Chapter 1793 — Dwelling in the Coffin
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The World Tree's boughs and leaves withered, its roots contracted with furious speed, and the span it sheltered shrank ever smaller. This time the Old Man of the Boundless had taken too grievous a wound, and had no choice but to lie low and nurse himself back to health.
Within the Ancestral Court, the prehistoric stowaways felt the summons and flew one after another toward the World Tree; even the Three Elders of Fengshu withdrew from outside Jade Capital City and returned to it.
Tens of thousands of powerhouses ringed the World Tree's outer reaches, standing in grim readiness.
The World Tree was their one hope of living into the next epoch; on no account could it be lost.
Elsewhere, within the Miluo Palace, the Third Young Master, the Fourth Young Master, and the rest struggled to their feet and said in low, heavy voices, "March on the Seventeenth Epoch!"
Doo—
A clarion horn sounded through Jade Capital City. With the Old Man of the Boundless and Taiyi both gravely wounded, the Miluo Palace had at last swept away the obstacles to the blood sacrifice!
Though this time they had failed to send Shen Mu back into the past, the Miluo Palace's strategic aim had been achieved!
In times past, the Old Man of the Boundless had been quietly siphoning off the blood sacrifice's energy and letting stowaways descend, so that the Miluo Palace's great design of descent could never be carried out.
Now the Old Man of the Boundless could scarce save himself, and could steal the blood sacrifice's energy no more!
Taiyi was the other who barred the Miluo Palace's descent; for six billion years he had stood guard over Great Black Mountain, forever thwarting the blood sacrifice. Now that he too had been gravely wounded, the Miluo Palace's two great enemies would be unable to hinder it again for some time to come!
In this battle, though all the Miluo Palace's Dao-attaining ones bore wounds, some were light and some heavy. The gravest hurt belonged to the Hall Masters and the Third and Fourth Young Masters, who could not descend until their wounds healed; but those more lightly wounded could descend.
Outside Jade Capital City, the light of the Dao kindled. There the blood sacrifice's energy was transmuted, and the bodies of Dao-attaining ones began slowly to surface!
"This time both our great enemies have been gravely wounded. When the Miluo Palace's Dao-attaining ones descend, if they entrust the Great Dao to the void, it will swiftly heal the Old Man of the Boundless's injuries and swell his strength."
The Fourth Young Master, Zixiao, suppressed his wounds and passed down the order: "Upon entering the Seventeenth Epoch, do not entrust the Dao to the void!"
In the Taiyi Daluo Heaven, Shen Mu had just landed when the giant Taiyi beside him suddenly gave a muffled groan and toppled onto his back.
Bang!
The giant Taiyi dissolved into a mass of Taiyi qi, scattering loose through the Daluo Heaven.
"Brother Dao!"
Shen Mu's own wounds were not grave, and he hurried to ask after him—only to see that mass of Taiyi qi gather itself, and after a moment a woman Taiyi stepped out from within it.
Shen Mu let out a breath and laughed. "Brother Dao, your Dao arts and divine powers are truly outlandish..."
Before his words had died away, bloody holes burst open all over the woman Taiyi with a series of sharp cracks; blood gushed forth, and she fell onto her back, her body collapsing into another scattering mass of Taiyi qi.
Shen Mu's heart lurched. After another moment, the Taiyi qi condensed once more into an old man Taiyi, whose flesh too was riddled with holes, bleeding from every side.
The old man's body likewise could not hold, and collapsed of itself.
That mass of Taiyi qi became a young girl Taiyi, who could not hold either.
Shen Mu watched Taiyi shift form again and again, never once able to keep one. In this battle, Taiyi's Dao wounds were branded into his very origin—his injuries were exceedingly grave!