Chapter 498 — The Late Emperor's Remnant
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The divine-ability trap Luo Wushuang had laid here was powerful—unbelievably powerful.
Even Xing An might not possess such magnificent dharma power. Which meant Luo Wushuang had not only survived but flourished; he looked mighty, and in all likelihood had already become a god!
He still nursed his grudge over the severed arm. He must have revisited the old place after attaining godhood, found this cliff, seen Shen Mu's handwriting on the rock face, and so left behind a stone stele.
If Shen Mu ever came here, he would surely want to know what was written beneath the stele—and then he would be caught! "I truly should not have revealed my name.
I ought to have made one up at the time.
. . Still, at least we share the calamity.
Luo Wushuang is far too petty—the Great Venerable had a leg cut off by me, the same leg, twice, and he never said a word. " The divine ability Luo Wushuang left behind did not last long. Soon the trap's power dispersed, and the yellow sand in the sky was cut into dust, drifting and swirling, scattered on every side by the wind.
Shen Mu narrowed his eyes, secretly alarmed.
Last night he had crossed paths with Luo Wushuang, and though the man's blade art was exquisitely refined, it was still considerably inferior to his own. Luo Wushuang's was a Fission Blade Art: one split into two, two into four, four into eight, splitting without end.
Split ten times, and it became one thousand and twenty-four blade-lights; split fourteen times, and it numbered more than sixteen thousand. Yet this blade art had one great flaw: Luo Wushuang's dharma power was fixed. The more times it split, the more each blade-light's force diminished; split too many times, and the attack lacked power.
Against other masters he could still reign supreme, but against a being like Shen Mu, master of both the sword and the blade, he could hardly hope to gain the upper hand. Thus, even with his dharma power all but spent and his body covered in wounds, Shen Mu had been able to sever one of his arms. This time, however, Shen Mu saw that Luo Wushuang's blade art had advanced to a terrifying degree.
For tens of li around, yellow sand filled the sky, but the true killing intent lay in the blade-light pervading that sand. It seemed as though blade-light was everywhere in the sand for tens of li, still within the Fission Blade Art—and yet in truth there was only one blade-light.
The blade-light struck the sand dust and was refracted, rebounding; because it moved so fast, it produced the strange spectacle of blade-light everywhere—and yet Luo Wushuang had struck only once! Shen Mu could picture it.
After attaining godhood, Luo Wushuang had come here, seen the writing Shen Mu left on the rock face, recognized Shen Mu's sword art in it, and so set up the stele.
He had stood before the stele, driven a single blade-stroke into the yellow sand, and hidden his blade intent and his divine ability within that sand—beneath the stele!
After untold ages, Shen Mu had come to this place, stirred his blade intent and his divine ability, and set the divine ability off! "His blade art has reached the Dao realm.
" Shen Mu's eye twitched at the corner. He stepped into the swirling dust and, braving the choking sand, walked toward the cliff.
Luo Wushuang's blade art had already reached the Dao realm—like Jingping's Imperial Preceptor, a fearsome being of the Dao realm! To enter the Dao through the blade: this man's understanding of the blade path was likely no weaker than the Butcher's, and what was more terrible, his cultivation was deep and mighty, likely far above the Butcher's!
Shen Mu paused, startled. The cliff ahead still stood, his writing on the rock face still there; the cliff had suffered not the slightest damage, as though Luo Wushuang's divine ability had deliberately avoided it.
He did not dwell on it, and looked toward the stele.
The stele was still there as well, without so much as a hair's damage.