first it was no larger than a cup's rim, shrieking as it spun, skimming along the ground toward Shen Mu.
An instant later the Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel reached Shen Mu's front, grown to several zhang across, the myriad daos within it fused into one, ten thousand daos resonating together in that single wheel.
Look closely, and you would see countless daos taking shape within it as divine abilities of endless complexity, countless abilities combining inside the wheel, each combination making its power greater and fiercer! Hum— The divine abilities gushed out of the Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel; the wheel itself scattered.
Shen Mu thrust the Tribulation Sword forward, breaking the Heaven Wheel's abilities with his Tribulation-Breaking Sword, and a ceaseless clang of collisions rang out as he was shaken until the sinews of his arm burst apart and driven back a hundred-some steps before he at last shattered every ability. Yet before he could draw a long breath, the streaming light the abilities had become halted, and the radiance gathered and became a second Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel, larger than the first, fully sixty zhang tall!
Within the wheel the myriad daos churned and roiled as in a great furnace; its face turned crimson, then from crimson to searing white, and the ten thousand divine abilities spun within and erupted! Shen Mu shifted the Tribulation Sword to his left hand and thrust into the abilities bursting from the wheel, his feet never stopping, forever falling back, and in the blink of an eye his left arm too was slick with blood.
Hum— Countless abilities gathered once more and became a third Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel, a hundred zhang tall, appearing before Shen Mu like a mirror blazing with light.
He retreated again; from beneath his arms arm after arm drilled out, the Tribulation Sword shuddered and split into six, and the six arms seized a Tribulation Sword apiece, meeting the Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel head-on. Within the wheel the ten thousand daos surged forth as a rainbow light a full hundred zhang thick that charged straight at his face. Shen Mu grunted; when he had broken this wheel, the hundred-zhang rainbow light abruptly withdrew and became a fourth Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel!
This wheel stood a hundred and forty zhang tall! In its mirror face no flowing vision of the myriad daos could any longer be seen, only Shen Mu's image, filling the whole wheel; and yet the wheel's power had grown still greater!
"A Dao-entering divine ability! Each wheel is a heaven!
" Shen Mu understood. He shook his body, and the Dao soldiers of the Forty-Nine Heavenly Daos merged into one, becoming a heaven blade.
He cast aside the sword and gripped the blade, his six arms raising it high, and brought it down in a single stroke!