Chapter 572 — The Ten-Mile Star-Sand Snare Formation
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu had just charged into the gorge with the chest and Jiang Miao when he saw light begin to flow through the great rune seals on the cliffs to either side—and the next moment the yellow sand of the whole gorge rose into the air, as though a sandstorm had been whipped up! "Don't breathe! " Shen Mu shouted.
"Seal every pore on your body!
" Jiang Miao caught on at once and hastily held his breath, closing every pore.
The yellow sand in that gorge was no sand at all, but primal soldiers, one and all; every grain could swell at any moment into a boulder dozens of acres across.
If you drew a few grains into your nose, your throat, your lungs between one breath and the next, and those grains then swelled to tens of acres, the outcome hardly needed spelling out. Or if a few grains entered through the pores of the skin, the swelling would be just as disastrous.
In the instant before the mad sand arrived, Shen Mu poured his primordial qi into his sword core. It rang and swelled, and flying swords flowed out like water, one after another, forming a metal sphere of perfect roundness that drew him inside.
Even the most exquisite sword technique could not hold off the blast of that raging sand, could not guarantee that not one grain slipped past; so he simply let the sword core take the most perfect of circles and shield him.
At Li City he had already refined his flying swords to the point of sword-as-flowing-water, able to take whatever form he wished, just like the sword core of the Silent Artisan. To have refined an instrument to such a degree was a godlike feat of craftsmanship. No sooner had Shen Mu hidden himself inside the sword core than the mad sand was upon them; in a single breath the round sphere was pocked with countless small dents, packed so densely that they nearly ran together.
The materials Si Yunxiang had given him for refining the sword were the finest of the very finest. Earlier Shen Mu had grumbled that the sword was too heavy, so heavy he could scarcely drive it; now he was rather glad that she had given him the best, for only so had it survived the first impact.
Even so, the sword core was sent flying on the spot, smashing and ricocheting through the gorge at terrifying speed! Inside it, Shen Mu and Jiang Miao were shaken to the bone, so wretched they nearly coughed up blood.
Sheltered within the core, they might escape the sand itself, but the concussions of its blows nearly shattered them.
Shen Mu immediately drove the sword core with all his strength, pushing its water-like nature to the utmost. The instant a dent was struck into it, the core flowed and mended itself.
But Shen Mu's primordial qi was all too often smashed apart by the flying sand, leaving him unable to drive the core, so that the pitted hollows multiplied. "This killing formation is more terrifying than I imagined! " Despair filled Shen Mu's heart.
And in the very instant they stepped into the gorge, Xing Han arrived on their heels, reaching out to seize the sword core—when suddenly the mad sand came flying.
Xing Han's expression shifted slightly; his fingers trembled, his divine power erupted, and he shook the sand back. "There's something wrong with this sand.
It's primal soldiers, not flying sand!
My flesh is the body of a true god—what is a little flying sand to me? " He too saw through it quickly, and judging himself to have entered the divine realm, he plunged into the gorge in pursuit of the sword core where Shen Mu hid. His strength was greater than before, yet even so he could only advance through that gorge with grinding difficulty, each step a torment.
The yellow sand rose and whirled across the sky, attacking from every direction.
Xing Han's hands flew, divine powers bursting out one after another to block it. Even when a grain he could not stop landed on him, it only left a dull ache in his flesh; it could not wound him.