Chapter 874 — Fierce Flame Shakes All Under Heaven
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
More icebergs rose from the water, a magnificent sight, and the ice swords flew among the icebergs — swordplay so exquisite it left one gasping in admiration.
Shen Mu halted and marveled without end.
Though Jiangling Academy had no shallow attainments in formation arts, what it was most famed for was its swordsmanship. This Glacier Sword Technique, which folded the eighteen basic sword forms into itself, was already a rare and peerless art.
"The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping has turned out no small number of outstanding figures. The one wielding that sword art is most likely one of the Academy's Doctors of Sword Studies."
He looked toward the center of the sword formation and saw a woman of about twenty years performing the sword art. He did not recognize her; she must be one of Jingping's rising talents.
Just then a furious roar came from within the iceberg sword formation, and a demigod giant more than ten zhang tall charged through the sword formation at the Doctor of Sword Studies.
The creature's flesh was hideous to behold; it had four arms and bore a shield and a hammer. It smashed the icebergs to ruin and shattered the ice swords; shield and hammer clashed, dharma power erupted, and ring upon ring of formation patterns swept out in all directions, shattering every flying sword that came at it.
The four-armed demigod rushed at the woman, sprang into the air, and brought his great hammer smashing down with fearsome valor.
In the subtlety of divine abilities he was no match for this Doctor of Sword Studies of Jiangling Academy; yet as a demigod his flesh was mighty, and his dharma power surpassed that of the human race.
Moreover, demigods carried the bloodline of the ancient gods and possessed certain special gifts of the ancient gods. Compared with humans they held a great innate advantage, and in close combat they could rely on their powerful bodies to break an opponent's divine abilities.
At one blow of the four-armed demigod's hammer the river water burst asunder, and the woman was flung high into the air. Though beaten back, she was not the least flustered; she waved a hand and scattered — and countless streams of river water floated up, turning into mirror after mirror of water standing upright in the air.
From the mirrors, bolt after bolt of sword light shot at the demigod. He roared, shattered the water mirrors in the air, and thrust his great shield forward with all his strength; at once a thick wall of water reared up from the surface of the Jin River, a hundred zhang high, bearing down on the woman.
Cheers rose all around.
"That divine ability of Qiu Xiaoyi's will keep the wench flat on her back, sure enough!"
"Jiangling Academy has already lost a dozen bouts and more. Where is the Jingping Overlord Body? Won't he come out and make a fool of himself?"
"Call out your once-in-five-hundred-years Imperial Preceptor of Jingping to come and die!"
Shen Mu followed the voices with his eyes and saw a great many demigods standing at the mountain gate of Jiangling Academy, all manner of strange phenomena floating in the air, a noisy and clamorous throng.
Some of the demigods had already cultivated to the divine realm, their divine radiance piercing the heavens. Though Jiangling Academy had deities holding it down, their aura was considerably weaker than these.
The deities faced one another in a standoff, and the gods of Jiangling Academy were pressed into the weaker position — a heavy blow to morale.
No few of Jiangling Academy's scholars were downcast as well; penned in at their own gate by the demigods of the Northern Heavens, losing more than they won, their morale had withered.
In the subtlety of their divine abilities they were of course exquisite, but the innate gap was vast, so that human scholars of the same cultivation realm found it very hard to win.