Chapter 445 — Dragon Soaring Over the Sand Sea
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Ban Gongcuo's body was like a great golden Buddha. The two fleshly bodies crashed together with a roar; dragon cries and Buddhist chants reverberated without cease. Ban Gongcuo's gleaming golden face went white in an instant, his arm snapped with a crack, and he was sent flying backward.
"This is not the Nine Dragons Imperial Art!" he shouted fiercely.
The Nine Dragons Imperial Art was supreme in its attainment upon the fleshly body; it was the peerless study of Emperor Yanfeng. Ban Gongcuo had never obtained this art, but he had once exchanged blows with Shen Mu, and Shen Mu had used the Nine Dragons Imperial Art.
Still, the Nine Dragons Imperial Art of that time, though fierce, was but one of no few peerless arts that could stand on equal footing with it, and so Ban Gongcuo had felt no fear at all.
But this time he had suffered a great loss at the hands of the Nine Dragons Imperial Art. The Nine Dragons Imperial Art that Shen Mu roused was savage beyond measure, the power of his fleshly body invincibly strong, almost like a true dragon in human form. When the strength of those muscles and sinews burst forth, muscle and tendon and bone exerted themselves together like a herd of savage dragons!
Confronted by this power near to primal savagery, his golden body of the great Buddha collapsed outright; his arm snapped with a crack, and the broken bone stabbed out through the elbow!
"Sword Burst!"
Shen Mu pressed his palm downward. Shua, shua, shua — countless flying swords rained down from the sky, the surging sword-light like the tide thrown up by an explosion, drowning Ban Gongcuo in a single sweep.
Enduring the agony, Ban Gongcuo sank downward and slipped into the desert before the sword-light reached his body.
The eight thousand swords fell, and the desert all but boiled, threads of fine sword-light weaving back and forth among the grains of sand!
Shen Mu landed, his robes whipping up a great wind that forced down the flames of the desert. Touching the ground with the tip of his toe, he rose into the air once more, and wherever he passed the flames parted of themselves to either side.
Several li away the desert seethed, and countless blades of sword-light shot up into the sky. Shen Mu let out a roar, his vital essence running wild, and charged forward, hurtling madly along just above the fiery red sand and stone, and at once the desert gained one fiery red sand dragon after another.
Dozens of sand dragons threaded through the red desert, rising and falling, diving in and out of the sand, and in a few blinks they reached the place where sword-light pierced the sky. Their divine power burst forth all at once; dragon cries rolled vast, and countless flying sands exploded with a boom!
Amid the sand and dust, flying swords flickered in and out of sight, and Ban Gongcuo's figure showed faintly, standing upon a great cauldron. The cauldron quivered, and sound waves took form and substance, flicking away one flying sword after another.
The great cauldron suddenly sank into the ground and went off through the sand.
Shen Mu gave chase at speed and called out loudly: "Qingqing, draw some water and follow Fat Dragon over here!"
Xiong Qier was puzzled, and said to Long Qilin: "Big Brother has gone muddle-headed; he called me Qingqing."
Long Qilin shook his head. "You do not know what Ban Gongcuo is capable of. If he knows your name, he can bow you to death from a thousand li away, so the Sect Master did not use your true name. Most likely the Sect Master is not certain enough of killing him, and so he told us to fetch water and follow. The Sect Master is a forsaken one of the Wasteland; he cannot hold out long in the Blazing Desert. There is not a trace of water vapor in the Blazing Desert, and water-element divine abilities cannot be used at all. Let us hurry, fetch water, and go after him!"
Xiong Qier understood all at once. She was just about to draw water from the lake when she suddenly cried out in alarm.