Chapter 1762: The Hall Is the Dao, the Hall's Destruction Is the Dao's Demise
Lan Yutian felt a melancholy in his heart as he stepped out of the Golden Ship of Crossing the World.
Xu Shenghua was also deeply moved. The life of the Empress was a legendary one. Although many of her actions were contemptible, her experiences had become etched into the mythology of this universe.
The era belonging to the Empress and the Ten Venerables had already passed.
Of the Ten Venerables from back then, only the Heavenly Emperor Hao remained.
The two of them didn't have time to dwell on it. They immediately headed toward the direction where the Heavenly Emperor Hao's imprint was in the void. Now was the critical period for the Heavenly Emperor Hao's second attainment of the Dao. Under no circumstances could they allow him to achieve it again!
Although the Heavenly Emperor Hao was quite pathetic, he was still the foremost intellect under heaven. Since Cloud Venerable and Qin Mu had crushed him, they had to keep him crushed. They absolutely could not give him a third chance to rise again!
If the Heavenly Emperor Hao could still rise again in this state and restore his Dao heart, then he would become extremely terrifying!
Not far from them, Shang Jun, Moon Venerable, and Jiang Baigui were locked in a battle with the Joyous Hall Master, which had also reached a critical juncture.
Jiang Baigui used the Grand Heavenly Court of Acquired Dao to suppress the Joyous Hall Master's physical body. Shang Jun was suppressed beneath Joyous Hall, wielding his blade from below, its light splitting the hall!
The Joyous Hall Master's head blazed with crimson flames as her primordial spirit leaped out, sending Jiang Baigui flying. But it was too late. Shang Jun's blade light swept past her left leg. By the time she flew up from the hall, she looked down and saw her left leg standing intact within Joyous Hall.
"Shang Jun, you demon! Time to go!"
The Joyous Hall Master gritted her teeth. Her treasure hall erupted with brilliant Dao light, colliding with Shang Jun's Dao light. At the same time, her Dao tree swept toward Jiang Baigui!
Boom!
The dazzling Dao light clashed, causing Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian in the distance to stagger.
They turned to look and saw Joyous Hall split in two. The Joyous Hall Master's enormous Dao tree actually manifested the extraordinary phenomenon of ten thousand Dao trees forming a forest, transforming the area into a forest of Dao trees.
On the split hall, Shang Jun stood atop one half, drenched in blood, with blood continuously flowing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. On the other half, the Joyous Hall Master stood on one leg, a shocking blade wound across her face.
Moon Venerable shouted, her zither music ringing out loudly. She folded space, attempting to break the Joyous Hall Master's spatial techniques and send Jiang Baigui into the Dao tree forest.
Jiang Baigui wasn't faring well either. Swept by the Joyous Hall Master's Dao tree, his many heavenly palace halls were battered and broken.
He was the culmination of the acquired Dao, with immense cultivation and profound magical power. His Dao techniques and divine abilities fell outside the scope of the old cultivation systems, making them a new school of learning that even Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian didn't understand.
The Joyous Hall Master often found herself unable to counter his divine abilities and Dao techniques.
But the gap in cultivation was hard to bridge, and Jiang Baigui was still severely wounded by her.
Moon Venerable couldn't break the Joyous Hall Master's Dao tree forest in a short time. Anxious, she suddenly shouted, pushing her magical power to its limit.
She threw out a peach branch, which landed in the Dao tree forest. As the branch touched the ground, a peach grove grew, with brilliant peach blossoms. Peach petals flew in all directions, shuttling through space, multiplying in number.
Jiang Baigui stepped on the peach blossoms, advancing deeper into the Dao tree forest. Various Dao chains wove like shuttles within the trees, and he encountered various attacks along the way, constantly breaking through them.
Moon Venerable coordinated with him, and together they dismantled the Joyous Hall Master's techniques. Moon Venerable sent him deep into the Dao tree forest, getting closer and closer to the split Joyous Hall.
On the split treasure hall, the Joyous Hall Master gazed at the hall now divided in two, her expression dim. She said softly, "My teacher once told me that there are very few in this world who can use their own Dao to achieve a treasure hall. The treasure hall is stronger than the Dao tree, higher than the Dao fruit's attainment—it's a new path. The Dao tree and Dao fruit are merely imitations of the World Tree, but the treasure hall is the landscape within the heart of an achiever of the Dao, the universe within their chest. The hall is the final pure land of an achiever of the Dao, and also their highest achievement."
Shang Jun held his blade, blood flowing from wounds large and small all over his body. The power of Joyous Hall had nearly shattered every bone and joint in his body. But he was, after all, an achiever of the Dao, using his own formidable magical power to hold his body together, preventing himself from falling apart.
In the history of the Sixteenth Era, he had suffered injuries worse than this, so he paid it no mind.
His gaze fell on the Joyous Hall Master's single leg.
Her other leg had already been severed by him, and the Dao wound caused the woman to bleed continuously.
"My teacher taught me the supreme method, but my talent was dull, and I could never fully comprehend it. The hall he spoke of was a treasure hall condensed from the Dao, like the Supreme Hall, the Boundless Hall, or the Celestial Hall. He wanted us to innovate, to walk our own path—a path even he couldn't tread—to push to the limit, to become a master who could stand alone, to become his Dao companion, supporting each other as we move forward. But I couldn't do it."
The Joyous Hall Master gasped, adjusting her breath. Her voice hoarse, she said, "All I could do was take one step forward under his guidance. That step was already my limit, so I could only become one of the seventy-two hall masters."
A smile appeared on her face. "My teacher once told me that my temper was too violent, and he wanted me to think thrice before acting. He said I had a beautiful smile, very pure, so he gave me the Dao name 'Joyous.' He hoped that when I was impulsive, I would smile, and when I smiled, I would think, and then I could step back from my impulses. He hoped I could keep smiling, preserving the purity of my Dao heart. Since I began my cultivation, as he wished, I often smiled at the world's affairs, and I did fewer foolish things."
Shang Jun said coldly, "Your smile is indeed beautiful."
The sound of the zither came from the Dao tree forest outside, faint and indistinct. Moon Venerable and Jiang Baigui were breaking through the forest, gradually getting closer.
The peach grove spread, its range growing wider.
The Joyous Hall Master exhaled a turbid breath, but blood surged from her throat. She steadied her breath, slowly sinking onto her single leg, crouching down. The smile on her face faded. "My teacher said that when I stop smiling, that's when I'm most dangerous. The danger isn't just for my opponent—it's also for myself. Because when I'm not smiling, that's when I'm least calm."
Behind her, layers of Dao realms erupted with a bang!
Shang Jun's blade slowly slid back into its sheath, and his body also slowly sank down.
The Thirty-Six Heavens of the Killing Dao formed beneath his feet. His body tensed, some muscles relaxing, some tightening, and others compressing like springs.
Both of them gathered their momentum.
The Joyous Hall Master's gaze locked firmly on Shang Jun. She said in a low voice, "Shang Jun, you personally destroyed the Sixteenth Era that raised you. In the Calamity of Annihilation, you went mad and slaughtered achievers of the Dao. The Grand Master Taiyi didn't take your life, but I will."
Boom!
Her body leaped forward. The split treasure hall suddenly blazed with Dao light, disintegrating within it. The Joyous Hall Master shouted fiercely, "The hall is the Dao, the hall's destruction is the Dao's demise! Today, I'll use my Dao attainment to send you, demon, on the road with me!"
In that moment, her battle intent surged to an unprecedented peak!
If she had fled, even Moon Venerable couldn't have stopped her. But she stayed, choosing to fight Shang Jun to the death!
In the Joyous Hall Master's heart, there seemed to be an ideal supporting her, making her stand against Shang Jun and the others, making her willing to fight to the death to kill Shang Jun, to buy time for the achievers of the Dao from Miluo Palace to descend.
Moon Venerable, Jiang Baigui, and the others had their own ideals. Shang Jun had his own ideals too, driving them to challenge the powerful and achieve their goals.
The Joyous Hall Master also had hers.
Her ideal was the ideal of Miluo Palace, which had made Miluo Palace the sacred place in the hearts of achievers of the Dao from the past sixteen cosmic eras.
For this ideal, they could go through fire and water, could resist everything.
Even though the master of Miluo Palace was no longer there, as long as the ideal remained, Miluo Palace would not disband.
In her heart, the ideal of Miluo Palace could never be wrong. The ideal of the master of Miluo Palace could never be wrong. The only ones who could be wrong were others!
As a hall master, she had to protect the ideal of Miluo Palace!
Shang Jun drew his blade, meeting her at the moment when the Joyous Hall Master's Dao light and Dao flames were most intense!
The Joyous Hall Master had her ideal, and Shang Jun had his.
He had wanted to protect the living beings of the Sixteenth Era, to kill a peaceful world for them, to slaughter all the stowaways and all the achievers of the Dao who had stolen the vitality of the Sixteenth Era!
He had failed.
When he achieved the Dao, he became the chief culprit in destroying the Sixteenth Era. He had wanted to protect the living beings, but he became the executioner who slaughtered them.
From then on, his Dao heart had been in decline.
His mistake could not be undone.
But after meeting Qin Mu, his Dao heart was tempered again, and he found his ideal once more.
He couldn't protect the living beings of the Sixteenth Era, becoming its sinner. But the living beings of the Seventeenth Era were also living beings. He could not tolerate the tragedy repeating itself. He could not make the same mistake again!
No matter how noble the ideal of Miluo Palace sounded, no matter how flowery its rhetoric, it was always a parasite on this universe!
He had to protect a place of peace.
The two clashed head-on in the air for the first time. The Joyous Hall Master controlled the disintegrating treasure hall, countless Dao chains weaving together, stabbing into Shang Jun's body. She shouted fiercely, "Come with me on the road!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Shang Jun's body exploded in multiple places, his physical form and primordial spirit riddled with large holes. The Thirty-Six Heavens of the Killing Dao were riddled with breaches. His power was rapidly waning, but his killing intent had never been stronger!
The vast killing intent sublimated, transforming into the Thirty-Seventh Kill!
Heaven and man unite in action, establishing the foundation of all Daos!
This strike fell, and all of the Joyous Hall Master's Daos, all of her Dao chains, shattered in the blade light.
But her final vital energy condensed into one last strike, piercing Shang Jun's brain.
Boom!
The Dao tree forest suddenly collapsed. The Joyous Hall Master's Dao tree disintegrated, turning entirely into a peach grove. Jiang Baigui and Moon Venerable rushed over. Jiang Baigui's techniques erupted, changing in a thousand ways. Countless finger shadows flashed across the sky, passing through their techniques, Dao light, and blade light, converging into a single finger. Along with the Joyous Hall Master's final strike, it pointed at Shang Jun's brow.
Shang Jun fell backward, his physical body, primordial spirit, and Killing Dao domain all shattered.
"Hahaha!"
The Joyous Hall Master stood on one leg, laughing loudly. "Shang Jun, I said I could go on the road with you, and I never break my word. What a pity..."
She turned to look at Moon Venerable, a strange light in her eyes. "I couldn't take you with me. I failed to fulfill the Fourth Master's commission..."
Her brow split open, and a line of blood extended from her forehead down the midline of her body.
Moon Venerable had been about to deliver a killing blow, but seeing this bloodline, she stopped.
Jiang Baigui quickly came to Shang Jun's side and said, "My Unyielding technique isn't as powerful or precise as Second Senior Brother's. It's only a little stronger than Senior Brother Wei Suifeng's. Whether I can save Shang Jun is still uncertain."
"Dao Defiler!"
The Joyous Hall Master turned around, letting out a shrill cry as she lunged at him. Suddenly, the ultimate killing intent hidden within her body erupted, tearing her to pieces!
The Joyous Hall Master fell. Another of Miluo Palace's seventy-two treasure halls was lost.