Chapter 1448 — The Blade Dao of the World

"First divine blade of the Heavenly Court, too much of the craftsman in you, none of the bearing of a grandmaster of the blade Dao. My blade severs souls and seizes spirits, beyond your measure; I must drink to bring out its greatest power. " Luo Wushuang snorted and said mildly, "In realm I am beneath you.

In blade Dao, you are far behind.

" Shen Mu looked upon these old acquaintances and passion surged in his heart.

Some of them were his elders, some had once been his enemies, some were his friends—and now they were all gathered together.

"Shen'er, the first heaven of your blade Dao, Knock at the Southern Heavenly Gate, is the bold spirit and heroic feeling of the blade-bearer struck forth. The second heaven is the blade of law and measure: to establish law, to pacify grievance. The third heaven is the blade of guardianship, the will of a multitude made a fortress.

" Zaifu looked at Shen Mu and said in a low voice, "This is all the guidance I can give you.

Your three blade arts that entered the Dao have exhausted all fifteen heavens of my blade Dao. The road hereafter you must walk alone.

" Warmth filled Shen Mu's heart. However great the hardship he faced outside, whatever censure and reproach he met, when he came back here, back to Jingping, he was always the child of those nine old folk of Yincan Village. When he returned, Zaifu and the rest would help him with all their strength, would open his understanding—never with selfishness, never with refusal.

"The courage, the law and measure, the responsibility the blade Dao demands, you already understand. What remains is tempering. And strength," Zaifu said.

"And the simplest way to raise strength is still to contend with masters of the blade Dao. This boy Zhe Huali is a master of the blade. He entered the Dao by the blade; his blade Dao fuses the weirdness of the demon race with the grandeur of the blade Dao.

Luo Wushuang is the Heavenly Court's first blade, a great master of the blade Dao; his blade arts are matchless in cunning and in measure, and he has moreover fused them with the courage and force of a blade drawn against heaven—even against a Heavenly Venerate he dares to strike. And the blade of Heavenly King Tian Shu is the mightiest blade in all the world.

" At these words the drunkard Tian Shu grinned.

Zaifu went on, "The Divine Blade is unbreakable, and its name is Imperial Gate; drunk, Tian Shu is emperor among blades, and his blade Dao can shear the horn from Tubo. His blade holds within it the spirit of the Kaihuang age. And my blade—" Zaifu slowly drew it. "—is the Heavenly Blade. This Heavenly Blade is not the blade of the heavenly Dao; it is a blade drawn against heaven.

Nor does my blade Dao lean upon the heavenly Dao, nor upon the great Dao of heaven and earth.

My blade is the breath of refusal, the breath of unyielding in a man's heart!

" He shook the blade, and the qi within it rose from the river's heart like a long banner of silk, splitting the heavens. "A blade nourishes the spirit. You must first surpass us; only then can you have any hope of overcoming the God-Slaying Platform of the Ancestral Court!

" Zaifu said gravely, "Shen'er, are you ready? " Zhe Huali flipped backward and in the next instant stood high in the air, his movements weird and demonic, laughing: "The Heavenly Blade does me honor—let me instruct this boy. I will not fail the Heavenly Blade's expectations!

" Arrogant and unbridled though he was, toward Zaifu he was deeply reverent.

In this world there were two men he revered.

One was Luo Wushuang, the Divine Blade, who cherished and loved talent; knowing his own blade art to be a one-armed blade art, and that Zhe Huali had both arms, he knew the boy must either cut off an arm like the other disciples or walk a road of his own.

So Luo Wushuang gave him to the demon lord Furiluo, to take Furiluo as master—a magnanimity and a spirit worthy of admiration. The second man Zhe Huali revered was the Heavenly Blade. Zhe Huali had long pondered the blade Dao and could never enter its gate; his blade arts came from Luo Wushuang, whose blade arts were orderly and proper, insisting that nothing step out of measure, forever restraining his nature.

Furiluo, meanwhile, was a demon master whose arts were sinister and strange; he learned something of them but could never master them through.

Then he met Zaifu, and saw Zaifu's Heavenly Blade—one glance, and he was suddenly enlightened, the gate thrown wide, and he stepped into the blade Dao. Zaifu had never taken him as disciple, yet he counted Zaifu as another master, and so revered him. Tian Shu laughed loudly and abruptly smashed all the empty jars; holding his blade across, he sprayed a mouthful of wine breath over Imperial Gate. "The Heavenly Blade does me honor—today we meet blades as friends!

Heavenly Venerate Mu, do you have horns? " Vast heroism surged in Shen Mu's breast.

He smiled.

"I have no horns, but the horns of my Dao-heart thrust high. " "Bring your head here!

" Tian Shu swung his blade.

Luo Wushuang lifted his blade one-armed, the moon in his embrace, and said quietly, "Shen the Overlord Body, the sword art is your strength, but in the blade Dao you are far outmatched. " Shen Mu laughed heartily; a stream of primordial qi pierced the blue void and became a long blade.

He bowed deeply.

"I ask my fellow Daoists to instruct me! "