Chapter 706 — Reflections in the Blade
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
He lived in the Heavenly Court, had the teaching of Qi Xiayu, Vermilion Emperor of the Southern Heaven, and had also been taken as a disciple by the Black Emperor of the Nether Capital, Yin Tianzi; he cultivated the arts of two Emperor-thrones. The Emperor-throne arts were vast and profound, possessing the power to grant enlightenment and bring one to the Dao realm, without suffering the tempering that Jingping the Imperial Teacher, the Butcher and the Blind Old Man had undergone, and without the setbacks they had endured.
Qi Jiuyi's cultivation had likewise gone smooth and fair the whole way. Yet precisely for that reason, a Dao realm forced upward by such arts had great shortcomings.
Qi Jiuyi had always believed that even if he could not be invincible within his realm, he could at least rank among the top ten—until he met Shen Mu, a mud-crawling yokel of a boy from the lower realm. Only after losing to Shen Mu twice in a row did he realize his deficiency: the Dao realm granted by the Emperor-throne arts was not his own thing, not carved into his bones.
From then on he too had walked the road of self-enlightenment, and only thus had he gained such progress and elevation. On the Cangwu tree behind him, nine phoenixes cried long and shrill, and a nine-headed phoenix spread its wings and rose, circling the tree.
In the phoenix nest another phoenix egg split, and another small nine-phoenix fluttered its tender wings, drinking the wind and dew and feeding on phoenix fire, growing swiftly, and took wing again. Shen Mu raised his brows.
In but a brief span, sixteen nine-headed phoenixes had flown from the nest, each splendid phoenix trailing a long, gorgeous tail, wheeling and diving around him, nine phoenixes crying, and from the phoenixes' beaks came wave upon wave of clear Dao-sound. He stood there, and within ten li around him huge nine-headed phoenixes wove and crossed in flight, forming a wondrous formation.
And within that formation Qi Jiuyi stood facing him, the Cangwu tree at his back, fire-blossoms blooming on the tree, wutong flowers clustered like trumpets in rich profusion, and the clouds of fire drifting among the branches carried a wondrous rhythm.
The youth beneath the tree had an air of unhurried composure. Shen Mu felt a touch of regret; he should not have given Qi Jiuyi the time and chance to deploy his great divine ability. Qi Jiuyi had grown far, far stronger than at their last clash, and granting him this chance had instead put Shen Mu on the back foot.
Clearly, Qi Jiuyi's great divine ability, the Phoenix Perched on the Cangwu Tree, had entered another wondrous realm; he had made good his deficiencies. Suddenly the Dao-sound from the nine phoenixes in the air turned high and shrill beyond measure, and they pounced at Shen Mu! At the same time, beneath the tree, Qi Jiuyi began to move slowly, his gaze fixed all the while on Shen Mu as he fended off the nine phoenixes' assault.
Shen Mu stood where he was and did not move a step.
Instead his body shook and he manifested three heads and six arms to block the nine phoenixes pouncing from every direction. He was using the Heaven-and-Earth art of the First Ancestor Human Emperor, and with it he actually held off all sixteen nine-phoenixes; let them pounce as they would, they could not harm him in the slightest.
Standing alone between heaven and earth, holding up the toppling sky—the First Ancestor Human Emperor's art, which made oneself the heart of heaven and earth, was the most effective against this situation.
Qi Jiuyi moved his steps, and behind him the clouds grew vast and misty; nine phoenix heads thrust out of the clouds, staring at Shen Mu, searching for his flaw. His hands shifted ceaselessly through seals, and the divine ability that formed the Cangwu tree altered subtly as well.
He was calculating the flaws in Shen Mu's moves and arts.
Suddenly Qi Jiuyi's eyes lit up.