Chapter 572 — The Ten-Mile Star-Sand Snare Formation

Shen Mu had just charged into the gorge with the chest and Jiang Miao when he saw light begin to flow through the great rune seals on the cliffs to either side—and the next moment the yellow sand of the whole gorge rose into the air, as though a sandstorm had been whipped up! "Don't breathe! " Shen Mu shouted.

"Seal every pore on your body!

" Jiang Miao caught on at once and hastily held his breath, closing every pore.

The yellow sand in that gorge was no sand at all, but primal soldiers, one and all; every grain could swell at any moment into a boulder dozens of acres across.

If you drew a few grains into your nose, your throat, your lungs between one breath and the next, and those grains then swelled to tens of acres, the outcome hardly needed spelling out. Or if a few grains entered through the pores of the skin, the swelling would be just as disastrous.

In the instant before the mad sand arrived, Shen Mu poured his primordial qi into his sword core. It rang and swelled, and flying swords flowed out like water, one after another, forming a metal sphere of perfect roundness that drew him inside.

Even the most exquisite sword technique could not hold off the blast of that raging sand, could not guarantee that not one grain slipped past; so he simply let the sword core take the most perfect of circles and shield him.

At Li City he had already refined his flying swords to the point of sword-as-flowing-water, able to take whatever form he wished, just like the sword core of the Silent Artisan. To have refined an instrument to such a degree was a godlike feat of craftsmanship. No sooner had Shen Mu hidden himself inside the sword core than the mad sand was upon them; in a single breath the round sphere was pocked with countless small dents, packed so densely that they nearly ran together.

The materials Si Yunxiang had given him for refining the sword were the finest of the very finest. Earlier Shen Mu had grumbled that the sword was too heavy, so heavy he could scarcely drive it; now he was rather glad that she had given him the best, for only so had it survived the first impact.

Even so, the sword core was sent flying on the spot, smashing and ricocheting through the gorge at terrifying speed! Inside it, Shen Mu and Jiang Miao were shaken to the bone, so wretched they nearly coughed up blood.

Sheltered within the core, they might escape the sand itself, but the concussions of its blows nearly shattered them.

Shen Mu immediately drove the sword core with all his strength, pushing its water-like nature to the utmost. The instant a dent was struck into it, the core flowed and mended itself.

But Shen Mu's primordial qi was all too often smashed apart by the flying sand, leaving him unable to drive the core, so that the pitted hollows multiplied. "This killing formation is more terrifying than I imagined! " Despair filled Shen Mu's heart.

And in the very instant they stepped into the gorge, Xing Han arrived on their heels, reaching out to seize the sword core—when suddenly the mad sand came flying.

Xing Han's expression shifted slightly; his fingers trembled, his divine power erupted, and he shook the sand back. "There's something wrong with this sand.

It's primal soldiers, not flying sand!

My flesh is the body of a true god—what is a little flying sand to me? " He too saw through it quickly, and judging himself to have entered the divine realm, he plunged into the gorge in pursuit of the sword core where Shen Mu hid. His strength was greater than before, yet even so he could only advance through that gorge with grinding difficulty, each step a torment.

The yellow sand rose and whirled across the sky, attacking from every direction.

Xing Han's hands flew, divine powers bursting out one after another to block it. Even when a grain he could not stop landed on him, it only left a dull ache in his flesh; it could not wound him.

Then all at once his feet grew heavier and heavier—sand had gotten into his shoes. Xing Han halted and lifted a foot to shake the yellow sand out, but the grains on his body only multiplied, and the sand seemed to come alive, flowing up over him.

Cold sweat sprang out on his forehead, and he strove to shake the yellow sand from his body. Meanwhile in the gorge, boom, boom, boom—one tremendous crash followed another.

Shen Mu's sword core was batted back and forth like a meteor, riddled with hollows, seeming ready to shatter at any moment.

Soon Xing Han's legs were sunk in the yellow sand, and the harder he struggled the less he could free himself, while Shen Mu's sword core was beaten out of shape—plainly it too could not last much longer. "That brat is about to die. There's no reason for me to die with him.

I'll get out of here first! Human Sovereign Creation Art! " Xing Han shouted low, and his body suddenly shrank violently, down to the size of a mote of dust, and so escaped being swallowed by the yellow sand.

His Creation Art had come from Ban Gongcuo; Ban Gongcuo too had cultivated the Great Nurture Dark Demon Sutra, but in mastery of the Creation Art, Xing Han far surpassed Ban Gongcuo, and stood even further above Shen Mu, lord of the Dark Demon Cult.

The moment he shrank, the grains of yellow sand abruptly swelled enormously. Xing Han's face went slack with horror: countless round boulders the size of planets danced through the air and came crashing at him!

Great and small are relative. He had shrunk by countless times, and the sand grains had swelled by countless times; those grains were now one enormous planet after another.

He seemed to have fallen into a vast river of stars—but a river of stars beyond all terror, in utter chaos.

"This is a god-slaying formation, made to kill true gods!

This transformation—star-sand turning into stars—it is a formation that shifts with my own shifting! " Xing Han groaned, caught between two star-sands vast as planets, and nearly spewed out a mouthful of old blood.

The two planet-like star-sands struck him and then parted left and right; two more came hurtling in, trapping him between them before he could dodge, and smashed him between them with terrible force. Boom, boom, boom— One collision after another.

Xing Han's face was ashen, and at last he could not hold back a mouthful of divine blood. These star-sands were no true stars, but primal soldiers of dozens of acres, and their impact was not so fearsome as one might imagine—yet their speed was appalling, and a whole chain of blows left Xing Han gravely wounded!

With a fierce shout Xing Han drove his divine power to the limit, striking one enormous star-sand after another away, and then suddenly screamed aloud; behind him a great flood spread out and became a long river that lifted his body up.

The long serpent of water danced, threading swiftly among the planet-like star-sands, dodging one planetary charge after another by the narrowest of margins. Xing Han let out a breath.

Just then, the star-sands blazed with brilliance, and starlight burst from them. In the sky, threads of starlight linked the countless star-sands, and tens of thousands of them merged into a single, utterly monstrous eye. "Oh no.

.

. " The thought had barely formed when a beam of light shot from the evil eye of countless stars and blasted into him. The long river beneath his feet shattered; spewing blood, he was hurled backwards.

A single star-sand was not so strong, but joined together they were fearsome indeed—strong enough to wound him! And in that boundless starfield, star-sands gathered without end, becoming eyes that floated in the air; hum, hum, hum—beams of starlight shot back and forth, lancing at Xing Han.

Those were starlight sword-qi, keen beyond measure; even a body that could be called a true god's flesh could not withstand them!

"I've been driven into the formation.

There's no way out of this killing array now. .

.

" Despair filled Xing Han's heart.