Chapter 359 — Worn Down to Death

"The young master is at a disadvantage! " Yu Liu and Jing Yan were shaken to the heart.

It was the first time they had seen Xu Shenghua at a disadvantage before a single blow was struck. In the Heaven Above, Xu Shenghua was a figure of dazzling brilliance, one who astonished god after god, hailed as the most gifted man in five hundred years. And his descent into the lower world had indeed not belied his fame.

Ban Gongcuo of the Golden Palace shirked battle; the Great Thunderclap Temple would not fight; in the Little Jade Capital he challenged Lin Xuan, the Daoist heir, defeated the masters of the Little Jade Capital, challenged the Three Prime Hall and the Five Qi Hall, and cleared them all with ease.

Now at last Xu Shenghua had met the most fearsome opponent of his life!

Shen Mu led Xu Shenghua a hundred and some li, and was shaken himself: to this very moment Xu Shenghua's steps remained wholly unruffled, and he had still shown not the slightest flaw. This was well-nigh impossible; even Ban Gongcuo, that old demon who had lived ten thousand years, could not have kept walking so steadily.

Ban Gongcuo was master of the techniques and divine abilities of the Great Thunderclap Temple, the Daoist sects, the Little Jade Capital, and the Dark Demon Cult; yet had he been pressed a head lower by Shen Mu and led along by him, by the tenth li he would have been staggering this way and that, straining to alter his stance just to keep from showing a flaw.

By the twentieth li Ban Gongcuo would have shown a flaw and scarce been able to shift at all; at the twenty-first li he would have been forced to strike first at Shen Mu in a bid to seize the initiative, or else surely die. And had Ban Gongcuo gone on stubbornly following Shen Mu's steps without striking, then the twenty-fourth li would have been his death day; he would certainly have been struck down dead by a single blow from Shen Mu.

Yet Xu Shenghua kept always to Shen Mu's steps.

Though led along by him, his steps and his body technique were not disordered by a hair, and offered no opening whatever. From the Tu River to here, more than a hundred li, he had not revealed a single flaw!

"Wang Muran says his techniques and divine abilities are very strange; they grow strong against the strong, and the stronger the opponent, the faster he brings them down!

His divine abilities are all improvised on the spot, created in the midst of battle. Such a technique must be of the very highest order; from the first touch it surpasses skill and enters the level of law. " Shen Mu grew more and more excited.

He did not look back, but walked on, faster and faster. Xu Shenghua's technique was most wondrous, and this wondrous technique let him pass straight over skill into the level of law, where divine abilities are created.

Such a wondrous technique he had never met before. He wished to sound out the limits of this technique, and see how it stood against the Profound Body Three Elixir Art.

His steps went faster and faster, his momentum stronger and stronger, until he flew forward like wind and lightning; yet the steps he took still seemed unhurried, with not a trace of urgency.

Xu Shenghua, drawn along by him, kept to his steps, his footwork still steady, not disordered in the least.

The two went faster and faster. Suddenly Xu Shenghua's face went white, and whiter still. Dragged by Shen Mu in a run of more than a hundred li, he could hold out no longer, and with a heave he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Shen Mu did not halt his steps; Xu Shenghua ran on after him and spat out another mouthful of blood.

He ran and he spat blood, and still he showed no flaw; but spitting blood like this, sooner or later he would cough up every drop in his body and breathe his last. From first to last Shen Mu had never laid a hand on him; it was he himself who did the wounding.

Shen Mu's walking forward was in truth a duel of momentum, body technique, and divine abilities between the two.

Though it seemed to hold no danger at all, the decisive battle had already begun, and not the slightest error could be permitted. His techniques and divine abilities depended on improvisation, on creation, and laid the most extreme demands upon mental power.

In the Directorate of Works he had drained a great deal of mental power; though Shen Mu had given him the chance to rest and recover, mental power once spent is not so easily replenished.

Now he was so worn he was spitting blood. If this went on, his mental power would be drained past all measure, and Shen Mu would not need to lift a finger; he would simply drag him to his death.

If he kept walking, his mental power must surely run dry.

Xu Shenghua's hair began to turn gray; black hair became strand upon strand of white. Coughing blood, he kept to Shen Mu's steps.

The drain upon his mind had already reached his flesh; before long he would wear himself to death.

Suddenly Shen Mu halted dead, smiled, and said, "Killing you this way, you would surely not accept it, and I would not much enjoy it either. Brother Xu, tend your wounds well and restore your vitality; next time we shall settle life and death.

" Xu Shenghua stopped.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, then suddenly toppled to the ground with a thud and swooned away. "A fearsome opponent, and one to be respected.

" Shen Mu spoke his praise, left the unconscious Xu Shenghua lying where he was, and turned to go. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He hurriedly swallowed back the blood surging into his throat.

He had nearly worn Xu Shenghua to death, but he himself had nearly failed to hold out. Still, the villagers had a saying: lose the man if you must, but never lose the formation; never, ever show your fear.