Chapter 88 — The Heavenly Demon Horde

"The Village Head was dragged into the vortex by that monster — could it be that…

" A grim thought took shape in Shen Mu's mind. He looked back.

He stood close to the gate of Fengdu; the mist had not yet drowned the gateway, but if it kept rising, he would lose all track of it.

"The Village Head's powers are so great — surely nothing will happen to him!

I must get away from this place first, and not become a burden to him! " Thud.

Thud. Thud.

Grey mist lay everywhere, and the footsteps within it were in wild disorder — some came from behind him, some from his flanks, some planted themselves squarely on the road to Fengdu's gate.

Shen Mu steadied his heart, then charged straight at the gate of Fengdu.

He ran with flying speed, drawing ever nearer to the towering mountain gate of Fengdu, when suddenly a great gurgling boom came from ahead, and a dark shape came rushing at him head-on out of the grey mist. Without a word Shen Mu thrust out his sword-finger.

Behind him the Chubao Sword, borne by the fish-dragon, leaped forth and spat out the precious blade, which cut open the grey mist and struck that dark shape like lightning.

Whoosh — A mad wind howled, and the Chubao Sword carried that dark shape hurtling backward; then came a soft thud — it slammed into a stone pillar and was pinned fast there.

Shen Mu surged forward at a run. Passing the pillar, he beckoned backward with his sword-finger; the Chubao Sword flew back and was swallowed into the mouth of the fish-dragon behind him.

The dark figure's corpse dropped to the ground: a hideous, savage thing, its body covered in fish scales, its hands and feet webbed like a frog's.

The monster's qi had not yet dispersed; it coiled about the body like a blood-soaked serpent, and Shen Mu caught a foul reek of rot.

His head swam, his vision blurred, and he stumbled — plainly this was a divine art laced with deadly poison! Then he felt the diagram the Deaf Elder had drawn on his skin in dragon's blood begin to burn hot, and the poison vanished in an instant.

"A divine arts user?

I actually killed a divine arts user? " Shen Mu was dazed for a moment — and then it came to him: when he had roused his qi and ridden the flying sword, the great furnace the Silent Artisan had hidden in his chest had blazed up, and his qi had soared a hundredfold, a thousandfold at a stroke!

It was the Silent Artisan's furnace that had made his cultivation explode, raising it to the level where a single sword thrust could kill a divine arts user! Stranger still, the furnace multiplied his qi only while he was spending it; the moment Shen Mu withdrew his qi, his cultivation returned to its everyday level.

That way, the burden on his body was not great. It was like water in a vat: a vat holds only three buckets, and if you pour in ten, seven must spill over.

But the human body is no vat — there is nowhere for the excess to spill, and commonly a man is burst apart and dies. The wonder of the Silent Artisan's furnace was that it lent Shen Mu a hundredfold qi, and when he was not using it, that qi went back into the furnace and did his body no harm.

Shen Mu raced on, his mind spinning fast: "So then — with the cultivation I have now, I can bring forth divine arts? Then even against the Heavenly Demon Horde, I am not without the strength to fight. " The furnace the Silent Artisan had planted in his body gave him a hundredfold qi; such a mighty flood of qi was more than Shen Mu had ever dared imagine.

Before, his fist arts had been merely fist arts and his blade arts merely blade arts; but now he felt he could spend a hundred times his own qi and unleash fist-art divine abilities, blade-art divine abilities!

The skills Lord Huo and Zai Fu had taught him — once he broke through into the divine arts, what power would they hold?

His strides came faster and faster, and without knowing it he was working the Heaven-Stealing Leg Technique the Lame Elder had taught him into his running; the qi within him surged in torrents and poured into his legs.

Shen Mu gave a long whistle and stamped down.

The air beneath his foot was crushed and compressed together into a wild wind — wind made by his own footsteps.

The instant that foot came down, Shen Mu felt that the sky was level ground; the vast heavens were level ground everywhere, every part of them a place to set his foot! His speed exploded.

He trod the void and ran, and in a few strides burst out of the sullen grey mist, his figure rising above it, speeding straight for the mountain gate of Fengdu.

Suddenly an enormous shape leaped up out of the grey mist — a monster wreathed in roaring flame, as though wrought of lava, its fists heavy as mountains, and it swung one fist at Shen Mu in mid-flight!

Shen Mu ran on at furious speed, faster and faster, the air screaming as he tore through it — and suddenly the Butcher's Blade soared up from the blade-satchel on his back and fell into his hand!

Sun Shines over the Eastern Sea, a Thousand Layers of Waves!

The Butcher's Blade blazed in his hand, a brilliant sun leaping up out of the sea, a thousand waves piled one upon another and surging forward.

Clang, clang, clang — The clatter of blows rang without cease. Shen Mu and that colossal thing crashed together, then rebounded; he sheathed his blade and ran on.

Crack, crack, crack, crack — chunks of stone fell to the ground, and then a huge head dropped and rolled twice: the lava giant had been unmade by his blade art. This was blade-art divine ability.

That lava giant had been a divine arts user, his arts strong and his strength boundless, yet even he was a little weaker than Zai Fu's blade-art divine ability! Suddenly lightning flashed and thunder rolled in the sky, and a handsome youth rose slowly out of the grey mist below him, lightning crackling between his hands; all at once he spread his ten fingers, and bolts of thunder wove themselves into a net and chopped down at Shen Mu!

"A divine ability evolved from the Azure Dragon's qi?

Stronger than Lord Huo's fist-art divine ability?

" Shen Mu bellowed and struck out with his fist; within the fist his qi became a dragon, became forty-five kinds of draconic force — Nine Dragons Command Wind and Thunder!

Forty-five azure dragons roared, dragon-cries rolled, lightning flashed and thunder pealed, swallowing the handsome youth whole.

The two fists met; the handsome youth's body stiffened in the air, then burst apart with a bang, and flesh and blood flew out as forty-five crimson dragons!

"I am this strong? " Shen Mu started in fright. He had seen the power of Nine Dragons Command Wind and Thunder long ago at Lord Huo's hands, but Lord Huo was Lord Huo after all, and it was only natural that his power should be great; now that Shen Mu had raised his fist art to the level of divine ability, he realized how terrifying the might of the Eight Thunderclap Techniques truly was.

But the clamor of Nine Dragons Command Wind and Thunder was far too loud; it was certain to reach the Heavenly Demon Horde in the mist and tell them where he was!

In the next instant Shen Mu heard the whistle of things cutting the air. His heart sank.

The demon god had scattered a vast multitude of the Heavenly Demon Horde, and without ground to his advantage he could not hold them off at all. He drew closer and closer to the gate of Fengdu, when suddenly demon clouds rolled up ahead, a black and heavy mass blotting out his sight.

Shen Mu sighed, halted at once, and let his body drop down into the grey mist.