Chapter 1696: Standing on the Wrong Side
The Second Young Master’s expression shifted slightly. She immediately intended to retreat behind the scenes and let the Heavenly Emperor Hao take control of this body.
The body she had possessed was one of the two Dao bodies of the Heavenly Emperor Hao. The Third and Fourth Young Masters of the Miluo Palace, worried that separating her from the Heavenly Emperor Hao would release her true form, had sealed her within the Heavenly Emperor Hao’s body.
Even so, the Second Young Master was still stronger than the Heavenly Emperor Hao. She often emerged, shoving the Heavenly Emperor Hao’s primordial spirit and consciousness aside. She could also let the Heavenly Emperor Hao take control of the physical body at any time.
As Lord Cloud had said, the Ultimate Void was mutually antagonistic to her Path of Returning to Nothingness. Therefore, letting the Heavenly Emperor Hao deal with Lord Cloud at this moment became the best decision.
As long as the Heavenly Emperor Hao emerged, he could reclaim his own Grand Unity of One Qi. At that point, with the Grand Unity of One Qi fusing with the Grand Unity of Divine Awareness, Lord Cloud would certainly be no match for the Heavenly Emperor Hao.
However…
This time, something went wrong.
Just as the Second Young Master attempted to switch places with the Heavenly Emperor Hao, the power of the Unchanging Divine Ability hidden within her suddenly erupted, preventing her from switching with the Heavenly Emperor Hao!
No matter how she tried, the result was the same!
The Second Young Master was startled. She raised her head to look at Lord Cloud across from her and asked, puzzled, “That desperate strike of yours earlier, using the fake red rope knot, was it to lure me out, then seal the Heavenly Emperor Hao with the Unchanging Divine Ability, all for this moment?”
Lord Cloud vibrated the Primordial Beginning Emperor Sword and said with a faint smile, “This is my strategy.”
The fusion of the Grand Unity of One Qi and the Grand Unity of Divine Awareness was still ongoing. As the fusion deepened, his cultivation and Dao attainments were advancing by leaps and bounds, and the power of the Primordial Beginning Emperor Sword in his hand was also increasing!
Once the two Grand Unities merged into the Primordial Beginning Grand Unity, he would effectively seize the Heavenly Emperor Hao’s cultivation directly, helping himself achieve the Dao through the Primordial Beginning and instantly becoming the strongest existence in this world!
Earlier, he had no chance of victory against the Second Young Master. Now, he had a one-in-ten chance.
If the two Grand Unities were to fully merge, then he would have a seven-in-ten chance of victory!
Victory or defeat was decided in the details!
The Heavenly Emperor Hao was indeed an incredibly terrifying opponent. However, because he had defeated Lord Cloud once before, he carried the mindset of a victor. Coupled with his cultivation far surpassing Lord Cloud’s, this led to carelessness and underestimation.
The Heavenly Emperor Hao’s moves were not wrong. What was wrong was underestimating the enemy. He looked down on Lord Cloud, which gave Lord Cloud the opportunity to exploit the Second Young Master’s weakness, lure her out with the red rope knot, and then seal the Heavenly Emperor Hao with the Unchanging Divine Ability.
With the Heavenly Emperor Hao unable to emerge, Lord Cloud now had the possibility of seizing the Grand Unity of One Qi and cultivating the Primordial Beginning Grand Unity. He also had a chance of victory in his battle against the Second Young Master, even if that chance was slim!
The Second Young Master stopped trying to swap out the Heavenly Emperor Hao and said, “This is the divine ability of a Dao Defier. Truly extraordinary. Your scheme is also clever enough. The Ultimate Void and the Path of Returning to Nothingness are indeed mutually exclusive. By pulling me into the Ultimate Void, you can indeed use it to erode me. Unfortunately, you have forgotten who I am.”
Her expression was calm as she said flatly, “I am the Second Young Master of the Miluo Palace. All of us Young Masters, having studied the Master’s Dao techniques, have reached the pinnacle in some aspect. Compared to the Miluo Palace’s Dao techniques, you so-called Lords, you so-called Dao Achievers, are nothing more than savages in a primeval jungle.”
She stepped toward Lord Cloud, a fanatical look of wanting to destroy everything appearing on her face: “How pitiful. You must have come with the resolve to die in order to kill me. You schemed for a long time before coming up with this idea. You thought you had a sliver of a chance, thought you could buy time, fuse the two Grand Unities, achieve the Dao through the Primordial Beginning, and then have the possibility of killing me.”
The aura around her suddenly changed. Primordial Chaos Qi emerged from within her body. The cold, still wind around her and the heat-death wind within her body had been constantly dissolving and eroding her cultivation. But now, the appearance of the Primordial Chaos Qi slowed this trend, even showing signs of stopping it!
Lord Cloud’s pupils contracted sharply.
“What a pitiful sight. Although I do not agree with the Master’s philosophy, his Dao techniques are indeed profound and unfathomable. So I studied him very seriously and gained many insights.”
The Second Young Master Wuji looked at his expression, gave a light laugh to undermine his confidence and conviction, and said leisurely, “Earlier, you thought you had some chance of victory. Now, do you have any chance at all? What a pitiful creature. Even if you trade your life for my death, you would only be killing one of my avatars, with no effect on my true body whatsoever. What’s more, you can’t even kill me. You exhaust the wisdom of a lifetime, wanting to achieve the Dao, wanting to transcend. You give up everything, wanting to kill me, yet it is all so laughable. Such a pitiful creature, let me end this humble life of yours!”
She struck out fiercely!
“Daoist Taiji, after all, we are both of the Five Primordials, bound by the same spirit. Why must you strike down your own people?”
In the Wuyou Township’s Chiming Heyang Heaven, the people of the Wuyou Township had already been relocated from here to Yancheng. The thirty-three heavens were now empty, leaving only empty divine cities. The armies from the various divine cities had also descended to the lower heavens to engage in bloody battle with the Heavenly Court.
At this moment, in the Chiming Heyang Heaven, the two Taiji Ancient Gods had merged their bodies into one, transforming into an immensely colossal ancient god standing between heaven and earth in the Heyang Heaven. The sun, moon, and stars crowned its head. The Taiji Sand Table had already transformed into a massive divine artifact, unleashing boundless power under their activation!
The land of the Heyang Heaven was torn open, mountains were ground to dust, turning into rolling sand and dust that amplified the power of the sand table.
Opposing the Taiji Ancient God was a chubby little fellow, rolling rapidly back and forth amidst the sand and dust. Sometimes he would violently collide with the Taiji Ancient God, tearing its flesh open, and sometimes the Azure Void Mirror behind his head would flare with brilliant light, turning him into azure void and allowing him to evade the Taiji Ancient God’s attacks.
The two Taiji Ancient Gods had no way to deal with him.
“Two fellow Daoists, bound by the same spirit!” the little fellow said as he struck them with lethal force.
The two Taiji Ancient Gods were also enraged. They mobilized all their cultivation. The Taiji Sand Table suddenly transformed into twenty-eight layers of heavenly realms, like twenty-eight Taiji diagrams spread out one after another, overlapping beneath their serpentine tails. They shouted, “Taishi, you have no shame! You speak of being bound by the same spirit, yet you throw every vicious, poisonous move at us! You have no sense of the bigger picture and cannot see the situation clearly. Enough! Today, we will fight you to the death! Do you dare to enter our Taiji Diagram?”
Taishi stopped and cautiously examined the twenty-eight layers of the Taiji Diagram. He laughed and said, “Two fellow Daoists, are you taking the path of achieving the Dao through Dao realms? Achieving the Dao through Dao realms was pioneered by Kaicang. When you drink water, don’t forget who dug the well. You have benefited from Kaicang Qin Ye’s efforts, yet you come to kill his Wuyou Township. You are utterly despicable!”
The Taiji Ancient God split into two, becoming the Sun Heavenly Lord and the Moon Heavenly Lord. The Sun Heavenly Lord’s face flushed red with some shame, but the Moon Heavenly Lord sneered, “Enough useless talk! Do you dare to enter or not?”
Taishi stepped forward on his short legs and walked into the twenty-eight layers of heavenly realms, laughing, “Why wouldn’t I dare? Let me see just how brilliant your path of entering the Dao through the mortal world really is!”
At the same time, the world barrier of the Tianyin Realm suddenly shattered. A massive ancestral court Jade Platform smashed through the barrier of the Tianyin Realm, appearing on the surface of the Tianyin Sea. The Heavenly Court’s army continuously flew up from the Jade Platform, invading the Tianyin Realm.
The Tianyin Realm was a territory of Yancheng. Many Yancheng people lived here, having built a unique civilization belonging to the Tianyin Realm, cultivating its Dao techniques and divine abilities.
Since the great war erupted, bringing devastation to all living beings, one heaven after another was destroyed, and countless souls turned into black sand. The Tianyin Realm had grown larger and larger. Now, it had become the largest heaven subordinate to the Yuan Realm!
The Tianyin Sea had also expanded dozens of times. However, when the ancestral court Jade Platform descended, it suppressed the Tianyin Sea until no waves rose.
Countless Heavenly Court gods and demons stepped onto the sea surface, charging toward the land of the Tianyin Realm!
This wave of invasion could be said to be the first time the Heavenly Court had set foot on Yancheng’s territory!
The Tianyin Empress reached out and grabbed the sea, giving it a hard shake. The sea surface immediately churned violently, and the Heavenly Court gods and demons at the forefront were suddenly swallowed by the sea.
However, the power of the ancestral court Jade Platform was too great. The generals on the Jade Platform, leading many deities, joined forces to activate the Jade Pool, suppressing the churning sea surface. When the Tianyin Empress tried to shake the sea again, she could not move it.
“I don’t want to turn my divine abilities into weapons for slaughtering living beings…”
The Tianyin Empress’s body trembled. Suddenly, she remembered when Qin Mu had once sought her advice on the Imperial Throne cultivation technique. He had said that she would eventually face this situation, and at that time, she would have to make a choice.
And now, she had to make that choice.
She turned her head to look at the divine cities of the Tianyin Realm. Only a few scattered divine and demonic soldiers were in those cities, but behind the cities and within them were the living beings of the Tianyin Realm.
Among them were Yancheng people, but many were beings she had personally created, personally enlightened, and shaped their souls!
She was their mother, their Heavenly Mother!
The Tianyin Empress turned back, tears streaming down her face. Her Dao techniques and divine abilities erupted. The Heavenly Court’s army of gods and demons charging onto the shore toward her and the divine cities of the Tianyin Realm suddenly had black sand rolling from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses. Their primordial spirits shattered, transforming into soul black sand that merged into the heaven and earth of the Tianyin Realm!
This trend spread like a plague, racing across the sea surface toward the ancestral court Jade Platform. Almost no god or demon could resist the terrifying power of the Tianyin Realm’s Dao techniques!
One by one, the gods and demons quickly became empty shells, without souls, without spirit. Their corpses sank into the Tianyin Sea!
The Tianyin Empress felt a pang in her heart, a moment of reluctance. Although she was an ancient god of the Tianyin Realm, since her resurrection, she had only killed one person—the Yin Heavenly Emperor.
She had never been able to bring herself to harm other living beings. But this time, she had no choice.
The number of Heavenly Court gods and demons was simply too vast, while the gods and demons of the Tianyin Realm were few and far between, utterly unable to resist. She had to ensure the safety of her people!
The ancestral court Jade Platform blazed with light. The main general guarding the platform activated the power of the platform to counter the Tianyin Empress’s divine ability. Before the power of the Tianyin Empress’s strike could even reach the ancestral court Jade Pool, it was broken!
“Tianyin Empress, your Dao techniques are truly boundless!”
On the ancestral court Jade Pool, the Heavenly Court army formed formations. The Seven Dukes—Duke Ming, Duke Li, Duke Yu, Duke Da, Duke Suo, and the others—each stepped forward. Duke Li praised, “His Majesty ordered us to pacify the Tianyin Realm. If we tried to take you down by ourselves, the casualties would be heavy. But fortunately, in this battle, we don’t need to fight you to the death.”
As his words fell, a loud *dong* sound was heard. A jet-black ancient god landed on the ancestral court Jade Pool, slowly rising to his feet. He gazed across the sea at the Tianyin Empress, his voice rumbling and causing ripples to spread across the sea surface: “Ling Guan greets the Tianyin Empress. Empress, do not blame us. If you must blame someone, blame yourself for standing on the wrong side…”
*Swish!*
A peculiar sound of something cutting through the air was heard. A figure shot across the Jade Platform. The jet-black ancient god and that figure vanished without a trace!
*Boom!*
The Tianyin Realm shook violently. Everyone quickly looked up and were horrified to see a huge hole torn open in the sky of the Tianyin Realm. The ancient god called Ling Guan was split into pieces, falling from beyond the heavens. His body parts splashed heavily into the sea, churning up massive waves.