Chapter 739 — Not My Inferior

Even as he spoke, the Jianmu within Hu Bugui's divine treasuries had already broken through the Seven Stars Divine Treasury and the Heaven-Man Divine Treasury in succession, and Hu Bugui, crushed by that incomparably violent pressure, had his skin begin to fracture and split, covered with cracks like a piece of porcelain. His blood was squeezed into an extremely fine mist of blood, and his whole body was shrouded in it. His flesh became utterly gaunt—his height had not changed, but he was wasted to skin and bone, and from within his body came sounds of snapping, like the crisp twang of a powerful crossbow loosing a sharp bolt.

"It sounds as if his sinews are being crushed.

. .

" Jing Yan's heart gave a sudden jolt.

She glanced at Xu Shenghua and said in a low voice, "Once the sinews are crushed, the bones cannot hold out either. When the Jianmu breaks through the Life-and-Death Divine Treasury, he will not be able to bear it.

. . " Xu Shenghua frowned and sighed, "The experiment has failed. Even Brother Hu's formidable body cannot endure such pressure.

Perhaps Sect Master Shen's Overlord Body can; I have noticed that the Sect Master's body has recently grown even stronger than before, in no way inferior to Brother Hu's. And since the Sect Master is also a master of the Art of Creation, perhaps he can withstand so great a pressure.

. . " Jing Yan whispered, "Husband, Senior Brother Hu is about to die, and you still have time to think of such things?

That Heavenly Master of Combat over there has been staring at you all along, and Old Ox seems none too friendly either.

" Xu Shenghua remained full of confidence—though it was confidence in Shen Mu.

"The Sect Master is a master of the Art of Creation; he will not let Brother Hu die. In this world, the only one who can keep pace with my thinking is him alone. " At that very moment, the roots of the Jianmu at last broke through the Nether Capital and connected to the Life-and-Death Divine Treasury!

At the same time, Shen Mu finally made his move. His feet shifted, his form leaving a string of afterimages as he circled continuously around Hu Bugui, his arms flying, his ten fingers leaping, a stream of Creation runes spilling endlessly from his fingertips—like dancing notes of music, springing up and boring into Hu Bugui's body.

Those Creation runes did not merely sink into his flesh to repair its injuries; they also entered his divine treasuries and his primordial spirit.

They mended the fissures in Hu Bugui's divine treasuries, healed the cracks in his primordial spirit, and held together his spirit embryo and his souls. Jing Yan watched, dumbfounded.

Xu Shenghua smiled at her, "The Sect Master and I became friends through a fight. He knows me through and through, and I know him through and through as well.

With the two of us joining hands, we could do battle even with gods and demons. " A faint sourness and jealousy rose in Jing Yan's heart, and then she suddenly came to herself: "My husband and Sect Master Shen are both men—why on earth should I be jealous of Sect Master Shen?

" The crushing weight on Hu Bugui's body grew heavier and heavier, yet shielded by Shen Mu's Art of Creation, he withstood it with stubborn determination.

"Once the Jianmu Divine Bridge has broken through all the divine treasuries, all the treasuries can be joined into one body. " Xu Shenghua's eyes flickered, a hint of excitement showing in them. "Once they are joined into one, Brother Hu's cultivation and dharma power will soar in a straight line—whether primordial spirit, fleshly body, or divine treasuries, all will advance with extraordinary speed!

The Jianmu Innate Divine Bridge can be counted a success!

" Shen Mu halted; all his afterimages folded back into his body with a series of swishing sounds, and he watched Hu Bugui with urgent anxiety. Old Farmer and Old Ox likewise stared at Hu Bugui, who stood there motionless, their hearts frantic with worry—Old Farmer clenching his fists, Old Ox rearing up on his hind legs, a hoof at his mouth, his teeth clacking together as he gnawed at his own hoof.

The Dragon Qilin scraped the ground uneasily with its claws and soon dug out a large pit.

Hu Bugui stood there for a long time without moving.

Then, all at once, the blood mist around him surged and poured back into his body.

The air all around became clear. His aura began to climb sharply; his primordial qi grew more and more violent, his primordial spirit more and more stable, and his aura formed a madly spinning current around him, spinning faster and faster, spreading wider and wider!

Jing Yan could not keep her footing; her skirts flew about as she was drawn toward Hu Bugui.

Her cultivation was weaker than the others'.

Xu Shenghua hastily seized her hand and pulled her back.

Hu Bugui's aura grew stronger and stronger. The Jianmu Divine Bridge joined all his divine treasuries into one; all the treasuries fused, and the six great divine treasuries became a single unified treasury. Then the Jianmu Divine Bridge grew to its limit and forcibly pushed out yet another divine treasury—the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury!

Like all the other martial artists of the Dipper-Ox Realm, Hu Bugui had never possessed a Divine Bridge Divine Treasury, and now the crown of the Jianmu had formed this very treasury!

This was the principal reason his cultivation shot upward in a straight line!

At last Old Farmer was moved.

He had been confined in the Dipper-Ox Realm for twenty thousand years precisely to solve the problem that its people, lacking the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury, could not ascend to the Heavenly Palace. His solution had been to make the people of the Dipper-Ox Realm train bitterly in the martial way, entering the Dao through martial arts so that their primordial spirits could ascend to the Heavenly Palace.

Yet in all those twenty thousand years, no one had ever achieved this step; even if, in all that time, someone could enter the Dao through martial arts, none could ascend in primordial spirit as Old Farmer had.

Such adepts who entered the Dao through martial arts would often lose their power in the midst of their primordial-spirit ascension; their primordial spirits would fall into the Nether Capital, their bodies would perish, and their Dao would dissolve. Hu Bugui was the only young person in recent years to have entered the Dao through martial arts, and Shen Mu's sudden appearance had enabled him to do it, making Hu Bugui the one with the greatest hope of replicating Old Farmer's path.

Yet even so, the likelihood that Hu Bugui could ascend to the Heavenly Palace was minuscule.

The Woodcutter Sage had not spoken wrongly: the Heavenly Master of Combat was the foremost martial artist in all of history, and no one could rival him. Hu Bugui might hold this hope, but the gap was enormous.

Old Farmer had in fact never thought highly of the Xu Shenghua whom Shen Mu praised so lavishly; a moment ago he had even entertained the idea of killing Xu Shenghua with one punch and then Shen Mu with another.

But now, with Xu Shenghua and Shen Mu joining hands in a display so dazzling it left him reeling, they had actually made a Divine Bridge Divine Treasury spring into being out of thin air within Hu Bugui! At last Hu Bugui had a seventh divine treasury!

Not only that—his seven divine treasuries had been joined into one, cultivating a single divine treasury unprecedented in history! Such an achievement might even surpass Old Farmer! His eye sockets suddenly grew moist, old tears blurring his sight.

In the Kaihuang Era of yore, there had also been such a band of young people, as vigorous as the Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua of today, as full of the strangest and most marvelous ideas, as eager to change the age, to bring a better life to the common people, and to press forward the advancement of Dao arts and divine powers.