Chapter 1181 — By One Battle Alone
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
At the foot of the mountain, Dragon Qilin and Yan'er raised their heads toward the mining grounds among the peaks, where all manner of multicolored light gushed forth and great-Dao powers erupted, as one deafening boom after another rang out and wave upon wave of heart-stopping, monstrous fluctuations shook the vault of heaven above. Not far off, the tiny Earth Count was also craning his neck to look, but his stature was far too small for him to see clearly, so he could only labor to climb up onto the Void Beast. The Void Beast was likewise watching the battle in the mining grounds, yet when it noticed the little creature clambering up its body, its eyelids lifted slightly and it bared its teeth in a threatening grimace.
Still, by the time the tiny Earth Count had climbed to the very top of its head, it had not stirred. The tiny Earth Count had no sooner reached the highest point than a figure flew out from the mining grounds and slammed into the black sand with a thunderous crash, skidding face-first for more than ten li.
"Don't help me up! " Shen Mu said furiously, limping back while he urged the Mystic Body Three-Elixir Art to heal his wounds, and sneered, "I don't believe a mere ore vein can finish me off!
I am the exalted Heavenly Venerable Mu—the Ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court are, in name, all my junior fellow disciples, and every one of them holds a territory of his own.
How could I possibly have none? " Dragon Qilin and Yan'er exchanged glances, watching him heal his wounds and then ascend the mountain bristling with murderous intent.
"The Sect Master could simply go somewhere else; there's no need to fight this place to the death," Dragon Qilin said in a low voice.
A few days later, Shen Mu again flew out of the mountain—this time, instead of landing on the black-sand side, he crashed into the white-sand desert on the far side of the range. Dragon Qilin gazed into the distance for a while, but his eyes could not pierce the mountain range, so he had no choice but to wave his hand and say, "Break it up, all of you. Stop staring.
" On the far side, Shen Mu entered the mountain once more.
He had taken this Taiji ore vein as a form of cultivation, to see whether he could still improve.
If it had been anyone else, he would long since have withdrawn at the first sight of difficulty, but Shen Mu only grew fiercer the more he fought.
Even if he could not comprehend the Way of Yin and Yang hidden within the Taiji ore vein, he could still use these eerie clashes with the vein to gain a deeper understanding of the Heavenly Dao and the great arts of the Nether Capital.
Again and again he entered the vein; again and again he was blasted out of it; yet each time he came back, his fighting spirit towering, and the length of time he could hold his ground within the vein grew longer and longer.
At last, on this day, Shen Mu planted his footing in the vein with absolute firmness and, single-handedly, withstood the attacks of the Duke of Heaven and the Earth Count from the cliff walls on either side; no matter what Heavenly-Dao or Nether-Capital divine arts they unleashed, they could not make him retreat half a step.
Indeed, he pressed forward step by step, fighting his way from the mouth of the mine more than ten li into the vein. Suddenly, the Duke of Heaven and the Earth Count within the cliff walls on both sides ceased their attacks and faded away one after another.
Shen Mu stood in the vein and looked left and right, seeing that the Taiji divine stones on the cliff walls still turned gently and the yin-yang energies there still flowed in a slow, circling current. He lifted his foot, about to step deeper into the mining grounds—then set the lifted foot back down.