Chapter 694 — A Reckless Spree

Clang, clang, clang — A sonorous bell toll carried over, and a voice cried, "The day is past, the sun has set — Change the Heavenly Dipper. " The last grain of black sand ran out of the giant hourglass that hung above the palace cluster, and gods and demons rose from the palaces one after another, each working his own magic to turn the hourglass about.

Shen Mu looked up and opened the box. Within, the head of the Imperial Seat excitedly worked its bone-membrane, which quivered with a rustling sound.

Hum — Two beams of bloody light shot up into the sky; before the Gloom Capital gods in midair could react, the blood-light had already sliced across their throats!

The blood-light returned to the box, carrying off the qi and blood of those Gloom Capital gods entire.

Not a single drop of blood sprayed in the sky; only the divine corpses fell, one after another.

Before the corpses struck the ground, a clamor of voices arose, and swarms of Gloom Capital disciples came pouring from the palaces, shouting, "Who goes there? " "Attack —" "Who dares act with such insolence on the Gloom Capital's ground?

" Shhk, shhk, shhk — Countless sword-lights burst forth across the ground, forming a sea of sword-glow.

In the instant the Gloom Capital disciples rushed out, Heaven knew how many of them fell, their legs and feet shorn off at the ankles. And before the falling men's heads struck the ground, stroke after stroke of sword-light pierced through their brows!

Even the strong among them, who sensed the danger and dodged the sword-light, soon perished beneath a storm of blows! In the air and on the ground, flying swords were everywhere, like little silver fish. No two flew the same course; the moves they executed were strange beyond counting.

The eighteen basic sword forms, under Shen Mu's art of sword control, combined in endless ways. More than that, the eight thousand swords were now large, now small, now long, now short; some even curved and changed their shape. Different swords joined together into the forms of other primal weapons — cauldrons, furnaces, bells, pagodas, towers, sabers, spears, axes, halberds — even into the shapes of dragons and phoenixes! These eight thousand swords gave one the illusion of a numberless host!

Even when a foe used the Gloom Capital's most outstanding divine power, vanishing in an instant to hide within the Gloom Capital itself, the next moment he was still cut down by Shen Mu's sword-light flying into the Gloom Capital!

Shen Mu was already of the Heaven-Man realm; in that realm, any adept of divine power makes yet another vast leap — a leap brought about by the primordial spirit leaving the body. And Shen Mu's primordial spirit had long since been able to leave his body; his present attainments with the spirit had begun to turn toward the perfection of both spirit and form.

Spirit-and-form perfection requires the primordial spirit to be made substantial, to congeal into something as good as real. He had not yet achieved it; yet the strength and command of his primordial spirit surpassed those of other Heaven-Man adepts by he knew not how much.

Shen Mu walked on. Behind him the ten-zhang primordial spirit followed in silence, controlling the eight thousand flying swords, cutting men down like grass.

"Insolence! " A great hall burst apart with a roar, and a Gloom Capital god leaped out. He had barely sprung into the air when the little box in Shen Mu's hand opened; in an instant the two bloody lights were at that god's throat, and with a light snip, body and head were parted.

He strode toward the central hall.

Everywhere he passed, gods, demons, and adepts alike met violent deaths.

Foes he could overcome he cut down with flying swords; foes he could not he put to death beneath the God-Slaying Mystic Saber. The Gloom Capital disciples were stricken with terror by the slaughter and fell back and back. A hundred or so of them had gathered before the hall, and they took down the great bell that hung beneath the eaves.

"Blast him with the Heaven-Mourning Bell! " A hundred-odd Gloom Capital disciples shouted as one. The great bell flew up, its mouth aimed at Shen Mu.

It was made of eighteen rings locked together, each ring bearing countless intricate patterns and veins, engraved with the runes of the Gloom Capital. The Heaven-Mourning Bell was set in motion.

Ring after ring rotated in different directions, the engraved runes upon each kindling one by one.

As the rings turned to different marks, the fragments of runes between two rings combined into different runes, and different runes held different powers and might. The might of the spinning Heaven-Mourning Bell was roused; the bell's mouth suddenly gave a violent shudder, and a formless power came rushing straight at Shen Mu!