Chapter 446 — The Uncanny Western Frontier
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
At once Ban Gongcuo felt that there was little force in the blow, but that within the fist lurked an inward-drawing power, hauling him forward toward Shen Mu.
And Shen Mu's upraised thumb, falling into Ban Gongcuo's eyes, sent a chill through him! "The killing force of this blow lies in that thumb! " He threw all his strength into breaking free.
Shen Mu's move was no fist art at all but a sword art; that thumb of his was his sword, and if he could not break free, then the thumb would press down and that sword would surely cut him in two!
"This fellow, how has his fighting skill improved so swiftly, so fearfully?
It is not even a year since we last crossed blades; how has his strength risen so fast? " Ban Gongcuo put forth all his strength, and at last tore free of Shen Mu's fist; and at that moment the sword light at the tip of Shen Mu's thumb blazed up, his qi turning to threads, each thread a slender sword intertwined with the rest, and with a hiss the sword light chopped down together with the descending thumb!
Ban Gongcuo abruptly became a black shadow and dropped, clinging to the sand, and the shadow flew off at speed, away from Shen Mu. Shen Mu raised his hand and pressed down, and at once a great palm print half a mu across appeared on the ground.
Ban Gongcuo let out a breath: "The wretch missed. .
.
" Yet at that very moment the sword light in midair, blotting out the sky, hummed and buzzed, and all of it shot downward together, covering so vast an area that he could not escape its compass at all.
Suddenly a third dune giant rose from beneath Shen Mu's feet, and the rain of swords falling from midair went out of control at once. Ban Gongcuo hastily tore himself free of the black shadow; the shadow became a man who leaped up out of the desert, dodging and flashing again and again along the way, evading shaft after shaft of light, and fled the ruin.
He looked back, and saw Shen Mu swallowed by three dune giants, and knew not whether he lived or died. "When that wretch is gravely wounded by the dune giants, that will be my best moment to kill him!
" Scarcely had Ban Gongcuo thought this when he saw Dragon Qilin come roaring toward him. Ban Gongcuo gave a cold laugh: "You beast, you dare raise a hand against me? " So saying, he bowed his head and made obeisance, crying out in a harsh voice: "Fat Dragon!
" At once behind him appeared a vast altar, and the demon god upon the altar bowed its head and made obeisance too.
Dragon Qilin was unmoved. Ban Gongcuo, somewhat panicked, hastily bowed again: "Dragon Qilin!
" Dragon Qilin was already not far from him, firelight brimming in its mouth. Ban Gongcuo spat blood; he had been gravely wounded to begin with, and this soul-bowing art drained the primal essence savagely, so that two bows had already cost him dearly.
"Qingqing! " Ban Gongcuo clenched his teeth and bowed once more. Xiong Qi'er, clutching Dragon Qilin's mane, climbed onto the head of that plump, huge beast and looked at Ban Gongcuo in curiosity.
Ban Gongcuo opened his mouth and with a retch sprayed out an arrow of blood; from Dragon Qilin's mouth a pillar of fire, wrapped in blazing radiance, swept across more than ten li, and wherever it passed, several dunes were leveled by that single pillar!
Ban Gongcuo hastily hid himself inside the great cauldron; the tremendous clang, clang, clang of it gradually receded, and the cauldron was swept up into the air, then came down, rolling and tumbling, swept out dozens of li.
Dragon Qilin raced over, and where the cauldron had fallen there was only a sand pit and a smear of blood; Ban Gongcuo had plainly fled through the earth.
"My strength was not enough to hold him either?
To live ten thousand years is truly something; his skill at fleeing for his life is even greater than the Patriarch's.
" Dragon Qilin marveled.
From the ruin came an earthshaking crash.