Chapter 789 — Where Does He Rank in All the World?

"That is the first level—painting a thing and having it resemble the thing. It cannot endure."

The scholar said, "If you could achieve painting a thing and having it be the thing, letting the Southern Heavenly Gate stand long, creating a thing in the void and making it real—that would be the second level."

Admiration rose unbidden in Shen Mu's heart. "Deaf Grandpa never spoke of these things. Perhaps he too never pondered the third realm of the way of painting. Many thanks for your guidance, brother—I am much instructed!"

Water Qilin watched all this and said to Dragon Qilin with suspicion, "This scholar doesn't look like a scholar at all. He looks more like a smooth-tongued charlatan. Your master's been bamboozled stiff as a board. Had I known he was so easy to fool, why would I ever have used force? I could have talked your master out of his underpants and had him thanking me for it!"

Dragon Qilin rolled back his upper lip and said with contempt, "Hee-haw."

"Don't you disbelieve me—I am the foremost wise mind of our Qilin divine race!"

Shen Mu and the others walked on. Suddenly ahead a blade-light tore through the fog, the blade-light spanning the vault of heaven, and with a zheng it split apart into countless blade-lights, arrayed in perfect order, slashing down in a strange formation of blades.

A roar came, and then in the mist a colossal figure toppled.

The blade-lights across the sky were suddenly drawn in, falling behind the figure of a one-armed man in the fog, vanishing into a sheath.

Shen Mu saw that utterly unruffled blade-light, and his heart jumped: "This blade art... it looks familiar..."

The one-armed figure walked on, robes snapping in the wind, striding deep into the fog. Many figures followed him and entered the mist together, soon vanishing without a trace.

"The One-Armed Divine Blade, first divine blade of the Outer Heavenly Court!"

The scholar's eyes lit up. He laughed. "Luo Shen Dao of the Outer Heavenly Court's Lingxiu Army—they say that in his youth he encountered the Overlord Body of the Shanghuang era, and was struck by that Overlord Body's incomparably wondrous sword art, which severed one of his arms. This Luo Shen Dao, in his pain, took thought, and entered the Dao through one-armed blade art, training bitterly for tens of thousands of years. He once entered the Heavenly Court and mounted the God-Slaying Platform, contending against the God-Slaying Mystic Blade without defeat—he is the Heavenly Court's first divine blade beyond dispute! I never thought he would come here too! Those youths around him must be the Lingxiu Army."

Yutian Zun said excitedly, "The Overlord Body of Shanghuang? How formidable! Brother Mu, you too are an Overlord Body—you're formidable too!"

The scholar gave Shen Mu a glance and shook his head. "The Overlord Body of Shanghuang severed Luo Shen Dao's arm with a single sword stroke—how dazzling, how peerless! Overlord Body Shen still has far to go."

Shen Mu's eye twitched. He thought: "The Overlord Body of Shanghuang who severed his arm is right beside you, but I won't say so. Luo Wushuang's divine blade is truly formidable, countless times stronger than in those years. Setting cultivation aside, I think it would be very hard for me to break his divine blade."

"However, Luo Shen Dao has one vile custom: all his disciples must sever one arm, or they cannot learn his blade art."

The scholar laughed. "And so the Heavenly Court youths in the Lingxiu Army usually cut off one of their own arms."

Shen Mu thought of Zhe Huali, and thought: "Zhe Huali nearly cut off one of his own arms too, but under my pressure he still walked out of Luo Wushuang's shadow and founded his own way of the blade! Luo Wushuang has appeared. I hear he is on friendly terms with Furi Luo. I wonder whether he has gone to see Furi Luo? If he has gone to see Furi Luo, then Furi Luo has probably already rebelled... And if Zhe Huali is at Luo Wushuang's side, then Furi Luo has certainly already rebelled!"

They came to the place where Luo Wushuang had just unleashed his blade art. They saw that what Luo Wushuang had slain was a demigod—a massive frame, its head a divine head shaped like a dragon's, its body that of a man, with eight arms. Its vital essence had not yet dispersed, and a terrifying divine might filled the air.

"A demigod of the God-Slaying Platform realm!"

The scholar examined the blade marks and praised them: "Good blade art! Luo Shen Dao slew this demigod dragon king with the cultivation of the Yujing realm."

Shen Mu studied the blade marks carefully, gauging just how far Luo Wushuang's blade art had advanced, looking very closely indeed.

The scholar asked curiously, "Does the Sect Master Shen also study blade art?"

Shen Mu said modestly, "I would not presume—in the world I am number... mm, third or fourth."

The scholar smiled and waved his feather fan. "Third or fourth? The Sect Master Shen exaggerates a little, surely? I have heard that in the Kaihuang Heavenly Court there is a divine man named Tian Shu, skilled in blade art, whose Imperial Palace Divine Blade can sever the horns of an Earth Count. How does the Sect Master Shen compare to him?"

Shen Mu's face darkened. He shook his head. "Not his equal."

The scholar said, "I have heard that in Jingping there is a Heavenly Blade, who holds his blade to heaven and entered the Dao through the blade, founding the Nine Methods of the Heavenly Blade, able to slay gods and demons at the Divine Bridge realm. How does the Sect Master Shen compare to him?"

"Also not his equal." Shen Mu's face darkened further.

The scholar laughed. "Luo Wushuang has a disciple named Zhe Huali, who entered the Dao through the blade and founded a single blade technique. How does the Sect Master Shen's blade art compare to his?"

"Not his equal!" Shen Mu said, puffing with anger.

"Then you are also not my equal."

The scholar laughed. "I too entered the Dao through the blade. Though I lack the Heavenly Blade's talent for founding nine methods, I have founded seven."

Shen Mu's palm trembled. He seized the little beard on his chin and savagely plucked out four or five hairs.

The scholar smiled and said nothing.

They walked on, and saw that in the fog the demon gods of the demon race had come here too. One demon god after another exuded a terrifying aura, and behind them they led mountain-high colossal beasts, looming in and out of the mist, most frightful to behold.

Suddenly, from ahead came the cry of a sword, and blade-light scattered across the sky. Within the blade-light a sword-light flared up and clashed with that blade-light.

Shen Mu saw that sword art and was somewhat stunned.

That sword art was too familiar—it was his sword art!

"The White Dragon Sword Dance! The Shanghuang Sword God!"

The scholar's eyes lit up. He laughed. "The Shanghuang Sword God is a woman, and Luo Wushuang's mortal enemy. I never thought she would come too! They say that when the Shanghuang era fell, the Shanghuang Sword God was only a little girl, low in cultivation and strength, yet she and the Overlord Body of Shanghuang carved out a bloody path through the darkness! The Overlord Body of Shanghuang vanished, but she inherited his sword art and from it walked out a path of her own. In the dark years after the Shanghuang era ended, her sword art shone for several hundred years—she can well be called a heroine among women! Sect Master Shen."

He laughed. "Where does your sword art rank in the world?"