Chapter 475 — Crushing the Entire Field

Imperial Preceptor Jingping kept retreating, his tiny figure breaking apart the Old Mother of True Heaven's attacks again and again.

Though he retreated, the distance between him and the Dawn Boat kept closing. Alarm rose in the Old Mother of True Heaven. Imperial Preceptor Jingping's retreat looked like weakness; the Dawn Boat pressed forward step by step, closing the distance, which looked like strength. But this was not her holding the upper hand — on the contrary, she felt a terrible, overwhelming sense of peril.

If she closed to a certain distance with Imperial Preceptor Jingping, what awaited her would be his most ferocious assault. To let Imperial Preceptor Jingping draw near was absolutely her death!

Now she was riding a tiger and could not get off. Standing aboard the Dawn Boat and borrowing its power was the only way she could command such vast and dreadful mana; but borrowing the Dawn Boat's power while standing on it had one great drawback — she had to stand between the four pillars, her hands gripping them. That restricted her own movement.

If Imperial Preceptor Jingping closed in, she could only offer up her head. Yet without the Dawn Boat's mana, and without the Four Spirit Pearls, her fighting strength was inferior to Imperial Preceptor Jingping's.

So now she could only strike first and kill Imperial Preceptor Jingping from beyond that distance! The shorter the distance, the nearer her own death. The Old Mother of True Heaven's mana grew more and more violent, her attacks more and more dense, pressing him hard at every step.

Imperial Preceptor Jingping kept retreating, yet step by step drew nearer; every fraction he closed was like death winding the spring one notch tighter, waiting for the final harvest.

The Old Mother of True Heaven's shriek grew louder and louder; beads of sweat began to form on her brow, falling like rain.

By now the Dawn Boat and Imperial Preceptor Jingping had drawn far from the ruins.

In the ruins, Shen Mu and Ban Gongcuo stood at either end of the roof of that dilapidated great hall.

When the Old Mother of True Heaven made her move and Imperial Preceptor Jingping struck her down with a single sword, the commotion was so great that Ban Gongcuo was badly startled and nearly turned and fled. How formidable was Imperial Preceptor Jingping? The battle at the Palace of True Heaven had already made Ban Gongcuo abandon all thought of contending with him in this life; his only thought was to cultivate the Divine Bridge and then worship him to death.

But when he saw the Old Mother of True Heaven's false body escape, and that what Imperial Preceptor Jingping had run through with a single sword was only a sand-dune giant, he breathed a sigh of relief and gave up the thought of fleeing.

And when he saw the Old Mother of True Heaven commanding the Dawn Boat and beating Imperial Preceptor Jingping down, he finally relaxed completely. Ban Gongcuo smiled and said unhurriedly, "Cult Master Shen's calculations are indeed shrewd — bringing Imperial Preceptor Jingping and the Old Mother of True Heaven along to seek me out.

I know your little scheme: nothing more than killing two birds with one stone. Imperial Preceptor Jingping would launch a surprise attack and assassinate the Old Mother of True Heaven, while you, taking advantage of my shock, would strike from hiding and assassinate me.

A fine plan indeed — but alas, the schemes of men cannot outrun the designs of heaven, and you never reckoned that the Old Mother of True Heaven was too strong.

That is your first mistake. " With his hands clasped behind his back, he said unhurriedly, "Your second mistake is that you misjudged me.

You took me for an ordinary wielder of divine abilities — that is your greatest mistake. I have passed through more than a dozen reincarnations; the speed of my cultivation's advance is beyond your imagining, and the speed of my strength's growth is beyond your imagining as well!

" His aura erupted.

His savage vital essence twisted the air around him into one tornado after another, spinning madly around the dilapidated hall, tearing up countless tiles and even lifting the thick pillars of the ruins into the air — a terrifying display! "What makes you think you can contend with me? " Ban Gongcuo roared. His cultivation was markedly stronger than at their last encounter in the desert — his progress was astonishingly swift! Ban Gongcuo strode forward, and behind him the phantom images of the gods and buddhas of the heavens appeared, forming layer upon layer of cave-heavens.

His body shone with golden light like a Buddha, and as he roused the Thunder Peal Mahayana Scripture, his realm rose straight to the Great Eloquence Heaven! Ban Gongcuo raised a hand and struck a palm, stirring wind and thunder. The thunder roared, flowers rained from the sky, and the palm came crashing down at Shen Mu! Shen Mu raised his hand.

Boom! Half the great hall collapsed, and Ban Gongcuo fell with it, sprawling spread-eagled on the ground. Shen Mu stretched his limbs and gave his body a sudden jolt.

The rest of the hall came crashing down, and a great pit instantly opened in the ground, with Ban Gongcuo trampled deep into the desert beneath him.

"Great Venerable, what did you say?

" Shen Mu asked, tilting his head.