Chapter 1231 — Peerless Talent
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Xu Shenghua hailed from Upper Heaven, and after entering the mortal world, he was famed far and wide for his divine powers.
He possessed a talent so prodigious it defied belief, and he excelled at adapting in the heat of the moment: whenever he crossed swords with an enemy, he would improvise divine powers and techniques of every kind. The stronger his foe, the fewer moves he required, and the greater those powers became!
His wisdom towered even above his divine powers.
Since making his debut, he had rarely known defeat, losing only to Shen Mu and to a disciple of Yintianzi. His loss to Shen Mu was a matter of Dao heart and adaptability: Shen Mu had at the time been tempered by the Nine Elders of Yincan Village and outmatched Xu Shenghua in both intellect and Dao heart.
His loss to Yintianzi's disciple was his first encounter with emperor-throne-level arts and divine powers. However formidable Upper Heaven might be, its highest arts reached only the level of the Southern Heaven Gate—the True God Realm—and so, meeting emperor-throne-level arts with true-god-level techniques, defeat was only natural. After that, Xu Shenghua was almost never defeated again!
He entered the Dao through divine power, though it was less divine power than wisdom.
Entering the Dao through wisdom was more his style.
His Great Divine-Power Dao Domain was more an embodiment of his wisdom; divine power was merely one way that wisdom expressed itself.
Now his Great Divine-Power Dao Domain unfurled and stood on equal footing against Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain.
Shen Mu had time only to glimpse the myriad Dao principles within that domain before it abruptly changed, its scattered rules falling into perfect order in the next breath.
He saw the Ancestral Court within it: the Divine Tree, Xuan Capital, You Capital, Yuan Capital, the Heavenly River, the Four Extremes Heaven—and even the spirit fetus Xu Shenghua had formed from Dao principles. In that single fleeting moment, Xu Shenghua had nearly copied Shen Mu's Divine Treasury Domain in its entirety!
Shen Mu's face darkened. Xu Shenghua's Great Divine-Power Dao Domain had now evolved into a domain exactly like his own Divine Treasury.
Talent like this was truly not to be underestimated.
"Just now I flaunted my cultivation at him, and he read it all from start to finish—that's why he could transmute his powers into a replica of my Divine Treasury Domain in such a short time! " The corners of Shen Mu's eyes twitched.
"This is outright plagiarism! From now on, if anyone dares tell me to my face that Xu Shenghua is an honest man, I'll beat the living daylights out of him!
" Granny Zhu, Si Youyou, had likewise entered the Dao through divine powers, but compared with Xu Shenghua's, her path still seemed rather shallow. Xu Shenghua's arts surpassed Granny Zhu's by a wide margin in both depth and breadth.
Granny Zhu's treasure, called the Dao Wheel, held her arts hidden within and deserved the name Myriad Methods Dao Wheel. Xu Shenghua, having presumably received Kaihuang's guidance as well, had also cultivated a domain that contained many more arts and powers; indeed, it was quite possible he had already fathomed the very essence of arts and powers, which was why it could be called a Great Divine-Power Dao Domain.
Yet Shen Mu was supremely confident: Xu Shenghua could at best make a convincing imitation.
He had never cultivated the Ancestral Court system, and no matter how heaven-defying his gifts, he could never become as strong as Shen Mu. "Imitating me will never bring you to where I stand! " His Divine Treasury Domain erupted with might.
This time Shen Mu attacked first, launching the Thirty-Three Heavens Sword Domain with his opening move. Even when fighting Lin Xuan, even when battling the First Ancestor Human Emperor and Yan Qiling in the Ancestral Court, he had never taken the initiative; he had always won by answering his enemies' attacks.