Chapter 1737: Merchant Lord's Deadly Way

When the drumbeats began, the spiritual energy and qi of heaven and earth instantly became agitated. The simple, pure thudding of the drums seemed to strike the very soul and vital energy with every beat, causing blood to boil and the mind to fill with murderous intent.

The profound drumbeats, like supreme power and boundless might, struck down, pressing on people's Dao hearts like colossal mountains, leaving them breathless.

Yet, Moon Celestial Venerable's zither music remained entirely unaffected by the drums. Instead, it was kept very low and peaceful, but it penetrated the drumbeats, clear as a trickling stream, flowing into everyone's hearts.

Only wounded soldiers and bustling Yanfeng apothecaries remained in the dilapidated Heavenly Court camp. As the soldiers listened to the drumbeats and zither music, their groans of pain gradually subsided.

On the battlefield at night, the fires of war had not yet died out. In the distance, the Dao light of the Yi Qi Great All-Embracing Heaven occasionally erupted, making the night appear exceptionally captivating.

The drumbeats grew heavier, seemingly intent on completely overwhelming the zither music. The murderous intent and oppressive power within the monotonous rhythm suddenly boiled up like an agitated sea, becoming as ferocious and sinister as a battlefield, with slaughter everywhere, swords and halberds flying, limbs scattered, and heads rolling. All beings struggled, cried out, and wailed under iron hooves!

Butcher's drumbeats were truly mighty!

Alone, bare-chested, wielding two hammers, and striking a hundred drums, he poured the authority and power of the high and mighty rulers into his drumming. The murderous intent in the drumbeats intensified, unleashing a full display of worship and yearning for power, wantonly using this force to trample everything!

Trampling the right to live, trampling proud lives, manipulating war, and controlling slaughter!

The drumbeats were filled with the ambition to satisfy desires for power, evoking the feeling of the Ten Celestial Venerables' oppression over all beings and creation during their reign!

Yet Moon Celestial Venerable's zither music remained unmoved, still gentle like a spring breeze, flowing like a small river, and warm like moonlight in the night.

Her zither music did not disperse the drums' frenzy; instead, it resembled the enduring vitality of all beings, which is destroyed and harvested by the drumbeats, yet stubbornly grows back, reproducing and thriving.

The suffering endured by all beings seemed to condense within her zither music, bearing all calamities and pain, all separations of life and death, yet enduring resiliently, silently.

Butcher's drumming soared, filled with the same overwhelming dominance that swept the world, raising the pervasive murderous intent to its limit!

Suddenly, his body shook violently as he activated his Profound Creation Art. His arms flew, beating the drums almost madly, and the drumbeats agitated to their extreme!

The murderous intent in the drumbeats became ferocious, twisted, and rampant, like a distorted Dao heart or a released demon, as if a nightmare from a dream had materialized into reality!

Power, capable of creating clouds with one hand and rain with the other, freely manipulated people and the world!

The Ten Celestial Venerables changed hands again and again, revolutions followed one after another, and all reforms, changes, and the hopes and expectations of all beings turned into illusory bubbles amidst the turbulent times!

One Celestial Venerable fell, only for new ones to rise, as if warriors had grown the claws and fangs of evil dragons, still occupying high positions, still wantonly wielding power and suppressing everything!

The blood-soaked drumbeats caused visions of the myriad heavens and worlds in ruins to appear before the eyes of all who heard them. The Celestial Venerables, benevolent in appearance, controlled the strife and turmoil of the entire universe, bringing down countless calamities, merely to prolong their lingering existence and satisfy their lust for power.

At this moment, the zither music was suppressed to its extreme, becoming inaudible, as if the lives of all beings were about to end, completely crushed by calamity.

It was at this moment that the zither music suddenly shifted, with sharp "zheng, zheng, zheng" sounds, and a killing intent instantly surged forth!

In that instant, the zither music, which had made scalps tingle and spirits tremble, seemed to come alive, bringing tears to people's eyes and creating a sensation of returning to, experiencing, and traversing history.

That sensation unleashed a fighting spirit so intense, so surging and fierce, like a tide overflowing mountains and covering the earth, like giants disturbing the starry sky and pulling the Heavenly River!

This was earth-shattering, the voice of unyielding fighters!

The zither music, with its killing intent, contended with the drumbeats. The two murderous auras intertwined, clashed, and raised the killing intent in heaven and earth to its extreme.

Butcher grew more frantic, his hundred arms flying as he beat the war drums, doing his utmost to suppress the zither music and the resistance of all beings. Yet the killing intent in the zither music remained continuous; after being suppressed, it rebounded fiercely, becoming increasingly high-pitched and resonant!

Suddenly, Moon Celestial Venerable's long hair flew as her ten fingers plucked the zither. The fifty-stringed zither music converged at this moment, transforming into a fierce murderous aura that surged forth!

The zither music was incredibly sharp, its penetrating power reaching an extreme, causing blood to boil!

"Shang Jun's Path of Slaughter Music, Moonlit Night's First Kill!"

Simultaneously, a layer of heaven appeared behind Moon Celestial Venerable, a layer of the Dao realm. Within that layer, another figure of Moon Celestial Venerable playing the zither materialized. The zither music became urgent, leaving people breathless, then with a sudden pluck, the music pushed the murderous aura filling heaven and earth up another level!

"Moonlit Night's Second Kill!"

Before the zither music ceased, another layer of heaven appeared behind her. Moon Celestial Venerable's ethereal figure stood within that Dao realm layer, her long sleeves flying, fingers fluttering, and the ancient zither continuously rotating around her body. Various melodies intertwined chaotically. Suddenly, Moon Celestial Venerable held down the great zither and plucked heavily!

"Moonlit Night's Third Kill!"

Another layer of Dao realm heavens materialized. Moon Celestial Venerable's ethereal figure played the zither, then suddenly stood the ancient zither on its side and began frantically plucking with both hands!

"Fourth Kill!"

This was followed by the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Kills!

Behind Moon Celestial Venerable, layer after layer of Dao realms materialized, pushing the unyielding spirit of all beings, the protection desired by the ambitious, and the killing intent in heaven and earth to their extreme!

Butcher's drumbeats had been scattered and thrown into disarray, yet he forcefully continued to beat the drums, contending with the zither music, attempting to suppress it and force out an even more profound and powerful unyielding spirit and killing intent!

*Thump, thump, thump!*

His skin and flesh burst open, yet he continued to beat the drums frantically. In terms of cultivation and Dao realm, Butcher was no match for Moon Celestial Venerable, but to unleash the ultimate killing intent of Shang Jun that Qin Mu spoke of, an even greater and stronger pressure was needed to ignite the killing intent within Moon Celestial Venerable's zither music!

Amidst the zither's vibrations, the killing intent almost tore open all the skin on his body, causing his vital energy and blood to surge like an evaporating morning glow, yet he continued to beat the drums ceaselessly.

Moon Celestial Venerable's Dao realm heavens quickly reached the thirty-third layer, and "Shang Jun's Path of Slaughter Music" was also elevated to the thirty-fourth kill!

"Thirty-fourth Kill: Heaven unleashes killing intent, moving stars and altering constellations!"

At this stage, the killing intent was so dense it caused anomalies, distorting space. Heavenly Fiend Tornadoes even appeared in the sky, forming Heavenly Fiend Divine Blades. Besides the Heavenly Fiends, Blood Fiends whistled and swirled, and countless corpses rose and fell in a vast ocean of blood, struggling and wailing.

Suddenly, one after another, the massive drums exploded. All around Butcher, the hundred-zhang-tall war drums were shattered into pieces by the surging killing intent!

Butcher hurriedly stepped forward, using his broad back to shield the last massive drum. His hundred arms rose, then slammed down with a roar onto this final war drum!

The drum sounded, the drumhead exploded, and Butcher, covered in blood, fell backward to the ground, a faint smile on his lips. "I can only do this much," he murmured. "The rest is entirely up to you, Moon Celestial Venerable..."

*Zheng, zheng, zheng!*

The zither music ascended another level: "Shang Jun's Path of Slaughter Music, Thirty-fifth Kill!"

"Earth unleashes killing intent, dragons and serpents rise from the ground!"

Blood oozed from the corner of Moon Celestial Venerable's mouth as she unleashed the Thirty-sixth Kill!

"Humanity unleashes killing intent, heaven and earth are overturned!"

Behind her, an ethereal figure of the thirty-sixth layer of void appeared, flickering and unstable, difficult to solidify. For the thirty-seventh kill of "Shang Jun's Path of Slaughter Music," she no longer had enough power and foundation to unleash it.

The thirty-seventh kill was the crucial ultimate killing intent, yet Moon Celestial Venerable still lacked some crucial refinement; the final kill could not be plucked.

At this very moment, layers of dreams emanated, enveloping her. In the dream, Moon Celestial Venerable seemed to transform into Shang Jun, experiencing Shang Jun's tragic life from his perspective.

The dream seemed long but was, in fact, only a brief instant.

In that brief instant, Moon Celestial Venerable, in the form of Shang Jun, experienced the twisted world at the end of the sixteenth epoch, understanding completely Shang Jun's persistence, his dreams, his hopes, and his despair.

Only by personally experiencing it could she understand the suffering Shang Jun endured in his tragic life, why his blade was severed by Qin Mu, why his Dao heart collapsed, and why he could no longer be the fearsome Slaughter Dao Shang Jun of the Great Calamity that destroyed the sixteenth epoch!

Within Moon Celestial Venerable's thirty-sixth Dao realm layer, her ethereal figure reappeared, plucking the zither strings.

"Shang Jun's Path of Slaughter Music, Thirty-seventh Kill!"

"Heaven and Humanity Unite, Myriad Transformations Establish Foundations!"

As the zither music sounded, the Path of Slaughter boiled, and the Dao became vast and boundless. Moon Celestial Venerable vomited blood, her ancient zither exploded, and she, too, fell backward, yet a smile appeared on her face. Her Boundless Void achieved the Dao at this very moment.

"I can probably play that piece of music by the Four Young Masters of Mi Luo Palace now."

Lying on her back on the ground, she gazed at the turbulent killing intent in the air and silently thought, "Celestial Venerable Mu, in your battle with the Four Young Masters, I can lend you a hand..."

Qin Mu withdrew the dream and calmed his breathing, gazing at the night sky through the window.

In the night sky, an incomparably terrifying ultimate killing intent erupted from the Yi Qi Great All-Embracing Heaven. Saber light shone there, cutting through the Primordial Qi.

Outside, Butcher lay on the ground, gazing at the saber light, and couldn't help but smile.

To him, a Grandmaster of the Saber Dao, that one saber strike contained too little of the Saber Dao itself, yet the Path of Slaughter and the Saber Dao were mutually connected, giving him a sense of re-enlightenment and allowing him to gain insights by analogy.

The saber light shimmered, so captivating.

The saber light turned into a bloody gleam, dyeing the Yi Qi Great All-Embracing Heaven red.

The Path of Slaughter, it slays the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. At this moment, Shang Jun's Dao heart was perfected; his Dao was sufficient to sever the Primordial Qi Great Dao!

Within the Yi Qi Great All-Embracing Heaven, the Dao tree split, the Dao flower disintegrated, and the Great All-Embracing Heaven began to fall.

Qin Mu closed his eyes, not looking at the final scene, and whispered, "Second Brother, please forgive me for being unable to move, I cannot see you off." He thought for a moment, unsure what to say, then decided: "Still, I'll see you off, Second Brother."