Chapter 468 — Thunder Shakes the Western Frontier

Shen Mu sheathed his sword and, using the Sky-Skimming Divine Legs, ran at full speed, catching up to Mu Yingxue in a few breaths and standing shoulder to shoulder with her atop the cloud.

"You poison, I mend! " The two exchanged a smile. They met the True Heaven Palace's powerful ones; those Life-Death realm elders of the Palace released their primordial spirits outright, which transformed into the divine-demon forms of the Four Great Spirit Bodies and charged at Shen Mu and Mu Yingxue.

Mu Yingxue and Shen Mu flicked their fingers in succession, one laying down poison, one laying down remedies; the remedies swelled the poison's virulence.

Scarce had the two of them unleashed their arts when the sea of clouds behind them came surging, drowning them and rushing at those True Heaven Palace elders, laden with deadly poison—it was Fu Yunxi who had struck.

The sea of clouds churned and swallowed those True Heaven Palace elders together with their primordial spirits.

These few elders were indeed formidable; each used her arts and broke the sea of clouds—when suddenly their faces changed drastically, flesh and bone dissolving, primordial spirits crumbling, and they fell from the sky as heaps of withered bone.

With the third- and fourth-ranked poison masters of the age joining hands, not to speak of them—even gods could not withstand it!

Shen Mu and Mu Yingxue parted, each charging at other mountain giants.

Boom.

A mountain giant toppled with a crash, its vast body falling prone, setting off dreadful tremors; cheers rose from the He family's wielders, and then another thunderous roar—another mountain giant went down.

The great families joined hands, eyes red with slaughter, pushing down mountain giant after mountain giant; the Fang family controlled the mountains and rivers, splitting the giants apart into hundreds of small hill giants that kept charging into the fray—working with the He family's formations, the Fu family's weather attacks, the Xi family's grass and trees, the Gong family's great rivers, the Mu family's deadly poisons, and the Luo family's sword arts, ever widening their advantage.

At last the fighting gradually subsided; before the True Heaven Palace only a few thousand hill giants remained, and countless wielders of every family stood gasping amid the ruins—the True Heaven Palace's mountain giants had finally been swept away. Tens of thousands of women wielders raised their heads, gazing up at the aloof True Heaven Palace with surging emotion.

This time they had finally done it—fought their way to the gates of this holy ground, about to step into the place that symbolized divine authority, to conquer the theocracy of the Western Lands! Though they had sacrificed countless sisters, to overthrow the True Heaven Palace was a mighty achievement, and any sacrifice was worth it!

Within the True Heaven Palace all was silence—then suddenly the clash of metal rang out; divine majesty gradually spread through the halls, growing stronger and stronger, surging out in all directions from the Palace as its center, pressing down on the family wielders below until they could scarcely breathe.

Clang, clang—the clash of metal grew louder, and at last a golden, radiant statue of a god-demon, eyes tightly shut, strode out of the palace gates: a figure of massive build, over ten zhang tall, runes flickering bright and dim across its body. The statue opened its eyes; divine light pierced the heavens and swept the earth, as though it were a living god!

Then a second statue walked out, then a third, a fourth, a fifth.

.

.

Seven statues in succession came out of the True Heaven Palace and stood before its gates, the divine light in their eyes illuminating all around. These were statues awakened by the spirit-summoning art, tempered by countless ages, grown monstrously strong—like gods indeed.

From within the Palace came the clatter and tramp of marching; tens of thousands of Yu family wielders poured out in file, and the True Heaven Palace Master appeared beneath the gate, looking down from on high at the family warriors below who had come to assault the Palace, a mocking expression on her face. Cold despair filled every heart. To sweep away the True Heaven Palace's mountain giant guardians, the families had lost more than a hundred thousand dead and wounded—yet this was only the Palace's outer strength; the Palace's core forces remained intact, and more terrible still!

These seven statues awakened by the summoning art were likely enough to sweep away all the great families! Add to that tens of thousands of Yu family masters, and what awaited them was total annihilation!

Shen Mu looked around; even He Yiyi, even Fang Caidie, even Luo Yinyu—despair was written on their faces.

"Sister Yunxi, you can command the weather—can you command thunder?

" Shen Mu came before Fu Yunxi and asked.

Fu Yunxi nodded, and said bleakly: "The Fu family excels at commanding the weather, and thunder is weather too. But after this battle, I fear the Western Lands' art of weather will become a thing of the past.

. .

" Shen Mu smiled faintly: "How much thunder can you control?

" Fu Yunxi was slightly startled and looked at him.

Shen Mu took out the True Dragon Lair and said in a low voice: "Fat Dragon, come here!

" The dragon qilin hurried over in a fluster; Shen Mu leaped onto his back and took out the Five Thunders Gourd, setting it on the qilin's brow.

The dragon qilin shuddered with dread and hastily put on a fawning smile: "Cult Leader, Human Emperor, Lord Shen! What's this about?

This little beast is frail and bony—how could he bear a death of ten thousand thunderbolts? " Shen Mu consoled him: "With the Fu family's masters here, not a hair on you will be harmed.

Up now, fly forward.

" Trembling, the dragon qilin trod the fire clouds and rose.

Shen Mu said in a low voice: "Sister Yunxi, bring every Fu family disciple with me!

" Before the True Heaven Palace, the Palace Master watched with a smile as the dragon qilin bore Shen Mu aloft; Shen Mu grinned at her, then suddenly tossed up his sword core.

The core rang and split apart, eight thousand swords moving as one, shua-shua-shua stabbing into the Five Thunders Gourd!