Chapter 456 — The Evil Cult Overlord's Might
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
If he dies here, we truly will not escape blame. Neither the Lord of Zhentian Palace nor Bagou is an easy opponent!
Array Master, think thrice.
" He Yiyi shook her head.
"We will not save him.
" The crowd exchanged glances, bewildered by her meaning. "I cannot kill the Sect Master of the Central Plains' Youmo Cult, but I have already struck at him once, and so the debt is settled. If I strike again to carry Young Master Yu off, then the grievance between me and Sect Master Shen can never be undone.
" He Yiyi said calmly, "I have long heard that Jingping of the Central Plains has reformed its laws and grows stronger by the day; it has already swallowed the six directions and swept the eight wilds, and the grasslands and the snow plains have all been folded into Jingping.
Jingping's next target cannot be the Wasteland—it can only be our Western Lands.
Zhentian Palace cannot hold Jingping back, and the Youmo Cult will enter the Western Lands as well. To save Young Master Yu today is to summon utter ruin upon our own heads. " A chill ran through them all.
He Yiyi continued, "Besides, could a son of the Lord of Zhentian Palace lack means to save his life? Young Master Yu hunted Nai Kui down and pressed her to the very brink of death—such ruthlessness is beyond ordinary men. " Scarcely had she spoken when a jade belt at Yu Bochuan's waist flew out and became a great serpent in the wind, coiling tight about the onrushing dragon-qilin. Yu Bochuan fled in wild haste—and suddenly sword-light flashed thrice. His body was cut into four in midair; his two legs went on sprinting forward, while the head upon his neck wore a look of blank bewilderment. His chest, too, was split in two.
Shen Mu sheathed his sword—and just then, the Yu Bochuan who had been cut into four in the air turned into four blocks of wood and dropped down.
"A peach standing in for a plum? " Shen Mu was startled; he raised a hand and seized the sword pill flying up from the Taotie Pouch, then hurled it with all his strength. The sword pill, two chi square, went shrieking forward.
Along the way it spun at furious speed, and from within it flying sword after flying sword became streaks of cold light that struck the ground and bored into the earth! And from beneath the ground a figure shot up into the sky—Yu Bochuan himself, sword-lights trailing behind him, bursting up through the soil, driving him out of the earth and pursuing him without letup.
Yu Bochuan looked up to see the sword pill smashing down upon him head-on, and his face changed drastically; struck full in the face by that absurdly huge sword pill, his whole face was driven into his skull, and his skull into his chest. Suddenly his corpse turned into a clay figure and dropped from the sky. Layer upon layer of array patterns surfaced in Shen Mu's eyes.
He stared at the ground, his gaze flitting at furious speed—then suddenly his arms quivered, and his body flew out flat and level, bursting past Juncheng in an instant.
He struck the heap of mountain rocks before the city with one palm; the rocks exploded with a roar, and amid the flying stones Yu Bochuan's figure flashed into view! "Array Master, I will kill him outside the city—that leaves you a way out!
" Shen Mu's voice pierced into the city.
He Yiyi frowned and looked up beyond the walls.
She saw Shen Mu reach out a hand for a blade; a butcher's knife flew up of itself and he caught it, holding it reversed. The two youths crossed forms in midair like two spinning tops, trading footwork back and forth.
Chh— Blood-light flashed. Shen Mu descended from the air carrying a human head, the tip of the great blade in his other hand still dripping blood. Thud.
Behind him Yu Bochuan's corpse fell, struck the ground, and bounced twice. Within the city, Array Master He Yiyi and the masters of Juncheng went pale. They stared dully at the youth standing beyond the walls with the head in his hand.