Tales of Herding Gods
Chapter 1458: Death of Heaven Duke (Part I)

'In the first year of the Dragon Han Era, Celestial Venerable You was a problematic youth. He was antisocial and didn't care about anyone. He didn't care about anything. The only thing that could motivate him was to meet his mother. He founded the Life and Death Divine Treasure to meet his mother.'

Heavenly Lady Yan released all of her celestial palaces to form the great celestial heavens. She stared nervously at Celestial Venerable You, whose corporeal body was in ruins, but whose aura was becoming stronger. She thought to herself, 'The only one who hinders him is his mother. He has been silent in Youdu for a million years, accompanying his mother's soul. He never came to the world of the living to create trouble, so he missed out on the power struggle of the celestial heavens. He has no part in the power of the ten Celestial Venerables. If he doesn't have this kind of restraint…'

She couldn't help shuddering as she glanced at the severely injured Celestial Venerable Gong and thought to herself, 'If necessary, I'll have to sacrifice Dao friend! After all, the one who broke the mask wasn't me, but Celestial Venerable Gong…'

To Heavenly Lady Yan, dying was never a choice.

Of course, this wasn't a multiple-choice question in Celestial Venerable Gong's heart.

Just as she thought that, Celestial Venerable You suddenly raised his head, and the aura of the primordial spirit behind him grew exponentially. It had the dark temperament unique to Youdu, and layer after layer of Youdu worlds rapidly expanded out to invade Xuandu!

Under his feet, Youdu worlds overlapped one another to form a huge Youdu realm!

The Youdu Realm actually started to connect with the real Youdu!

This scene was extremely terrifying. When the Youdu Realm connected with the real Youdu, Heavenly Lady Yan and Celestial Venerable Gong saw two long horns rising from Youdu in shock.

The two bull horns were incomparably thick, and they were like rivers formed from the magma of countless worlds. They blazed furiously and coiled around the bull horns.

However, the flow of the magma river wasn't slow. On the contrary, it was pouring down like a waterfall crashing down from the sky. It was noisy and loud!

"Celestial Venerable You called his lord over, shameless… What exactly is the Heavenly Dao doing? It actually allowed Youdu to invade, how inappropriate!" Heavenly Lady Yan laughed from extreme anger.

There was no way to fight this battle anymore.

This was the invasion between the oldest world and the world, and Celestial Venerable You was the bridge to this invasion.

Logically speaking, the Heavenly Dao and the Great Dao of Youdu were opposites, and it could be said that they restrained each other and destroyed each other. The two worlds would never meet and never come into contact.

Even if Celestial Venerable You used a heaven-defying divine art, the two worlds would never cross paths.

However, this impossible thing was broken by the ten Celestial Venerables invading Xuandu.

If it was an ordinary period, the Heavenly Dao would definitely resist the invasion of Youdu. Even if Celestial Venerable You cultivated the Youdu Realm, he would be obliterated by the Heavenly Dao of Xuandu, unable to unleash the realm!

Furthermore, an existence like Celestial Venerable You couldn't step into Xuandu. The Xuandu Heavenly Dao would treat him as an invader and eliminate him immediately.

Yet now, all of Xuandu's Heavenly Dao was gathered in Heaven Duke's body, and he did everything he could to protect Heaven Duke's life. There was no Heavenly Dao that could resist Youdu's invasion.

All these factors led to the Heavenly Dao no longer suppressing Celestial Venerable You's power, and there was no way to resist the invasion of Youdu.

This was the opening of the universe, and it was a scene that had never appeared before even after the formation of Xuandu and Youdu. However, it had appeared now, and it had appeared so naturally that everyone was caught off guard!

When Earth Count's horns pierced through the sky of Xuandu, the Primordial Realm, the Ancestral Court, the Four Extreme Heavens, and the myriad worlds in the heavens, all the living beings could see this soul-stirring sight when they looked up at the sky.

Two huge horns that were filled with flowing lava rivers burned the sky red!

This sight terrified everyone.

Actually, ever since the celestial heavens started to attack Xuandu, the astronomical phenomenon in the heavens and ten thousand worlds had started to become chaotic. The stars in the sky were moving randomly, and the constellations weren't in their positions. The sun and the moon became elusive, and not only were the day and night reversed, there were even numerous suns appearing together or a terrifying sight of over a dozen moons revolving around one sun!

Before the people of the thousands of worlds in the heavens could adapt to this strange change, the horn of Earth Count that made children stop crying and made gods and devils tremble in fear actually appeared in the sky. It was as if the end of the world had descended, and it couldn't help but make people shudder in fear.

Heavenly Lady Yan and Celestial Venerable Gong looked at each other. At this moment, whether they could kill Heaven Duke was no longer important. What was important was whether they could protect their lives!

However, what terrified them was that they had fallen into Celestial Venerable You's Youdu realm and couldn't escape anymore.

'I should kill Celestial Venerable You before Earth Count comes here!'

Heavenly Lady Yan shouted sternly as the abyss of the Ruins of End tore apart the sky.

On the other side, Celestial Venerable Hong, Heavenly Lady Qiang, and Shi Qiluo were shocked. Heaven Duke controlled his body personally, and it was different from the control of the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao. It was more agile and more versatile!

Even though Heaven Duke was strong, he gave people the feeling that he was abiding by the rules. He fought like a machine and didn't know how to adapt. Now, his moves and divine arts were extremely ever-changing. Even though it was a Heavenly Dao divine art, his transformation was much better than before!

The pressure on the three Celestial Venerables instantly increased. They weren't injured in their battle with Heaven Duke, but they were already injured!

Celestial Venerable Hong was even more shocked than the other Celestial Venerables.

There was no one in the world who understood Heaven Duke better than him. He understood Heaven Duke's strengths and weaknesses even more because he and Heaven Duke were one. For a long time, their hearts and minds were connected, and they were inseparable.

They fought for the same goal, which was to break free from the restraints of the Heavenly Dao and escape from it.

Yet now, he felt that his heart and mind were no longer connected to Heaven Duke. It was as though there was a veil separating them, making him unable to see through Heaven Duke's thoughts.

Between him and Heaven Duke, one was the reincarnation of the divine soul, free and unrestrained, controlling power and enjoying life. The other was the two souls of heaven and earth controlling the corporeal body. They were also restrained by the Heavenly Dao and couldn't be free.

Now, Heaven Duke's two souls seemed to have their own thoughts and sealed him up.

What made him even more alarmed was that the will of the Heavenly Dao had retreated, allowing Heaven Duke to control his body. If the will of the Heavenly Dao didn't force itself on Heaven Duke and no longer surpassed his will, would Heaven Duke still need him?

Did he still need a Celestial Venerable Hong?

At that moment, he had a disagreement with Heaven Duke.

Not only that, he also felt that every time he was injured by Heaven Duke, his cultivation and abilities would be weakened. This weakening came from his Dao heart. There was a huge Dao heart prison that locked the upper limit of his cultivation, and every time he was injured, the upper limit of his cultivation would be lowered!

Even though he still had a world-shaking power, it weakened time again, causing his Dao heart to become even more flustered.

The intense pain from his Dao heart intensified his panic and pain.

Unknowingly, his body started to distort. The first thing to distort was his face. It was originally kind-looking, but now it was gradually becoming sinister!

Even Shi Qiluo and God Emperor Lang Xuan couldn't help but feel fear when they saw this.

"We must kill Heaven Duke!" Celestial Venerable Hong shouted at them with his sinister face.

Lang Xuan and Shi Qiluo frowned. This was completely different from Celestial Venerable Hong, who was usually calm and at ease, looking like an otherworldly expert.

'Celestial Venerable Hong's Dao heart is completely defeated.'

Shi Qiluo blinked his eyes and immediately split out a divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. He smiled and said, "Celestial Venerable Hong, you are stronger. Use this divine weapon!"

If it was during normal times, Celestial Venerable Hong would definitely reject it, as he could see that Shi Qiluo had tampered with the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. Now, he was actually using boundless magic power to control the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu!

Boom boom boom boom

Behind the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu's head, light wheels swirled and danced. Celestial palaces appeared and formed a huge celestial heavens!

The aura of this divine weapon was violent, and its cultivation grew exponentially. Its battle power rose again!

The increase in strength was so great that even God Emperor Lang Xuan felt his primordial spirit trembling!

Shi Qiluo, on the other hand, was overjoyed. Now, he could finally grasp the trajectory of Celestial Venerable Hong's technique!

Other than Qin Mu, he was the weakest among the Celestial Venerables. Because he had only cultivated for a short period of time and was the master of the Patriarch Creation Palace, his status was low, and the resources he received were few. Therefore, his own abilities couldn't catch up to the ten Celestial Venerables.

He could only find another way to pry into the techniques of other Celestial Venerables from the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. As long as other Celestial Venerables controlled the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu, he could take the chance to pry into their techniques.

Currently, he had already obtained the techniques of Celestial Venerable Hao, Heavenly Lady Qiang, and Celestial Venerable Huo. Celestial Venerables Hao, Qiang, and Huo each had their own strengths, so it wasn't easy to master their techniques and turn them into his Great Celestial Heavens technique.

However, for Shi Qiluo, the more people he used, the better.

He instantly felt the circulation path of Celestial Venerable Hong's technique. He was both delighted and astonished.

"This is the theme of using the Heavenly Dao Technique to merge all kinds of Emperor's Throne techniques. Among them, there are results from Founding Emperor's reform, all kinds of Postcelestial Great Daos, and even Founding Emperor's Sword Dao! Founding Emperor's technique is also included. Even though it's not comprehensive, it's still very remarkable!"

Shi Qiluo glanced at Celestial Venerable Hong with a smile that wasn't a smile. "During the Founding Emperor Era, Heaven Duke supported the Founding Emperor Celestial Heavens and fought against the celestial heavens. I thought Heaven Duke's goal was to borrow the power of the Founding Emperor Celestial Heavens to eradicate us. Hehe, so I was thinking too much. Heaven Duke's true goal was to transform into Celestial Venerable Hong and take the chance to absorb the results of Founding Emperor's reform, allowing him to reach the Celestial Heavens Realm before us! Old fox…"

Even though she had used this chance to verify Heaven Duke's identity, she didn't make it public. Instead, she continued to watch Celestial Venerable Hong hit Heaven Duke.

Celestial Venerable Hong completely controlled the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu, pushing the power of the divine weapon to its limits. Behind the head of the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu, even the celestial palace of martial arts of the martial emperor, Zhu Cha, had appeared!

The results of Founding Emperor Era's reform were vividly displayed on him!

Even Founding Emperor himself hadn't fused the Emperor's Throne techniques of Founding Emperor Era into one because Founding Emperor needed to use all of his wisdom to walk the path of the sword path. If he had spent all his effort on other Postcelestial Great Daos, he wouldn't have achieved what he had today.

However, Celestial Venerable Hong was different.

He was also a part of Heaven Duke, and the results of Founding Emperor Era's reform weren't hidden from Heaven Duke. Heaven Duke's main body couldn't absorb these results, but he could.

In a short period of time, the celestial heavens formed by thirty-five celestial palaces appeared behind the head of the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu. Not only that, the thirty-sixth celestial palace was also forming!

This sight shocked God Emperor Lang Xuan, but also surprised and regretful Shi Qiluo.

He examined Celestial Venerable Hong's technique and realized that even though Celestial Venerable Hong had thirty-six celestial palaces, they weren't perfect.

In addition to the thirty-sixth celestial palace, the flaw in the technique appeared. This flaw caused the pressure on the corporeal body to reach the limit that the corporeal body could withstand!

In other words, even a Celestial Venerable with such a powerful body couldn't withstand the pressure of the great celestial heavens formed by the thirty-six celestial palaces. They would definitely be crushed by the great celestial heavens!

In the past, Celestial Venerable Hong didn't dare to use his imperfect technique. Now that he had the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu, he had nothing to fear!

Now, the power of the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu had already surpassed that of Celestial Venerable Hong. The attack power of the divine art was even above that of God Emperor Lang Xuan, and his battle power was still rising!

God Emperor Lang Xuan and Shi Qiluo were shocked. They didn't understand what was going on. Now that the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu was already in the Celestial Heavens Realm, how could he still improve his abilities?

Shi Qiluo soon realized that the improvement wasn't from the celestial palaces, but from the divine halls of the celestial heavens!

There were a total of eight shrines that provided the divine weapon Celestial Venerable Yu with power that surpassed the celestial heavens. The power of these eight shrines were eight kinds of Postcelestial Dao, and they weren't in the Connate Dao!

"What's so great about Founding Emperor's reform!"

Shi Qiluo was so excited that he almost cried. The greatest result of the reform of Founding Emperor Era was right in front of him.

Even though he had yet to see the seventy-two throne halls protecting the thirty-six celestial heavens, he could already feel the perfection of this path!

This kind of path, when supported by the Great Dao of Heaven in the future, greatly reduced the pressure of the great celestial heavens formed by the thirty-six celestial palaces!