Chapter 308 — The Height of Baseness

" What he did not know was that the master of this ship bore the surname Shen — the Shen clan of the Land of No Sorrow — and the colossus keeping watch here, its two eyes set two hundred and sixty-four zhang apart, had been waiting precisely for someone from the Land of No Sorrow! Shen Mu had struggled hard to deceive that dreadful being, posing as an adventurer who had wandered into this place in a daze; he had been on the very point of leaving this trap behind when Ban Gongcuo, of all things, must needs call him "Sect Master Shen" — plainly shoving him into a pit of fire! So Shen Mu simply shared the misfortune with him: if a slop bucket was to be clapped over a head, it would be clapped over every head at once — and he deliberately called him Shen Gongcuo, on the principle that if one was going to die, they would all die together.

Yet Shen Mu had not been in the wrong; Ban Gongcuo's magic power was, in fact, somewhat stretched.

His Myriad-Locust Banner made no great demands on cultivation, true, but a sect-suppressing treasure was, after all, a sect-suppressing treasure; though it consumed less to drive, he was, when all was said and done, only at the Six Harmonies realm, and urging a treasure of the Divine Bridge realm was an effort he could barely sustain.

The earlier clash of the Dao Sword's Third Chapter against the Dao Sword's Third Chapter had already drained seven or eight parts in ten of his vital essence; otherwise he would not have turned the Myriad-Locust Banner into a great shield to fend off Shen Mu's moves. But Shen Mu's losses were likewise appalling; otherwise he would not have fallen back on such basic moves as the Drilling, Cleaving, and Coiling Sword forms, instead of matching a great technique like the Dao Sword head-on.

Each of the two was commanding his prime weapons with desperate effort, and each man's prime weapons were appallingly mighty, transcending the bounds of the Six Harmonies realm; the slightest carelessness, the least failure to block the other's weapons, and death would follow, hideous beyond words. Thus both were riding a tiger from which there was no dismounting; they could only strain their vital essence to the last drop and struggle against each other.

"Shen Gongcuo, would you kindly step out of my way? " Shen Mu gritted his teeth.

His vital essence could barely command so many swords; several thousand came clattering down, stabbing into the deck and walls of the bridge. Yet even as he attacked, several hundred flying swords kept rising, executing every manner of sword move, pressing their assault with keen ferocity. Ban Gongcuo could no longer control so many locusts either; several thousand locusts dropped to the floor, and though they would have flown up again, he had not the vital essence to command them, and could only direct a few hundred to clash against Shen Mu with force against force.

"If Sect Master Shen will but take the helmet from his head, I will let you live! " Ban Gongcuo sneered.

The prime weapons the two could command dwindled further and further, when suddenly Shen Mu performed the Thundering Mahayana Sutra, transforming his body into a great Buddha and closing with Ban Gongcuo in melee; a great hand-seal stamped down, and behind him appeared eight tiers of heavenly Buddhas and gods, the Buddha voices ringing out in sonorous chorus. "The first stance of the Eight Thundering Arts — Alone on the Eastern Sea, Bearing the Spring Thunder!

" "Vajra Unconquerable! " Ban Gongcuo sneered, and he, too, performed the Thundering Mahayana Sutra, driving the Unconquerable Vajra Art within it; his whole body was suffused with gold, and he stood like a vajra guardian of the Dharma as he clashed head-on with Shen Mu. He had learned both the cultivation methods and the divine powers of the Thundering Mahayana Sutra, while Shen Mu had learned only the methods — in divine powers, he must surely outstrip the man.

Yet, to his consternation, though Shen Mu was indeed performing the Thundering Mahayana Sutra, his legwork abruptly changed: uncanny beyond measure, varied beyond reckoning, his figure spun about Ban Gongcuo like a phantom! Ban Gongcuo was caught unprepared, and Shen Mu's driving knee slammed into his crotch; the pain set tears streaming from his eyes and made him gasp in cold air.

Slap, slap, slap!

Shen Mu kicked his face any number of times, sending him stumbling backward until his body was pressed against the wall. Death seemed at hand — when suddenly Ban Gongcuo's body dissolved into a shadow and fled along the wall.

It was the Shadow-Demon Transformation Art of the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra, and by it he slipped clear of Shen Mu's Heaven-Sweeping Leg.

Exultant, Shen Mu raced for the cabin door, at the same time driving his flying swords with his qi; at a single thought, several hundred blades stabbed in unison at the shadow on the wall. He had no sooner reached the door and made to wrench it open and dash out than his feet were pinned fast: Ban Gongcuo had blocked his flying swords with the locusts, and, his demonic shadow hugging the floor, reached out two great black hands and seized Shen Mu's ankles.

"Then, Sect Master Shen, you had best leave the helmet behind!

" Ban Gongcuo gave a mighty tug, and Shen Mu's form instantly turned into a black shadow, clinging to the floor as well.

Both drove the Shadow-Demon Transformation Art, becoming two shadows that flashed across walls and floor, dealing lethal strokes at each other. Bang!

The wall of the bridge shook violently; Ban Gongcuo was blasted out of it, turning from demonic shadow into solid flesh, and at once drove his locusts to bite at Shen Mu's shadow on the wall. Shen Mu sped along the wall, then suddenly dropped headlong from the cabin ceiling — his legs still a demonic shadow, but his body restored to normal — and a hand-seal stamped down, knocking Ban Gongcuo head over heels. Ban Gongcuo sprang upright, but did not attack; instead he stared blankly past Shen Mu, and from his forehead beads of sweat as large as beans rolled down one after another.

Shen Mu was about to hurl himself at him when he, too, felt something amiss; his body stiffened, and two dreadful gazes came to rest upon him.

Almost against his will, he dispelled the Shadow-Demon Transformation Art, dropped to the floor, and turned his head with difficulty. In the darkness beyond the bridge, two enormous eyes had taken shape — one to the left of the bridge, one to the right, two hundred and sixty-four zhang apart. Their pupils ran vertically, sinister and uncanny, and their gaze came to rest upon the two men.

Ban Gongcuo's body trembled and his legs knocked together; in a hoarse voice he said, "Sect Master Shen, now I see why you wanted to leave this place. . .

" "You goddamned Shen Gongcuo!

" Shen Mu ground his teeth. "If not for you, I would have been long gone!

" From beneath those two pupils came an unpleasant voice, shrill and grating as fingernails clawing across steel: "Which of you bears the surname Shen?

" "Him!

" Shen Mu and Ban Gongcuo raised their hands at the same instant, each pointing at the other.