Chapter 851 — Rustic Rabble Harbor Treasonous Designs
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
Shen Mu's move was an area-of-effect technique from the sword manual, and it could not slay him; instead, the dispersal of power broke Shen Mu's technique and saved the others.
His sharp claws reached out, grasping for Shen Mu atop the dragon qilin's head.
The hem of Shen Mu's robe fluttered and became countless formation glyphs that flew out, sweeping up the water qilin and Yutian Zun.
In a flash of light, the water qilin and Yutian Zun were sent far away. And Shen Mu's palm rose to meet the divine claws of that Sky-Howling deity. With a thunderous boom the heavens and earth quaked, Shen Mu's palm was slick with blood; the great sinews of his forearm had been snapped by the shock, piercing through the skin and protruding. His five fingers were twisted, the bones broken, the digits bent at grotesque angles.
The wolf-headed deity immediately kicked at his head — but just then a ball of heavenly fire erupted from within the wolf-headed deity's body, and in the blink of an eye it burned the deity to ash.
Shen Mu raised his hand and severed his own arm; a new one quickly grew.
He leaped into the air, his body spinning like a top, and in the midst of the spin grew three heads and six arms.
The six hands, reverse and obverse, yin and yang, pressed down toward the ground.
At the same time, wolf-headed demigods and other youths intercepted him in midair, pouncing toward him! Even as Shen Mu was struck, his six arms pressed into the ground and his body rebounded high.
The dragon qilin immediately charged out from the side, treading fire clouds, and caught Shen Mu, then shot off through the air.
The dragon qilin turned its head and opened its mouth; a jet of firelight spewed out and blasted the ground. On the ground, countless heavenly-fire pillars thrust up from below with a ringing clang, several zhang tall.
Struck by the dragon qilin's jet of fire, a huge mushroom cloud shot skyward; the youths and Sky-Howling God Race members who had not yet fled were annihilated in the blast, and the terrible shockwave swept a hundred li, burning the earth to crystal! Molten rock seethed; suddenly thick black qi billowed from the lava, the black qi forming clouds that rose with the firelight. Qu He, locked in combat with the blind old man, frowned deeply.
Nearly all the people he had brought were dead, and after this heavenly-fire explosion, he feared even the traces of Shen Mu's sword technique would be impossible to find!
"Unruly rabble! " Suddenly the earth shook and the mountains trembled; from deep below, an incomparably colossal body rose slowly, tearing the earth apart.
A voice roared, "Who dares disturb me?
" Yuchenzi breathed a sigh of relief and thought, "This earth dragon is transformed from a severed root-tendril of the Earth Mother — my aim is to pin the blame on him. If the earth dragon kills Qu He, and the Heavenly Court sends another divine constable to examine the scene, the blame on the Earth Mother will be fixed. And all the traces and flaws from before will be impossible to find! The suspicion on my Qingyun Heaven can be completely washed away!
" Clearing Qingyun Heaven of suspicion in the first round of investigation had not been his goal.
There were too many traces to erase them all completely — but luring out a master under the Earth Mother's command to kill the divine constable would frame the Earth Mother perfectly, and the suspicion on Qingyun Heaven would vanish. This was Yuchenzi's true frame-up plan.