Chapter 875 — Wicked Charm Overwhelming

The Duke of Wei had someone fetch a calling card; Shen Mu slipped the sword-bearing portrait inside it and said, "After you gentlemen return, select your young powerhouses, and then open my letter of challenge. Also, those of low cultivation must not look at the calling card. When I sense that the sword-bearing portrait in the letter of challenge has been destroyed, I will come to the Northern Heavens myself and pay my respects to each of you, one by one."

He hesitated a moment, then said with the utmost sincerity, "For the sake of your lives, you must not open this letter of challenge to look. Only after you have chosen the strongest divine-arts practitioner of each of your realms may it be opened. Moreover, no outsider may see what is inside the letter of challenge — it is most perilous! Bear it in mind, bear it in mind! Gentlemen, you may go."

The bull-headed god-demon, his face grave, took the calling card and barked, "Let us go!"

One after another the gods and demons sped away with the Northern Heavens' divine-arts practitioners.

Once they were far from Jiangling Academy, one divine-arts practitioner said, "Master, is this letter of challenge truly so formidable? Might we open it and take a look?"

The bull-headed god-demon shook his head. "It must not be opened lightly. The sword-bearing portrait in the letter of challenge conceals his divine art; once opened, it will trigger that divine art."

Another god-demon laughed. "Aren't you overstating it? What he painted is a sword-bearing portrait; it hides a divine art, yes, but if the divine art burst forth the moment it was opened, would the letter of challenge not be destroyed? In my view, so long as one does not stir one's primal essence, his divine art will not be triggered; there is no harm in opening it for a look."

The other gods and demons laughed in turn: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat!"

The bull-headed god-demon hesitated, then took out the letter of challenge. "There is no harm in your looking, but you must not let your primal essence stir, lest you trigger his divine art. I still need this calling card to go and see the Great Black Heaven; among our heavens there is no such dreadful master — only under the Great Black Heaven's command are there powerhouses who can stand against him."

He opened the letter of challenge with great care, and sure enough, Shen Mu's divine art did not burst forth; only then did he breathe easy. "You may come and look."

The crowd pressed forward to look at the sword-bearing portrait in the letter of challenge.

Shen Mu had used the Wuyou Sword as a brush, painting in space, branding his sword art into the very fabric of space.

To accomplish such a thing required the strength of a Venerable God; only a Venerable God could brand a divine art into space so that it endured without fading.

The crowd studied the sword-bearing portrait: the Shen Mu within it seemed a living man, wholly three-dimensional, vivid and lifelike.

"This Jingping Overlord Body is truly a man of many talents — if he went to sell paintings in the streets he would surely be a master of the trade!" the crowd laughed.

The bull-headed god-demon hastily cried, "I let you look not to admire his painting, but to study the course of his sword art and take his measure! Perhaps from this painting we can ferret out his divine art and find a way to deal with him."

The crowd sobered and looked closely.

Suddenly a demigod gave a great cry, his aura erupting; from within his body came a series of booming sounds as divine treasuries opened, and his hands, as if sealing and closing, blocked forward, crying, "He is thrusting his sword at me!"

The bull-headed god-demon's face changed drastically; he was just about to restrain the man lest the surge of primal essence strike the letter of challenge, when suddenly the demigod's brow split open — his primal spirit had been slain by an invisible force; his soul scattered at once, and he died on the spot!

Startled, the bull-headed god-demon stepped forward to examine him, and saw that the wound at the demigod's brow was shaped like a sword scar — yet the force had not come from without, but from within.

"What divine art is this?"

Scarcely had he thought this when several more demigod divine-arts practitioners fell into panic, driving their primal weapons to attack in all directions, crying shrilly, "He is attacking me!"

Before the words had left their mouths, hissing sounds burst from the bodies of these demigods; countless arrows of blood shot from them head to foot; each body convulsed violently, and then their primal spirits were annihilated, and they toppled!

"Do not look at the letter of challenge!"

The bull-headed god-demon came to his senses and hurriedly closed the letter of challenge and put it away.

But it was too late.

Those divine-arts practitioners who had followed them to Jingping to challenge the Jingping Overlord Body seemed to fall into madness one and all, their divine arts and primal weapons striking out in every direction, as though they fought a life-and-death struggle against an invisible enemy!

The other gods and demons rushed forward, trying to restrain them; but even when these demigods were subdued, their bodies were riddled with a thousand wounds, their primal spirits cut down one by one, their lives lost to the Yellow Springs!

The bull-headed god-demon and the other gods and demons felt their hearts turn to ice; they stared blankly around them — at their feet, a field of corpses.

"Wicked!"

A god-demon cried out in anguish, "Wicked as hell!"

The other gods and demons went pale. From first to last Shen Mu had never lifted a hand against these challengers; he had merely displayed a touch of dharma power before Jiangling Academy, overawing the divine-arts practitioners of the heavens.

And yet, though Shen Mu had not struck a blow, his letter of challenge had cost these divine-arts practitioners their lives!

"What is the cause? What divine art is this?" one god-demon asked, trembling.

"A sword art."

The bull-headed god-demon said hoarsely, "A sword art that has entered the Dao! The moment one sees it, his sword art is branded upon the mind. This sword art is too wicked — it attacks the spirit and the will; when spirit and will collapse, it steals your dharma power and uses it to unleash the sword art's might inside your own body. Their spirit and will could not withstand the sword-dao will hidden in the sword-bearing portrait, and so they died. We are beings of the divine realm; the sword-dao will in the portrait has no effect on us."

The many gods and demons were struck with dread.

The bull-headed god-demon cried fiercely, "Go! To see the Great Black Heaven!"

The crowd hurried after him; one god could not help saying, "How could his sword portrait hold such a dreadful sword-dao will? Is there such a powerful will in this world?"

"This is not will, but indestructible divine consciousness."

The Black Heaven Palace: darkness spilled from that legendary palace, shrouding ten thousand li around, yet within the hall all was brightly lit. The Great Black Heaven, a black sun hanging behind his head, sat upon his throne, unfolded Shen Mu's letter of challenge, examined it closely, and said slowly, "This indestructible divine consciousness is handed down from the Chiming Era; it is the cultivation method of the Crimson Emperor, the first false emperor of the Chiming Era. That you do not recognize it is only natural. Even the Heavenly Court never possessed the Crimson Emperor's method. This sword-bearing portrait is not wicked in the least; on the contrary, it is upright and majestic, vast in spirit."