Chapter 445 — Dragon Soaring Over the Sand Sea
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The youth's reflexes were lightning-quick; the instant Shen Mu moved his sword, he hurled himself backward and dived into the sheepskin tent.
The sheepskin tent burst into pieces, and countless blades of sword-light shot out from it in every direction. Then all at once the sword-light froze, and in the next breath it plunged howling into the earth like a long dragon — for the youth had slipped away through the ground the moment he retreated into the tent.
Boom—
A li away, in the Blazing Desert, eight thousand flying swords came rolling and wheeling up out of the soil, hurtling skyward in pursuit of the youth's figure.
The youth leaped into the air and suddenly flung his arms wide; two wings of blazing gold grew from his back. The wings beat like mad, and countless golden feather-swords rose against Shen Mu's sword-light, clashing with a ringing clang-clang, sparks flying through the air, flying swords hurtling wildly everywhere in the sky.
Shen Mu reached out with his great hand, and the disordered flying swords in midair abruptly halted and gathered toward the center, clanging and ringing as they met, until they became a spinning ball of metal more than a zhang across.
That was his sword core!
Only, this sword core was truly enormous, hovering in the air and revolving without cease, utterly metallic.
A fire tornado came raging across and swept the youth up; his form was swallowed by the fiery whirlwind, yet the next instant he appeared at the very top of the whirlwind, standing atop the tornado, and laughed long and loud: "Sect Master Shen! Human Emperor Shen! You truly are a ghost that will not be shaken off! Do you think the tattoos all over your body frighten me? Take a bow from me—"
This youth was none other than Ban Gongcuo; standing at the head of the tornado, he bent low and bowed to Shen Mu.
The moment he bowed, a grim and sinister altar surfaced behind him, and upon the altar a demon god took form, likewise bending to bow!
Shen Mu suddenly splayed his five fingers and pressed them toward the ground. At once the earth beneath the fire tornado warped, and the sand and stones upon the surface whirled madly, dragging the fiery whirlwind down to be swallowed by the earth.
At the head of the tornado Ban Gongcuo could not keep his footing and could not complete his bow. He looked up and saw that the sword core had at some unknown moment come apart, and the eight thousand swords were spinning madly like a vast maw bristling with sword tips, coming to devour him.
The Sword-Circling Style.
"One Finger Settles the Realm!"
Four great booms rang out in succession from within Ban Gongcuo's body; divine treasury after divine treasury opened, and his dharma power surged at once. He pointed his left hand at the ground, and at once the earth ceased to warp and turn; from beneath the ground welled up fiery lotuses, one after another, fixing the ground in place.
His right hand he pointed at the great maw in the sky that came to devour him, and within that maw formed of countless flying swords there too appeared fiery lotuses, one after another, colliding with the spinning, coiling swords and blocking Shen Mu's move.
Ban Gongcuo smiled in mockery: "Sect Master Shen, I have already reached the Seven Stars realm. To stand one level higher is to stand one heaven higher — enough to crush a man dead! You have felt that dharma power of mine, the power that leaves you in despair, have you not?"
Suddenly the fiery lotuses shattered with a great crash, and Ban Gongcuo was startled at heart: "His dharma power is no less than mine! I am already at the Seven Stars realm — how could he have honed his dharma power to such a pitch?"