Chapter 1009 — The Mighty Pass Stretches Long, Hard as Iron
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
To set Kaihuang up once more as the god in the hearts of everyone in the Worry-Free Land, that would be disastrous beyond measure! Shen Mu, wielding Kaihuang's Thirty-Three Heavens sword dao, had awakened the sealed and withered dao hearts of the Worry-Free Land's old ministers, and that was a good thing; Yan Yunxi had even abandoned the notion of having Shen Mu give Kaihuang a thorough beating.
But Kaihuang's charisma was too strong; to bind the spirit of an age to a single man could only mean repeating the same catastrophe. "Kaihuang must lose, he must!
" Veins stood out at her temples, her white teeth clenched.
Just then she found herself missing the woodcutter Wen Tiange.
In her heart she thought: "If Wen Tiange were here, he would surely find a way to keep this from happening!
A pity this bastard swore never to set foot in the Worry-Free Land.
.
. " The Kaihuang Era had not been the era of one man, and the Kaihuang reform had not been the reform of Kaihuang alone.
And now history was repeating itself, and she was powerless to do anything about it.
The Shangqing Realm sword domain displayed before all eyes a terrifying fighting strength, a strength that was all but invincible.
Shen Mu fought back with all his might, yet before this domain of the sword dao he seemed unable to withstand even a single blow. In the blink of an eye he was covered in cuts and bruises. He recognized this domain of the sword dao: in the city of the creators within the Void Land, the Fire Heaven Sovereign had left behind the brand of his great dao, and it was there that he had faced Kaihuang.
Kaihuang's sword domain had erupted and forced the Fire Heaven Sovereign to raise his cultivation and strength to their very peak, yet even so the Fire Heaven Sovereign had been wounded by the Shangqing Realm sword domain.
Facing Kaihuang's sword domain now, Shen Mu exhausted everything he had, unleashing sword art after sword art, even unleashing his own Calamity Sword, and in the end Kaihuang still ran him through with a single thrust.
By now the cheers of the Worry-Free Land's multitudes had reached their peak; the fervent waves of sound surged up into the clouds and shook the whole of the Worry-Free Land. Kaihuang held the Worry-Free Sword, his expression as ever, calm and unruffled; nothing could shake his dao heart.
Yet at this moment a trace of desolation, a thread of sorrow, showed in his eyes.
Just then, all at once, rolling yellow sand came sweeping in, and in an instant it carpeted the sky; the wild wind howled, as though an invisible giant had spread out a desert of yellow sand, forming in the heavens the strange spectacle of a vast desert. Kaihuang stood amid the yellow desert, sword in hand, gazing ahead.
Du-du, du-du. Above Kaihuang's heavenly court rang a horn call of exceptional clarity, as on the eve of war, when giants stir their vital essence and blow the war horn; the stirring, soul-shaking sound brought with it wave upon wave of a killing austerity.
Ahead, the wild wind swept the yellow sand like a sandstorm, burying even Kaihuang's heavenly court in dust. Shen Mu's figure came walking out of the dust storm.
Countless stars glittered in the sky, and behind him a primal tree took root and sprouted, put forth branches and grew, racing with terrifying speed into a towering giant of a tree, level with the sun and moon, rising even beyond the heavens.
Kaihuang looked up and saw the Heaven Lord; he looked down and saw the Earth Lord.
All around him, heavenly palaces emerged from the yellow desert, and rolling dust poured out of those palaces, cascading down, while the evil heavenly palace floated in the sky, and others still sank into the earth.