Chapter 858 — Dragons and Serpents Rise in the Southern Wasteland
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Talking all the while, the two walked out. Shen Mu urged on the Mystic Body Three-Cinnabar Art, loosening his muscles and bones, while Libationer Bashan drew his Overlord Blade and set it upright before him, opening his mouth to spew wind, fire, cloud and thunder to temper the divine blade.
Yan'er blinked and watched them walk out the door.
The Snow Fox hurriedly jumped down from her arms, and on landing transformed into a little girl of eight or nine. She opened her mouth, and Yan'er just then popped a spirit elixir into it.
"Young Master is going to fight? Can he win?"
Yan'er kept feeding her. "That man just now was very robust; his primordial spirit is remarkably well refined."
The Snow Fox crunched the spirit elixir, crack-crack. "Young Master is remarkable too. Libationer Bashan will have a hard time beating him... Could spirit elixirs be made hollow? If a little fine wine were added inside each elixir, the taste would be even better."
Heavenly Worthy Yu came over to them and opened his mouth; Yan'er fed him an elixir.
Heavenly Worthy Yu said in a muffled voice, "Wine in a spirit elixir? Is it tasty?"
The Snow Fox glanced at him and beamed. "So you are Lan Yutian, Young Master Lan? Last time I was in the capital I heard of you; you are the Young Master's younger brother. Why is your surname Lan? Spirit elixirs with wine added taste wonderful, but I have never eaten them that way. Usually I put spirit elixirs on a plate and eat them with wine. Senior Brother Sanduo has tried it and says it is good too. But I think spirit elixirs with wine inside would taste even better."
Heavenly Worthy Yu was eager to try.
The three walked out of the great hall. Outside, Shen Mu was already trading blows with Libationer Bashan; the two fought from the ground straight up into the sky. Libationer Bashan was the founder of the Fusion of Combat and Dharma, and he had a share of credit in the Jingping Reform as well.
In these years, as Jingping's divine powers erupted, Libationer Bashan's skill in combat arts had grown all the more terrifying.
Though the Southern Wasteland is remote, it is a place where every kind of art converges, the most lawless land of all; and so divine powers and dharma arts advance with astonishing speed. Add to that the Martial Combat Heavenly Master Zhuo Cha, the Heaven Blade Zaifu, the Crimson Bright Divine Son, Xing Han and others coming to lecture, and Libationer Bashan's abilities had grown ever more fearsome; in both martial combat arts and divine powers he had improved beyond all recognition.
He had studied under the Heaven Blade Zaifu, and from Zaifu he had learned the Nine Laws of the Heaven Blade. But Zaifu, having struck a blade at Heaven, had his mortal body severed and feigned death, hiding away in the Desolate Ruins.
He had not been able to learn the Nine Laws of the Heaven Blade in full, and so he created his own Seven Forms of the Overlord Blade, using the Fusion of Combat and Dharma to make up for his shortcomings in the way of the blade.
Later, when Zaifu returned, he said Bashan was worthless, that he had refined his blade art into something third-rate.
And now Libationer Bashan had carried the road he had carved out even farther, far enough to make the Heaven Blade Zaifu look at him with new eyes.
Within his blade art were hidden divine powers of tremendous might. His Overlord Blade was full of overbearing force; in close combat or at range, he was more than equal to it, and his strength was extraordinarily great — every blow Shen Mu took sent him flying a hundred or so zhang before he could steady himself.
Libationer Bashan pressed him step by step, his blade art changing in a thousand ways: now wrapped in divine fire, now in heavenly thunder; now a single slash sent down, and the blade light raised a vast ocean; now a sweeping cut, and primordial magnetism burst forth.
Shen Mu retreated again and again, fighting with extraordinary difficulty.