Chapter 351 — The Hour When Gods Meet

Outside the Three Primes Hall, the village head, Lizheng, floated in the air with perfect composure. Qingyou the Hermit shot him a glance. "You are quite at ease, Daoist Brother.

You seem not in the least worried whether that disciple of yours can pass the trial of the Three Primes Hall — your confidence in him is absolute. " Lizheng rather missed the rocking chair Shen Mu had made for him. He smiled. "I have great faith in Shen'er's abilities.

The trial of the Three Primes Hall is hard, true, but history has seen no small number of figures enter that hall, and no small number who passed its trial. Shen'er is not their inferior.

" Qingyou the Hermit's eyes flickered.

"The trial of the Three Primes is the Three Primes of godhood itself. You know well how perilous it is, Daoist Brother.

After all, you were one of those who entered it in your day.

" "Were you not one too?

" Lizheng recalled the past, and a sigh escaped him. "Back then I chose the Heavenly Prime breakthrough.

What breakthrough did you choose? " "The Water Prime breakthrough," said Qingyou the Hermit. "I lost, and you won. That is why you surpassed me.

" "The reason I surpassed you was not that I gained the Heavenly Prime breakthrough, but that I had more fighting spirit than you. " Lizheng turned to look at him, his expression somewhat grave.

"My will to fight was stronger than yours, and your capacity to withstand a blow was weaker than mine.

A small difference in character, and little by little a gulf opened between us.

The legacy of Little Yujing is in truth no worse than that of the Human Sovereign Hall. Had your fighting spirit been fiercer, your achievements would not have fallen short of mine. " Qingyou the Hermit gave a snort, rather displeased.

"The Heavenly Prime breakthrough, the Earthly Prime breakthrough, the Water Prime breakthrough — which of them do you think the Human Sovereign will choose?

" Lizheng answered without a moment's pause for thought: "He will choose the strongest of them. " Qingyou the Hermit's whole body shook, and disbelief came over his face.

"The Triple Prime breakthrough?

" Lizheng nodded, unhurried. "His faith and conviction are stronger than mine were then, his fighting spirit fiercer than mine were then. He has unmatched faith and fighting spirit. He will certainly choose the Triple Prime breakthrough!

" "And you are not worried in the least? " Qingyou the Hermit cried out, his voice breaking. "You went through that trial yourself — you ought to know how terrifying the challenge of the Triple Prime breakthrough is! He has no chance of winning at all!

" "As a matter of fact.

.

. " Lizheng laughed, his face wrinkling like a sun-dried orange, an ugly laugh and a happy one. "Shen'er is already stronger than I was back then — he simply hasn't realized it himself.

Not only stronger than I was: stronger by far! The Triple Prime breakthrough — he should be able to get through it. " Qingyou the Hermit's face went suddenly cold, and he laughed a cold laugh. "Daoist Brother, I would say it is not his faith that is invincible, but your faith in him! But you are not of my Little Yujing, after all, and you do not know the horror of the Triple Prime breakthrough.

In the Triple Prime breakthrough, what he faces is a young god of the very same realm as himself!

" Lizheng said gravely: "The Overlord Body has never lost to a divine-ability user of its own realm! " Qingyou the Hermit was driven to distraction — the Overlord Body again! "In all of history, only one person has ever passed the trial of the Triple Prime breakthrough! The Nether Demon Sect once produced a sage hailed as one in five hundred years; he too entered the Three Primes Hall and chose the Triple Prime breakthrough, and he alone passed it. " Qingyou the Hermit sneered. "And then he died — beaten to death by the Daoist sects and the Loulan Golden Palace together with every righteous cultivator under heaven!

Afterward, several others hailed as sages entered the Three Primes Hall as well. Guess whether they passed the trial. They did not!

They were beaten like dead pigs and carried out of the Three Primes Hall, never even reaching the Five Qi Hall behind it!

" Lizheng said in astonishment: "There are sages as useless as that?

" Qingyou the Hermit, in no good humor, rolled his eyes at him.

"This god is not one of those false gods of the Heavens Above — he is a true god.

Otherwise Xu Shenghua of the Heavens Above would not have come running to lodge so long in my Little Yujing; there are no few so-called gods up in the heavens. You know the gulf between a false god and a true god: a true god is divine in every aspect, while you command only the one — the Sword God. " Lizheng fell silent, then suddenly laughed.

"Shen'er has never lost. Losing once would be good for him.

If he cannot win, it means he has not tried hard enough, has not brought out the full strength of the Overlord Body. " Qingyou the Hermit was utterly deranged — was there such a teacher in this world?

"I would very much like to know the origins of this god," said Lizheng, his eyes flickering. "Might you tell me, Daoist Brother?

" The Three Primes Hall.

Shen Mu's face was grave.

Three young gods — and each of those young gods, set down anywhere in the Jingping Kingdom, would be a figure of the highest realm, no worse than the likes of the Dao Son or the Buddha Son, perhaps even stronger. More crucial still, in experience and breadth of vision the young gods far surpassed any Buddha Son or Dao Son.

That was the truly terrifying part.

Each young god stood for one Prime. Fused as three, their strength came close to that of a true god of their own realm, and their power would soar straight upward!

Nor were the three old immortals strangers to those who dared challenge the Triple Prime; as heaven-favored figures, they all possessed immense confidence.

Yet confidence was one thing. Those who could complete the Triple Prime challenge were vanishingly few.

Still, since Shen Mu had made this choice himself, all they could do was watch and see what fortune held for him.

The young god opposite was expressionless, like a machine devoid of all feeling. Suddenly his power erupted; he moved a single step, and in the next instant he stood before Shen Mu! "His speed is no slower than mine!

" Shen Mu was startled.

A thunderous roar reached his ears — the sound arriving after the young god, the rolling thunder flung behind him in his wake! Boom! The young god punched.

Space quaked, thunder burst.

This was no power of divine ability, but a phenomenon born purely of physical strength pushed to its utmost limit. A body-born divine ability — what it relied on was not divine power, but a mighty body!

Shen Mu neither dodged nor yielded.

He met the blow with a punch of his own. Just as the two fists were about to land on their marks, both shifted their stances, hurtling through the air, trailing phantom after phantom, evading each other's fists. Shen Mu's pupils contracted sharply. The Lame Elder's Sky-Sweeping Divine Legs had met their match for the first time.

As the foremost shadow-thief under heaven, one must flee fast — fast enough that victim and pursuer could never close the distance; and so the Lame Elder had tempered his legs to the utmost.

If any part of him had already become god, it was those legs. Shen Mu had followed the Lame Elder in cultivation since childhood, and had tempered his own legs to the limit his realm allowed; in sheer speed, even Banggongcuo was far his inferior.

Yet this young god's speed was in no way slower than his!

Suddenly a great report rang out — the two fists collided. In that instant Shen Mu unleashed the eighth form of the Thunder Roar Eight Forms, the Ten-Thousand-Armed Vajra, like a thousand-armed Buddha, countless fists hammering at his foe, so swift the eye could scarce catch them. Master Huo's fist — hailed as the Buddha's fist!