Chapter 1694 — Drawing His Sword to Subdue the Champions

And the woman held the paddle crosswise before her, her feet shifting and stumbling, retreating step by step, while behind her the ancient well for washing clothes abruptly gushed light — the water in that well was in truth Dao liquid and Dao dew, radiant with cloudy luster, like a sea, like a tide.

"Lord Shang!"

Her face was bitter and fierce; having barely blocked the shock wave, she at once looked toward Xiao Shang.

She saw at Lord Shang's waist a line of red, and Dao blood flowing out.

Drip.

The blade in his hand split cleanly along its length and fell upon the tabletop, leaving only the hilt in his grip.

The pig-god roared in fury and came charging with great strides, shattering stone and churning soil where its feet fell; its frame was majestic, it gripped the Dao tree, and with wide-sweeping, open moves it charged at Shen Mu!

"Zhu Santong, no!" the old man and the old woman cried in alarm from their two Dao trees.

The pig-god leaped, swinging the Dao tree down with all its might.

Shen Mu did not even raise his head; the Tribulation Sword in his hand went shua, shua, shua, meeting the pig-god head-on, and in the air one line of blood after another burst forth. Zhu Santong came down — forelegs into one basin, hind legs into another, pig's head into another, offal into another, and the tail sliced neat and even.

And there were plates and dishes besides, every slice cut with perfect uniformity.

Shen Mu's other hand lifted an empty dish, his arm swaying, and three Dao fruits dropped one by one into the dish.

The Dao tree crashed to the ground and took root, its jeweled branches swaying, but the Dao fruits upon it had vanished — cut down by Shen Mu's sword light and laid within the dish.

Shen Mu sheathed his sword, planted the Tribulation Sword and its scabbard at his side, and said with a smile: "My friends, my cookery is not bad either. Shall I show you a trick or two?"

Zhu Santong's pig head faced Shen Mu directly, still not dead, and snarled viciously: "Miluo Palace's Old Seventh, even your First Master could not kill us — otherwise he would never have sealed us away! You have not the ability either!"

The girl shrieked: "You can use your cultivation and we cannot — what skill is there in defeating us? If you have the guts, release us and fight us fair and square! Yaya could beat you to death with one hand alone!"

The woman hurried to Lord Shang and examined him; Lord Shang touched his belly and shook his head: "Nothing serious, only a cut through the skin. He held back."

His gaze was strange as it settled on Shen Mu.

That slash of Shen Mu's had been terrifying beyond measure, breaking his strongest killing move outright, even cleaving his Dao-attained blade in two with a single stroke.

Yet when the stroke passed across his waist, its force had been checked; the killing blow was never dealt.

Had the power of that slash erupted fully, he would surely have been parted in two, enduring in an instant the five stages of chaos, Taichu, Taishi, Taisu, and Taiji, transformed into a heaven and earth — body slain, Dao extinguished!

The old man and the old woman, nimble of limb, slid down from their Dao trees and examined his wound; finding nothing grave, each breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Santong's pig head rolled its eyes upon the table, but could not turn its head to see Lord Shang, and cried: "Old monster, what has become of Xiao Shang? Did he kill him? We shall fight him to the death!"

The old man said: "He is not badly off — his wound is lighter than yours."

The pig head breathed a sigh of relief, its pig eyes glaring round at Shen Mu: "Damn it, after all that, I am the worst hurt! Miluo Palace's Old Seventh, how did you manage it? Why can I not merge back together?"

Shen Mu picked up the chopsticks and lifted a slice of pig ear; the woman hurriedly said: "Young Master, do not eat it. Zhu Santong's abilities are extraordinary — he has forged an indestructible Dao body. If you eat any of his flesh, he will take form inside you and make mischief in your belly."

Shen Mu put the pig ear back and laid down the chopsticks, astonished: "There is such a skill? I left a sword-Dao wound in his wound to prevent him merging — and he can still take form in my belly?"

The pig head said smugly: "This lord's skills are not for a Miluo Palace whelp like you to comprehend! This lord —"

Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly; he reached out and grasped the Tribulation Sword's scabbard, his face darkening.

The old man hurriedly took his seat and said with a smile: "The Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace is magnanimous — do not lower yourself to bicker with a pig; would that not demean your own station? Young Master, put away your sword, put it away."

The pig head sneered: "Old monster, why do you fear him? Even the First Young Master could not kill us..."

Shen Mu gave a cold snort, and his aura abruptly changed — seated there, he seemed an obelisk stele.

In this world but one thing was missing: an obelisk stele. At this moment the primal qi within Shen Mu's body transformed into primal runes, precisely supplying the one that was lacking — and at once every countenance changed drastically!

The five people and one pig were dragged backward by a terrifying force, and the next moment their forms all vanished.

Shen Mu rose to his feet and looked beyond the village; outside the village, the faces of obelisk steles were like mirrors, and whether old man or old woman, girl or woman, Lord Shang or Zhu Santong, all were inlaid within the mirrors, unable to move.

And Zhu Santong remained hacked into pieces, his body incomplete.

In the whole village, apart from Shen Mu, only the paralytic on the sickbed in the house had not been taken into the obelisk.

"Though the First Young Master inherited the legacy of the Miluo Palace's master, I too know a little of his obelisk array. To subdue you is no great difficulty for me."

Shen Mu dispersed the primal rune sequence within his body and said: "Gentlemen, may we now have a proper talk?"

Only then did the others breathe easy, each stepping down from the mirror faces of the steles, full of doubt and alarm.

"What does the Seventh Young Master wish to discuss?" the old man asked.

Shen Mu took out the Taiyi Geographic Chart and asked: "Have any of you seen terrain such as this?"

The old woman and the old man studied it a long while, then each shook his head: "We have been suppressed for several cosmic epochs; we have never seen this chart."

The woman and the girl also shook their heads.

Lord Shang suddenly said: "I have seen it. This is the map of the distribution of Dao trees in the Ultimate Void of the Sixteenth Epoch."