Chapter 1665: The Palace of the Spirit Official, the Blade of Lord Shang
Lord Shang's blade had indeed dulled—not only his blade, but his Dao heart as well.
But when he heard Qin Mu speak of slaying the visitors from before history, his Dao heart sharpened once more!
Qin Mu sensed the incomparably sharp blade aura and killing intent within the shadows behind him, and a smile crept across his face.
Lord Shang had been consumed by guilt and self-reproach because his attainment of Dao had crushed the Ultimate Void, plunging him into self-denial. He hated himself, hated himself deeply.
But he hated the prehistorical Dao attainers even more!
When there were no enemies, his blade wounded himself, cutting his own Dao heart stroke by stroke.
But when enemies came, his blade turned outward—however viciously he wounded himself, he would wound his enemies even more viciously!
The Ultimate Void.
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall forcibly imprinted his own Great Dao onto the void, and his Great Luo Heaven was in the process of forming.
What was called the Great Luo Heaven was, in truth, using one's own Great Dao to comprehend heaven and earth, to shape heaven and earth, thereby transforming it into a celestial realm.
The Great Luo Heaven was the form of Dao.
Any kind of Great Dao was an interpretation of the universe. The more one comprehended Dao, the deeper one's understanding, the more complete and real the heaven and earth evolved from Dao would be.
Take the Dao of the Sword, for example. When Emperor Kai Huang cultivated his sword Dao to the thirty-sixth heaven realm, he used his sword Dao to evolve the Great Luo Heaven of the Sword Dao. Within that Great Luo Heaven were mountains, waters, trees, birds, beasts, insects, fish, sun, moon, stars—all resembling a real world.
However, when Emperor Kai Huang manifested his Sword Dao Great Luo Heaven in the real world, it was merely a divine ability that would dissipate after use.
But the nature of the Ultimate Void was different. One could imprint one's own Great Dao here, shaping the Ultimate Void into the form of Dao, and it would not dissipate.
This kind of imprinting required no forceful activation of Great Dao to alter the structure of the Ultimate Void. One only needed to imprint one's Dao here, and the Ultimate Void would naturally undergo transformation, becoming the Great Luo Heaven.
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall had walked two paths to attain Dao. One path was attaining Dao through the Dao Realm—this was the orthodox path of the Mi Luo Palace, comprehending the Dao Realm to attain Dao, with the most perfect Great Luo Heaven.
His ability to become one of the seventy-two hall masters relied on attaining Dao through the Dao Realm.
He had already achieved Dao through the Dao Realm four times, cultivating three Dao Fruits and one Dao Flower, with extraordinarily profound cultivation.
He cultivated one type of Great Dao per cosmic epoch, and had now cultivated four types of Great Dao, reaching four Great Luo Heaven Realms. However, during the fourth, time was too short—before he could cultivate a Dao Fruit, the sixteenth epoch universe was destroyed.
The other path was attaining Dao through force.
The path of attaining Dao through force followed the Jade Capital City system. One cultivated the seventy-two halls of Jade Capital City, comprehending the Dao attainment methods of the seven young masters and the master of the Mi Luo Palace, borrowing the power of the ancestral court Jade Capital City and the Mi Luo Palace to enhance one's own cultivation and strength, thereby imprinting the Ultimate Void.
Attaining Dao through force was quicker and easier to cultivate than attaining Dao through the Dao Realm, but it was not orthodox and carried hidden dangers—one could easily be controlled by the seven young masters of the Mi Luo Palace.
But for the hall masters of the Mi Luo Palace, such hidden dangers did not exist. After all, they were all subordinates of the seven young masters. When the master of the Mi Luo Palace did not appear, they needed to obey the commands of the seven young masters.
—Of course, as the seventh young master, Qin Mu actually held little power within the Mi Luo Palace. Not a single hall master cultivated his Chaos Hall.
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall used both methods of attaining Dao simultaneously, which was why his achievements were so high.
His Great Luo Heaven gradually took shape, and quickly at that. Compared to methodically cultivating a new Great Dao, directly imprinting the void with one's own Great Dao was the simplest. However, the Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall was somewhat greedy, choosing to imprint all four Great Daos at once.
The Great Luo Heaven forged from four Great Daos was exquisitely beautiful and indestructible. As long as the imprinting succeeded and he planted his Dao Tree, he would be considered to have established a firm foothold in this universe.
If the imprinting was completed and the Dao Tree planted, even if he were killed, his body would die but his Dao would not perish—he could be reborn from his Dao Fruit, though his physical body would be much weaker than before!
The only difficulty was that his Dao Tree was from a past universe. Planting it in the Ultimate Void of this universe would cause some trouble, drawing resistance from the Ultimate Void itself. But to him, this was not a major issue.
Finally, his Great Luo Heaven was complete!
This Great Luo Heaven displayed four colors—red, gold, blue, and black. Red like blazing fire, gold like precious metal, blue like the sky, and black like ink!
These four colors represented his achievements in the four Great Daos of Fire, Metal, Heaven, and Netherworld!
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall moved his mind, and the Spirit Official Treasure Hall flew out. This great hall was the Dao achievement he had comprehended from the Hongmeng runes of the master of the Mi Luo Palace. Though it was not as impressive as the treasure halls of the seven young masters, it was still extraordinary.
"Planting the Dao Tree—using my treasure hall to suppress the resistance of the Ultimate Void should be sufficient."
He raised the treasure hall, suspending it above his Great Luo Heaven. Then the Dao Tree emerged, countless branches and roots dancing wildly, swimming through the void, descending toward the Great Luo Heaven!
At that moment, the void erupted. Various kinds of Dao light burst forth from the void, surging toward his Dao Tree and Great Luo Heaven!
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall activated his treasure hall to block the Great Dao invasions from the void, examining them one by one, and laughed: "So it's the Dao of Divine Consciousness. The Dao of Divine Consciousness was split from the Dao of Primordial Beginning. Someone must have cultivated the Great Luo Heaven of Divine Consciousness and imprinted it in the Ultimate Void. My forceful planting of the Dao Tree has caused the Ultimate Void to erupt, drawing the Dao of Divine Consciousness to attack me!"
Suddenly, another kind of Dao light pierced through the void, shaking his treasure hall, but it was blocked by the Spirit Official Treasure Hall.
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall looked and smiled slightly: "The Great Luo Heaven of Primordial Qi—this is the Primordial Qi Dao within the Dao of Primordial Beginning. It cannot be considered the true Dao of Primordial Beginning, and it poses no threat to me. Two types of Primordial Qi mean that two people in this universe have attained Dao through Primordial Qi, but their Dao resonance is not deep—likely attained through force. Most probably the Heavenly Emperor Hao and this universe's Primordial Beginning."
Ssshh—
A sword light pierced through the void, slashing toward his Dao Tree. The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall moved his mind slightly, and the treasure hall radiated brilliant Dao light, blocking this strike. He laughed: "This is the Dao of the Sword, a post-natal Dao. Tsk tsk, I didn't expect this universe to be so primitive, yet already have living beings beginning to create their own Great Daos and cultivate them to the Great Luo Heaven Realm! Rare, truly rare! Unfortunately, the one who imprinted the Great Luo Heaven of the Sword Dao lacks magical power and has not cultivated a Dao Fruit. A mere four Great Luo Heavens cannot harm me in the slightest!"
He relaxed.
The Ultimate Void had no power of its own. Its resistance to his planting of the Dao Tree merely mobilized the power of the Great Daos imprinted in the Great Luo Heavens of the Ultimate Void. Clearly, although the seventeenth epoch universe had developed for six billion years, its Dao techniques and divine abilities were still quite backward.
The most powerful beings in this universe had only just begun to touch upon attaining Dao. Only four had attained Dao, and they had only cultivated to the realm of the Dao Flower within the Great Luo Heaven Realm—no threat to him.
He had just breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly another wave of Great Dao fluctuation came crashing in. The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly soared into the air and landed before the Spirit Official Treasure Hall!
He roared continuously, pouring all his power into the treasure hall. That Dao light surged with incomparable might and terror—one wave crashed over, and the surface of his Spirit Official Treasure Hall immediately erupted with crackling explosions, then with a thunderous boom, it fell from above the Great Luo Heaven toward the earth!
Boom!
The treasure hall struck the Great Luo Heaven, shaking the earth and mountains. The ground split open, mountain ranges toppled, and the terrifying impact whipped up fierce winds that uprooted the just-planted Dao Tree entirely!
In the sky of the Great Luo Heaven, the sun was extinguished directly, plunging into the earth and causing the Great Luo Heaven to sink and tilt. The bright moon in the sky shattered into pieces, obliterated by that Great Dao impact!
His treasure hall even emitted creaking sounds as Dao stones continuously cracked, unable to withstand the incomparably terrifying pressure. Even the Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall standing before the hall was crushed, his physical body continuously shrinking, unable to maintain his form!
"The Dao of Great Simplicity! I forgot that person!"
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall took a long breath. His physical body—hundreds of bones, internal organs, large and small intestines, hundreds of muscles, even his hair and skin—all transformed into ancient gods!
He was too ancient. Every part of his body had already become divine. Now that all his magical power was mobilized, he was truly formidable beyond measure!
"It's that person's Great Luo Heaven! The nameless powerhouse who fought against the teacher!"
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's body expanded wildly as he shouted fiercely, enduring the crushing pressure of this terrifying Dao of Great Simplicity. The Dao of Great Simplicity was mixed with Primordial Qi and the Dao of Divine Consciousness, as well as the Sword Dao, carving wound after wound into his body!
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall seemed oblivious to the pain. His body healed as fast as it was broken—these wounds could not harm him. Only the Dao of Divine Consciousness invading his mind would cause him considerable trouble.
But having attained Dao across four cosmic epochs, his Dao heart was so stable that even if the one who cultivated the Great Luo Heaven of Divine Consciousness came in person, it would be difficult to cause him much harm.
"It's that powerhouse who crossed sixteen Chaos Long Rivers to visit the teacher at the Mi Luo Palace! The teacher cast him into the fourth epoch. The first young master had been searching for him all along but never found him. It was only in the sixteenth epoch that he was located and suppressed!"
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's body continued to expand, growing stronger and stronger. Great Daos danced behind his head like ribbons, and his form gradually rose from before the treasure hall. The treasure hall was wrapped in his Great Daos, its power pushed to the extreme, the Dao sounds like great bells and cauldrons ringing without end!
"I forgot—he attained Dao in the seventeenth epoch. I nearly suffered a great loss!"
On the Dao Tree, three Dao Fruits flew up, and the Dao Flower bloomed, causing the Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's aura to surge even higher!
He withstood the Dao of Great Simplicity, steadied himself, and floated up, hovering above his Dao Tree. He laughed heartily: "If Great Simplicity were still in this universe, then I would retreat and not imprint the Ultimate Void, not plant my Dao Tree. But he has already been suppressed by the first young master. Relying only on the Dao of Great Simplicity imprinted in his Great Luo Heaven, he cannot harm me!"
He bore the Dao impacts of five Great Luo Heavens, and his Dao Tree took root once more. His Great Luo Heaven no longer collapsed. The sun that had sunk into the land of the Great Luo Heaven reignited and rose slowly.
The blazing sun was fiercer than fire. As the sun rose, the earth of the Great Luo Heaven was bathed in firelight, the land flowing with gold.
At that moment, a figure slowly walked across the golden earth, walking through the flowing fire of the sun.
"Seventh Young Master!"
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's expression changed drastically, and his Dao heart finally wavered. The instant his Dao heart wavered, the killing intent within the long shadow behind Qin Mu boiled over, surging into the Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's mind in an instant!
The next moment, he saw another figure already at his side. The overflowing killing intent connected with the killing intent in his mind, becoming the blade in that person's hand.
That figure turned, blade at his back, the blade light connecting to the brain deep within his brow, lifting upward!
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's brow split open, and he cried out sharply: "Lord Shang—"
That young man's killing intent was so thick. His footsteps shifted, circling around him front and back, moving with incredible speed—every step landing was a slash of the blade!
Blade light like a ribbon of silk, revolving endlessly around the Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall.
Suddenly, a bolt of blade light flashed, descending from above, and with a thunderous crack, the Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall's Dao Tree split down the middle, toppling to both sides!
Bang!
The Palace Master of the Spirit Official Hall burst into pieces, then was crushed down by the five Great Daos surging from the void. The treasure hall crashed down with a thunderous boom onto the fallen Dao Tree!
Lord Shang dispersed his killing intent, stepped back once to avoid the falling Spirit Official Treasure Hall, and vanished into the shadows behind Qin Mu.