Chapter 526 — I Can Do It Myself!
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
More of the volumes were destroyed, and Shen Mu's fury broke its banks entirely: the First Ancestor Human Emperor did not hold the lifeblood of past generations of Human Emperors in the slightest regard. The lifelong toil of the Village Elder, of Qi Kang, and of other Human Emperors besides—all of it, ruined in the First Ancestor's hands! Shen Mu's vital essence rocked and erupted with a roar, and his crimson qi became a sea of blood—blood that floated shields and spears, with countless corpses of gods and demons adrift upon it.
The second form of the Village Elder's sword diagram: One Sword Opens the Vast Sea of Blood! His sword art was not the Village Elder's.
The Village Elder's art was the Fourteen Sword Forms; he had folded the eighteen fundamental sword moves into this single stroke.
Save that its conception fell short, and that it carried a few small flaws, the power of the strike already far surpassed the Village Elder's. The instant the move left his hand, the figure of the First Ancestor Human Emperor rose slowly out of the boundless sea of blood, his sword art opening the way, cleaving the blood sea apart; the countless divine and demon corpses whirled up and, instead of hindering him, became his allies, and he came rushing at Shen Mu. Bang, bang, bang—burst after burst of blood-light exploded across Shen Mu's body and he flew backward, wounds pierced into him by the First Ancestor's vital-essence sword.
He crashed hard against the wall of the Human Emperor Hall, then dropped and lay prone upon the ground. The Dragon Qilin was enraged; it opened its jaws and roared, charging the First Ancestor Human Emperor. The First Ancestor's five fingers danced, and from the splayed tips runes burst forth, forming a seal more than ten feet wide that stamped itself onto the Dragon Qilin's gaping, blood-bowl maw.
The qilin true fire in its mouth was blocked at once, and with a flick of his sleeve the First Ancestor sent the beast tumbling into the wall.
Chest strode forward, its lid thrown open, meaning to swallow him whole; the First Ancestor set his toe upon the chest, and with a whoosh it slammed into the Dragon Qilin that had just dropped from the wall, and the two of them went tumbling head over heels out of the Human Emperor Hall and down the steps. "You have seen it now.
That so-called Overlord Body of yours, that so-called Kaihuang bloodline—it is nothing at all.
" The First Ancestor waved his sleeve, and a bookshelf floated into the air; the books upon it fluttered and flew, and between one brush of his sleeve and the next, each volume of a Human Emperor's lifeblood turned into paper butterflies.
The First Ancestor's face was placid: "These books are like you—nothing at all. No amount of effort is of any use.
Why bother?
Why keep struggling and striving for that laughable notion of yours? " Shen Mu stood. His ten fingers flew, swiftly sealing the wounds all around his body, and he charged at the First Ancestor once more: "That you cannot do it does not mean I cannot!
Seal!
" "Forbid! " "Fix!
" "River! " "Mountain! " He came on in madness, driving Human Emperor Kong Xian's Words-Become-Law: the word Seal appeared beneath the First Ancestor's feet, the word Forbid enclosed him, the word Fix appeared before him, the word River coiled about him like a flood dragon, the word Mountain pressed down upon his head.
Words spoken, law follows—the five words issued together, a wondrous art and divine power created by Human Emperor Kong Xian. Yet in the next instant the five great words shattered with a clatter; the First Ancestor Human Emperor brought a palm down like heaven and earth overturned, crashing upon him.
Shen Mu roared.
Dragons coiled about his body, his muscles and sinews wrapped his bones like great serpents, his frame hideous with power, his spine rearing up like a true dragon.
The True Dragon Overlord Body!