Chapter 316 — Things Are Looking Bad

He need only hold out until the moment they arrived.

Shen Mu came howling to kill, striking long and close, fighting him at close quarters. This time they used even fewer locusts and swords: Shen Mu commanded nine swords, each exceedingly small, swimming and flying about him like finger-length flying fish; and Ban Gongcuo's nine locusts were likewise tiny, truly like golden locusts.

Though their vital essence was grievously depleted, their attacks were still fierce; especially at close quarters, striking long and short, one careless moment meant death and the extinguishing of the Dao. Ban Gongcuo dealt with him carefully, but his cultivation still drained too fast, and at last it was exhausted.

Shen Mu's cultivation was exhausted too, but his body was still like a mighty bull; Ban Gongcuo only managed to block a dozen or so attacks before his defense broke, and in an instant he was beaten black and blue. Shen Mu pinned him to the ground and beat him; Ban Gongcuo's eyes were swollen shut, and he shouted: "Well struck!

If you have the guts, hit me again!

" Shen Mu struck two more blows, then suddenly heard a door open in the next room. His heart stirred, and he stopped.

Ban Gongcuo cried: "Come on, hit me again!

" Shen Mu gathered up his flying swords and turned to go, laughing: "Brother, I have had my satisfaction. I will come find you another day.

Oh, and that Taotie Pouch hanging at your waist — I am taking it. " Ban Gongcuo was startled and hastily clutched at his waist, and his heart went cold. The Taotie Pouch at his waist had vanished into thin air! When had Shen Mu untied his Taotie Pouch?

He had not noticed at all! "My craft is still a little below Grandpa Lame's.

Otherwise I could have pulled off his underclothes and he would never know.

" Shen Mu tossed the Taotie Pouch in his hand and sighed inwardly: the Lame Old Man's craft was still superior. "Kill him!

" came Ban Gongcuo's voice, and several Witch Kings finally arrived in that room.

Shen Mu smiled, turned and shut the door, then went to the first room, gathered up the flying swords scattered on the floor and put them in the Taotie Pouch, and stowed the Myriad Locust Banner as well.

He opened Ban Gongcuo's Taotie Pouch and looked inside, frowning slightly: there were none of the books from the study, only treasures from the ship — incense burners, tea tables, candlesticks and the like.

Ban Gongcuo must not have put those books in here. "What exactly is recorded in the books on those shelves?

The divine arts of a god?

Or something else.

.

.

" Shen Mu tied both Taotie Pouches at his waist and returned to the study, thinking: "Next time I come to beat him and work off steam, I will ask him properly where he has hidden the books.

" Ban Gongcuo struggled out of the building onto the deck, and seeing the strange looks on the faces of the great witches, he understood: seeing him beaten into this state by Shen Mu, their awe of him was beginning to fade.

Ban Gongcuo said calmly: "Cult Master Shen is not faring well either; I gravely wounded him. I know his name and surname.

Once I recover my cultivation, I will work my arts and take his life! " When he had recovered his cultivation, he at once worked his arts. Strangely, though he knew Shen Mu's name, he could not locate him, as though Shen Mu had vanished from the world.

Ban Gongcuo worked his arts again, and still his witch arts could not find Shen Mu.

"Impossible. He is plainly aboard the ship, yet my witch arts cannot find him.

Could he be hiding in some secret space that shields him from my witch arts' sensing? " Shen Mu returned into the painting, and the man in the painting continued to spar with him.

Though Shen Mu still lost again and again, he held out longer and longer each time. Time passed unnoticed.

Then one day the treasure ship suddenly shook violently, and even within the world of the painting Shen Mu could feel the tremor. The old man in the painting showed anxiety, called him out; Shen Mu quickly followed the old man out of the painting and hurried to the deck.

In the distance beyond the treasure ship, countless beings of Youdu were surging toward them, and the treasure ship was speeding away.

The old man in the painting stood on the door and waved to Shen Mu. Shen Mu was stunned.

So they were to part after all? Reading address: