Chapter 1554 — The Duel of the Dao-Achievers
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
"But to kill me with one move, even with power as great as a Dao-achiever's, you cannot do it! " Shen Mu thrust his sword forward, and within the Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel his image collapsed of a sudden; it meant that Hao Tianzun's wheel had parsed every secret of his, that this blow could utterly dissolve him!
Boom— At the center of the fourteenth Chaos River, a dreadful throb burst out, whipping up a wave of chaos qi that shrieked as it spun, like a chaos tornado. The tornado scattered, becoming a hurricane that lashed out in every direction; after a time the wind reached the ruins of Jade Capital City where Hao Tianzun and the others stood, howling across the Dao Tree, plucking at the robes of Hao Tianzun and Xiao Tianzun.
Xiao Tianzun turned, a smile on his face, and said unhurriedly, "Hao'er, have you beaten your heart-demon to death?
" On the Dao Tree across from him, Hao Tianzun's expression shifted slightly; he said with a cold laugh, "He fled. He is not dead, but he has not long to live.
" Xiao Tianzun smiled. "There are five daos within him that you could not read, is that not so?
Of those five, the first is Taiyi, the second Taichu, the third Taishi, the fourth Taisu, the fifth Taiji.
It is because you could not read them that you could not kill him. And I, I am Taichu.
" His aura surged madly; behind his head heavenly palaces leapt forth one after another, combining into a Great Heavenly Court of thirty-six heavenly palaces and forty-seven treasured halls! "What you cannot see through is your father.
" Xiao Tianzun smiled faintly. "As my child, you are the most outstanding of them all.
I admit it: in the past I underestimated you. " Hao Tianzun smiled, and the smile on his face deepened, deepened until it could deepen no further; behind him, the companion supreme treasure of Goddess Taisu began to change, transforming toward a Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel.
"You did not merely underestimate me in the past, you underestimate me now as well!
" Hao Tianzun's earlier strike had been a divine ability; now the companion supreme treasure of Taisu transmuted into a Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel, a supreme treasure born from the egg of Taisu! "Father, your supreme treasure was sent by the Great Emperor into the ultimate void to be suppressed.
With no supreme treasure and no allies, you can only await death! " Hao Tianzun raised a hand, seized the Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel, and soared into the air!
On the third Chaos River, Shen Mu stood on the little boat the Taiyi staff had become, one hand resting on his World Tree, his body battered, gasping for breath in great ragged gulps. The breath he exhaled was mixed with froth of blood. Hao Tianzun's thirtieth-heaven Dao-entering divine ability was indeed incomparably formidable; yet in the mirror light of that final wheel, Shen Mu had seen that the Myriad-Dao Heaven Wheel had not parsed the five great ore veins of his Ancestral Court, and so he knew where his chance of life lay.
In his last blow he had roused the five great ore veins of the Ancestral Court, forcibly drawing out the power stored within them; at the most critical moment he had even roused the power of the Taiyi vein, and so at last he held the strike off and was not cut down by Hao Tianzun.
"Having attained the Dao, he is indeed invincible.
I cannot match him.
. .
" He collapsed with a splash and let the boat drift where it would.
How long passed he did not know; then some strength returned to him. Suddenly monstrous waves rose in the river: the ripples thrown off by Hao Tianzun and Xiao Tianzun fighting had reached this place, and the boat might capsize at any moment!
Shen Mu struggled to his feet and steered the boat toward the opposite shore. The chaos lay vast and dim; he opened the vertical eye at his brow and watched the evolution of the cosmos beneath the third Chaos River, searching for a road.
More than ten days later he found the far shore, and looking up saw another Chaos River before him.