Chapter 456 — The Evil Cult Overlord's Might

Yu Bochuan's expression changed drastically; he scrambled backward and shouted in a harsh voice, "The wretch is feigning death! Disciples of Zhentian Palace, destroy this painting and he is finished!

" The women at his side rushed forward at once and struck as one at the painting—and in that instant sword-light burst from the canvas. The sword-light gave a sudden shudder, and a wondrous transformation came over it: it was sword-light no longer, but an expanse of green mountains sweeping straight at them. The dozen and more female disciples of Zhentian Palace were drowned in an instant by green hills and blue waters; their graceful bodies seemed frozen in the landscape, locked stiffly in place, and then their silhouettes drained away and scattered like sand.

The flood of hills and waters came on with terrible speed, swallowing the perfumed carriage in a breath and engulfing Yu Bochuan behind it. Array Master He Yiyi did not stir. Astonishment showed on her face, and she praised him: "Truly superb swordsmanship—not a whit inferior to Sword Master Luo Yinyu.

" Behind her, the masters of Juncheng's great clans and mighty houses stirred restlessly, on the verge of striking out to kill Shen Mu; He Yiyi raised a hand. "No need to help.

Young Master Yu came here to ask us to set the array and to keep the Central Plains' Sect Master Shen in place—that is the one and only thing he asked of us, and we have no obligation to aid him a second time. " The others had no choice but to hold back.

Shen Mu's Sword Treads Rivers and Mountains did not surge toward them. He Yiyi murmured, "He knows his measure too. . .

" The Sword Treads Rivers and Mountains had gathered its full momentum; more than a dozen beauties of Zhentian Palace had all lost their lives, and Yu Bochuan could not help but tremble with cold dread.

He cried out loudly, "Sect Master Shen, why do we not have a talk? " His sleeves and skirts flapped, and though he was a man, he wore trinkets of every description—silver bracelets, jade bracelets, wrist chains, jade pendants, rings, thumb rings, necklaces, hairpins, longevity locks—and every one of them came flying out with a great clatter!

Those were his primal weapons. Their power was immense; plainly they had not been forged by Yu Bochuan himself, but were protective treasures granted him by his elders.

Their might was terrifying. One azure dragon hairpin gave a light shake and became an azure dragon; the dragon's roar rolled out and blasted a great hole through the green hills and blue waters! Yu Bochuan rejoiced inwardly and leaped out through that hole—and all at once lost his sense of the azure dragon hairpin.

Then his connection to every other treasure vanished as well. Terror seized his heart: with incomparably exquisite swordsmanship, Shen Mu had severed the vital-energy link between him and those treasures, cutting off all resonance, leaving him possessed of so many treasures and able to use none of them.

Such divine swordsmanship was dreadful beyond measure! Scarcely had he leaped clear of the Sword Treads Rivers and Mountains when the dragon-qilin's enormous claw came smashing down before him.

In a panic he tore off his own robe; the garment rose on the wind, growing larger and larger, like a mass of gray cloud.

The dragon-qilin brought its claw down into the robe, but the cloth was soft as nothingness itself, and the beast sank deeper and deeper. Bare-shouldered, Yu Bochuan turned to flee—only to hear the dragon-qilin roar behind him. Flames blazed up; the robe caught fire and burned away to nothing.

"Array Master, save me!

" Yu Bochuan cried in panic. "If I die in your Juncheng, not one of you will escape blame! " At that moment his cries for help carried over, and the hundred-odd masters behind her all knitted their brows.

A woman said in a low voice, "Array Master, Young Master Yu is, after all, a son of the Lord of Zhentian Palace.

If he dies here, we truly will not escape blame. Neither the Lord of Zhentian Palace nor Bagou is an easy opponent!

Array Master, think thrice.

" He Yiyi shook her head.

"We will not save him.

" The crowd exchanged glances, bewildered by her meaning. "I cannot kill the Sect Master of the Central Plains' Youmo Cult, but I have already struck at him once, and so the debt is settled. If I strike again to carry Young Master Yu off, then the grievance between me and Sect Master Shen can never be undone.

" He Yiyi said calmly, "I have long heard that Jingping of the Central Plains has reformed its laws and grows stronger by the day; it has already swallowed the six directions and swept the eight wilds, and the grasslands and the snow plains have all been folded into Jingping.

Jingping's next target cannot be the Wasteland—it can only be our Western Lands.

Zhentian Palace cannot hold Jingping back, and the Youmo Cult will enter the Western Lands as well. To save Young Master Yu today is to summon utter ruin upon our own heads. " A chill ran through them all.

He Yiyi continued, "Besides, could a son of the Lord of Zhentian Palace lack means to save his life? Young Master Yu hunted Nai Kui down and pressed her to the very brink of death—such ruthlessness is beyond ordinary men. " Scarcely had she spoken when a jade belt at Yu Bochuan's waist flew out and became a great serpent in the wind, coiling tight about the onrushing dragon-qilin. Yu Bochuan fled in wild haste—and suddenly sword-light flashed thrice. His body was cut into four in midair; his two legs went on sprinting forward, while the head upon his neck wore a look of blank bewilderment. His chest, too, was split in two.

Shen Mu sheathed his sword—and just then, the Yu Bochuan who had been cut into four in the air turned into four blocks of wood and dropped down.

"A peach standing in for a plum? " Shen Mu was startled; he raised a hand and seized the sword pill flying up from the Taotie Pouch, then hurled it with all his strength. The sword pill, two chi square, went shrieking forward.

Along the way it spun at furious speed, and from within it flying sword after flying sword became streaks of cold light that struck the ground and bored into the earth! And from beneath the ground a figure shot up into the sky—Yu Bochuan himself, sword-lights trailing behind him, bursting up through the soil, driving him out of the earth and pursuing him without letup.

Yu Bochuan looked up to see the sword pill smashing down upon him head-on, and his face changed drastically; struck full in the face by that absurdly huge sword pill, his whole face was driven into his skull, and his skull into his chest. Suddenly his corpse turned into a clay figure and dropped from the sky. Layer upon layer of array patterns surfaced in Shen Mu's eyes.

He stared at the ground, his gaze flitting at furious speed—then suddenly his arms quivered, and his body flew out flat and level, bursting past Juncheng in an instant.

He struck the heap of mountain rocks before the city with one palm; the rocks exploded with a roar, and amid the flying stones Yu Bochuan's figure flashed into view! "Array Master, I will kill him outside the city—that leaves you a way out!

" Shen Mu's voice pierced into the city.

He Yiyi frowned and looked up beyond the walls.

She saw Shen Mu reach out a hand for a blade; a butcher's knife flew up of itself and he caught it, holding it reversed. The two youths crossed forms in midair like two spinning tops, trading footwork back and forth.

Chh— Blood-light flashed. Shen Mu descended from the air carrying a human head, the tip of the great blade in his other hand still dripping blood. Thud.

Behind him Yu Bochuan's corpse fell, struck the ground, and bounced twice. Within the city, Array Master He Yiyi and the masters of Juncheng went pale. They stared dully at the youth standing beyond the walls with the head in his hand.

Blade in hand, out of the forbidden gates he strides; a king's head he carries at his side!