Chapter 959 — The Great Beauty of the Sword Dao

" An Qingyu did not rise. He used his feathers to sever the space around them so that Shen Mu could not escape, and reverently knocked his head to the ground before him — three kneelings and nine kowtows — then said in a deep voice: "I have heard that at the beginning of Longhan, Heavenly Venerable Mu, on behalf of Heavenly Venerable Yu, taught the multitude the method of becoming gods, and took from my master his merit. But be that as it may, Heavenly Venerable Mu bears great merit. I come by my master's command to kill the Heavenly Venerable; the Heavenly Venerable is about to die by my hand.

Yet the Heavenly Venerable did after all teach the multitude the method of becoming gods, and so I first pay my respects, and then I shall end the Heavenly Venerable's life! " Shen Mu held the Heavenly Dome together, panting: "The disciples of Heavenly Venerable Hao do know their proprieties. I am a man without a soul, and my days are numbered.

Do you not intend to seal your own realm and fight me fairly? " He coughed violently several times, his breath faint as gossamer, and a desolate sense of a hero in his twilight, at the end of his road, welled up in his heart.

He said with a bitter smile: "My cultivation has already fallen to the Spirit Embryo realm. You are a true god, and I am only at the Spirit Embryo realm. I hope to die gloriously — at the very least, I want a fair fight, so that I may depart in peace.

" An Qingyu rose.

Behind him came a ringing clang, and four heavenly palaces floated in the halo behind his head.

His gaze was bright as snow as he said with a smile: "His Supremacy instructed that Heavenly Venerable Mu's cultivation is vast beyond measure, that he has fused three or four imperial throne techniques, and that only the power of a true god can hold the Heavenly Venerable down by a single notch.

" He was a true god; his primordial spirit was a divine being with a bird's head and a man's body, which had already crossed the Southern Heavenly Gate and was not far from the Jade Terrace.

His power was vast beyond measure, and as his cultivation erupted, countless blue-gold feathers cut through the Heavenly Dome and rushed to stand before Shen Mu! An Qingyu's voice came on: "His Supremacy also instructed that the Heavenly Venerable's consciousness is powerful, and that he has cultivated the Old Buddha's Scripture of Immeasurable Kalpas; therefore His Supremacy refined a treasure for each of us disciples, so that we would not be affected by the Heavenly Venerable's illusions.

" A jade pendant on his chest lit up, its halo swirling.

Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly; this jade pendant had been refined by Heavenly Venerable Hao's own hand, and it was precisely able to counter his dream world.

He had just tried to draw An Qingyu into his dream world, never expecting that the jade pendant would block his consciousness!

This strike of An Qingyu's was several times more powerful than the last; the blue-gold feather swords blotted out the sky and covered the sun, shrouding all directions so that he could not dodge. Just then Shen Mu's vital essence rose up from behind him and became a fan, which he reached out and seized in his hand, swinging it with all his strength; a great heavenly wind arose, and countless feather swords were swept away clean!

The Eighth Heavenly Dao, the Heavenly Wind.

An Qingyu opened his mouth and spat out a spirit pearl; the heavenly wind howled, yet could not move him in the slightest, and the power of the heavenly wind was broken utterly in an instant. Shen Mu was startled inwardly: "Xuandu's Heavenly Duke is indeed perilous.

" He had just used two heavenly dao divine arts, and both had been easily broken by An Qingyu. After all, his heavenly dao divine arts included not only the heavenly dao runes calculated by the classical arts of divination, but also the runes computed by the Taiwei Calculation Classic.

Yet clearly the Heavenly Court, in order to be rid of the Heavenly Duke, had developed all manner of divine arts aimed specifically at the heavenly dao! "The Heavenly Court cannot have completely broken the Forty-Nine Heavenly Daos, or the Heavenly Duke would be dead already.

But that day cannot be far off," he thought to himself. An Qingyu charged alone to the mountain summit, ten thousand zhang of blue light behind him as countless feather swords flew back and joined into a single blue wing.

He said with a smile: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, I have already said that heavenly dao divine arts are not rare in the Heavenly Court! " His two wings thrust forward, one before the other. Having cultivated four kinds of imperial throne techniques, his power was immeasurably deep, unexpectedly strong, and the two wings sliced space itself into a thousand and a hundred pieces.

At the same time, his primordial spirit stood within the central heavenly palace, sleeves fluttering, embracing a blazing sun; a shaft of pure light shot from the sun, aimed straight at Shen Mu! And in each of the other three heavenly palaces, a phantom of his primordial spirit appeared, each marshalling the power of its palace and unleashing divine arts, forming three giants — one a heavenly maiden of ravishing beauty, one an ancient god of primeval countenance, one a demon king of ferocious aspect — all attacking Shen Mu at once!

This was the first time Shen Mu had encountered a strong man who cultivated several imperial throne techniques at once and had reached the divine realm; with heavenly dao divine arts alone it was already hard to contend with him, so he resolutely grasped his sword pellet.

The sword pellet burst, and sword light danced across the heavens.

A ceaseless clang of collisions rang out; in the blink of an eye the two figures vanished from the mountain summit, blasted backwards by each other's power!

In an instant the two had each been driven back dozens of li, and with a crack, a fissure appeared at the summit of that mighty mountain. Luo Wushuang stood on the mountain peak, the core of the Primordial Wood lodged in his brow and silver needles all over his body, not daring to make the slightest movement.

The silver needles were one thing — at worst, when he circulated his power he could snap them, leaving the broken needles in his spirit treasury — but the core of the Primordial Wood in his brow could not be snapped.

If he circulated his power, his heavenly palace and his brains along with it would likely be churned into paste!

"Shen the Overlord Body is probably no match for this man; the gap in their realms is too great. .

. " He had barely thought this when the divine arts of the two men, dozens of li away, had already reached the mountain summit; in the very instant they were blasted backwards, each had unleashed hundreds of divine arts!

An Qingyu's techniques and divine arts were more numerous still; in his four heavenly palaces his primordial spirits wielded all manner of imperial throne techniques, every kind of divine art plucked at will, each move and each stance of tremendous power, and a thousand divine arts came crashing in with a might that could only be called terrifying. Shen Mu, by contrast, had only his sword arts. Flying swords came howling from dozens of li away, and the sword art each sword displayed was different from the next; his swords could even execute the most intricate sword arts — a single flying sword gave the slightest quiver, and the most dazzling sword light burst forth, unfolding into vast rivers and mountains!