Chapter 833 — March With Me

Lin Xiao had been contending with Shen Mu's seventy-two array diagrams. Shen Mu first pinned him down with the great divine ability of primordial magnetism, and then the power of the diagrams erupted, leaving him covered in wounds in an instant.

But he was a god, after all. Though he had severed his own cultivation and fallen from an exalted realm to that of an honored god, his insight and experience remained—he had merely been caught off guard by Shen Mu.

He would come back to himself soon enough. The cultivation he had cut away had been refined into a great sun, and it would be no hard task to use that sun's might to break Shen Mu's array diagrams.

Even the Village Chief's sword diagram could not withstand the majesty of his great sun—let alone Shen Mu?

Yet Zhe Huali's blade arrived at precisely the right moment: one stroke, and the head was off!

In terms of coordination, only Xu Shenghua could keep pace with Shen Mu; Zhe Huali could not match the swift turns of his mind. That was why Shen Mu had laid out his formations in advance, converting his own cultivation and divine abilities into arrays with which to ambush Lin Xiao.

The formations' power was immense—when the seventy-two diagrams erupted, their force even surpassed what Shen Mu could have delivered with his own hands. But diagrams are dead things; they could restrain Lin Xiao only for a time, not slay him. For that, Zhe Huali's cooperation was required.

The seventy-two diagrams existed solely to create an opening for Zhe Huali.

Yet Zhe Huali could never have passed through Shen Mu's arrays with composure and seized that opening. Had it been Xu Shenghua instead, he would have grasped the inner workings of those formations while Shen Mu was still laying them out, and could have taken his chance with ease.

And so Shen Mu's final diagram was a teleportation array, carrying Zhe Huali through the maelstrom of the diagrams' power and delivering that perfect opening straight into his hands.

This was what Zhe Huali meant when he said that Shen Mu had already accomplished ninety percent of the god-slaying.

The instant Zhe Huali cut Lin Xiao down, the great sun went out of control. Raging flames swept outward in every direction, surging like waves that scraped the heavens, like mountains toppling and seas overturning. Shen Mu poured out the last of his magic power to drive the teleportation diagram and pull Zhe Huali free.

The sea of fire came roaring down, about to swallow Shen Mu—then a streak of teleportation light flashed over him with a swish, and he vanished.

The next moment, the two of them appeared outside the corridor, where a blazing pillar of fire shot from its mouth, stretching hundreds of li—a terrifying sight.

After a while, the pillar of fire died away.

Shen Mu and Zhe Huali staggered as they landed. Zhe Huali, having exerted himself too violently in his panic, trembled from head to toe—his arms and legs shook, and the demon blade on his back quivered without pause.

Shen Mu, drained of magic power, felt weak and had no choice but to sit on the ground and rest.

Zhe Huali craned his neck to peer into the corridor; scattered flames still flickered unquenched inside the ship's hull.

Then a savory aroma of meat drifted out, enough to set anyone's mouth watering.

Zhe Huali swallowed, glanced at Shen Mu, and ventured, "Sect Master Shen, you've eaten crested fire pheasant dragon before, haven't you? But have you ever eaten one at the god realm?"

Shen Mu perked up at once and shook his head. "Not yet, I haven't."

Zhe Huali pointed out, "There's one down there, already cooked. I smell a bit of charring, too."

Shen Mu rose unsteadily to his feet and laughed. "This fire pheasant dragon is a big one. Trim away the burnt parts, and the rest of the meat is bound to be tender still. I have oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar here, plus all sorts of seasonings."

"I have some too!"

The two looked at each other and burst out laughing, their laughter carrying far.

When the laughter died, little strength remained to either of them, and they helped each other into the corridor.

A moment later, Shen Mu's astonished voice floated out from within. "Your demon blade eats too? Is that still a blade?"

"This demon blade of mine is actually a creature of the Heavenly Court called a dragon tooth. I went to the Eastern Heaven to train under Teacher Luo and obtained this blade on Mount Lingbao... Mm, that smells good! Teacher Luo said the Eastern Heaven is the domain of the Azure Dragon Emperor. The Emperor's vitality is so exuberant that his teeth grow fast and constantly need grinding, so he grinds them on Mount Lingbao. The mountain is extraordinarily hard, and sometimes it snaps his teeth clean off—which is how the creature known as the Lingbao Mountain dragon tooth came to be. Many blade students of the Heavenly Court go there seeking treasures, hoping to find a tooth of their own, though few are blessed with such fortune."

"Mount Lingbao? A mountain that can chip the Azure Dragon Emperor's teeth—that is the real treasure! When I get to the Eastern Heaven, I'll carry the whole mountain off and refine it into a treasure!"

"You couldn't lift it—that mountain is not much smaller than Mount Sumeru... This is dragon liver. Don't eat it yet; it's a bit gamey. I have some scallion and ginger here—we'll pan-fry it... Do you have anything like pickled sour beans or sour chilies over there?"

"Zhe Huali, your cooking is truly not bad!"

"I practiced my way into it. I trained under Fu Riluo, and the devil race's food is nothing like the human race's—I had to cook for myself."

...

A long while later, the two of them waddled out of the corridor with round, bulging bellies, propping each other up, and plopped down on the ground, so stuffed they were wheezing for breath.

Midway through the meal they had passed through another cycle of reincarnation; the great hall where the Emperor and Empress's coffins rested had been restored to its original state. Shen Mu and Zhe Huali sat with bellies round and full, and even Zhe Huali's demon blade had grown a ring fatter—though whether the edge itself had plumped up too, who could say.

Shen Mu staggered out of the great hall, leaned against a pillar, and squinted at the world outside.

The Celestial River rushed onward. The sun was setting now, and the westering light made the great river streaming through the sky a wondrous sight: the red glow upon the water was like a maiden's rouge, and the color of the setting sun like a girl's red lips.

"I wonder what era it is out there now."

Zhe Huali, so stuffed that walking was a struggle, came over and sat down on the stone steps. "Sect Master Shen, if we cannot tell which cycle is the first cycle, are you still confident you can break Celestial Venerable Ling's divine ability?"

"The boarding of the Four Emperors—that is the first cycle."

Shen Mu's face was calm. "When the Four Emperors board the ship is also when the Feathered Forest Army turns to void. When we see figures on this ship emerging one after another from void into substance, appearing all of a sudden, that will be the first cycle. And at that time, the four great Emperors among the ancient gods will appear as well."

Zhe Huali's heart tightened. "You said before that you had a way to borrow the power of the Four Emperors to break Celestial Venerable Ling's divine ability. How mighty are the Four Emperors, exactly? Are you certain you can do it?"

Shen Mu smiled, unhurried. "The Four Emperors were never trapped on this ship. Later on they even sent tribulations down upon us, and Di Yiyue went to study under them. Which means—we succeeded."