Chapter 376 — Only Natural

Long Jun had just shattered the first move of the sword diagram when a point of cold light came shooting straight at his face. He hurriedly raised a hand to shield his brow. The next instant the Wuyou Sword pierced through his palm, entered through his skull, and emerged from the back of his head.

The Wuyou Sword, Qin Han Zhen's divine blade — in sheer sharpness alone, even he could not withstand this thrust.

Long Jun went blank for a moment. Behind him the Wuyou Sword turned, entered through his back, and a length of its tip emerged from his chest.

Shen Mu unleashed all his mana, driving the Wuyou Sword and rousing the divine power within it. At the same time he roared, and eight thousand flying swords soared into the air, swish-swish-swish, plunging toward the Wuyou Sword's position. In the space of a single instant, Long Jun vanished, replaced by a massive sword core — round and plump, hilts interlocked, airtight, like a great golden ball so perfectly round that no flaw could be found.

Shen Mu let out a breath and spat the blood from his mouth.

Wang Muran and the other two caught up. Seeing the massive sphere, each of them likewise breathed easier.

Just then the sphere quivered abruptly, and crack after crack appeared — the hilts had loosened, a sign the sword core was about to come apart.

"Dodge!"

Shen Mu roared and charged madly for the outside of the hall. Wang Muran and the others turned and fled as well. Behind them, the great sword core burst with a clanging, clattering ring, and flying swords shot out in every direction!

Long Jun's towering figure appeared amid the hurtling swords, his gaze growing colder and colder. Beneath his feet lay a pool of corrupted blood — blood produced when Shen Mu roused the divine power hidden in the Wuyou Sword and eroded a portion of his divine blood.

Shen Mu's strike had been vicious and terrifying. Had his body not been formed from a mass of blood, he would surely have perished on the spot, dead beneath that treacherous boy's blade.

Shen Mu and the other three flashed about, dodging the blades of sword light shot from behind. The swords were too densely packed — eight thousand of them, after all — and the sword light flew several times faster than Shen Mu himself could drive a sword at full effort.

A hiss—

Mu Qingdai was pierced through by sword light and nailed to a bronze pillar. Though she was a prized disciple of Little Jade Capital, her cultivation exceedingly strong and her movement arts those of Little Jade Capital, the sword light was too fast and the flying swords too many. She still had not wholly evaded.

Fortunately these were Shen Mu's swords, and Long Jun seemed to possess only physical strength. This body held no mana and could not rouse the might of Shen Mu's flying swords, so the wound was not fatal.

Even so, she was gravely injured.

She had scarcely been struck when the cries of Long Yu and Wang Muran came. One was pinned to the wall by a flying sword through his body; the other was nailed to the floor.

Shen Mu grunted. A sword light likewise pierced his chest; in that desperate instant he wrenched his heart aside, avoiding his vitals, and was nailed high up to the great beam above the palace doors, hung aloft.

At the entrance outside the hall, the great stag charged in and in an instant took dozens of swords, sent flying backward.

"Isn't it the True Dragon's Lord you want? Then take it!"

Blood spilled from the corner of Shen Mu's mouth. Gritting his teeth, he roused his vital essence. The Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor flew from the Taotie Pouch, and he hurled it toward Long Jun, crying fiercely, "You may kill me, but spare my three friends!"

Mu Qingdai, Wang Muran, and the others were deeply moved. Long Yu thought, "I still held prejudice against the Human Emperor. I never knew he was so righteous — I only kept thinking of him as the Youmo Sect Master…"

The Jade Tablet of the Heavenly Emperor flew through the air toward Long Jun. By now it had taken the form of Long Jue, with countless characters, symbols, and patterns flowing and shifting across its surface — a wondrous sight.

"The True Dragon's Lord…"

Long Jun's heart surged. He raised a hand and caught the Jade Tablet, sneering, "The True Dragon's Lord was always mine to begin with. Even if you did not hand it over, I could have it after killing you… Hm?"

His expression changed drastically. He hurriedly flung the Jade Tablet away and cried fiercely, "You poisoned it!"

His body began to dissolve at once, shrinking rapidly like ice dropped on red-hot iron, pools of corrupted blood streaming swiftly down beneath him.

Long Jun shrieked again and again. Bubbles swelled up all over his body; they burst with pops, and from each poked a tiny flood dragon's head, mouth agape in a shriek, struggling to flee outward. Some blood flood dragons escaped; some had their bodies melt away; some barely managed to get out a head and half a body.

Wang Muran and the others were dazed, their minds utterly blank, stunned by this transformation.

Shen Mu tugged hard at the sword. The great hall's door beam was too hard; with his strength he could not pull it free in a moment. He gave up at once, reached back, and slapped his palm against the beam. With a hiss, the blade passed through his body, and Shen Mu tumbled down from the beam.

He climbed to his feet, tears streaming from the pain, and hurriedly poured several bottles of dragon saliva onto his wounds. With perfect righteousness he declared, "I couldn't beat him, so of course I poisoned him!"

Wang Muran and the others were struck dumb again. By Shen Mu's tone, it seemed that poisoning a foe you could not defeat was a matter of course, as simple as eating or sleeping.

"The people who taught this Human Emperor hardly seem to have been good men…" Long Yu thought suspiciously.