Chapter 451 — After the Founding Patriarch
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Not only the sword light: the tower itself seemed to vanish, replaced by a blood ocean that blotted out sky and earth! The second move of the Sword Diagram: One Sword Opens the Emperor, Blood Ocean. When this move was unleashed, that vast and sorrowful feeling rushed at their faces, so that in a trance they seemed to see countless gods and demons struggling in the blood ocean, howling, then becoming corpses under the sword light and sinking into the sea of blood!
One sword opens the emperor, a blood ocean; the mountains and rivers remain, the heart vast and lost; looking left and right, the old kingdom is no more, its people still in old attire. During this, they heard someone strike the table and rise, someone roar in fury, and the clash of divine powers, the brief sounds of combat.
Suddenly the blood ocean faded like time flying past, and they dimly saw a figure with a divine sword on his back, turning his head back in sorrow; that lonely, world-weary feeling stirred the heart. The figure vanished, the tower reappeared.
Shen Mu's hand was still raised, palm up, and on it a sword core spun without cease. The bowls and dishes before them, every dish, were just as before, not the slightest bit disordered. Cold sweat sprang out on every brow.
They hurried to look around, hearts in dread: Yu Jinfang lay dead on the ground, Tingfang had fallen back in his seat with a red dot of blood at his brow, and two others sprawled dead over the table. A moment ago they had struck the table and risen within Shen Mu's sword light, trying to contend with it, and one by one they had died under this move; the others, because they sat there without moving, were unharmed.
Yue Qingshan's face was pale.
He too had not moved — not because he had failed to feel the terrible sword intent of Shen Mu's move, but because he had felt it all too truly, and so did not dare stir. Geke waved his hand, and at once men came forward and dragged the corpses away. At the seats, some faces were pale, some livid.
The shock of Shen Mu's move was too strong, his sword technique too fast; they had no time to react and could only sit there. That taste of waiting for death with bound hands was truly hard to bear. Especially those few Seven Stars realm experts: though they could send their primordial spirits out of their bodies, and their primordial spirits were formidable in battle, the tower was too narrow and Shen Mu's sword too fast — before they could even form a thought, the sword light had drowned them.
The power of Shen Mu's move was immense; every one of those swords was refined from the finest materials and had the strength to endanger their lives! And their arts of "all things have gods, all things have spirits" were indeed far slower to activate than Shen Mu's sword. If they fought, they could only first open distance from him, or unleash their arts a step ahead of him.
But in this tower, they had no chance at all.
Shen Mu put away the sword core and said apologetically, "Brother Geke, I have soiled your tower.
I hope you will forgive me. " Geke said hurriedly, "Sect Master Shen's sword technique is exquisite beyond compare; it has opened my eyes. Though you thrust out I know not how many swords, not a hair of my tower was harmed — that is true skill.
May I ask, was this move created after the reforms of the kingdom of Jingping? " Shen Mu shook his head. "This move is not an art from after the reforms; it was created four or five hundred years ago.
It too has fallen behind the times — but on this soil of the Western Lands, with this one move I can slaughter my way through Six Harmonies and Seven Stars and have no rival. Everyone seated here is strong, but still no match for Ban Gongcuo.