Chapter 616 — Following the Same Pattern

These hundreds of flying swords seemed to be gripped each by an invisible master of the sword, striking at Qi Jiuyi from every quarter of his body. The Village Head's sword art, too, Shen Mu had brought into play.

Qi Jiuyi gave a long whistle, and the head on his neck abruptly burst apart, dividing into nine; plumes swayed atop the nine phoenix heads, and at once mass upon mass of light shone down, ding, ding, ding, striking the flying swords from the air.

As Qi Jiuyi's nine heads pecked down, Shen Mu set his two sabers one horizontal and one vertical, about to lop off the phoenix heads, when suddenly Qi Jiuyi's wings met him. Shen Mu's slaughtering sabers bit into the wings and lodged in the bone, and could not be drawn out.

Qi Jiuyi's phoenix heads pecked down one after another, straight for Shen Mu's chest, beaks open, a mass of light brewing in each mouth.

Shen Mu suddenly wrenched his blades free — one saber sealed a throat, one cut into a phoenix's beak — while the two slaughtering sabers lodged in Qi Jiuyi's wings turned back into flying swords and stayed stuck where they were.

Each of those sabers was made of eight thousand flying swords, every one of them an individual to begin with, and what was lodged in Qi Jiuyi's wings was merely the blades of two of those swords; with those two left behind, the rest could still form two sabers.

That phoenix head of Qi Jiuyi's took a blade on the neck, and the neck recoiled with a jerk, pinning the blade so it could not sever the throat bone, while the beak clamped shut on the blade of the other saber.

Shen Mu drew his blades again; Qi Jiuyi could only hold one flying sword in his beak and lock another with his throat, when Shen Mu's two sabers came slashing at another neck and head as they pecked in — the very same trick exactly, cutting first at the throat of the second neck, then into the mouth of the second head. Qi Jiuyi had no choice but to take a blade in his beak and a blade in his neck.

Shen Mu drew his blades out and again left two flying swords in the wound, and again the two slaughtering sabers slashed at his third head and third neck.

Qi Jiuyi flew into a fury: "Is there no end to this?

" Yet even as he said it, he had to take the blade in his beak again, and again lock a slaughtering saber with his neck.

Shen Mu drew again, left swords again, and again cut at his fourth head and fourth neck.

Qi Jiuyi was so angry his talons itched; four heads hacked till they ran with blood — to say it did not hurt would be a lie, and the pain of four heads crying out at once pierced heart and marrow. "I.

.

.

" Shen Mu drew his blades a fifth time, cutting off his words — one saber sealed his throat, one sealed his mouth.

Qi Jiuyi, raging beyond control, bit the blade and sealed it again; Shen Mu drew again, and unable to contain his wrath, Qi Jiuyi could only take the blade and seal it once more, and Shen Mu drew again.

In moments, eight of Qi Jiuyi's nine phoenix heads had swords hung upon their necks and swords clamped in their beaks. "You, Shen!

You have angered me! Do not make light of the Heavenly Court's Dao arts and divine powers!

Phoenix Shriek to the Nine Heavens! " The last phoenix head of Qi Jiuyi screamed, and the shriek of the phoenix reached the very firmament; the phoenix cry echoed back and forth across the sky and became a mass of cloud, and within that cloud divine sounds pulsed, as though ten thousand gods were intoning in deep chorus, ten thousand gods lending their power, and beam after beam of light shone down from that cloud upon Qi Jiuyi.

Clad in golden light, Qi Jiuyi pecked down with the one remaining phoenix head; Shen Mu used the same trick, and Qi Jiuyi neither dodged nor flinched, coming straight into the blade-light.

The beak was split open in a great gash, the windpipe in the neck severed — yet the golden light of the Phoenix Shriek to the Nine Heavens falling upon him let him block Shen Mu's blade head-on, and the beak struck Shen Mu hard in the chest.

Shen Mu flew backward, tumbling and rolling to the ground, both hands braced on his sabers, steadying himself.

Qi Jiuyi, all golden radiance, beat his wings and flew over, nine heads swaying, the flying swords dropping to the earth; the nine phoenix heads slowly drew back and returned to human form, and the golden phoenix wings behind him vanished as well.

"Shen Fengqing, be still!

" Qi Jiuyi sneered, raised a mirror in his hand and turned it upon Shen Mu, saying calmly, "The Divine Child of the Nether Capital, sealed by Tubo — did you think I truly was no match for you?

I only came down into the mortal world on orders to capture you.

My aim was never to take your life, but to shatter your seal and release the true you.

This mirror was forged by the Black Emperor who governs the northern heavens in the Heavenly Court, made expressly to fix you, the Divine Child of the Nether Capital, in place!

You are quite good, to have wounded me.

.

. " "Made to fix me?

Let me have a look! " Shen Mu reached out and seized the mirror; Qi Jiuyi was aghast as it was snatched from his hand, and what met him was a pure white great saber, chopping down upon his brow. Qi Jiuyi reeled with pain, his brain nearly shattered by the blow, and before he could help it he shook himself and revealed his true form: a nine-headed phoenix, each of the nine heads hung with a slaughtering saber that had surely hacked into the brain.

Qi Jiuyi beat his wings to rise, about to flee, when Shen Mu had already stepped onto his back, one fist after another hammering down at the nine-headed phoenix beneath him, every blow landing on flesh, sending feathers flying and flesh to a bloody blur.

Below, Zhe Huali, wounded from head to foot, walked over quickly and picked up the small box from the ground, joy showing on his face — but then he raised his head and saw Shen Mu riding the phoenix to battle, and could not keep the horror from his face. "Brother Shen is truly formidable, able to suppress Qi Jiuyi; his strength is indeed a notch above mine.

The mantis stalks the cicada — but I am the oriole!

The box is in my hands, and my God-Slaying Mystic Saber will surely carry my blade art one step further into the Dao. . . "