Chapter 636 — Pursuit Across Realms

The zither music grew clearer; space trembled without cease, and the many-colored lights given off by the transmigrating energy layered themselves in order, quivering, as though they had become leaping notes of music. Those leaping, thin planes of space carried the shifting colors of the energy and formed a nine-headed phoenix, drawing farther and farther away from them.

Then the nine-headed phoenix suddenly entered nirvana, becoming raging flame, and annihilated that mass of energy in space.

"Qi Xiayu, the Crimson Emperor of the Southern Heaven! " King Buddha Sakra's face changed drastically.

"It is that ruthless woman who hunts us! " he cried. "We are finished!

" Without another word he swept Shen Mu up and tried to flee faster ahead. Shen Mu roused from his cultivation and said in alarm, "King Buddha, do not fly on your own — you will stray from the path into Taihuang Heaven! " "The divine ability of an Emperor Throne powerhouse is behind us!

" King Buddha Sakra shouted.

"We will be overtaken soon enough. If we do not flee, we will die with no place to be buried!

" "An Emperor Throne powerhouse? " Shen Mu was startled, his mind gone blank: The one hunting me is that strong?

I am only a small figure of the Seven-Star realm — is it worth sending an Emperor Throne powerhouse after me.

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"It is not you she hunts — it is me!

" King Buddha Sakra clenched his teeth; his Buddha-light wrapped about Shen Mu and bore him along at full speed, his form almost becoming a Buddha-light racing into the distance.

"I made an enemy of this woman in the Kaihuang era.

Most likely she heard that I had fallen into trouble and came of her own accord to seek me out and settle the score! " The zither music came from behind.

This was the central vacuum between Taihuang Heaven and the Buddha Realm, where no sound could travel — yet the divine ability of Qi Xiayu, Crimson Emperor of the Southern Heaven, propagated by cutting through space, incredibly fast, fast beyond belief.

Shen Mu looked back and saw the space behind them leaping and transforming up and down without cease: now splitting, now overlapping, now taking the form of pillars, the space becoming columns that rose and fell without end; now turning circular, great circles enclosing small ones, small circles born from the void, swelling, surpassing the great circles, wave upon wave of spatial ripples evolving in endless cycle. This sound-wave divine ability surpassed Shen Mu's imagination and left him staring dumbstruck.

He could no longer comprehend Qi Xiayu's sound-wave art, and could hardly guess at the true power of an Emperor Throne powerhouse's divine ability.

Yet from the panicked look on King Buddha Sakra's face as he fled, it seemed even he could scarcely withstand it; if that ability caught up with them, they would surely be killed or maimed. "King Buddha, you have already strayed from the path to Taihuang Heaven! " Shen Mu said with a frown, calculating silently in his heart.

"Our lives come first! " King Buddha Sakra shouted. Shen Mu said no more, letting King Buddha Sakra carry him onward at a furious pace, though worry gnawed at him: The King Buddha has left the path; the farther he runs, the more he strays, the farther from Taihuang Heaven.

Will we ever return to Taihuang Heaven, to the Desolate Ruins. . . The zither music grew clearer still, and Shen Mu suddenly saw King Buddha Sakra's running figure stretched out long, and started in fright.

He sensed no danger at all; Qi Xiayu's divine ability carried no killing intent he could feel — and yet it had already come close! "Look out!

" King Buddha Sakra roared, whirled about, and ran backward at full speed, Buddha-light blazing from his whole body, unleashing countless divine abilities in succession against the zither music coming from deep within that space! Boom— Shen Mu shut his eyes; in that instant dazzling lights stabbed at him, and both his eyes streamed with tears from the pain.

"That woman is savage!

" King Buddha Sakra's voice came at his ear, and Shen Mu felt blood running down his neck; his heart lurched.

King Buddha Sakra had actually cursed — a man of such cultivation unable to hold his tongue; clearly his wounds were grave. Just then a series of crashes rang out. Shen Mu opened his eyes but still could see nothing; he could only feel himself carried by Sakra, tumbling and rolling, striking he knew not what, striking he knew not how many times, rolling he knew not how far, before they finally stopped.

Shen Mu stealthily unsealed the golden willow leaf and looked around, and was stunned: This place is. .

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Behind him, King Buddha Sakra, who had protected him all along, fell backward, his breath faint as gossamer, and said in a hoarse voice, "The second heaven of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court.

Not far from Taihuang Heaven now. .

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This chamber pot of blame is far fouler and far heavier than I imagined.

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" Ugh — he vomited a great mouthful of blood.