Chapter 540 — Pitch-Black as Iron

Vajra suddenly laughed. "Celestial Master, your heir is an interesting little fellow — half a demon..."

The Woodcutter Sage's heart tightened. He said mildly, "What demon? He is human; he has merely cultivated a demon-path art. And who understands demon-path arts better than I?"

Vajra gave a soft laugh and said no more.

The lava giant drew a long breath, his body swelling section by section, and charged at Shen Mu: "All the same, you are a clay chicken forever! Your body has never reached the level of a young true god; even if you cultivate the Star Lord's form, you are still not worth a single blow!"

Shen Mu's vital qi was near berserk. The twin dragons beneath his feet raced forward; behind him points of starlight welled up, stars gathering one after another, countless stars gathering into a river, each star joined to the next by starlight. Had one eyes keen enough to see, one would have found upon each of those stars a god standing. Those threads of starlight were the radiance given off by those gods. Countless rays crossed and interwove, forming a strange field of force.

This was the divine power Fan Xuanshu had created after comprehending the great unified art of the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Sutra: the palmlight of the Great Luotian Stars. In divine powers, apart from the gods themselves, Shen Mu had never seen any qi-refiner whose arts could be so exquisite!

The lava giant sneered. His enormous fist smashed toward Shen Mu; with a thunderous boom, mountain rock burst apart, and Shen Mu fell back — then turned in midair and charged again. The lava giant roared, demon flame flaring higher on his body. Suddenly he strode at Shen Mu, and the two clashed once more with a boom. The twin dragons beneath Shen Mu's feet were crushed to powder by the huge recoil, and he fell back. The lava giant's body was shaken so that stones flew in all directions — but at once threads of demon fire drew them back onto his body. The demon fire running through his every limb and joint was like his blood, and like his meridians; most strange.

But just then the sword pellet struck, and mingled with those stones into his lava body.

Shua —

The eight thousand swords erupted, cutting along between stone and demon fire, and in an instant, like flowing water, ran through every limb and joint of the lava giant, cutting through all his joints. The lava giant stood blank a moment, then crashed to the ground.

Shen Mu slammed down onto the earth, then rolled and leaped up, blood at the corner of his mouth, still charging in fury, while the eight thousand swords danced across the sky; running, he stabbed his sword-fingers wildly. On the ground, countless stones and demon fire rolled to and fro, forming two thick stone legs. Stones mixed with demon fire flowed upward, piling and stacking, swiftly forming a waist — the lava giant was about to reassemble his body. His life-form was most strange; he belonged to one of the few races among the demons able to rebuild their bodies.

"Sword Treads Rivers and Mountains!"

In an instant the eight thousand swords formed a landscape of sword-light. The lava giant had only restored himself to the neck when he was swallowed by that landscape and became countless fragments of stone.

Shen Mu came charging in fury, left hand formed into a seal with yin, right hand reversed into a seal with yang, both hands crossed in a cross, and struck hard upon the sword diagram that Sword Treads Rivers and Mountains had become. The Yin-Yang Heaven-Subverting Hand — Stacked Palms! The doubled palm force of yin and yang erupted; in the sword diagram pure yin qi and pure yang qi merged, yang thunder and yin thunder exploded with a roar, and fragments of stone flew everywhere, clattering down, until the last wisp of demon fire went out.

Shen Mu rested both hands on his knees, panting hoarsely a few times, spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, and turned his head to look at a demon master walking out from a mountain hollow nearby. "Again?" he raged. "I have already fought two bouts — can you not go find someone else?"

The demon master came over unhurried, smiling. "Who told you to go hammering iron whenever you had nothing better to do?"

Shen Mu's face was black as iron.