Chapter 476 — A Floating Life in the Mirror
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Ban Gongcuo bellowed, and his body underwent a monstrous change. Wings sprouted from his ribs, his feet became bird claws, and the cauldron hung above his head, draping down a curtain of firelight to shield him all around. His wings blazed with golden light. He suddenly spread them wide, and the feathers clashed with a ringing sound like metal. Howling, he charged at Shen Mu, his two enormous wings beating, wind and thunder mingling, his feathers like swords, slashing and cutting, his assault a violent storm.
Shen Mu crossed his hands, and the Carefree Sword between them split apart with a ringing clash, becoming eight thousand flying swords that danced like a river. The mighty sword-river surged toward Ban Gongcuo. Ban Gongcuo's steps faltered; his wings flapped wildly, sword-feathers flying up to meet the sword-river. A ceaseless ringing filled the air. When the sword-river had passed, Ban Gongcuo cried out in alarm and stood there stripped bare, broken sword-feathers strewn at his feet. Every one of his feathers had been cut away by Shen Mu, leaving only two bare wings that flapped twice.
The curtain of firelight his cauldron had draped down was no small thing—it was called the Yiyan Divine Fire Shield, and its defensive power was terrifying. It could continually divert an enemy's attacks into the cauldron, and the Yiyan divine fire was fearsome enough to burn ordinary primal weapons straight to ash. Yet Shen Mu had shattered his Yiyan Divine Fire Shield outright and cut every feather from his wings!
"This fellow can even break through my Yiyan divine fire. He truly is a hair stronger than me—I am no match for him!"
At the thought, Ban Gongcuo hesitated no longer. He suddenly leaped up and plunged head and feet into the cauldron; the cauldron struck the ground, about to burrow into the earth and flee. Before it could sink into the sand, Shen Mu had seized its leg and lifted the cauldron up. "Where is the Venerable One off to?" he asked with a smile.
Just then, Ban Gongcuo turned into a streak of black light and landed on the sand, burrowing through the earth as he fled. Shen Mu tossed aside the cauldron, his body suddenly becoming a black shadow that skimmed along the ground in pursuit. A moment later, a thousand zhang away, sand and dust billowed, and the two burst out of the ground. Ban Gongcuo ran two quick steps, feathers growing on him once more, then flipped and leaped up, becoming a great bird that beat its wings and shot high into the sky.
"Racing me in speed?"
Shen Mu unleashed the Heaven-Grazing Divine Legs, and without any spell or divine power, stepped through the air in pursuit. Man and bird chased each other across the sky, until after a moment the great bird was beaten into a featherless chicken and plummeted from the heights.
Before Ban Gongcuo hit the ground, a sonorous elephant cry suddenly issued from his mouth. The muscles of his head and face bulged wildly, his neck twisting with a crack. Two more heads grew, and he became a three-headed divine elephant—elephant heads upon a human body. His body swelled madly to a height of six or seven zhang, possessed of boundless strength. He hurled a fist at the pursuing Shen Mu, all three heads crying out together: "Shen, meet your death!"
Boom—
Their fists collided, and the force of their bodily divine powers erupted. Whirlwinds like blades rose around them, sweeping up countless sand and stones in a mad spiral. The three-headed elephant-man spat blood, his massive body sent flying backward.
Shen Mu gave chase. Before he could catch up, Ban Gongcuo's three-headed elephant body swayed and reverted to his true form. Ban Gongcuo leaped through the air. Before he landed, a lotus appeared in the sky, blooming to the width of a zhang. He jumped into it, and the lotus suddenly closed its petals, vanishing with him inside.
Shen Mu was startled. "A teleportation art? Not quite..."