Chapter 138 — The Debate on Smiting the Gods
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The Sect Master had once even lent the Fourteen Dao Sword Chapters of the Daoist sect to Imperial Preceptor Jingping for his perusal; in Imperial Preceptor Jingping's Discourse on the Sword, where he spoke of the Dao Sword and the Son of Heaven's Three Swords, one might well say the shadow of the Fourteen Dao Sword Chapters lay everywhere. So you may imagine how formidable this single stroke of Lin Xuan's was! Beneath the black-and-white diagram, Shen Mu felt a shock in his heart; the sword art pressing down from above was no longer any mortal sword art.
Yin and yang, the Two Modes, entwining one another, the force it burst forth made him tremble before it had even reached his side.
His fingertips flicked; the move Snapping Fingers Startle the Thunder made every finger discharge a thunderous roar, sharp beyond compare—but even a top-grade combat skill like the Eight Secrets of the Thunder Cry was useless once it touched that black-and-white Taiji diagram; it was like a clay ox plunging into the sea, raising not the slightest ripple. With a rush—beneath his feet the azure dragon soared into the air, and of a sudden the azure dragon broke apart, and countless sword lights came crowding and jostling, falling into his hand and becoming a long sword.
Shen Mu's face turned grave; sword in hand, he advanced to meet the pressing black-and-white Taiji diagram. With the sword in his hand, as though it were the painter's finest brush, the traveler's firmest step, the singer's throat, the dancer's dance, he executed that one sword form the village headman had taught him. Sword Treads the Rivers and Mountains.
May the gods be smitten? It is said: they may!
Beneath his sword the light flickered; light and dark, light and heavy, swift and slow, perfectly joined; the fourteen basic sword forms shifted and changed in his hand in an instant, and there appeared in the air a vast and magnificent landscape!
The Fourteen Dao Sword Chapters of the Daoist sect were no mortal sword art, and neither was the sword diagram the village headman had taught him. This was a sword art for smiting gods!
May the gods be smitten?
He who wields this sword must have no god, no demon, no Buddha in his heart; toward the so-called gods, demons, and Buddhas he must hold the utmost irreverence—he must hold the heart of a god-smiter! Danyang Zi's eye corners twitched, and he rose abruptly to his feet; at the same moment the half-dragon, half-qilin beast beneath the mountain gate woke from its dreams and jerked its head up to look!
In the air the two sword arts collided, a blaze of dazzling white; the black-and-white Taiji diagram fell apart amid the slowly unfolding landscape, and in an instant Daoist Son Lin Xuan was struck by dozens of swords, his body blotched with blood! Suddenly his eyes lit up: "A flaw! " Shen Mu caught his gaze and was startled.
The youth's eyes had fallen upon his left shoulder—and that spot was precisely where the flaw of the Mystic Body Three Elixir Art lay!
"Qi ke duo! " Shen Mu raised a hand and formed a seal: the Demon God's Divine Power Seal!
That seal blocked his left shoulder, while from Shen Mu's other hand sword light surged, stabbing at Lin Xuan!
Shhk—Lin Xuan's sword pierced through his palm, and its tip struck his left shoulder, stopped by the brocade robe Shen Mu wore and not entering flesh and blood—but the sword radiance itself stabbed in, and Shen Mu's shoulder seared with pain. At the same moment Lin Xuan's body gave a great shudder, swaying without cease; in an instant a score and more of bloody holes opened across his body, and he pitched to the ground!
Shen Mu dispersed the sharp sword his vital qi had formed and bowed with his hands: "Daoist Son, I thank you for the instruction.