Chapter 1181 — By One Battle Alone

At the foot of the mountain, Dragon Qilin and Yan'er raised their heads toward the mining grounds among the peaks, where all manner of multicolored light gushed forth and great-Dao powers erupted, as one deafening boom after another rang out and wave upon wave of heart-stopping, monstrous fluctuations shook the vault of heaven above. Not far off, the tiny Earth Count was also craning his neck to look, but his stature was far too small for him to see clearly, so he could only labor to climb up onto the Void Beast. The Void Beast was likewise watching the battle in the mining grounds, yet when it noticed the little creature clambering up its body, its eyelids lifted slightly and it bared its teeth in a threatening grimace.

Still, by the time the tiny Earth Count had climbed to the very top of its head, it had not stirred. The tiny Earth Count had no sooner reached the highest point than a figure flew out from the mining grounds and slammed into the black sand with a thunderous crash, skidding face-first for more than ten li.

"Don't help me up! " Shen Mu said furiously, limping back while he urged the Mystic Body Three-Elixir Art to heal his wounds, and sneered, "I don't believe a mere ore vein can finish me off!

I am the exalted Heavenly Venerable Mu—the Ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court are, in name, all my junior fellow disciples, and every one of them holds a territory of his own.

How could I possibly have none? " Dragon Qilin and Yan'er exchanged glances, watching him heal his wounds and then ascend the mountain bristling with murderous intent.

"The Sect Master could simply go somewhere else; there's no need to fight this place to the death," Dragon Qilin said in a low voice.

A few days later, Shen Mu again flew out of the mountain—this time, instead of landing on the black-sand side, he crashed into the white-sand desert on the far side of the range. Dragon Qilin gazed into the distance for a while, but his eyes could not pierce the mountain range, so he had no choice but to wave his hand and say, "Break it up, all of you. Stop staring.

" On the far side, Shen Mu entered the mountain once more.

He had taken this Taiji ore vein as a form of cultivation, to see whether he could still improve.

If it had been anyone else, he would long since have withdrawn at the first sight of difficulty, but Shen Mu only grew fiercer the more he fought.

Even if he could not comprehend the Way of Yin and Yang hidden within the Taiji ore vein, he could still use these eerie clashes with the vein to gain a deeper understanding of the Heavenly Dao and the great arts of the Nether Capital.

Again and again he entered the vein; again and again he was blasted out of it; yet each time he came back, his fighting spirit towering, and the length of time he could hold his ground within the vein grew longer and longer.

At last, on this day, Shen Mu planted his footing in the vein with absolute firmness and, single-handedly, withstood the attacks of the Duke of Heaven and the Earth Count from the cliff walls on either side; no matter what Heavenly-Dao or Nether-Capital divine arts they unleashed, they could not make him retreat half a step.

Indeed, he pressed forward step by step, fighting his way from the mouth of the mine more than ten li into the vein. Suddenly, the Duke of Heaven and the Earth Count within the cliff walls on both sides ceased their attacks and faded away one after another.

Shen Mu stood in the vein and looked left and right, seeing that the Taiji divine stones on the cliff walls still turned gently and the yin-yang energies there still flowed in a slow, circling current. He lifted his foot, about to step deeper into the mining grounds—then set the lifted foot back down.

From behind him came a crackling sound. Shen Mu whirled around and saw, within the mining grounds, one of the petrified Creators shedding its stone shell and gradually recovering a body of flesh and blood. That Creator swung its limbs, hefted an axe-pick onto its shoulder, and came striding toward him, chest bared, looking utterly fierce.

To claim this ore vein was truly no easy matter.

Shen Mu roused his spirits and fixed his eyes on the approaching Creator.

The Creator's sinewy frame radiated towering might, and in every lift of hand or step of foot, the Dao's resonance was born complete, as if wrought by heaven itself. On both sides, along the cliff walls of the Taiji ore vein, yin and yang energies flowed, and streak after streak of black qi and white qi twined around each other before boring into that Creator's body.

The Dao resonance about it grew stronger and stronger.

It had three eyes, and only the eye at the center of its brow still held a Primordial Divine Stone. A Taiji divine stone flew over and, with a snap, attached itself to the Primordial Divine Stone in its brow, forcing the Primordial Stone deep into its brain. And the Creator's two eyes turned utterly ghastly—each pupil split in two, becoming yin-yang fish that revolved slowly within the eye sockets.

Double pupils!

The corners of Shen Mu's eyes twitched.

The strangeness of this Taiji ore vein was even more dreadful than that of any other vein.

This Creator was clearly no longer the Creator it had once been, but a fearsome creature now controlled by this mining ground!

Moreover, the Taiji divine stone had replaced the Primordial divine stone, which meant the mining ground was controlling this Creator to unleash the Dao arts and divine powers hidden within the Primordial ore vein. Shen Mu focused his mind and fixed his gaze on the Creator's form. Having come this far, he had no road of retreat!

No matter what, he was determined to take this Taiji ore vein; his Primordial Embryo Divine Vault was itself divided according to the Taiji, and this mining ground was of vital importance to him!

Suddenly, that Creator swung its axe-pick, both legs driving with explosive force, and in an instant it was before him, the axe-pick coming down viciously!

Shen Mu swung his broken sword, which transformed into a long blade, and his opening move was none other than his own Dao-entering divine art!

It was by the blade that he had entered the Dao, and from it he had comprehended the first great divine art of the blade's Way—Knocking at the South Heaven Gate!

Blade-light blazed up, bearing a Dao resonance unique to the Acquired Great Dao, and met the axe-pick! The Way of the blade cuts through brambles and thorns, presses on against adversity, and fears nothing!

However steep the heavens, however hard the earth, a single stroke splits it all open!

If there is no road, cleave out a road; it asks for no more changes or transformations, only one horizontal stroke and one vertical stroke!

Clang!

A heaven-shaking, earth-sundering crash rang out, and Shen Mu was sent flying backward; then, with both feet, he kicked off heavily against the cliff wall and came rushing back at even greater speed.

The Creator's hands were knocked high into the air as it stumbled backward, and Shen Mu was already upon it—his hand rose, the blade fell, and a huge head flew up.

Shen Mu landed, and the earth trembled violently.

The tiger's mouths of both his hands had burst open, streaming with blood; but to have slain this opponent in a single move made such a wound count for nothing.

Suddenly, the headless Creator swung its axe-pick again.

Shen Mu's heart jumped, and he hurriedly retreated to avoid the descending blow.

The Creator's strike hit nothing; it pulled the axe-pick free, and then, from its chest, a pair of Taiji eyes grew out—its nipples had become eyes, a truly horrid sight.

Thud.

The headless Creator set down its axe-pick and stood there, leaning on the handle.