Chapter 867 — A Lone Sword Soars the Heavens

At the same time the scattered flying swords came whistling back; a hand reached out from that black line and struck the swords a heavy blow, and the corpse poison on them flew off backward, revealing the bright, ringing steel of the swords themselves.

A clangor of chimes rang unbroken, and the flying swords returned to become a sword pellet, which Shen Mu caught in his hand.

The dragon king's head came charging sidelong, opened its great mouth, spewed stinking corpse qi, and swallowed Shen Mu in one gulp; in the very instant he took Shen Mu into his mouth, teleportation runes burst.

By the time his great mouth closed, a teleportation light flashed, and Shen Mu was gone.

The next moment, behind "Heavenly Venerable Yu," still running across the dragon king's head, light suddenly flashed, and Shen Mu thrust his sword at his heart from behind. "Heavenly Venerable Yu"'s body changed abruptly, becoming bird-headed and human-bodied, a great-sun halo at the back of his head; the great sun sank down, letting Shen Mu's thrust enter the halo, and the divine sword was instantly burned red, molten gold and iron dripping from it without cease.

Shen Mu put his strength into his feet and drove the sword forward; "Heavenly Venerable Yu" strained against it and fled at a run.

The two of them ran across the corpse-transformed dragon king's head, every step terribly solid.

Shen Mu's body shook, and two more heads swiftly grew out, while four more arms emerged from beneath his arms; his palms shifted through a thousand changes and at last became sword fingers, each pointing at his brow.

The first form of the Tribulation Sword: Opening Tribulation.

His sword fingers pointed out, three of them touching the divine sword, and its power erupted at once. "Heavenly Venerable Yu" grunted as the great-sun halo was pierced; suddenly his body changed once more, becoming a goddess.

He had had his back to Shen Mu; now, as he became a goddess, head, body, and limbs all turned backward together, taking a bizarre form that faced Shen Mu directly.

"Her" hands closed down upon the divine sword piercing her breast, and between those hands there formed a bottomless abyss.

The Guixu Abyss.

A huge vortex spinning madly in the darkness, unfathomable, that made Shen Mu's Opening Tribulation sword slip hissing into the abyss and swallowed Shen Mu along with it!

Swallowed by his Guixu ability, with countless runes whirling around him, Shen Mu once more used his teleportation ability and flew out.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" raised a hand to hold up the sky; numberless starlights burst open in the heavens, countless stars gathered into a river of stars, becoming a net of heaven and earth.

Shen Mu's form had scarce emerged from the teleport light when he was caught upon the net, unable for the moment to break free.

He used his teleportation ability again; suddenly lightning flashed and thunder rolled, and again he was caught upon the net.

His form dodged again and again, yet time after time he was seized by the net of heaven and earth.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu"'s hands flew; the net wove ever denser, countless starlights gathering, ever tighter, and as Shen Mu flickered in and out of being within it, the room to maneuver grew ever narrower.

"Who can master all the great-daos' divine abilities of the ancient gods?

" "Heavenly Venerable Yu" suddenly became the Kui Wood Wolf Star Lord, wolf-headed and human-bodied, sprang into the air, dodging the dragon king's whisker strikes, and made straight for Shen Mu, laughing: "Only I!

Only this body of flesh!

The Heavenly Wolf Howls at the Moon!

" He gave a long, shrill howl, and light from his mouth became a flood that blasted at Shen Mu in the net.

The divine sword in Shen Mu's hand suddenly became a golden brush; the brush swept, drawing out a doorway within the net, and he opened the door and left. The Heavenly Wolf Howls at the Moon blasted into the doorway and vanished without a sound.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" was astonished, and flew into the doorway, laughing: "The great-daos of the lower realm grow more and more interesting.

" No sooner had he rushed into the doorway than the dragon king's whiskers thrust in after him; then the whiskers hooked the two sides of the doorway, and the dragon king's green great head squeezed in through the door, chuckling: "I see you! " "Heavenly Venerable Yu" leapt up and became the Vermilion Bird, wings spread hundreds of feet wide, beating them in flight, dodging the dragon king's attack—then he saw before him Shen Mu holding the golden brush, sweeping it, and a heavenly palace leapt forth.

Shen Mu ran through the heavenly palace as if flying, the brush moving like dragons and snakes, still charging forward; as his golden brush swept out, layer upon layer of space kept appearing ahead.

Then a heavenly river flowed from beneath his brush; a monstrous flood came down from the sky, roaring and surging, driving straight at the Vermilion Bird that "Heavenly Venerable Yu" had become.

The Vermilion Bird flew too fast to dodge; its body spun, and by the time the heavenly river reached it, it had changed from Vermilion Bird to Dark Warrior: the dark turtle roared, treading the river as it went, the soaring serpent coiled about it, shaking its wings—faster still.

Behind him, the corpse-transformed great head of the Heavenly Dragon King was struck by the heavenly river, its whole face soaked with water.

The Heavenly Dragon King flew into a rage, opened his great mouth and sucked hard, and the heavenly river poured out from beneath his neck. With great mouth agape, the Heavenly Dragon King charged forward along the river.

Just as "Heavenly Venerable Yu" was about to catch Shen Mu, he saw Shen Mu draw out a sky shuttle; he sprang into it, and the shuttle, pointed at both ends, went whistling up. Within the shuttle Shen Mu wielded the brush, and beneath his ink there appeared a god of towering, majestic stature.

It was the Heavenly Emperor.

When Shen Mu painted as far as the Heavenly Emperor's eyes, he lifted those eyes open and, riding the shuttle, rushed in.

"Heavenly Venerable Yu" had just thought to rush in after him when he found he had crashed against the Heavenly Emperor's eye. "Where is he?

" "Heavenly Venerable Yu" was startled; behind him the Heavenly Dragon King's great head came charging.

Shen Mu's form appeared within the hanging coffin; he sprang down from the shuttle and turned, and behind him stood a painting of the heavenly palace, upright in the darkness, flickering with a ghostly light.

Shen Mu shook the brush in his hand; the brush became a sword pellet, and then the pellet burst apart into a vast ocean of swords, arrayed all around the heavenly palace painting.

Shen Mu's body swayed and became the form of the Nether Capital's Divine Son, darkness spilling everywhere.

He stretched out his hand, seized the heavenly palace painting, and shook it hard; the space within the painting was annihilated in an instant!

At the same moment the painting was annihilated, the sword formation's power erupted; from within it came the shrieks of the Heavenly Dragon King and "Heavenly Venerable Yu," the sword light surging like a tide to drown them—yet the two of them flickered faintly within that light, about to break the formation!

Suddenly the dragon king's corpse-transformed head burst out of the sword formation, rolling and tumbling, off no one knew where.

And "Heavenly Venerable Yu," hard on the dragon king's heels, burst from the formation right behind him; he had scarce left it when his body went rigid, sensing killing intent at his back.

He whirled around and saw the heavenly river rushing, the heavenly palace looming faint; Shen Mu's primordial spirit stood upon the river, a treasure sword in hand, treading that river as he charged down from the heavens, one sword streaking in!