The next instant, he appeared before Yu Chudu! Yu Chudu was greatly shocked and drove the Heavenly Dipper Dao Art to attack Jing Baichuan. Jing Baichuan turned one hand over; thunder and lightning wracked the sky, and a precious seal faintly took shape. It was his palm seal, controlling heaven, earth, and the whole cosmos, and beneath it the dragon talismans and phoenix ciphers were clearly visible! Even the Heavenly Duke's Heavenly Dao, the Earth Earl's Great Dao of the Nether Capital, and the Earth Mother's Primordial Magnetic Dao were all imprinted in the lines of his palm! He was like a sovereign lord commanding every innate Grand Dao in the world. With a single seal he smashed the Heavenly Dipper Dao Art, shattered the Heavenly River, and broke the Heavenly Dipper; the great precious seal crashed down, and Yu Chudu spat blood, his bones breaking and tendons snapping as he fell into the dust. Boom! The ruins of the Yunluo Palace shook violently. This celestial palace hung high above, floating beyond the Three Pillar Heavens and the Nine Provinces, yet at this moment it had been driven down hundreds of li by Jing Baichuan's one seal! He was the disciple of the Heavenly Venerate Haotian, and the divine ability in that seal dazzled the eyes; even Shen Mu could not help but sigh in admiration. Yu Chudu climbed up, his frame swaying, his hands crossed before his chest in a defensive pose—then suddenly he cried out and spat blood, and with a thud he toppled over. A broken bone had pierced the skin of his right thigh, and the splintered end jutted out. Yu Chudu gave a muffled grunt, but did not cry aloud. Jing Baichuan said coolly, "Heavenly Venerate Mu, with my abilities, could I pass myself off as a Heavenly Venerate in the Longhan era for a bit of fun?" Shen Mu's voice came from behind him: "Earlier, I could not be certain. But the moment you made your move, I knew it was impossible. That divine ability of yours was imparted to you by the Heavenly Venerate Haotian; there is nothing of your own in it. Your martial strength may be high, but in Longhan you would barely qualify as a Golden Guard captain—to become a Heavenly Venerate, you are far behind." Jing Baichuan gave an oh, and slowly raised his palm, smiling as he said, "Then what skill does the Heavenly Venerate Mu think could win one the name of Heavenly Venerate in the early years of Longhan?" His palm was only halfway up when he suddenly stopped, sensing the killing intent behind him. Shen Mu's killing intent locked tightly onto him, making every muscle in his body strain, as if the slightest move might lead to Shen Mu cutting him down! "To become a Heavenly Venerate, one must cast off the shackles of realm." Shen Mu's voice came unhurriedly: "The Heavenly Venerate Ling turned herself into immutable matter and became the mist over the Yong River, and she carried me back to the early years of Longhan. At that time, my art had not yet matured; I was only in the Heavenly Human realm, still two realms short of the Divine Bridge, yet among the divine-ability adepts of that age I had no equal. Even the projection of Madam Yuanmu could not withstand my powers." A tinkling sword note rang from the scabbard at his waist, and he said idly, "If you want to go back and become a Heavenly Venerate, then fine—you need battle power that disregards realm. I am now in the True God realm. Young nephew, what realm are you in?" Jing Baichuan strained against his killing intent, slowly raising his palm, his gaze fixed fiercely on the motionless Yu Chudu, and said coldly, "Since ancient times, realm has reigned supreme. I am at the peak of the Jade Capital realm; one step further, and I will be Lingxiao!" "Then you may try to see what level of battle power a true Heavenly Venerate ought to have." Shen Mu looked at his back and said, "But then again, this may be the last move you ever make." Jing Baichuan suddenly raised his hand, and at the same time Shen Mu stepped forward. The broken sword at his waist leaped from its sheath of its own accord, shot forward, and landed in his grasp. Jing Baichuan raised his palm to its utmost and abruptly spun around. Thunder and lightning reappeared in the sky, and the precious seal came down like adamant, a seal crashing straight at Shen Mu! His blood and qi seethed, turning into a monstrous sea of blood across the sky; the precious seal passed through the sea of blood, and the dragon talismans and phoenix ciphers were dyed blood-red! Radiance blazed around him, ten thousand Daos wound about his body, and his celestial palace materialized: the Southern Heavenly Gate rose from the ground, heavenly avenues and heavenly markets sprang up in succession, and great hall after great hall was brought into being in an instant, while the Jade Capital towered high beneath Lingxiao Hall. His physical form was vast and majestic, and behind it rose the still vaster and more towering Lingxiao Treasure Hall! "In my celestial palace, all is my domain!" His palm swept down, and his voice was like thunder: "I stand on ground that cannot be felled!" Yet what met it was the broken sword in Shen Mu's hand. The broken sword slashed through the wind, transformed into a long saber, and with a tearing hiss, a blade-light ten thousand zhang long split the blood-dyed seal apart! The blade-light fell, and the Southern Heavenly Gate divided neatly into two halves! The long saber vanished, and Shen Mu thrust his sword forward. In Jing Baichuan's celestial palace, one palace after another tore apart and crumbled into ruin! It was Shen Mu's third form of the Tribulation Sword—Answering Tribulation! The Answering Tribulation Sword was a Dao sword that cut down one's own celestial palace and divine treasuries to bring upon oneself the appointed tribulation, and also a Dao sword that cut down another's celestial palace and divine treasuries to bring upon them the same tribulation! Jing Baichuan could only see the rolling torrent of sword-light sweep up one divine hall and great palace after another. His celestial palace was shattering and perishing, and within Shen Mu's sword-light, even the waters of his Jasper Lake were evaporating into vapor! Jing Baichuan bellowed, and suddenly more celestial palaces surged forth—with his main celestial palace, there were five in all, and in each of the other four stood towering projections of primordial spirits! Those four primordial spirits stirred up the Grand Daos of the four celestial palaces and attacked Shen Mu all at once! He had cultivated five Imperial Throne arts, each of them brought to the Jade Capital realm and then fused into a single whole with complete understanding—truly extraordinary talent and insight. The divine abilities erupting from the five celestial palaces were each different. As one of the White Emperor's ablest generals, he had naturally also cultivated the White Emperor's Azure Blood Rusted Banner Sutra, and besides that, his other Imperial Throne arts were anything but trivial. However, the primordial spirits in his four other celestial palaces were not true primordial spirits—only projections of his main primordial spirit. For many ages now, the Heavenly Court had never obtained the Red Emperor's Tri-Origin Undying Divine Sense, and therefore could not cultivate true primordial spirits in the other celestial palaces, which circumscribed the achievements of the other Imperial Throne arts. Shen Mu's Answering Tribulation sword-light roared past the obstruction of the four celestial-palace primordial spirits like an onrushing flood. In the next instant, Jing Baichuan's God-Beheading Platform disintegrated within the sword-light. Two streaks of dark-red baleful aura made it plain that an enormous number of gods and demons had died by his hand, and that his God-Beheading Platform was fearsomely powerful! Yet even those two streaks of baleful aura were annihilated in the sword-light! From his four celestial palaces, the primordial spirit projections