Chapter 735 — Strange Peaks at Heaven's Edge, a Hundred Palms Revolving

A mass of brilliant light burst from the singular point of their collision, growing brighter and brighter, swelling at furious speed, swallowing all around it; then wild currents of air surged along the ground in every direction, and the swelling hurricane whipped the robes of the distant War Gods.

And at the center of that brilliance, two raging tides of qi and blood shot skyward, and within the blood light appeared the strange vision of two majestic War Gods colliding, their sinewy frames hideous with power.

At last the hurricane receded, the light dispersed, and the bloody vision faded of itself.

Shen Mu and Hu Bugui each coughed up blood, their auras wilted and faint.

The two plopped down onto the ground, gasping for breath, the air they exhaled flecked with foam of blood.

Hu Bugui looked at Shen Mu, and Shen Mu looked at Hu Bugui; the smiles on their faces deepened, and suddenly their two great hands struck together heavily, gripping tight, and laughter rang out!

Old Ox and the thirty-six War Gods all breathed a sigh of relief. They had feared the two, neither yielding to the other, would come to blows again; but it turned out both were broad-minded men, harboring only the mutual admiration of fellow travelers, with none of that jealous pettiness in their hearts.

"Brother Hu, there is little future for you here in the Dou Niu Realm."

Shen Mu, full of vigor, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, dispelled his three heads and six arms, and pressed the willow leaf back to the center of his brow to seal the third eye. He said with a laugh, "The world beyond holds many figures who are no less than you or me, and the Jingping Reforms are raging like a fire — they need geniuses like you. Did you not want to cross the Divine Bridge in a single leap and ascend to the Heavenly Palace? I rather think you should meet my close friend Xu Shenghua!"

His brows danced and his spirit soared. "Xu Shenghua is truly remarkable — even cleverer than I am... hmm, a genius second only to me! He has reasoned out that all divine treasures are in fact one divine treasure, and means to refine all divine treasures into a single body, into one divine treasure. He has already merged the Six Harmonies realm and the Seven Stars realm into one, giving divine ability users one realm fewer; at present he intends to fuse the Heaven-Man divine treasure in as well."

Hu Bugui blurted out, "You mean that since the martial artists of our Dou Niu Realm have no Divine Bridge divine treasure, we should fuse the other divine treasures instead?"

Shen Mu nodded and said with a smile, "Do you think Xu Shenghua is worth meeting?"

Hu Bugui was stirred beyond measure and rose abruptly to his feet. "Meet him — meet him I must! I am already impatient to see him! When do we leave? Why not go now, and see him at once!"

Shen Mu said joyfully, "When you meet him, you are sure to like him too. He is a most fascinating fellow!"

Old Ox stared wide-eyed at these two rather agitated youths and thought, "Do they not intend to go on with the challenge? All they need do is defeat me, and they can enter the Lingxiao Hall and challenge the lord upon the Imperial Throne..."

The thirty-six War Gods of Jade Capital City likewise looked at one another, somewhat at a loss.

The purpose of this grand examination of the Dou Niu Realm's martial artists was to find a path by which the god-clan descendants of the Dou Niu Realm, who lacked the Divine Bridge, could ascend directly to the Heavenly Palace and become deities.

Yet these two youngsters grew more and more excited the more they spoke, looking ready to up and leave at any moment.

Still, from what they said, it seemed that beyond, in the Jingping Kingdom, there was a remarkable man with a way to solve this problem; that they wished to run off and seek this remarkable man called Xu Shenghua was, after all, forgivable.

But the road to success lay right before their eyes — did they truly not wish to try it?

If only they could defeat Old Ox, break into the Lingxiao Hall and challenge the Martial Combat Heavenly Master, and beat him at the same realm — perhaps they could right now cross the Divine Bridge and ascend straight to the Heavenly Palace!

Old Ox cleared his throat and said, "Hu Bugui, Shen Mu, are you not coming up?"

Hu Bugui hesitated, wavering over whether to continue the challenge.

Shen Mu said in a low voice, "This Ox of the Martial Combat Heavenly Master — how strong is he?"

Hu Bugui whispered, "I have never seen him strike, but I have heard people say the Martial Combat Heavenly Master is a Throne-tier expert, and that it was always this Ox who carried him on his back and charged into battle. To carry a Throne-tier expert on his back and charge into battle — his ability must surely have reached the Lingxiao realm. I have also heard that if this Senior Niu did not so utterly disdain power, he could almost have commanded a Heavenly Palace of the Kaihuang era."

Shen Mu reckoned a moment, then shook his head. "I am most likely no match for Senior Niu Sanduo. I have seen a Lingxiao realm expert — Indra, the Heavenly King Buddha. At the same realm, I cannot beat him."

Hu Bugui's eyes flickered. "How about this: we first go and meet Xu Shenghua, and study how to unify the divine treasures. Once the divine treasures are one, we come back and finish the challenge of the Dou Niu Palace?"

Shen Mu said with a smile, "Once the divine treasures are unified, you can fly straight across to the Heavenly Palace; challenging the Dou Niu Palace would then be meaningless."

Hu Bugui scratched his head and said sheepishly, "That is indeed so. Right now our accumulated depth is lacking, and we cannot beat Senior Niu; better to leave the Dou Niu Realm and go seek this Senior Brother Xu!"

"Agreed!"

Old Ox glared furiously at the two. "Are you going to fight or not? Come up and fight — at the very most I will go easy on you and let you slip through! Come here this instant!"

Hu Bugui said apologetically, "Senior Niu..."

"Call me Niu Sanduo!"

Old Ox said, fuming, "I already said I would go easy — what more do you want? Come up and fight to your heart's content! Shen Mu, do you not want to rescue your teacher? Your teacher is still floating in the stinking ditch; if you do not fish him out soon, he will rot!"