Chapter 579 — A Strange Visitor Descends
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
No sooner had his voice fallen than Qingyan's grip closed on empty air: Ban Gongcuo's body flattened to the ground and became a shadow! Qingyan was startled.
He reached for the shadow on the ground, but it burst apart with a soft pop and became a wisp of smoke, and his hand closed on nothing. The smoke split into dozens of strands and streaked away along the ground.
The other young experts of the Dragon Village leaped into the air, each darting in a different direction, each chasing a strand, scattering them one by one — yet nowhere in the smoke was there any trace of Ban Gongcuo. Suddenly Shen Mu raised his hand and sent a streak of sword light flying. Blood flashed; a leg appeared out of thin air and dropped to the ground, spattered with gore.
Shen Mu drove his flying sword with his qi, the blade flashing, but it stabbed only empty air. More smoke spread out in every direction, filling streets great and small, and from within it came Ban Gongcuo's voice, shocked and furious: "Shen!
You and I are irreconcilable!
" The place had always been crowded, and now the smoke filled street after street; many passersby cried out in astonishment. The many dragon experts searched through the crowd, and finding Ban Gongcuo's trail became harder still. Qingyan's face went from green to white and back again.
He was a dragon god, and yet Ban Gongcuo had slipped out of his very hands; his face could not bear it. And Ban Gongcuo was a lame old man, one leg long and one short, the short one a deer's leg — that he should escape was a disgrace indeed.
Still, it was not entirely his fault.
He had borne the man no ill will earlier; he had only clapped Ban Gongcuo on the shoulder, never meaning to seize him, and by the time Shen Mu called out his warning, it was too late to bind him. Ban Gongcuo's talent for fleeing for his life was unmatched under heaven; even Shen Mu admitted himself his inferior. Even Xing An, if he wished to take Shen Mu, had to trap him in a dead-end alley — how much more so with Ban Gongcuo? Seeing the Dragon Village folk somewhat downcast, Shen Mu said, "There is no need for dismay.
Ban Gongcuo's skill at running for his life puts even me to shame. I have fought him several times at the same cultivation realm and could never take him; all I ever managed was to cut off one of his legs. Now he stands a whole realm above me, a great master of the Heaven-Man realm, and his abilities have grown greatly.
Escape arts he could not use before he can now perform, and he is all the harder to hold. That I could, with your help, take another of his legs is already no small achievement. " "To have such death-defying tricks at the Heaven-Man realm — truly remarkable," the Dragon Village folk marveled.
Yet inwardly they were all the more uncomfortable. Ban Gongcuo now had only a single deer's leg left, and still he had escaped from their hands. His talent for flight was indeed fearsome. They had left the village this time resolved to make a name for themselves in a single battle, never expecting that the moment they emerged they would meet a freak like Ban Gongcuo and suffer a setback. Qingya said excitedly, "Our very first day out of the village, and we meet such an interesting fellow! The world beyond the village is even more splendid than I imagined! " The others of the Dragon Village did not share her excitement. Shen Mu saw it all and laughed.
"You have been out of touch with the outside world for a very long time, and your arts and divine powers are somewhat out of date. Do not be in a hurry to return to the village.
Why not come with me to Taihuang Heaven, temper yourselves, and see the arts and divine powers of the world today? " They all agreed. Qingyan hesitated, then said, "Before we left the village, the patriarch instructed us not to grow too close to you.
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