Chapter 1180 — Emulate Me and Live
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
The cliff-side Shen Mu showed a flash of surprise, and with a sudden bound sprang off the wall — the pickaxe haft in his hand turning into a broken sword — coming forth from the cliff with sword-light like a waterfall! The move and divine art he unleashed was none other than Shen Mu's Calamity-Lifting Sword, almost exactly matching Shen Mu's swordsmanship!
What was more, in the sheer vastness and profundity of his vital qi, he outstripped even Shen Mu!
His sword strokes were more powerful; yet Shen Mu drew his own broken sword — vital qi revolved, and the broken blade was made whole again.
Wielding it with casual, unrestrained flourishes, he turned aside every stroke of the cliff-side self, then drove one thrust into that self's brow, between the eyes. Sheathing his sword, Shen Mu laughed: "Learn from me, and you shall live; mimic me, and you shall die.
Brother in the Dao within this vein — you have never passed through the red dust of the mortal world, so how could you ever understand my arts and divine powers?
" The cliff-side Shen Mu, slain, dissolved and reverted to black and white.
Shen Mu was about to pry free that Taiji Divine Stone when the black and white in the cliff began to flow once again: the white took the form of an old man with white brows, a white beard, and white eyes, while the black took the form of an Earth Count — ox head, tiger face, three eyes, and a human body. Shen Mu stood dumbfounded.
On both walls of this vein, block after block of Taiji Divine Stone swirled black and white; along the cliff faces on either side, images of Heavenly Dukes surfaced one by one — and for every Heavenly Duke that appeared with kind brows and gentle eyes, an Earth Count appeared in kind, savage and baleful to behold. Cold sweat beaded on Shen Mu's forehead.
The ore vein was curved, and along its curving walls, the Heavenly Dukes and Earth Counts opened their eyes one after another; though they dwelled within the cliff, they all turned to look at him in perfect unison.
Shen Mu clenched his fists and sneered: "Brother in the Dao of this mining ground, all you have done is borrow the twin ways of yin and yang to transform yourself into Heavenly Dukes and Earth Counts. Can you truly conjure up the Heavenly Dao and the Great Dao of the Nether Capital as well?
" The words had barely left his mouth when the Heavenly Dukes and Earth Counts on the cliff walls all struck at once — art after art of Heavenly Dao divine power and Nether Capital divine power burst out of the walls, and along with them, the Nether River as a whip, the Heavenly River as a dipper, the Nine-Bend Yellow Springs, and the Star River coiling above! Forty-nine Heavenly Daos and sixty-four Great Daos of the Nether Capital exploded outward from the cliff faces! At the foot of the mountain, Long Qilin and Yan'er were cultivating; the little Earth Count was trying to climb the mountain to catch exotic beasts to fill his belly, but Long Qilin stretched out a claw and pinned down his tiger's tail — he struggled up several times, but was always dragged back.
The void beast, for its part, fixed its eyes on the primeval behemoths that came and went like phantoms on the mountain, drooling. It wanted to climb up, but it could plainly sense the danger there; besides, under Shen Mu's orders, it dared not make a move.
Just then, Long Qilin and Yan'er both woke with a start and turned their heads toward the mountain. There, Dao-light of every color was pouring out, bursting from within the mountain!
Dao-tones quaked through the air, furious roars rang out one after another, and a dreadful spectacle took shape. "Young Master, he—" Yan'er had barely spoken when a figure was flung high into the air and tumbled out of the mountain, landing with a splat before them, face-down, half his head buried in the black sand.
Long Qilin rushed up, about to help Shen Mu to his feet.
"Don't touch me — I'm broken! " Shen Mu's voice came.