Chapter 1180 — Emulate Me and Live

Shen Mu drove the Profound Body Three-Elixir Art, marshaling his vital qi, while the Mystic Art of Creation revolved to fend off the Way of Yin and Yang, and so he charged deeper along the mountain path.

Before long, he came to the end of the path, having encountered as many as a hundred stone statues in all. Some of these Creators had been turned to stone unawares on their way in, eroded by the Way of Yin and Yang; others had died on their way back out.

Here was a glimpse of just how dreadful this mining region could be.

Shen Mu kept the Mystic Art of Creation in motion, not merely to resist the assault of the Way of Yin and Yang — when that Way altered the material constitution of his physical body and his primordial spirit, he could also adjust his flesh and his spirit back to their finest state. Yet the Way of Yin and Yang likewise changed his vital qi and his divine consciousness, making his qi no longer pure and his consciousness no longer lucid — and that was the most terrifying part of all!

A divine art that altered vital qi and consciousness, that brought one's cultivation crumbling down — he had never encountered such an art in his life! "People say the Dao knows no high or low," he murmured, "and yet high and low it does have.

This Way of Yin and Yang is indeed a cut above the Way of Creation.

" He examined himself with the greatest care, keeping his vital qi under tight control.

For now, he could barely defend himself; had he brought Yan'er and Long Qilin along, he would not have been able to protect them. "This mining region has a mind of its own," he thought, "which is to say, the entire region is alive!

" He cast his gaze in every direction.

Anything within the mining region could change its form at any moment, turning into all manner of dangers, into different forms of life — he could not afford to lower his guard. He stepped into the mining grounds, where traces of the Creators' excavations lay all around.

The Creators who had braved untold hardships to reach this place had never imagined it could be so fraught with peril; as they dug, their bodies and even their very souls were transformed without their knowledge, and by the time they came to their senses, it was far too late. Using the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner as a staff, Shen Mu advanced along the ore vein. The banner had already turned mottled with rust, its heavens darkened, and all the treasures upon it had become somber and dull.

"Mining Taiji Divine Stones here will be no easy task, I fear — the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner cannot suppress the uncanniness of this vein. " He could not help frowning.

This vein was unlike the Chaos Ore Vein: the ore lay exposed, with blocks of Taiji Divine Stone embedded in the rock of the cliff walls. The divine stones, and even the mountain body itself, were in endless flux, like a drop of ink dripped onto a bowl of batter and slowly stirred round.

Shen Mu put the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner away — formidable as it was, it seemed of little use here.

He picked up a pickaxe left behind by the Creators and was on the verge of prying loose a block of Taiji Divine Stone when the cliff wall shifted without warning: black and white flowed together, gradually taking the shape of a human face.

Shen Mu watched in astonishment as the two colors went on flowing, the face growing clearer and clearer, then growing out a body, growing out limbs — and in its hand, too, holding a pickaxe.

The portrait on the cliff was none other than Shen Mu himself, the very image of him, save only that it bore no color. Shen Mu studied the self upon the cliff, yet that self showed not a trace of curiosity — it simply swung up its pickaxe and made a cleaving stroke at him!

Whoosh! The pickaxe actually hacked out of the cliff, turning solid, and came down at Shen Mu's brow in a rush of wind!

The sacred eye between Shen Mu's brows opened wide, a beam of light shot forth, and the pickaxe was smashed to bits.

The cliff-side Shen Mu showed a flash of surprise, and with a sudden bound sprang off the wall — the pickaxe haft in his hand turning into a broken sword — coming forth from the cliff with sword-light like a waterfall! The move and divine art he unleashed was none other than Shen Mu's Calamity-Lifting Sword, almost exactly matching Shen Mu's swordsmanship!

What was more, in the sheer vastness and profundity of his vital qi, he outstripped even Shen Mu!

His sword strokes were more powerful; yet Shen Mu drew his own broken sword — vital qi revolved, and the broken blade was made whole again.

Wielding it with casual, unrestrained flourishes, he turned aside every stroke of the cliff-side self, then drove one thrust into that self's brow, between the eyes. Sheathing his sword, Shen Mu laughed: "Learn from me, and you shall live; mimic me, and you shall die.

Brother in the Dao within this vein — you have never passed through the red dust of the mortal world, so how could you ever understand my arts and divine powers?

" The cliff-side Shen Mu, slain, dissolved and reverted to black and white.

Shen Mu was about to pry free that Taiji Divine Stone when the black and white in the cliff began to flow once again: the white took the form of an old man with white brows, a white beard, and white eyes, while the black took the form of an Earth Count — ox head, tiger face, three eyes, and a human body. Shen Mu stood dumbfounded.

On both walls of this vein, block after block of Taiji Divine Stone swirled black and white; along the cliff faces on either side, images of Heavenly Dukes surfaced one by one — and for every Heavenly Duke that appeared with kind brows and gentle eyes, an Earth Count appeared in kind, savage and baleful to behold. Cold sweat beaded on Shen Mu's forehead.

The ore vein was curved, and along its curving walls, the Heavenly Dukes and Earth Counts opened their eyes one after another; though they dwelled within the cliff, they all turned to look at him in perfect unison.

Shen Mu clenched his fists and sneered: "Brother in the Dao of this mining ground, all you have done is borrow the twin ways of yin and yang to transform yourself into Heavenly Dukes and Earth Counts. Can you truly conjure up the Heavenly Dao and the Great Dao of the Nether Capital as well?

" The words had barely left his mouth when the Heavenly Dukes and Earth Counts on the cliff walls all struck at once — art after art of Heavenly Dao divine power and Nether Capital divine power burst out of the walls, and along with them, the Nether River as a whip, the Heavenly River as a dipper, the Nine-Bend Yellow Springs, and the Star River coiling above! Forty-nine Heavenly Daos and sixty-four Great Daos of the Nether Capital exploded outward from the cliff faces! At the foot of the mountain, Long Qilin and Yan'er were cultivating; the little Earth Count was trying to climb the mountain to catch exotic beasts to fill his belly, but Long Qilin stretched out a claw and pinned down his tiger's tail — he struggled up several times, but was always dragged back.

The void beast, for its part, fixed its eyes on the primeval behemoths that came and went like phantoms on the mountain, drooling. It wanted to climb up, but it could plainly sense the danger there; besides, under Shen Mu's orders, it dared not make a move.

Just then, Long Qilin and Yan'er both woke with a start and turned their heads toward the mountain. There, Dao-light of every color was pouring out, bursting from within the mountain!

Dao-tones quaked through the air, furious roars rang out one after another, and a dreadful spectacle took shape. "Young Master, he—" Yan'er had barely spoken when a figure was flung high into the air and tumbled out of the mountain, landing with a splat before them, face-down, half his head buried in the black sand.

Long Qilin rushed up, about to help Shen Mu to his feet.

"Don't touch me — I'm broken! " Shen Mu's voice came.