Chapter 541 — A Black Heart Beats a Demon

Look closely at that silver spear, and it was made of countless flying swords thin as a hair's tip, the slender blades flowing without cease, each sword executing the sword-circling form, while the spearhead was the Wuyou Sword, incomparably sharp.

At the same time, all manner of runes surfaced around Shen Mu — not the seals of mighty divine powers, but the symbols of divination and number: the Wuji Diagram, the Taiji Diagram, the sun-moon-human runes, the five-phase runes, the six-harmony arrays, the eight-trigram arrays, the hexagram images of the sixty-four hexagrams, all ceaselessly evolving and transforming, constructing a system for calculating a heterogeneous space.

The runes shifted with flying speed, computing the structure of this formation built of eight demon banners. Countless runes leaped to and fro, their deductions so swift they dazzled the eye.

He did not blink. His body moved with the spear; the spear came forth like a dragon, silver light dancing over his whole frame, like silver serpents weaving back and forth through the eight-banner formation. Stream after stream of demonic qi was struck by his silver spear and burst apart with a roar.

Suddenly the eight great banners shook and snapped shut. The demon expert's formation was broken, his true body revealed. He rolled up his banners and fled, laughing loudly: "It is rare to meet a master of divination and calculation! Your strength is great — farewell!"

The banner cloth covered him, and the demon master vanished at once.

Shen Mu grounded his great spear, matchless in bearing, still not relaxing in the least. After a moment, his aura suddenly collapsed; he coughed blood again and again, gasped hoarsely, and dropped down to sit on the ground.

Just then the demon expert appeared behind him like a ghost, thrusting the great banner at Shen Mu like a spear, laughing: "So you really are out of strength — that is why I came back!"

A strange smile appeared on Shen Mu's face. Sitting on the ground with his back to him, he split the great spear in his hands into two, into two great sabers, one in each hand, one forward and one reversed, one hidden behind his back — which precisely caught the banner thrusting at him — and one hidden against his chest.

Shen Mu turned as he sat. The saber hidden at his chest rang as it cut into the demon expert's banner pole.

The demon expert was startled; the pole in his hands hummed and shook, numbing both his arms.

"Do you know the sure-kill technique of the combat schools?"

The two stood back to back, pressed together. Shen Mu's voice came at his ear. Shen Mu's feet had never touched the ground; he still sat cross-legged, as though the man were carrying him on his back.

This was the trick Zaifu, when he had no legs, used to play with Shen Mu, to test him on that one move: Drawing the Blade from the Forbidden.

Drawing the Blade from the Forbidden was the most vicious move in Zaifu's blade art!

The demon expert's steps crossed and shifted, his figure moving swift as a ghost, yet he could never shake Shen Mu off. He was indeed faster than Shen Mu, but with Shen Mu stuck to his back, Shen Mu's body seemed glued to his own, impossible to shed.

The demon master's form shifted again and again, his body-movement truly uncanny and unfathomable, and at last he flung Shen Mu off his back. Joy rose in his heart — at last he was face to face with Shen Mu.

Then Shen Mu's voice came at his ear: "What is your name?"

"My name is..."

The blade-light flared. Shen Mu reversed his grip and raised the saber. The demon expert never got out a single word; the power of Drawing the Blade from the Forbidden had already burst forth.

"Sorry. I did not let you finish."

Shen Mu sheathed his blades. The two great sabers in his hands flowed like quicksand and became a sword pellet, which he held in his palm.

The demon expert had been split open from chest to belly by that one cut; his corpse fell and did not rise.

Shen Mu spat out a breath of foul air and shook his head. "If another master comes, I am dead for certain."

He cocked his ear and listened. Not a sound came from the mountains around him. After another moment, Shen Mu said, strengthless, "If another master comes, I am dead for certain."

The surrounding peaks stood towering; still not the slightest stir.

Wah—

Shen Mu spat out a bolt of blood and collapsed. He struggled twice, kicked out both legs, and stopped breathing.

The mountains around him were silent; still not the slightest stir.

Shen Mu's face had gone blue, his body stiff, his flesh hardening. Still not the slightest stir around him. After a moment he rolled over and climbed up, his expression unchanged, and went to the wall of fire to clang away at tempering his flying swords.

A demon woman raised her head from a mountain peak, stole a glance at him, and suddenly withdrew, walking off without once looking back.

"Blacksmith boy, you are more of a demon than I am. Not to be touched!" She flew swiftly away.

And at that moment, among the mountains, Huangyue halted and looked up at a peak, where a man stood with a long saber on his back.

"Zhe Huali!"