Chapter 875 — Wicked Charm Overwhelming
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
The Duke of Wei had someone fetch a calling card; Shen Mu slipped the sword-bearing portrait inside it and said, "After you gentlemen return, select your young powerhouses, and then open my letter of challenge. Also, those of low cultivation must not look at the calling card. When I sense that the sword-bearing portrait in the letter of challenge has been destroyed, I will come to the Northern Heavens myself and pay my respects to each of you, one by one."
He hesitated a moment, then said with the utmost sincerity, "For the sake of your lives, you must not open this letter of challenge to look. Only after you have chosen the strongest divine-arts practitioner of each of your realms may it be opened. Moreover, no outsider may see what is inside the letter of challenge — it is most perilous! Bear it in mind, bear it in mind! Gentlemen, you may go."
The bull-headed god-demon, his face grave, took the calling card and barked, "Let us go!"
One after another the gods and demons sped away with the Northern Heavens' divine-arts practitioners.
Once they were far from Jiangling Academy, one divine-arts practitioner said, "Master, is this letter of challenge truly so formidable? Might we open it and take a look?"
The bull-headed god-demon shook his head. "It must not be opened lightly. The sword-bearing portrait in the letter of challenge conceals his divine art; once opened, it will trigger that divine art."
Another god-demon laughed. "Aren't you overstating it? What he painted is a sword-bearing portrait; it hides a divine art, yes, but if the divine art burst forth the moment it was opened, would the letter of challenge not be destroyed? In my view, so long as one does not stir one's primal essence, his divine art will not be triggered; there is no harm in opening it for a look."
The other gods and demons laughed in turn: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat!"
The bull-headed god-demon hesitated, then took out the letter of challenge. "There is no harm in your looking, but you must not let your primal essence stir, lest you trigger his divine art. I still need this calling card to go and see the Great Black Heaven; among our heavens there is no such dreadful master — only under the Great Black Heaven's command are there powerhouses who can stand against him."
He opened the letter of challenge with great care, and sure enough, Shen Mu's divine art did not burst forth; only then did he breathe easy. "You may come and look."
The crowd pressed forward to look at the sword-bearing portrait in the letter of challenge.
Shen Mu had used the Wuyou Sword as a brush, painting in space, branding his sword art into the very fabric of space.
To accomplish such a thing required the strength of a Venerable God; only a Venerable God could brand a divine art into space so that it endured without fading.
The crowd studied the sword-bearing portrait: the Shen Mu within it seemed a living man, wholly three-dimensional, vivid and lifelike.
"This Jingping Overlord Body is truly a man of many talents — if he went to sell paintings in the streets he would surely be a master of the trade!" the crowd laughed.
The bull-headed god-demon hastily cried, "I let you look not to admire his painting, but to study the course of his sword art and take his measure! Perhaps from this painting we can ferret out his divine art and find a way to deal with him."
The crowd sobered and looked closely.
Suddenly a demigod gave a great cry, his aura erupting; from within his body came a series of booming sounds as divine treasuries opened, and his hands, as if sealing and closing, blocked forward, crying, "He is thrusting his sword at me!"