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Chapter 783 — The Giant Palm Condensed by Magnetic Force

The Herdsman of the Wasteland Page 2 of 2

"The Earth Mother summons us — go, quickly!"

The water qilin demigod's furry ears twitched. He was about to leave when he suddenly caught sight of Shen Mu and the other two, and laughed: "Silent until now, and I have not eaten a mouthful for so long; my belly is growling with hunger. These three are a bit small, but they will do to fill the stomach!"

The river water beneath his feet surged, and came down from the sky, rolling toward the three. To command great waters was his innate instinct.

Yet from his ability to take the form of half man, half god, it was clear he was also a demigod who wielded divine powers, and had already cultivated the Divine Treasury system.

The flood surged with colossal force; in the arts of water, this demigod's attainments were hard on the heels of the Blind Elder of those years!

Shen Mu glanced at Deva King Buddha, who paid the demigod no mind, and went on teaching Yu Tianzun.

Shen Mu had no choice but to point a finger; his sword core shot into the air and met that great river!

The sword core plunged into the river water, and suddenly sword light bloomed, cleaving the water apart. The great river split in two and roared past on either side of the three.

"Oh? A divine power wielder."

The water qilin demigod laughed. "Your skill is not bad. A pity — that is all it is!"

The river, divided in two, revolved and closed in from both sides, and hidden within the howling water were water swords, one after another, hard for the naked eye to catch.

The river water was incomparably dense; the weight of a whole great river was far heavier than the sword core Shen Mu had refined from divine metals such as buddha-essence and crimson chromite. For this water qilin demigod to command so dense a river, in dharma power he must surely surpass human divine power wielders by a great deal.

Shen Mu's face turned grave. His fist snapped open, and the sword core clanged apart into countless flying swords that whirled around him, wheeling and thrusting, cutting apart one hidden water sword after another in the river.

The water qilin demigod's dharma power shook Shen Mu's vital essence into some disorder; the strength of his cultivation put Shen Mu on his guard.

He had crossed hands with demigods of the early Longhan years; at the battle of the Jade Pool he had killed many demigods under Hao Tianzun's command, but at that time demigods had not yet begun to cultivate the Divine Treasury system, and Hao Tianzun had only just solved the problem of demigods taking human form.

This water qilin demigod, however, was a divine beast of the Supreme Emperor era; the demigod cultivation system was already complete, and in both dharma power and fleshly body he far surpassed humankind. He was a most terrifying opponent!

Seeing Shen Mu twice block his attacks, the water qilin demigod was startled. Suddenly he reached out, seized that great river, and shook it with all his strength; the waters of the sky fused into one and became a long whip, and he swung it down at Shen Mu, laughing: "Your strength is not bad, not much inferior to my own. Rare, rare! Silent for so many years, and no sooner do I wake than I meet a master who can give me a proper workout!"

Shen Mu's foot moved, his body shot into the air, and he charged straight at the demigod to meet the whip.

The sword core spun madly before him, and countless sword lights hummed out; the spinning sword light cut the whip apart, and the water whip became a flood spreading in all directions, waves surging toward the mountain forests on either side.

Shen Mu ran swiftly, and in a few turns scattered the water whip and came before the water qilin demigod.

The demigod with the qilin's head and a man's body was startled. He retreated at flying speed, and wave after wave rose roaring to block Shen Mu's way.

Bang, bang, bang — great booms sounded, and one water wave after another burst apart; the last burst, and countless flying swords grazed past the demigod's body, ding-ding-ding, and stabbed into the cliff behind him.

Boom!

A dull crash came. The demigod with the qilin's head and a man's body slammed into the cliff, and the pattern the flying swords had nailed out was exactly the size to hold his frame.

He was just about to come down off the cliff when Shen Mu's palm pressed onto his face; the palm exerted force, and that fearsome power smashed the demigod's head into the mountain body!

The mountain body was like so much bean curd; his body sank straight into the cliff, leaving only his thick tail exposed outside.

Shen Mu reached up, seized that tail, and pulled with all his strength, dragging the demigod out of the mountain body, then swung him up and smashed him down.

The earth shuddered, and the demigod smashed out a great pit.

The demigod still did not die; he scrambled to his feet at once, and Shen Mu's five fingers hooked downward in a light press: "Primordial Magnetic Five-Finger Mountain!"

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!

Five great crashes came, as though five Mount Sumerus were pressing down; the earth rumbled and sank madly, and the demigod was pressed down until he knelt in a pit growing ever deeper, his flesh crackling under the weight, blood flowing without cease, until against his will he showed his true form, sprawled prostrate on the ground, crying: "I surrender! Do not kill me—"

Shen Mu descended from the air, and the flying swords fused one by one, becoming the sword core before him, which flew into the taotie pouch at his waist.

Deva King Buddha came over with Yu Tianzun and smiled: "Your skills have grown a great deal. That Five-Finger Mountain just now — was that the primordial magnetic divine power?"

"The primordial magnetic runes I learned from Granny. Just now I comprehended a primordial magnetic divine power of my own from them."

Shen Mu looked at the demigod in the pit. "You said just now that the Earth Mother summons you all. What did you mean? Is the Earth Mother, the Primal Sovereign, not dead?"

The water qilin, pressed so that he could not move, cried: "How could the Earth Mother, the Primal Sovereign, scatter her soul so easily? I woke from my slumber and heard the Earth Mother's summons, beyond all doubt! Apart from me, every demigod will hear the Earth Mother's call."

Shen Mu frowned slightly. "Every demigod?"

Suddenly he looked up, and saw in the sky one streak of golden light after another flying past, blotting out the sun and sky — a flock of demigods with the bodies of men and the heads of birds, huge of frame, their wings spanning the heavens, swift beyond measure.

Then the mountain forests shook, and who knew how many giant beasts came running through them, also racing toward the same direction!

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