Chapter 359 — Worn Down to Death
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" The two walked shoulder to shoulder and stepped out onto the Tu River.
Behind them followed the four girls, Xue Hu'er, Ling Yuxiu, Yu Liu, and Jing Yan, who set foot upon the river's surface as well. And just then a great host of Daoists came out from the Directorate of Works, Daoist Master Lin Xuan at their head, and followed them step for step onto the river.
Daoist Master Lin Xuan's gaze was strange; passing over the four girls, it settled upon Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua as they walked upon the water.
"Daoist Master, both of those youths are very strong! " An old Daoist said in a low voice, "Sect Master Shen is one thing; his methods run deep. But what is the background of that other youth?
" "Xu Shenghua of the Heaven Above.
I met him when I was a guest at the Little Jade Capital with my master.
" Daoist Master Lin Xuan's eyes flickered. "He beat me in five moves.
" The hearts of the many Daoists of the sects were deeply shaken.
Even Shen Mu would not claim he could defeat Daoist Master Lin Xuan in five moves.
In recent years, cultivating under the old Daoist Master, Lin Xuan's attainments in the mystic arts had grown ever deeper, his understanding of the Daoist sword ever more profound.
His strength was in no way inferior to the old Daoist Master in his prime; indeed, he had surpassed it.
Daoist Master Lin Xuan did not slacken his pace.
Leading the host of Daoists onward, he said softly, "His techniques and divine abilities grow strong against the strong; that is the most fearsome thing about them. The stronger the opponent, the more they draw out the power of his divine abilities and his techniques. In the Little Jade Capital he defeated many.
I would very much like to know whether any man can receive his divine abilities, whether any man can force him to break through the limits of those techniques and abilities, until he has nothing left to break.
" "The Human Sovereign, perhaps, may be such a man. " His fighting spirit flared high of a sudden, but he held it in check and let it disturb neither of them. The river waters rolled on and on, and thus do all things pass away. Shen Mu and Xu Shenghua did not halt their steps, but walked on steadily, and soon came to the far bank without ever pausing.
"He is giving me a chance to rest. " Xu Shenghua had learned another trick, and his heart quivered faintly.
"He brought me to the Directorate of Works and made me waste my mental power, seizing the upper hand for himself.
And now he gives me a chance to rest, showing that he does not care whether my mental power is spent or not, because he holds the upper hand throughout.
A moment ago he drained my mind; now he presses me on the spiritual plane, so that in my heart I admit myself a notch weaker than he.
" Though he saw through Shen Mu's design, he had already fallen into Shen Mu's snare and could not struggle free. From the moment Shen Mu met him again and they drank together in the Listening to Rain Pavilion of the Flower Lane, the battle had already begun. From that hour he had entered Shen Mu's rhythm; by now Shen Mu's grand momentum was complete, and should the two come to blows, one might well imagine how overbearing, how gloriously unrestrained Shen Mu's onslaught would be. "The Tyrant Body is truly no common thing.
" Xu Shenghua steadied his mind, his gaze flickering.
"But I too bear a Tyrant Body.
Tyrant Body for Tyrant Body, I will not be weaker than he. " Their steps gradually took on an order of first and second: Shen Mu took a step, and Xu Shenghua followed a step.
Xu Shenghua was like his shadow, and the sight gave one a strange, uncanny feeling.
The four girls behind them saw it all: of the two big boys, one walked in front, showing his back to the man behind him, while the youth behind followed step for step, never seizing the chance to cut him down, but rather seeming tethered by a rope, drawn along helplessly in the other's wake.