Chapter 445 — Dragon Soaring Over the Sand Sea

The Nine Dragons Imperial Art was supreme in its attainment upon the fleshly body; it was the peerless study of Emperor Yanfeng. Ban Gongcuo had never obtained this art, but he had once exchanged blows with Shen Mu, and Shen Mu had used the Nine Dragons Imperial Art.

Still, the Nine Dragons Imperial Art of that time, though fierce, was but one of no few peerless arts that could stand on equal footing with it, and so Ban Gongcuo had felt no fear at all.

But this time he had suffered a great loss at the hands of the Nine Dragons Imperial Art. The Nine Dragons Imperial Art that Shen Mu roused was savage beyond measure, the power of his fleshly body invincibly strong, almost like a true dragon in human form. When the strength of those muscles and sinews burst forth, muscle and tendon and bone exerted themselves together like a herd of savage dragons!

Confronted by this power near to primal savagery, his golden body of the great Buddha collapsed outright; his arm snapped with a crack, and the broken bone stabbed out through the elbow!

"Sword Burst!"

Shen Mu pressed his palm downward. Shua, shua, shua — countless flying swords rained down from the sky, the surging sword-light like the tide thrown up by an explosion, drowning Ban Gongcuo in a single sweep.

Enduring the agony, Ban Gongcuo sank downward and slipped into the desert before the sword-light reached his body.

The eight thousand swords fell, and the desert all but boiled, threads of fine sword-light weaving back and forth among the grains of sand!

Shen Mu landed, his robes whipping up a great wind that forced down the flames of the desert. Touching the ground with the tip of his toe, he rose into the air once more, and wherever he passed the flames parted of themselves to either side.

Several li away the desert seethed, and countless blades of sword-light shot up into the sky. Shen Mu let out a roar, his vital essence running wild, and charged forward, hurtling madly along just above the fiery red sand and stone, and at once the desert gained one fiery red sand dragon after another.

Dozens of sand dragons threaded through the red desert, rising and falling, diving in and out of the sand, and in a few blinks they reached the place where sword-light pierced the sky. Their divine power burst forth all at once; dragon cries rolled vast, and countless flying sands exploded with a boom!

Amid the sand and dust, flying swords flickered in and out of sight, and Ban Gongcuo's figure showed faintly, standing upon a great cauldron. The cauldron quivered, and sound waves took form and substance, flicking away one flying sword after another.

The great cauldron suddenly sank into the ground and went off through the sand.

Shen Mu gave chase at speed and called out loudly: "Qingqing, draw some water and follow Fat Dragon over here!"

Xiong Qier was puzzled, and said to Long Qilin: "Big Brother has gone muddle-headed; he called me Qingqing."

Long Qilin shook his head. "You do not know what Ban Gongcuo is capable of. If he knows your name, he can bow you to death from a thousand li away, so the Sect Master did not use your true name. Most likely the Sect Master is not certain enough of killing him, and so he told us to fetch water and follow. The Sect Master is a forsaken one of the Wasteland; he cannot hold out long in the Blazing Desert. There is not a trace of water vapor in the Blazing Desert, and water-element divine abilities cannot be used at all. Let us hurry, fetch water, and go after him!"

Xiong Qier understood all at once. She was just about to draw water from the lake when she suddenly cried out in alarm.

Long Qilin hurried over. Beneath that lake lay white bones everywhere, heaped in mounds — who knew how many people's remains had been thrown in here!

Ban Gongcuo practiced his arts on the souls of others; he had killed untold masters of the Western Lands, and their remains had been dumped here.

"Do we still fetch water?" Xiong Qier's face was white as snow.

Long Qilin bit his tongue and spat a small mouthful of blood into the lake. The surface boiled at once; with a splash and surge countless droplets churned, and innumerable soul worms fought over the dragon blood in the water.

Long Qilin hastily seized Xiong Qier by the back of her collar in his jaws, lifted her up, and retreated swiftly, so that the lake water would not splash onto her.

"This lake has been poisoned with soul poison; the water can no longer be drunk."

Long Qilin set the little girl down and said: "Climb up onto the tip of my tail and sit facing backward."

His tail hung down, and Xiong Qier scrambled up hastily and sat facing backward.

Long Qilin raised his tail, and Xiong Qier slid all the way down from its tip onto his back. The little girl cried that it was fun: "Again! Do it again!"

"No more playing. There is a mane on my neck — hold on tight; I must be off to catch up with the Sect Master," Long Qilin instructed her.

Xiong Qier crawled over and burrowed into the long mane, her small hands gripping two strands of it tightly. Suddenly a dragon scale nearby lifted and covered her — Long Qilin feared that if he ran too fast she might easily slip off.

Before, with Shen Mu there to protect Xiong Qier, Long Qilin had no need to worry; but now that Shen Mu was gone, it fell to him to care for her with all diligence.

Long Qilin further used his dharma power to shield Xiong Qier, forming a barrier, said a word of caution, and only then set off in pursuit in the direction Shen Mu had gone. His speed gradually increased; he dared not accelerate all at once, yet he grew faster and faster, soon outrunning sound, the blazing sand dunes sweeping past behind him like fleeting shadows.

"Fat Dragon, you are even faster than before!"

Xiong Qier said loudly: "Why don't you run this fast in front of Big Brother?"

"What would a little girl like you know? If you want a horse to run fast, you must feed the horse well."

Long Qilin was exceedingly pleased with himself, and laughed: "I run a little slower on purpose, and the Sect Master gives me better spirit pills, hoping to feed me better and make me run faster. If I raise my speed by degrees, he knows it is the effect of the better pills, and then he works even harder at improving them — and he has to mind my taste as well. If I improved all at once, he would not bother to improve the pills, and would only feed me the inferior stuff mixed with fire-element spirit essence pills. Do not tell the Sect Master, or he will grow lazy."

Xiong Qier did not understand, but she nodded again and again all the same.

Long Qilin ran a long while and still did not catch up with Shen Mu, but he saw along the way the signs of one sand dune after another blown apart, and could not help being alarmed — plainly Shen Mu and Ban Gongcuo had clashed hereabouts.

Not long after, Long Qilin saw from afar a sand dune suddenly stand up and become a giant of red sand, hammering savagely at the ground.

"That is the art of my Western Lands' True Heaven Palace!"

Xiong Qier cried in astonishment: "Is it Big Brother?"

Long Qilin shook his head, somewhat wary, and said: "The Sect Master does not have such mighty dharma power. Let us go around."

He circled around to a distance and looked at the sand dune giant, and could not help but be startled.