Chapter 274 — Three Fists and Two Blades

The group exchanged the rumors each had heard, and the more they spoke the more shocked they became: this fellow student Shen beside them had done so many world-shaking things.

Reverend Hongfa glared at them. "You few, stop your idle gossip! And from now on, keep your distance from Hierarch Shen — he is, after all, the master of the Dark Devil Cult. You especially, Yunxiang; you walk too close to him. If he drags you into the Dark Devil Cult, your whole life is ruined!"

Si Yunxiang was rather helpless. "I know. I will certainly cut all ties with him."

Reverend Hongfa raised her voice. "Hierarch Shen, this is the Imperial College, not your Dark Devil Cult. The Imperial College has the Imperial College's rules, and Jingping Kingdom has Jingping Kingdom's law. Rein yourself in!"

...

"Then I looted the Golden Palace's treasure vault."

Shen Mu walked forward unhurriedly, his face indifferent, turning a deaf ear to Reverend Hongfa's words. "The treasures your Golden Palace had accumulated over so long — every kind of heaven-and-earth treasure, every spirit treasure and wondrous weapon — I took them all. But your Golden Palace's own treasures I did not take a single one of; I threw them all on the ground for you. A thief never leaves empty-handed, and even a bandit has his code. That much I still understand."

Ban Gongcuo's expression did not change, but the two Golden Palace great shamans behind him could hold back no longer.

Suddenly the bird-headed, human-bodied great shaman gave a shriek, piercing to the extreme, a shriek like silver needles stabbing into a man's brain, into his very soul.

Amid the shriek, behind this great shaman a pair of golden, glittering wings spread with a clatter; with one beat of those wings, countless glittering golden feather-swords shot out, converging in the air into a stream, golden light stabbing at Shen Mu from every direction.

At the same time the great shaman lifted his foot — his two legs had become golden bird talons, sharp beyond measure, able to split stone, and they clawed at Shen Mu's head!

"The transformations in the Shaman Venerable's Louluo Sutra are indeed interesting. You are the Shaman Venerable's disciple, and you have already perfected a divine ability."

Shen Mu's eyes lit up. The two Butcher Knives behind him leapt out, and there came a dense, unbroken clatter of collision, like a rainstorm of pear blossoms; in an instant blade light burst forth and broke through the golden sword light!

The blade light was like a bolt of silk, three zhang seven chi long, one horizontal stroke and one vertical — between horizontal and vertical, a vast single line of sky — and it struck down one bird talon.

The next moment Shen Mu closed in, reversing his grip on the blade.

The blade rose, and came forth from the forbidden ground.

The great blade lifted: chest ripped open, belly spilled.

Before that great shaman's corpse had hit the ground, the other great shaman behind him shook his body and transformed into a giant with an elephant's head and a man's body. His fist was like a small hill, and he drove it forward.

Shen Mu dropped the blade and turned, primal qi erupting; the band binding his hair burst with a crack, and his black hair, struck by the qi surging skyward, stood straight on end.

Boom!

The two fists met. The muscles all over their bodies jumped and danced, some writhing and coiling beneath the skin like pythons.

On Shen Mu's body the primal qi coiled like an azure dragon; the Nine Dragons Emperor Art and the Thunder-Cry Mahayana Sutra were driven almost at once, and it was as though a great Buddha sat in majesty with dragons coiled about his body. With a thunderous roar, another fist blasted out.

That great shaman was like a golden elephant god, immensely strong, his fists and feet holding power beyond measure, each blow like a giant splitting heaven and earth.

Bang, bang, bang — the two men's fists collided three times. Shen Mu drew back his fist and dispersed his terrifying momentum; the muscles leaping all over his body settled. But the elephant-headed great shaman roared with all his strength and drove yet another fist at Shen Mu's face, vast and mighty, raising a gale.

Before that fist could land on Shen Mu, suddenly a crackling burst came from within his body; in an instant every bone in him broke, his muscles dissolved, his primal qi scattered, and he collapsed to the ground like a heap of mud, breath going out but none coming in.

Those three fists of Shen Mu's — their force and their intent had reached straight into his body and shattered bone, muscle and primal qi alike!

Behind them, the scholars of Six Harmonies Hall stared dumbstruck, standing there woodenly; Reverend Hongfa went cold all over. Shen Mu was simply a lawless brute: three fists and two blades, and he had killed two foreign envoys — and done it inside the Imperial College!

Shen Mu paid them no mind. He turned to look at Ban Gongcuo, a smile on his face, not at all like a murderer who strikes at the slightest disagreement. "Who will come drag the corpses away and wash the floor? Little Prince, my skills are passable, aren't they? Any urge to make a move?"