Chapter 539 — The Unyielding Stone

"The arm of Luo Wushuang, the Divine Blade — was it you who cut it off?

" A sudden sense of profound absurdity swept over everyone around; even Shu You, the steadiest of them, could not help laughing aloud. "Brother Shen, the grain thresher," he said, "you had best keep to your iron-hammering.

" Shen Mu withdrew his gaze, and his expression turned strangely grave. Abruptly Yu He, Huang Yue, Shu You, Sang Hua and the rest all turned, each shifting a step away from him, their hearts seized with astonishment and doubt.

For one fleeting instant they had felt the blacksmith boy beside them become suddenly like a sword on the verge of leaving its scabbard, in another moment to blaze with radiance and pierce with its keen edge — and then, just as suddenly, it slid back into the sheath. That step they took came of pure instinct, a flinching from that dreadful battle intent and killing intent.

Clang.

Clang.

The hammering rang out; Shen Mu stood before the smelting platform, wholly absorbed, tempering his flying swords still.

The others could not help but wonder whether their senses had deceived them.

And across the way, beside Zhe Huali, a demoness glanced over and said in surprise, "The man in your portrait — he looks like that blacksmith boy over there! " Zhe Huali rolled the portrait up and put it away.

"My master has sought him for a very long time," he said calmly. "My master says that whatever he has achieved in his blade arts, he owes wholly to this man. When I descended into this world, the old man once displayed his sword arts before me, and gave me this portrait, bidding me find the man in it and perform his blade arts in his presence. " The demoness could not help but shiver, then broke into a giggle.

"Your master cares a great deal for him. He had you perform the blade arts so the blacksmith boy could see how formidable his saber technique is. I can feel your master's hatred — and beyond the hatred there should be a thread of respect as well. But the blacksmith boy is only a youth; how could he draw your master's attention?

" "That, I do not know.

" Zhe Huali's gaze settled on Shen Mu. "Only a few months ago my master reached across worlds to contact me, saying that the man he sought had appeared, and telling me to go to that world and find him. But with the great war at hand, I had no leisure to go, and never imagined I would meet him here.

" He let out a breath of foul air and said in a low voice, "A man whom even the God of Blades holds in such esteem — I am very much looking forward to meeting him!

" Shen Mu, hammering his iron, seemed altogether unaware of that gaze, forging his flying swords as though there were no one else in the world; yet Zhe Huali keenly sensed that his gaze still made the youth somewhat uncomfortable. When his eyes fell upon Shen Mu, he could distinctly see Shen Mu adjusting his stance.

Zhe Huali smiled and could not help growing excited; the eye on his demon blade grew excited with him, spinning several turns before becoming one great blood-red eye.

Suddenly Vajra's voice came: "Celestial Master, since everyone has arrived, let us begin. " The Woodcutter Sage said, "Shall we set some rules?

" "Rules?

In a life-and-death struggle, what rules are there?

" Vajra laughed heartily.

In the plaza that great black spear was humming and quaking; the plaza split, the ground burst with a crackling roar, and gullies stretched away in every direction. Shen Mu and the others at once lost their footing and hurriedly stirred their vital essence.

The Woodcutter Sage's brows twitched; that great axe of his trembled too, contending with the demon spear.

When the might of the two divine weapons clashed, the space at the plaza's center was suddenly torn and stretched. In a heaven-shaking, earth-rending roar, the faces of Shen Mu and the rest changed drastically: the level ground beneath their feet abruptly began to rise, the earth growing with mad frenzy, until two legs could not hold them and they could only stand on one, lest both be torn apart.

The plaza beneath them underwent a violent shift of geography; in an instant mountain ranges sprang up from the ground, ever higher, and the distance between them all raced ever wider. That collision of two divine weapons had stretched the space of this plaza so violently that, like a creator possessed of majestic power, it conjured mountains out of nothing. Gullies crisscrossed, ranges rose and fell in rolling waves — such majestic power made one bow in awe.

Shen Mu looked on in astonishment at the changes before him: the level plaza, as though through the vicissitudes of seas turning to mulberry fields, had in a brief moment undergone changes that should have taken hundreds of thousands, even millions, of years. This was the mighty power of gods and demons, a power mortals could never attain!

Only now did he know what formidable strength a true god commanded — a strength that even Xing Han, patching together a divine body, could never approach or rival. "Vajra can hold his own against the Woodcutter Sage; his strength is indeed extraordinary.

" His mind stirred, and at once he sensed his flying swords.

Some of them were still thrust into the Li Fire and demon fire, being tempered, and he had not yet had time to call them back. Shen Mu promptly summoned his flying swords; one after another they came flying from afar.

They were still more than twenty li from him, but in the next moment he saw a strange sight.

His flying swords were swift beyond measure, speeding toward him — yet the distance between them and him was steadily widening.

Clearly this was a work of gods and demons, a world wrought by creation, where space expanded faster than the swords could fly.

Boom! Suddenly space quaked violently; the towering mountains stopped growing and space steadied.

One after another the flying swords came shrieking in. Shen Mu raised a hand; the swords clinked and collided, and turned into a sword pellet that spun round and round.

He let out a breath of relief and looked about — Sang Hua and the others were nowhere to be seen.

Mountains abounded on every side, though none were especially tall, like the mountains of the outside world shrunk more than tenfold.

Shen Mu cut off a piece of stone and examined it closely, then crushed it to powder.

In the end the stone became fine, broken rune marks, which gave off a last faint phosphorescence and dispersed with the wind, vanishing utterly.

"So it truly is not real.

" Shen Mu straightened up and looked around.

These rolling ranges must have been manifested by Vajra and the Woodcutter Sage through runes; their strength had not yet reached the level where they could create true matter. From beyond the heavens Vajra's voice came suddenly, like thunder: "A life-and-death contest has no rules whatsoever!

This sand table shall be their field of battle.

Each of our two sides sends in ten people; whichever side's people walk out alive is the victor.

What say you to this proposal? " Shen Mu's heart stirred.

"Sand table? " He raised his head and looked toward the sound, and saw beyond the heavens the faces of Vajra, the Woodcutter Sage and the other gods and demons grown immense beyond measure, like planets beyond the sky, terrifyingly vast. "That is to say, the plaza looks as though it has grown countless times larger, yet to those looking in from outside it should still be the same size as before.

" Shen Mu was astonished.

Such a method was truly beyond imagining. The moment he arrived he had observed the plaza and reckoned its dimensions.

On two sides of the plaza stood the palaces of Li City, arranged left yin and right yang; a broad road came in from Li City and ended at the steps, which led up into the plaza — the plaza less than thirty-one zhang wide and fifty zhang long, with steps leading to the palaces on either hand.