Chapter 252 — Demonic Arts Are Not His Forte

The middle-aged monk suddenly moved, charging forward with heavy, solid steps, and shouted, "May the Cult Master be born into a good family in his next life, and be a demon no more! " BOOM!

He struck down with a seal, and thunder pealed. What he used was the Nine Dragons Ride Wind and Thunder of the Tingming Eight Secrets.

His vital essence became a single azure dragon, its form exactly that of the heavenly dragon upon the pillar beside Shen Mu.

The azure dragon galloped, thunder rolling upon thunder, as though the Dragon King had descended into the world. Shen Mu drew his gaze back from the pillar, and his vital essence suddenly erupted. It too was the Nine Dragons Ride Wind and Thunder.

The two dragon forms collided, and at once the air rang with endless dragon cries and dragon roars.

Around the two men appeared ninety azure dragons, dragon force shaped by their fist arts, forty-five to each. The ninety azure dragons clashed and howled, slaying one another; the dragon-shaped vital essence darted to and fro, prowling and battling around pillar after pillar. "Brother Tanxin's cultivation is fine indeed! " the monks cheered.

Hardly had the words left their mouths when the middle-aged monk could not suppress a muffled groan. He felt Shen Mu's dharma power come crushing down like a raging storm; the dragon force in his fists shifted with unfathomable changes.

Shen Mu too was using the dragon form from that same pillar, and that one dragon form was capable of a hundred transformations.

Though he used but a single form, its variations were numberless, so many that the monk could not guard against them; there was no blocking them at all. "He has received the true transmission of our Heaven Dragon Court. . . " Despair showed on the middle-aged monk's brow and in his eyes.

The forty-five kinds of dragon force formed of his vital essence collapsed and dissolved, and Shen Mu's forty-five kinds of dragon force merged into one and came shrieking into his chest.

Shen Mu had only just arrived at the Heaven Dragon Court, had only just looked upon the Hundred Dragons Chart, and yet had received the true transmission of it. This was a thing all but impossible to do. The middle-aged monk knew at once that matters were bad, and immediately brought out the other dragon forms of the Hundred Dragons Chart, seeking to break the shifting dragon force of Shen Mu's fist.

His cultivation was higher than Chenghuai's; he had opened the Six-Universe Divine Treasury, his powers extraordinary, his vital essence taking form and becoming divine power. The Heaven Dragon Court was one of the many courts of the Great Tingming Temple.

Most of the monks who cultivated there stood at the Five Luminaries and Six Harmonies realms, though there were mighty ones at the Seven Stars realm as well, such as that Monk Xinkong who had but now burned himself to death. Of course, the abbot of the Heaven Dragon Court was exceedingly powerful; yet at this moment the abbot, Jingming the white-browed monk, and several other old monks were keeping company with Lord Huo and the Blind Elder and could not extricate themselves.

This middle-aged monk already counted as one of the more outstanding masters of the Heaven Dragon Court, but in vital-essence cultivation he held no advantage against Shen Mu, and in a contest of shifting dragon force he was greatly outmatched. "Damn, I cannot break it.

. . " Monk Tanxin's face changed drastically; his chest burst open with a bang, and the forty-five kinds of dragon force tore out of his body.

Forty-nine savage dragon heads opened their great jaws and roared to all four quarters, ferocious beyond measure. Blood sprayed in every direction; much of it flew to every side and fell upon the faces and the black robes of monk after monk.

Shen Mu shook his head. "Had you borne me no murderous intent, I could have held back and spared your life; but you were set on beating me to death, and so I could not hold back.

" The monks were stunned.

Suddenly a monk pointed at him and cried furiously, "He killed brother Tanxin with demonic arts! Demonic arts, that is what he used!

" Shen Mu's gaze fell upon him, and he said slowly, "Are the Tingming Eight Secrets a demonic art?

I am of the Five Luminaries realm; he was of the Six Harmonies realm. I killed him with the very same move.

Because you will not admit his skill fell short, you call it demonic arts?

Tathagata, your disciples bring shame upon you. " "Vile heresies to delude the crowd.

I will kill you! " A furious shout rang out, and a monk in yellow robes came charging with a howl, his vital essence surging vast and mighty. He was plainly at the peak of the Six Harmonies realm, his arts overbearing beyond compare, his momentum like rushing thunder. Shen Mu did not even look.

He raised his hand and the Chubao Sword flew out: Surging River, Setting Sun.

Sword-light blazed, and the yellow-robed monk was in an instant riddled with a hundred wounds, his corpse dropping down. His face cold, Shen Mu said, "This is the Falling Sun Swordplay of the Kingdom of Yuyuan.

" A monk lunged at Shen Mu's back, about to strike the killing blow, when suddenly behind Shen Mu a gateway opened wide: the Heaven-Bearing Gate. Unluckily the monk rushed into the gateway; a beam of lamplight shone out, and his soul was at once sucked into Youdu and carried off with the ship. The Heaven-Bearing Gate closed behind Shen Mu, and he said coldly, "That was no demonic art either, but the Heaven-Bearing Gate of Youdu.

" "Kill this demon! " Another monk came to kill him, and Shen Mu drove out a fist.

"Mayasa! " The monk's soul was blasted from his body and shattered in midair.

Shen Mu said in a fury, "Now that is a demonic art! Do you see it?

I have no gift for demonic arts at all!

"