Chapter 599 — Nine Phoenixes Alight on Cangwu

Fast as he was, strong as he was, Shen Mu and the others could plainly see that the feathers posed an enormous threat to him! Zhe Huali's speed was near that of racing thunder, yet every step he took seemed measured out, each stride exactly the same length. If you joined the points his feet trod with lines, they formed equilateral figures inscribed in circles: three steps a triangle, four steps a square, five steps a pentagon, and so on.

The more steps, the closer to a true circle.

These figures, with Qi Jiuyi at their center, revolved around him—and not on a single plane, but in three-dimensional space, now far, now near, now above, now below, now left, now right; joined by lines, they must have been dazzling beyond measure. And so it was that his movement technique was unpredictable, his blade art even more so.

His movement technique must have been inherited from the Blade God Luo Wushuang; such were Luo Wushuang's steps, and the rules within his blade art were severe in the extreme.

Yet as Zhe Huali moved, he drew farther and farther from Qi Jiuyi. Qi Jiuyi had not shifted a step; the space claimed by his feathers and plumes grew ever larger, forcing Zhe Huali steadily back.

Those feathers and plumes were his divine power. He had not yet called upon his primal weapon—mere divine power alone kept Zhe Huali from closing in!

More than that, the feathers and plumes gradually took on a strange and marvelous form.

It was a tree—a Cangwu tree of flowing light.

A towering tree rose at his back, its crown blotting out sky and sun; beneath the crown, flowing radiance spilled in every color, and Qi Jiuyi bathed in beam after beam of varied light, like a god beneath the tree. The faces of those watching from all around grew grave, Granny Zhu's above all.

Granny Zhu's arts and divine powers were foremost in Yincan Village; her comprehension of divine power was terrifying.

Especially after Fan Xuanshu's death, when she had endured the trial and baptism of the Dao-heart Demon Seed, she had stepped to the very edge of the Dao in arts and divine powers, her future bright. Her divine power ranked first in Yincan Village, and first in the Jingping Kingdom as well. Yet Qi Jiuyi's divine power showed her an attainment more exquisite, of a far higher order.

This Cangwu tree was not a divine power Qi Jiuyi had comprehended himself; it was a divine power contained within his cultivation method.

Qi Jiuyi had merely learned it and put it to use—and even so, the might of this divine power far surpassed that of his peers. In the sheer refinement of divine power alone, she already admitted herself his inferior. This Cangwu tree was condensed from countless plume divine powers; its construction was so ingenious, so exquisite, as she had never seen before!

And now, Qi Jiuyi's momentum was fully formed! "Little Shen, do as your Lame Grandpa says—yield," Granny Zhu said to Shen Mu.

"He has not even used his primal weapon, and already he has done this much.

His cultivation is terrifyingly deep; his arts and divine powers can already be called Dao arts! There is no shame in conceding.

" Shen Mu clenched his fists, staring anxiously at the battlefield, deaf to her words.

The Cangwu tree kept growing richer, kept expanding, becoming ever more perfect!

A phoenix nest even appeared in the tree, built from plume after plume. By now Zhe Huali was a full sixteen zhang from Qi Jiuyi; fierce as his assault remained, it could no longer threaten Qi Jiuyi in the slightest. And as the nest took shape, a phoenix slowly formed within it!

Waves of inexplicable tremor brewed slowly; the phoenix grew ever more perfect.

It was a nine-headed phoenix, nine slender, graceful necks rising or drooping from the nest, surveying the scene around.

The aura of a primordial beast that Shen Mu sensed within Qi Jiuyi was most likely because of this. The tremor grew stronger, and the nine-headed phoenix more beautiful, more real! This nine-phoenix Cangwu brought Zhe Huali matchless pressure—and for the others watching, the pressure too was dreadful!

"Brother Shen, did you not wish to see my divine power?

" Beneath the Cangwu tree, Qi Jiuyi's face was incomparably holy. Under the immense pressure, Zhe Huali finally erupted; he brought down his blade—the first blade technique he had created since entering the Dao!

A huge demon eye abruptly appeared at his back.

It opened, and a beam of light shot onto the falling blade light; the might of his stroke surged at once, possessing all the invincible, indestructible power of Shen Mu's Kaijie Sword!

"Fine blade work! You have the strength to fight me!

" Qi Jiuyi pressed his right thumb and forefinger together, his mudra like a phoenix's head, and struck it out to meet the blade light that had broken through the Cangwu tree's crown!

A clear, soaring phoenix cry rang out. The nine-headed phoenix in the nest beat its wings—but it did not fly at Zhe Huali.

Instead, a streak of flowing light rushed at Shen Mu! Zhe Huali's demon blade met Qi Jiuyi's mudra. As the mudra struck, the Cangwu tree swept down to meet the demon blade.

Qi Jiuyi had unleashed his strongest strike at Zhe Huali and Shen Mu at the same time!