Chapter 597 — The Nine Secrets of the Heaven Blade

" Qi Jiuyi smiled. "I never intended to take him away.

After I have made use of Brother Shen, I can hand him over to you.

" Lu Li's eyes lit up.

"It is settled then! " Qi Jiuyi smiled and said nothing. Shen Mu frowned. Vajra's coming in person had thrown his plans into disarray.

He had meant to let Qi Jiuyi duel the demon masters, to see what this youth from the Heavenly Court was capable of, and incidentally to set Qi Jiuyi at odds with the demon race.

But Vajra had descended directly and would not let the demon masters issue a challenge. And now Lu Li, who had been hidden within Xing An's Life-and-Death Divine Treasury, had popped out as well. Lu Li had once controlled Xing An to seize Shen Mu; Xing An had turned against her and driven her out of the Life-and-Death Divine Treasury.

She and Qi Jiuyi were rivals, both wanting to capture Shen Mu, yet with a few words Qi Jiuyi had dispelled Lu Li's hostility. They were of one mind against a common foe, and Shen Mu had become their shared target. "Plans cannot keep pace with change.

I cannot possibly master every variable. .

.

" A faint worry stirred in his heart. The Lame Elder muttered behind his back, "The brat's gone and botched it. . . " Star Lord Yang glanced at Shen Mu, smiled, and suddenly relaxed.

"Sect Master Shen's heart-spirit seems a little disordered.

Your arrangements have been thrown into complete disarray, and now your mind is in a tangle. In such a state of anxious gain and loss, it would be easy for Young Master Qi to finish you off.

Does Sect Master Shen need time to adjust?

" "Very well! " Shen Mu said at once, "I do indeed need to adjust my state of mind. Grandpa Tu, Star Lord Yang, you two had best settle the grudge between you first.

" The smile froze on Star Lord Yang's face.

He had never imagined the boy would actually agree.

The Butcher laughed heartily, threw open his clothes, bared his chest, and looked up at the sky. "You thieving heavens, I have cursed you so long, and at last I can make you bleed! Star Lord Yang, please—" A blade intent soared into the sky and split the heavens open; a gray cloud was instantly cloven cleanly in two! The Butcher's fighting spirit surged to the heavens, his gaze sharp as a blade, fixed on Star Lord Yang.

Those two gazes pierced Star Lord Yang like blade-light. Startled, he leapt into the air, and golden light blazed forth in midair. His form rose higher and higher; the wings at his back spread with a clatter, and layer upon layer of golden feathers bloomed in every direction.

Feathers poured ceaselessly from Star Lord Yang's body; from a human form he transformed into a three-legged divine bird, gleaming with gold, merging with the blazing sun in the sky like the golden crow within the great sun! The golden crow let out a shriek, piercing to the ear: "Heaven Blade, last time I cut you down, and I broke every one of your blade arts.

What can you do today?

" "Do you think I have been eating nothing but greens in Yincan Village all these years? " The Butcher gave a long whistle, drew his blade, and leapt into the void, treading the blue clouds. His body shook and became immeasurably tall; in an instant the blade-light in the sky grew dazzling beyond measure, even veiling the light of Star Lord Yang's great sun, and it chopped toward that sun! "The Blade Opens the Bright Moon Ring!

" Shen Mu could not help but thrill.

"The ninth move of the Butchering Blade Art!

" The Libationer of Mount Ba's eyes were blank as he raised his head to the sky. The Butchering Blade Art Shen Mu spoke of was the Eight Arts of the Heaven Blade, yet the Butcher's Eight Arts of the Heaven Blade had only eight moves, and now the blade art the Butcher was executing had produced a move he had never seen before. The Heaven Blade had a ninth move. The Nine Arts of the Heaven Blade!

The Blade Opens the Bright Moon Ring!

In the sky, the snow-bright blade-light gathered; the Butcher's figure could no longer be seen, only the incomparably dazzling blade-light massed together like a bright moon, meeting the golden great sun across from it!

Within the great sun, countless golden feathers gathered into a sword, bearing the fierce true fire of the sun, and rushed at the Bright Moon Ring opposite.

Hum— The golden sword's true fire plunged into the bright moon. Suddenly the moon blazed with light, as though the moon had absorbed the sunlight and reflected it back as moonlight; the blade's radiance at once grew several times more intense! The bright moon scattered and became a blade-light that shook heaven and earth!

Shen Mu was stirred beyond measure and chanted aloud: "I marched to war by the Jade Gate road, chased the foe to the Jinwei peaks. The flute plays the Plum Blossom tune, the blade opens the Bright Moon Ring!

" What he chanted was the blade formula of the move called The Blade Opens the Bright Moon Ring!

In midair, blood scattered like rain. The Butcher's mighty frame stood between heaven and earth, bathed in divine blood and roaring flame, the Heaven Blade streaming light, cleaving the sun apart. He laughed heartily: "Drums thunder over the sea, war's breath wraps the clouds.

I would strike off a god's head, and drive straight through Wuwang Pass!

" And at this moment, a youth of the human race came walking out from the demon army's camp, a demon blade on his back, hurrying toward this place. He raised his head and saw this scene, and his heart and spirit were shaken; involuntarily he fell into enlightenment of the Dao.

In midair, Star Lord Yang's head came falling, struck the ground before the demon army's camp, and gave out a great booming crash.