Chapter 541 — A Black Heart Beats a Demon

"You were the slowest of them all, and you came by air besides. You landed here and gave away your position — of course you would draw a hunter."

The demon expert watched the broken stones on the ground with a wary eye, yet his manner stayed unhurried. "And of everyone, you are the one who looks the easiest to push around. How could I not come? Though your strength truly is beyond what I expected..."

He looked at the rubble strewn across the ground, his pupils narrowing, his aura unfurling little by little. "You look easy to bully, but your strength is monstrous. You may not have the makings of a true god, yet your power has reached that height. You are no weaker than Shuyou or Huangyue. I am very curious — after that death-match with Shi Quansong, how much of your strength do you still have? Is this peach of mine so easy to pluck?"

The flying swords on the ground drifted up one by one. Shen Mu straightened his back, gasping hoarsely, then his breathing suddenly steadied. His face broke into a smile. "Ever since I became the Dark Demon Cult Master, it has been a long time since anyone dared say I look easy to bully. If you want to pluck the peach, why not come and try?"

A moment ago he had been panting like an ox; now he seemed as though nothing had happened.

The demon expert smiled. "Shi Quansong is immensely strong. Even I must be wary of his skills. You fought him to the death — your wounds cannot be light. You are suppressing your aura, but you cannot hide your injuries. Still, rest assured: if your strength is truly still great, great enough to wound me, I will turn and walk away and go look for someone else."

He surveyed his surroundings and said leisurely, "After all, who knows how many opponents are hidden in these mountains and forests. I need to save my strength for the others, do I not?"

His voice carried a seductive demonic cadence, like a kind elder brother from next door, as though he were sincerely thinking of Shen Mu's welfare. Yet Shen Mu's mind remained clear.

He was the Dark Demon Cult Master himself. Though he often styled himself the Heavenly Sage Cult Master, the Dark Demon Cult after all held many great masters steeped in the demonic path, and the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture is exceedingly strange: it changes with the heart. Let demon-nature arise in the heart, and the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture is demonic art; let god-nature arise in the heart, and the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture is upright and honorable.

As the Dark Demon Cult Master, Shen Mu was not about to be blinded by his demonic voice.

He did not believe a single word this demon expert said!

Those words had been spoken for one purpose only: to make Shen Mu lower his guard. "I will turn and walk away" — "who knows how many opponents are hidden" — believe that, and you are dead!

Shen Mu stood motionless. Eight thousand swords lay scattered, drifting around him — the formation of Sword-Steps Over Mountains and Rivers, poised and ready to strike.

Suddenly the demon expert moved, charging straight at Shen Mu. The energy erupting from that youth's true-god-like flesh was terrifying. Shen Mu's Sword-Steps Over Mountains and Rivers had only just unleashed its power when the man was about to burst out of the landscape.

Shen Mu roared. Sword-Steps Over Mountains and Rivers still locked his figure in place. At that instant the demon expert drew out a great banner and rolled it against the sword-light — and a large piece of the landscape scroll was gone.

"A formation expert!"

Shen Mu was startled. The banner planted itself in the ground, its cloth unfurling to reveal countless demonic patterns. The patterns revolved, and an eye appeared.

The demon expert retreated, leaping into the demon eye, and vanished. The power of Sword-Steps Over Mountains and Rivers burst forth, but it could do nothing to that demon banner — clearly the banner was a rare treasure.

Shen Mu was about to summon the Wuyou Sword to cut down the demon banner when the demon expert appeared behind him. Shen Mu thrust his sword backward; another great banner appeared, and the demon expert leaped into it and vanished again, leaving his thrust to pierce empty air, with only a banner stuck in the ground.

So it went, again and again, until eight great banners stood on the ground around Shen Mu, their cloth spread wide, each banner's cloth joined to the pole of the next, forming a regular octagonal formation covering some mu of ground, with an open demon eye at the center of every banner.

Shen Mu frowned. Suddenly streams of demonic qi shot from the demon eyes, blasting toward him.

His vital essence surged around him and in an instant became a great bell, half-there and half-not, its walls made of countless interwoven thunder patterns — the Fifth Ancestor Human Emperor's Five Thunders Heaven-Supporting Bell!

Dang, dang, dang!

Boom after boom rang out. Inside the bell Shen Mu attacked outward, contending with each stream of demonic qi. The Five Thunders Heaven-Supporting Bell swelled and shrank, its power rising and falling, while the demon banners spun around him without cease, the demonic qi from the eyes thickening and thinning, its force surging and ebbing, hammering the bell until it clanged and setting his blood and qi churning.

Shen Mu shifted his feet, and the Five Thunders Heaven-Supporting Bell moved with him — but the demon banners outside moved with him too.

The Five Thunders Heaven-Supporting Bell was the Fifth Ancestor Human Emperor's supreme art, a flesh-body divine power mingled with thunder-magic. The five thunders are the five cloud-thunders; a mighty body drives the five-direction cloud-thunders to form the bell's patterns. With every punch, every kick, the five thunders quake, the great bell contracts and expands, and the power of the five cloud-thunders surges — there is no better art for breaking demonic cultivation.

And yet now Shen Mu could not break this demon expert's demonic art.

Suddenly Shen Mu's form changed drastically, becoming the Star Lord of Zhen, human-headed and serpent-bodied. Behind him the Gate that Bears Heaven rose. He spun once, and the Gate swept through the eight banners — then was blasted to powder by streams of demonic qi.

The Gate that Bears Heaven had not forced the demon expert's true body out.

"Open your eyes!"

In Shen Mu's eyes layer upon layer of formation patterns revolved, scanning all directions, yet he could never find the demon expert's position. He could see only figure after figure flitting at incredible speed among the banners, like ghosts.

And within the formation, the streams of demonic qi, after striking the bell, did not fully disperse. They formed threads invisible to the naked eye, threads spread through space, dividing space into many blocks, and in every cubic block of space demonic runes were ceaselessly taking shape.

This was a formation master. The attack just now had been a feint; his true aim was to trap Shen Mu inside his killing formation and refine him away!

That way he could conserve his strength to deal with the others.

He meant to finish Shen Mu off at the smallest possible cost.

Shen Mu's magic power far surpassed his peers, and his divine powers were fierce and domineering. Few could force him onto the defensive; only a handful of the strong — the First Ancestor Human Emperor, Lizheng, and a few others — could suppress him at the same cultivation realm. Yet this demon expert was one of them.

The First Ancestor, Lizheng and the rest were masters who had entered the Dao; that they could do it was no wonder. But this demon expert was of the demon race's younger generation. That alone showed how deep his attainments in formations ran.

"Formations, is it?"

Shen Mu abruptly dispersed the Five Thunders Heaven-Supporting Bell, reached out and seized the sword pellet, and gripped it hard. Flying swords, fine as threads, flowed like water and became a great spear.