Chapter 706 — Reflections in the Blade
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
The underground space of the Shenduan Mountains was exceedingly strange.
Not only was there a long saber running from north to south, there was also a divine hall, and chain after chain sealing that saber.
Stranger still, one of the statues of Jingping had crawled in here, and its head had wedged beneath the long saber. And this place had had its space shattered by the state preceptor's Shattering Cauldron, so that a bizarre phenomenon linking it to another world had appeared.
Strangest of all, this long saber was also the boundary line between Jingping and the Desolate Ruins. "This concerns my rations; I cannot not go, lest the Sect Master run into danger.
" The Dragon Qilin jumped down, qilin fire welling up beneath his feet to hold up his body, and flew into the underground space. The ground below was hollow.
Chain after chain, unbelievably thick, bound a long saber of horrifying length; the blade faced downward, and the head of a great and mighty stone statue was wedged on the edge.
Not far off, a great hall stood beneath the blade.
The Dragon Qilin looked this way and that, and at last found Shen Mu and Qi Jiuyi.
The two of them were now perpendicular to the underground space, standing on the blade's surface, running and fighting. The blade's surface was as bright as a mirror, without a single flaw, reflecting the two figures with utter clarity, as though two Shen Mus and two Qi Jiuyis were fighting.
The blade was so smooth that their reflections seemed like the moon in water.
Though the two fought until heaven and earth were overturned, no ripple appeared on the blade. Qi Jiuyi revealed his nine-phoenix body: nine heads upon a human trunk, nine phoenix heads.
Shen Mu had three heads and six arms, each with its own merits. Now they fought at close quarters; unlike the clash of divine abilities before, fist met flesh, and they beat each other until both were bloody and mangled.
Suddenly the Dragon Qilin noticed something strange: the saber no longer reflected the two figures, but rather a nine-headed phoenix and Shen Mu's primordial spirit! Shen Mu's primordial spirit and Qi Jiuyi's primordial spirit had, at some unknown moment, been drawn into that divine saber, and were fighting in the space within the blade!
"I said long ago that this place was exceedingly strange. " The Dragon Qilin rushed forward, about to rescue Shen Mu, when suddenly he looked down and saw the mirror-bright blade. He froze slightly: in the mirror was another Dragon Qilin, majestic and spirited, very powerful in bearing.
The Dragon Qilin trembled with fear, for at this moment, through his own primordial spirit, he saw his own fleshly body! "My primordial spirit has been dragged into the mirror too!
" The Dragon Qilin kicked wildly with all four legs, feeling as though he trod on the mirror's surface, yet also as though he trod on nothing at all.
Fear filled his heart.
"A ghost—" Before the words were out, two Qi Jiuyis, spitting blood, came tumbling and rolling this way. They rolled a dozen times and landed at the Dragon Qilin's feet—one at the feet of the Dragon Qilin's true body, one at the feet of the Dragon Qilin's primordial spirit.
The Dragon Qilin looked up and saw two Shen Mus walking toward him, mirroring each other, their steps halting before the fallen, unmoving Qi Jiuyi.