Chapter 478 — Hidden Designs
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
"Damn you! " "Damn you! " Shen Mu raged.
"Did you not hide your own little schemes in your oath, waiting to stab me in the back?
" Ban Gongcuo dodged this way and that, utterly bedraggled, and hastily slapped the Taotie Pouch at his waist. A sword case flew out, and flying swords soared into the air one after another, forming the sixth chapter of the Dao Sword.
Seven golden lotuses reveal their marvels; the clear dawn rejoices in grace made new!
This was the sword art of the Daoist Dao Sword at the Seven Stars realm: the sword flies to the seven stars, the seven stars become lotuses, hiding the five elements within and swallowing the sun and moon — a power of tremendous magnitude.
Shen Mu bellowed and answered with the sixth chapter of the Dao Sword as well. The two sword arts collided; Ban Gongcuo was sent flying backward, then abruptly burrowed into the ground.
Shen Mu charged forward and shouted, "Fatty Long, I will wound him — you kill him!
" With that he plunged bodily into the earth.
In the distance Long Qilin had been watching all along without ever drawing near; at these words he rushed over in a frantic hurry.
He had just reached the spot where Shen Mu and Ban Gongcuo had vanished when the desert a dozen li away suddenly exploded and two figures shot up into the sky. Long Qilin was about to hurry over when, all at once, teleportation runes flickered over both men in midair and their forms disappeared.
When their figures flashed into view again, they were more than a dozen li away, sword lights clashing with a din of ringing steel.
"Those two are past masters at running for their lives — how am I supposed to catch up? " Long Qilin complained bitterly.
He was just about to give chase when Shen Mu's and Ban Gongcuo's figures vanished again and reappeared again, sword light blanketing the sky, clashing with incredible density, streaks of bloody light raining down from the air.
"Sect Master, do not run any further!
" Long Qilin looked ahead, his face changing drastically, and shouted, "The battlefield of Imperial Preceptor Jingping and the Old Mother of True Heaven lies straight ahead! " Shen Mu pursued Ban Gongcuo to kill him, and Ban Gongcuo, resolved to flee for his life at any cost, gritted his steel teeth and charged into the sandstorm. Shen Mu charged into the sandstorm as well.
The wind howled, whipping up sand and dust into a terrifying storm; within it lightning flashed and thunder rolled, and countless grains of flying sand, like countless tiny primal weapons, struck his body and nearly broke his skin, hurting fiercely.
"True Dragon Overlord Body! " Shen Mu bellowed, and the fruit of these days of fusing the Nine Dragons Emperor Art with the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art showed itself at once: his vital essence coiled around him like a dragon, his blood coursed like a dragon without cease, his sinews and flesh were as a dragon, and every motion burst forth like thunder.
Countless grains of sand struck him and were all bounced away; he scarcely felt any pain. Two beams of light shot from his eyes, and the flying sand was vaporized by that divine radiance before it could even reach him.
Shen Mu looked around; his sight could not reach far, but Ban Gongcuo was close by, so he charged straight at him. Beneath Ban Gongcuo's feet was a great shield covered in tortoise patterns; the patterns glowed, casting a magnificent tortoise-shell design around him and shielding him layer upon layer. The sheer number of his treasures was beyond imagining. When Imperial Preceptor Jingping had smashed the Golden Palace last time, Ban Gongcuo must have carried off no small number of the primal weapons he had collected or forged over these ten thousand years; this tortoise-patterned great shield was clearly another treasure of formidable power.
The two met within the sandstorm.