Chapter 1120 — Proving the Dao Through the Saber
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Even as they spoke, the saber arts of Shen Mu and Zai Fu in the sky changed again and again, the power stored within their blades growing ever stronger: Sun Shines on the Eastern Sea, a Thousandfold Waves; Saber in Hand, Forth from the Palace Gates; Vast and Boundless, a Single Line of Sky; then The Long Saber Hangs Like the Moon's Soul, the Swift Horse Startles the Star Spirit; then The Saber Opens the Ring of the Bright Moon — one Heaven Saber after another unfolded, and the might of their saber arts grew ever greater!
Looking up from below, one could see only sudden black lines appearing in the sky — rifts in space, torn open by the divine sabers' speed!
In the sky, starlight flashed without cease. One after another, deities of the Heavenly Court poked their heads out from the star chart that enshrouded Jingping; they maintained the working of the Yuan Realm's star chart formation, and had been startled by the two men's battle.
These deities wore worried looks, fearing that the two men, their eyes red with slaughter, might charge up onto the star chart and finish them off.
What was more terrifying still was that one of the two fighting below was plainly a madman, his saber art sweeping wide and closing grand, its power monstrous — a wholly reckless, death-courting manner of fighting.
"It seems the last star chart was split open by this very man," they remarked among themselves.
Zai Fu, unleashing his saber in frenzy, bellowed and shouted, his voice like thunder, making the deities' eardrums ring.
"You have boundless spirit and boundless power, yet none of it is released through your saber!"
He grew ever more frenzied, hacking until Shen Mu was hard-pressed on every side, retreating step by step, his body stained with blood.
It seemed less that he meant to help Shen Mu comprehend the Dao of the Saber than that he meant to hack him to death, bearing him down until his essence, qi, and spirit kept contracting, kept compressing — a tiny sprout crushed inside its shell, unable to lift its head!
Zai Fu's eyes were red with killing; his saber art grew more dreadful still. He shouted sternly: "Release it! Release it! Release it!"
"Your Dao, the things you would protect, the convictions you would hold fast to — release them!"
"Have no scruples! Have no worries! Carry no burden! Release!"
"Release it, damn you!"
Shen Mu's sinews swelled, his hair burst loose, and of a sudden he opened his mouth and roared: "Yaaah—"
His vital essence erupted, his blood and qi surged, and his spirit turned into a surging tide. Spirit, blood and qi, vital essence — all poured madly into the saber. The tribulations of the human race through the ancient ages, the bitter toil of forebears who blazed a trail through the wilds, the tragic songs and the generous hot blood of brave men — all of it burst forth, poured out through this one strike!
The saber light blazed across the sky and, with a hiss, split the star chart above. The long saber bore down upon all things and broke through all things, chopping toward Zai Fu with a vast and majestic momentum!
At that moment, within the Directorate Forges one after another along the banks of the Tu River, the divine sabers that had been forged suddenly rattled with a clatter; countless divine sabers jerked upright, and each gave off ray upon ray of divine light that rushed into the clouds, incomparably brilliant!
Zai Fu laughed heartily, raised his saber crosswise to meet it, and shouted sternly: "Heaven Saber Domain—"
Hummm—
His saber domain swelled outward. The first heaven of the saber Dao, the second heaven, the third heaven bloomed in succession, and in an instant became the fourteen heavens of the saber Dao, forming a Domain of the Heavenly Dao.
Unlike Luo Wushuang's calculated Firmament Domain of the Saber Dao, his Heaven Saber Domain was grand and boundless; it held none of those exquisite calculations, only the long saber like a song!