Chapter 468 — Thunder Shakes the Western Frontier

The great stone array shifted without cease, countless cubes arranging and recombining, transforming into a floating stone formation that charged madly into the battlefield.

Shen Mu stood upon the heaving, restless boulders, watching the blocks great and small before him endlessly change and recombine—now becoming ramparts, now scattering away swift as smoke and dust. He Yiyi's mastery of formations was exceedingly high; under her urging, Yuncheng cut into the battlefield, carving out a path for the He family's divine-power wielders behind.

Boom— A mountain giant came charging, its weapon most peculiar: a club thick as a mountain peak, hung all over with bronze bells great and small, though even the smallest of them was terrifyingly huge.

The mountain giant smashed its club down into Yuncheng's formation; the club spun, and at once the bronze bells hanging upon it clanged and tolled, dreadful sound waves battering Yuncheng, shaking stone after stone into powder.

He Yiyi immediately altered the formation; countless boulders clapped themselves onto that great club, and in an instant covered the fearsome weapon entirely—the bells went mute, unable to make a sound. The mountain giant heaved the club up with effort, only to see countless boulders rolling swiftly along it, crawling toward his arm.

He Yiyi drove the formation; its power erupted, and she snapped the mountain giant's arm. The mountain giant seemed not to notice; its other hand reached in, probing into the stone array, grasping for He Yiyi—and at once that palm was plastered with countless boulders, growing heavier and heavier.

"The He family's formations are indeed extraordinary!

" Shen Mu marveled, then suddenly leaped out of Yuncheng's array onto the mountain giant's arm, bounding like the wind, howling toward the summit.

At the summit lay another battlefield, where many divine-power wielders of the True Heaven Palace met those of the Gong family in battle, locked in a deadlock.

Shen Mu rushed to the summit and flung up a burst of silver light—his sword core, a two-foot orb that soared and spun, and from it countless swords burst forth, each flying sword becoming a streak of sword-light that wove among the combatants! Thrust, lift, cloud, chop, cleave, point, burst, hang, flick, wipe, sweep, block, intercept, flower, coil, twine, drill—seventeen sword forms, endlessly transforming; eight thousand swords, seventeen variations, drowning every woman on the summit.

Shen Mu's figure soared and plunged down the mountain; behind him the eight thousand swords followed like wind through grey clouds, coming to hover above his head, clashing ding-ding-ding, and once more becoming a two-foot sword core.

On the summit, True Heaven Palace wielders dropped one after another, dead where they stood, leaving only the Gong family's women.

Below, halfway down the slope, grass dragons danced and caught Shen Mu's falling figure; the Xi family patriarch, Xi Yuting, stood upon an enormous dragon head, green vines like serpents surging and howling ahead of her.

Countless green vines grew madly in midair, blossomed, fruited, and the fruit took root and sprouted in the air, bearing them through the mountain ranges. Numberless vines carried the Xi family's women up onto mountain giant after mountain giant, taking root among the rocks.

The women wielders drove their divine powers, making grass and vines sprout all over these mountain giants, dismembering them. Suddenly, a dreadful fluctuation came from the Vermilion Bird Pearl; the vast Vermilion Bird spread its wings, a sea of fire blazing, and charged at Xi Yuting amid the mountains.

Xi Yuting stood on the grass dragon's head working her art; countless green lights wrapped her round and round, becoming an enormous ball of grass that hurtled into the sea of fire.

In an instant the great grass ball was set alight; by the time it passed through the fire, only two or three zhang of it remained.

The grass ball split open, and Xi Yuting, carrying Shen Mu, rode a vine leaf up into the sky, rising higher and higher.

Shen Mu sprang down from the leaf, cutting a downward slant through the air, reached up, and drew the Wuyou Sword from the sword core. The Wuyou Sword swelled in the wind; the other several thousand flying swords clashed ding-ding-ding against it one after another and sank into it.

His fall grew faster and faster, his momentum stronger and stronger, until with a thunderous crash his body struck the crown of a mountain giant, staggering even that colossal being.

The dreadful shockwave of his landing became a ring of impact that flung the True Heaven Palace's women disciples on the peak into the air, leaving only a few at the Seven Star and Heaven-Man realms barely able to stand.

Just then the air around him cracked and boomed, space humming and quivering—the power unleashed as the Wuyou Sword cleaved downward.

Boom— That sword split forward; in the instant it struck, the mountain giant's skull burst with crack after crack, a great fissure splitting its head open.

Though one stroke could not cleave the giant's head in two, the power of that blow was by no means small.

As the Wuyou Sword fell, countless flying swords spun out from it and sliced forward—chi-chi-chi-chi—in a single instant eight thousand flying swords whirled from one side of the peak to the other.

In midair, severed limbs and arms flew in a flurry; before they had even fallen, Shen Mu had already charged forward sword in hand, sword-light flashing, cutting in between those two Heaven-Man realm True Heaven Palace experts.

The two women of the Heaven-Man realm were caught off guard; already bearing several wounds, now with Shen Mu at close quarters, the three of them fluttered like three butterflies. These two women were, after all, masters of the True Heaven Palace; though unskilled at close combat and wounded by Shen Mu, their cultivation was deep and far surpassed his, and they soon steadied themselves.

Each sent forth her primordial spirit, half a body standing in midair, about to pounce on Shen Mu, when suddenly grass dragons came striking, taking root beneath their feet and swiftly binding them. Xi Yuting, patriarch of the Xi family, descended upon the head of this mountain giant; scarce had she landed when Shen Mu sprang up and broke through the air.

And those two Heaven-Man realm experts of the True Heaven Palace each bore a red mark at the brow—he had slain their bodies with the Wuyou Sword and destroyed their brains.

Xi Yuting arrived only a step behind Shen Mu, and saw that he had already slaughtered every True Heaven Palace wielder on this peak, leaving only the two Heaven-Man masters.

She knew that if such masters sent their primordial spirits out of their bodies, Shen Mu would be no match and would likely be annihilated by their joined strike; therefore she had acted to bind the two women's bodies. She had not expected Shen Mu to end the fight so quickly; she had only just landed on the peak when he had already seized the chance to cut down the two Heaven-Man masters.

Xi Yuting looked out and saw him speeding through the air, countless flying swords shrieking ahead, spread flat beneath his feet, carrying him far away through the sky. "The Dark Demon Cult Leader is truly extraordinary!

" Xi Yuting marveled.

Shen Mu was charging toward the next mountain giant when suddenly dreadful auras poured from the True Heaven Palace; master after master of the Palace came killing out of the halls, hurling themselves straight at the battlefield.

"So many True Heaven Palace masters—the elders must have made their move.

Their target is the heads of the great families!

" Scarce had the thought formed when he saw Mu Yingxue riding a white cloud to meet those True Heaven Palace masters, with Fu Yunxi behind her driving her divine power, the sea of clouds surging in Mu Yingxue's wake.