Chapter 200 — Lurking Dutian

Li the Wanderer was a sword cultivator, practicing the sword art. His swordsmanship was exquisite beyond measure, yet plainly far inferior to Imperial Teacher Jingping's. His sword art was composed of the fourteen basic sword forms; for all its marvel, it had fallen behind the times.

The era had advanced; he alone stood still.

True Lord Tian cultivated gu. She had refined her gu worms into all manner of monstrous dragons: a sky-centipede dragon a hundred zhang in length, a dragon-silkworm refined from a sky-silkworm, a green flood-dragon refined from a green snake—shapes grotesque beyond telling.

These venomous creatures were powerful, yet under Imperial Teacher Jingping's sword art they fell one after another, slain in succession.

Shen Mu reckoned she could not hold out much longer.

Besides these three, four others still lived. Among them was Qi Dayou of the Beggar Sect, whose Hundred Poverty Mystic Art was most peculiar: his form now turned insubstantial, now solid, appearing and vanishing like a ghost. The hundred poverty was to have nothing at all; the Hundred Poverty Mystic Art had its own singular merits.

Another who preserved his life was Daoquan the Perfected. His strength was the weakest of them all; whether Imperial Teacher Jingping stayed his hand out of mercy, or because the man posed no threat, he always left a thread of leeway and did not kill him.

The third was Chan Master Zhikong of Daxiong Temple. The four Buddhist seals of formation, abiding, decay, and emptiness were of no ordinary power, yet beneath Imperial Teacher Jingping's sword this eminent monk was now covered in wounds and had little fighting strength left.

The fourth was that bronze-masked man, whose attacks were the fiercest and most domineering of all, and who roused the most suspicion in Shen Mu.

His arts were chiefly divine powers. When a divine power burst forth, it manifested the anomaly of nine dragons, like nine true dragons surging and coiling, of tremendous might!

These nine dragons held transformations beyond counting: every kind of offensive spell and divine power, every kind of defensive spell and divine power, command over water and fire, the evolution of yin and yang. Their attack was supremely strong and fierce; they could be both rigid and domineering, and endlessly varied. Whether attacking, defending, or refining, all was done at his whim.

Moreover, he had cultivated these nine dragons until they were nearly substantial.

The Nine Dragons Emperor Art.

This was the art of the Ling family of the emperors, which only those of the imperial line—the emperors themselves—were permitted to cultivate. Even heirs apparent and commandery princesses were absolutely forbidden to practice it.

This bronze-masked man was plainly of the imperial house, and judging by his cultivation realm, he was of the highest of the high within the imperial clan.

Though his attacks were incomparably domineering, Imperial Teacher Jingping did not strike him down; whether out of some scruple, one could not tell.

"Who is this man?" Shen Mu was deeply shaken.

Just then, he suddenly felt something and turned to look west, where he saw the vast, majestic phantom of a towering mountain hastening toward them.

Shen Mu was slightly startled. That mountain was inconceivably huge, yet it was a phantom, not substance—a mountain formed from the aura of countless monks of strange and varied shapes.

Mount Sumeru.

That phantom mountain had peaks great and small; on the peaks some monks sat cross-legged in meditation, some stood atop the summits holding jade bottles, some sat in halls with robes thrown open in great laughter.

And upon the golden summit of the highest peak, a great Buddha shone with golden light, as though cast of pure gold, ten thousand rays of halo behind his head, majestic beyond measure!

"Datingming Temple—the Old Buddha Tathagata!"

Shen Mu's heart quaked. Datingming Temple had come; the Tathagata himself was leading the temple's Protectors, Venerables, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats here!

What did he intend?

At this moment Imperial Teacher Jingping seemed to sense it too, and suddenly struck to kill, cutting down Chan Master Zhikong of Daxiong Temple with a single sword!

Then the Youmo Cult powerhouses on the mountain turned one after another to look at the drifting phantom of Mount Sumeru.

"Bald donkey!" the Left Protector Envoy sneered.

"Bald donkey!" the crowd echoed in unison.

Seeing everyone cry "bald donkey," Monk Yunque steeled himself and cried "bald donkey" along with them—after all, he was now one of the Youmo Cult too, though he himself was a monk.

The phantom of Mount Sumeru drifted to hover above the mountain where they stood. The Protectors, Venerables, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats upon it looked down one and all, and said in cold unison: "Demonic spawn!"

Shen Mu's expression turned strange: "The relations between my Tiansheng Cult and Datingming Temple... seem a little strained..."