Chapter 1728: The Merchant Lord's Killing Dao Melody
When the drumbeats sounded, the spiritual energy and spiritual qi between heaven and earth suddenly became restless. The drumbeats were simple, consisting only of the purest thumping sounds, but every strike seemed to land upon the heart, upon the blood and qi, causing the blood to boil and filling the heart with killing intent!
The heavy drumbeats were like supreme authority, boundless might, crashing down like mountains pressing upon people's Dao hearts, crushing them until they could barely breathe.
Yet the zither music of Moon Heaven Venerable was not affected by the drumbeats in the slightest. Instead, the zither notes were pressed low, very peaceful, but the zither sound pierced through the drumbeats, clear as a trickling stream, flowing into every person's heart.
In the ruined Heavenly Court camp, only the wounded and crippled soldiers remained, along with the busy Yan Kang pharmacists tending to them. The soldiers listened to the drumbeats and zither music, and gradually, the groans brought on by pain grew fewer.
On the night battlefield, the flames of war had not yet been extinguished. In the distance, the Dao light of the Primordial Unity Great Luo Heaven erupted from time to time, making this night seem especially enchanting.
The drumbeats grew ever heavier, as if trying to completely crush the zither music. The killing intent and oppressive might within the monotonous drumbeats were like a restless sea suddenly boiling over—ferocious as a battlefield, treacherous and dangerous. Everywhere was slaughter, everywhere were flying swords and halberds, severed limbs scattering about, heads rolling on the ground. Living beings struggled beneath iron hooves, crying out, wailing, howling in misery!
The Butcher's drumming was truly magnificent!
Alone, with two hammers, a hundred drums, bare-chested as he pounded away, he poured all the authority and power of the lofty rulers into his drumming. The killing intent within the drumbeats grew stronger and stronger, venting to the fullest his worship of and craving for power, using that power wantonly, trampling everything beneath his feet!
Trampling the right to survive, trampling proud lives, manipulating war, orchestrating slaughter!
The drumbeats were filled with the ambition of satisfying the desire for power, giving one the feeling of the oppression the Ten Heaven Venerables imposed upon heaven, earth, and all living beings when they held power!
But Moon Heaven Venerable's zither music remained unmoved, still like a spring breeze caressing, like a small river flowing, as gentle as moonlight in the night.
Her zither sound did not disperse the wildness of the drumbeats. It was like the enduring vitality of living beings—destroyed, harvested amid the drumbeats, yet stubbornly growing forth again, multiplying and thriving.
The suffering endured by living beings seemed to condense within her zither notes, bearing all the calamities and pains, the partings of life and death, yet still living on tenaciously, enduring in silence.
The Butcher's drumbeats soared, filled with the same domineering spirit that swept across the world as he himself possessed, elevating the killing intent that filled heaven and earth to its limit!
Suddenly, his body shook violently. He activated the Creation Mystic Art, and one arm after another flew about, pounding the drums with near-madness, the drumbeats churning to their absolute limit!
The killing intent within the drumbeats became ferocious, twisted, cuồng bạo—like a distorted Dao heart, a released demon, as if the nightmares of dreams had come into reality!
Power—turning one's hand and summoning clouds, turning it again and summoning rain—freely manipulating the world, manipulating all living beings!
The Ten Heaven Venerables changed again and again, revolution followed revolution, reforms, transformations—the hopes and expectations of living beings all turned into bubbles and phantoms amid the turbulent times!
When one Ten Heaven Venerable fell, new Ten Heaven Venerables rose, as if warriors had grown the claws and fangs of evil dragons, still occupying the high positions, still wantonly venting power, suppressing everything!
The drumbeats were bloody and raw, causing all who heard them to see before their eyes the shattered and ruined cảnh tượng of the myriad heavens and countless worlds. The Ten Heaven Venerables who controlled the world wore kind and benevolent faces, yet they manipulated the strife and turmoil of the entire universe, sending down countless calamities, only so they themselves could cling to survival, only to satisfy their own lust for power.
At this moment, the zither music was pressed to its extreme, pressed down until it was barely audible, as if the lives of living beings were about to end here, completely crushed by calamity.
Just then, the zither notes suddenly shifted—zheng, zheng, zheng—killing intent erupted!
In that instant, the zither music that made one's scalp tingle and spirit tremble seemed to come alive, bringing tears to one's eyes, giving one the feeling of returning to history, experiencing history, spanning across history.
That feeling released one's fighting spirit in that moment, so intense, so surging and fierce, like tidal waters flooding over mountains, covering the earth, like giants disturbing the stars, pulling at the Heavenly River!
This was earth-shaking, the voice of an unyielding warrior's heart!
The zither's killing intent clashed with the drumbeats. Two kinds of killing intent entangled, grappled, collided, elevating the killing intent between heaven and earth to its peak.
The Butcher grew ever more frenzied. A hundred arms danced, pounding the war drums, doing everything in his power to suppress the zither music, to suppress the resistance of living beings. Yet the killing intent within the zither sound never ceased—crushed down, it rebounded violently, growing ever more high-pitched, ever more resounding and forceful!
Suddenly, Moon Heaven Venerable's long hair flew wildly. Her ten fingers plucked the zither in one sweep, and the sounds of the fifty strings converged at this moment, transforming into a formidable killing intent that surged forth!
Zheng—
The zither note was incomparably sharp, its penetrating power reaching the absolute limit, making one's blood boil!
The Merchant Lord's Killing Dao Melody, the First Kill of the Moonlit Night!
At the same time, behind Moon Heaven Venerable emerged a single heaven—one heaven of the Dao realm. Within that heaven appeared another figure of Moon Heaven Venerable playing the zither, the notes urgent, making it hard to breathe. Suddenly she plucked once more, and the zither sound pushed the killing intent filling heaven and earth up another step!
The Second Kill of the Moonlit Night!
Before the zither notes had faded, another heaven emerged behind her. Moon Heaven Venerable's phantom stood within that Dao realm heaven, long sleeves dancing, ten fingers flying, the ancient zither spinning around her body in constant rotation, various melodies interweaving in cacophony. Suddenly Moon Heaven Venerable seized the great zither and plucked it with tremendous force!
The Third Kill of the Moonlit Night!
Another Dao realm heaven emerged. Moon Heaven Venerable's phantom played the zither, then suddenly set the ancient zither upright at her side, both hands plucking madly!
The Fourth Kill!
Then came the Fifth Kill, the Sixth Kill, the Seventh Kill, the Eighth Kill!
...
Behind Moon Heaven Venerable, one Dao realm heaven after another emerged, pushing the unyielding spirit of living beings, the protection that the determined wished to guard, and the killing intent between heaven and earth to their absolute limits!
The Butcher's drumbeats had already been scattered, torn apart and thrown into disarray. Yet he forcibly continued drumming, clashing against the zither music, trying to suppress it, to force out even deeper and stronger unyielding spirit and killing intent!
Bang, bang, bang—
Flesh and skin across his body burst open, yet he still pounded the drums madly. In terms of cultivation and Dao realm, the Butcher was far inferior to Moon Heaven Venerable. But to khơi dậy the ultimate killing intent of the Merchant Lord that Qin Mu had spoken of, one needed to use greater and stronger oppression to khơi dậy the killing intent within Moon Heaven Venerable's zither music!
Amid the vibrating zither notes, the killing intent nearly blasted the skin off his entire body, causing his blood and qi to rise like morning clouds, yet he continued drumming without pause.
Moon Heaven Venerable's Dao realm heavens quickly reached the Thirty-Third Heaven, and the Merchant Lord's Killing Dao Melody was elevated to the level of the Thirty-Fourth Kill!
The Thirty-Fourth Kill: Heaven sends forth killing intent, stars shift and constellations change!
At this step, the killing intent had become so dense that it produced anomalous phenomena, distorting space. In the sky, heavenly baleful dragon whirlwinds actually appeared, forming heavenly baleful divine blades. Besides heavenly balefulness, there was also blood balefulness, howling and spinning, countless corpses bobbing and sinking in a vast sea of blood, bodies struggling and wailing.
Suddenly, one great drum after another exploded. Around the Butcher, the hundred-zhang-tall war drums were all shattered to pieces by the killing intent!
The Butcher hurried forward, using his broad back to shield the last great drum. A hundred arms rose, then crashed down upon this final war drum!
Dong!
The drum sounded, and the drumhead burst apart. The Butcher, covered in blood, fell onto his back, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth: "I can only go this far. What comes after is all up to you, Moon Heaven Venerable..."
Zheng, zheng, zheng—
The zither music climbed another step. The Thirty-Fifth Kill of the Merchant Lord's Killing Dao Melody!
Earth sends forth killing intent, dragons and serpents rise from the land!
The ground cracked open with sharp, splitting sounds, and the killing intent surging from beneath the earth writhed like dragons and serpents slithering!
Blood seeped from the corner of Moon Heaven Venerable's mouth as she drove toward the Thirty-Sixth Kill!
Man sends forth killing intent, heaven and earth are overturned!
Behind her, the phantom of the Thirty-Sixth Void emerged, wavering unsteadily, difficult to solidify. As for the Thirty-Seventh Kill of the Merchant Lord's Killing Dao Melody, she no longer had sufficient strength and foundation to execute it.
The Thirty-Seventh Kill was the crucial ultimate killing intent, yet Moon Heaven Venerable still lacked some refinement. The final kill could not be plucked forth.
Just then, layer upon layer of dreamscapes spread out, surrounding her. Within the dreams, Moon Heaven Venerable seemed to become the Merchant Lord, experiencing his tragedy-filled life from his perspective.
The dream seemed long, yet in truth it was but a single brief instant.
In that single brief instant, Moon Heaven Venerable, in the form of the Merchant Lord, experienced the twisted world of the late Sixteenth Era. The Merchant Lord's obsession, his dreams, his hopes, his despair—she understood them all.
Only by being there in person could one understand the suffering the Merchant Lord endured in his tragic life, understand why his blade was severed by Qin Mu, why his Dao heart collapsed, why he could no longer become the terrifying Killing Dao Merchant Lord of the Sixteenth Era's great destruction calamity as he once was!
Within Moon Heaven Venerable's Thirty-Sixth Dao realm heaven, her phantom emerged and plucked the zither strings.
The Thirty-Seventh Kill of the Merchant Lord's Killing Dao Melody!
Heaven and man unite in sending forth, all transformations establish the foundation!
The zither notes rang out, the Killing Dao boiled, the Dao vast and boundless. Moon Heaven Venerable spat blood, the ancient zither exploded apart, and she too fell backward, yet a smile spread across her face. Her Carrying Extreme Void had attained the Dao in this moment.
"I think I can now play that piece of the Fourth Young Master of Mirage Palace."
She lay on her back on the ground, gazing at the turbulent killing intent in the sky, and thought silently: "Heaven Venerable Mu, in your battle with the Fourth Young Master, I can lend you my aid..."
Qin Mu withdrew his dreamscape, his aura calming down. Through the window, he gazed at the night sky outside.
In the night sky, within the Primordial Unity Great Luo Heaven, an incomparably terrifying ultimate killing intent burst forth. A blade's light blazed there, cleaving through the Primordial Unity.
Outside the house, the Butcher lay on the ground, gazing at that streak of blade light from afar, and could not help but smile.
This one slash—in the eyes of this grandmaster of the blade Dao—contained too little of the blade Dao itself. But the Killing Dao and the blade Dao interpenetrated, giving him a feeling of enlightenment once more, of learning by analogy.
The blade light shimmered, so captivating.
The blade light turned into blood light, dyeing the Primordial Unity Great Luo Heaven red.
The Killing Dao killed the great Dao of heaven and earth. In this moment, the Merchant Lord's Dao heart was complete. His Dao was sufficient to slay the great Dao of Primordial Unity!
Within the Primordial Unity Great Luo Heaven, the Dao tree split apart, the Dao flowers disintegrated, and the Great Luo Heaven fell.
Qin Mu closed his eyes, not watching the final scene. He said softly: "Second Brother, please forgive this younger brother for being unable to see you off due to his condition."
—Thinking about it, I don't know how to say it, but I'll still see Second Brother off.