Chapter 817 — The Heavenly Lord Bestows Blessings
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
The heaving earth abruptly fell still, and then the Imperial Gate Divine Blade, planted in the ground, split the soil open and traveled westward without pause. Tian Shu, the Heavenly King, seized the hilt and tried to steady the divine blade, but the power beneath the earth was so immense that even he was dragged along by the weapon, pulled toward the west.
The Imperial Gate Divine Blade was incomparably sharp. It passed through a great mountain, and the mountain was instantly sliced clean through, cleaved into two halves!
Seeing this, the Old Farmer let out a thunderous shout and smashed his fist into the ground. A series of cracking booms echoed up from below, as though something were being shattered joint by joint.
Tian Shu was at last able to draw the Imperial Gate Divine Blade. He pulled it free and rose, his body shifting in a flicker into a ram-headed god with a pair of curving horns, and brought the blade down in a slash!
In that one strike he unleashed every ounce of his skill. Though he cut only a single time, countless blades of light burrowed deep into the earth.
His blade art was exquisite; he was the highest achiever of blade cultivation in the Kaihuang era. Otherwise, when Kaihuang planned to open up Fengdu, he would never have had him wield the blade to hack at Tubo.
As the strike fell, the ground kept splitting apart. Deep below, blade light could be faintly seen darting wildly, and enormous root-tendrils writhed amid the flashing steel. The bulging earth raced westward at flying speed, and soon the distant mountain ridges shuddered like waves, retreating far away with astonishing swiftness.
On the surface, lakes of blood merged one into another, forming a swamp, and a radiant haze hung over the waters.
Tian Shu withdrew his blade and shouldered the great saber. Puzzled, he said, "I clearly struck her. Why can the Imperial Gate Divine Blade not take her soul?"
"If you cut Tubo once, can you take Tubo's soul?"
From behind him came the Old Farmer's voice: "Let's go. Back to the capital."
Tian Shu turned and returned to the capital with him.
In a residence in the capital, Di Yiyue and the Scholar joined forces to break the Earth Mother's blessing on the back of Shen Mu's head. Breaking the Earth Mother's blessing sent a shock through Shen Mu's spirit as well, leaving him dazed and reeling. He leaned against the wall and retched dryly for a while before he recovered slightly, though his face remained somewhat pale.
The Heavenly Masters and Heavenly Kings exchanged glances. "We only broke the Earth Mother's blessing, and Shen'er is already in this state. The Heavenly Venerable Yu has hundreds of halos on the back of his head, and he is only at the Spirit Fetus realm. Can he withstand it?"
Shen Mu shook his head, still dizzy.
When the Woodcutter Sage had removed the Earth Origin Dao Fruit, he had scarcely felt a thing, because the Earth Origin Dao Fruit was bound to his soul. The Woodcutter Sage had directly driven his soul into the Dark Capital, severing the connection between the Dao Fruit and himself, and it had fallen away on its own.
But the Earth Mother's blessing was different. This kind of blessing was far more complex; it could draw upon the power of the earth and endlessly revive, and it was linked to both his fleshly body and his primal spirit. Even if Shen Mu perished, the halo would remain.
Di Yiyue and the Scholar had employed the crudest method: forcibly dismantling, one by one, the runes that constituted the Earth Mother's blessing.
Over these days they had thoroughly comprehended these runes and each devised their own method of dismantling them. During the dismantling, the resulting tremors also battered Shen Mu's fleshly body and primal spirit, which was why he felt so wretched.
"The Heavenly Venerable Yu cannot withstand it."