Various Buddhist sutra symbols emerged around Qin Mu's body, spinning around him like a great bell descending. The Five Heavens of the Tathagata Mahayana Sutra faintly materialized, Buddhist chants echoing throughout.
At the same time, he activated the Nine Dragons Imperial Art. The dragon qi from the nine great dragon veins surrounding the capital surged toward him, causing his aura to break through once more!
The Nine Dragons Imperial Art was the supreme technique of the royal Ling family, personally taught and guided by Emperor Yanfeng. Now, under Qin Mu's activation, the dragon qi pouring in from the nine dragon veins actually took physical form, even seeping into the river water. Dragons leaped out from the water, surging toward Qin Mu!
He seized the initiative. Whether or not Ban Gongcuo had revealed any flaws, he only needed to seize the first move to attack first, to crush Ban Gongcuo with his exceptionally profound yuan qi, suppressing all of his opponent's exquisite techniques with unmatched power, crushing and grinding his opponent!
The best way to deal with Ban Gongcuo was absolute suppression of magical power, not competing technique for technique!
Boom—
The river surface exploded, towering waves shot straight up, transforming into the image of a great Buddha. Water dragons coiled around the Buddha, which stood over ten zhang tall like a mountain of water upon the river. Its five fingers were like five mountains, commanding the Five Elements. With a thunderous boom, a palm struck down toward Ban Gongcuo!
The nine dragons roared as the Nine Dragons Imperial Art and the Nine Dragons Ride the Wind and Thunder from the Eight Thunderclap Forms merged into one. This single strike displayed the vast divine powers of the Buddhist Sect and the invincible might of the imperial family!
The nine dragons lunged forward. Bang, bang, bang! The water flow exceeded the speed of sound, erupting with thunderous booms, unstoppable and indestructible!
What are divine powers?
This is divine power!
Magical power—Qin Mu's greatest strength was his magical power, far exceeding that of his peers. Even monsters like the Village Chief would be greatly inferior at the same realm.
Now, even Ban Gongcuo could not match Qin Mu's magical power. He would crush Ban Gongcuo with absolute force, rendering all of Ban Gongcuo's past lives' cultivation and eleven thousand years of experience completely useless!
The instant Qin Mu's attack erupted, Ban Gongcuo's counterattack burst forth simultaneously. He used a sword—a sword pellet, fingertip-sized—but the next moment, sword light exploded from the pellet, dazzling beyond belief!
The second chapter of the Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sword: Five Qi and Three Origins gather in splendor, where they ascend, cloud carriages interweave!
He directly employed the supreme technique of the Dao Sect, the Primordial Grand Mystery Art, using the purest Primordial Grand Mystery Art to drive the second Dao Sword strike. The sword light contained the Five Qi—Wood Armor, Fire of Bing, Earth of Wu, Metal of Geng, Water of Ren. These were the Five Qi. Heaven Origin, Earth Origin, and Water Origin formed the Three Origins. Heaven Origin was the sun, called Taiyang; Water Origin was the moon, called Taiyin; Earth Origin was harmony.
When this sword technique was executed, the sword light constructed the Dao Sect's ideal world—sword sun, sword moon, sword earth, Five Qi returning to their origins!
The Dao Sect's sword techniques achieved extraordinary heights in mathematics. This sacred ground was founded upon mathematics, believing that all great Daos between heaven and earth could be explained through numbers.
As the saying goes: The Dao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things. Numbers constituted everything between heaven and earth. Any matter, even life itself, could be constructed from numbers. Ultimately, they were all wondrous digits.
Therefore, the Dao Sect created the circular Wuji Diagram, the Taiji Diagram that divided into two halves, the Four Symbols Diagram, the Eight Trigrams Diagram, and the Sixty-Four Hexagram Diagram to calculate the great Dao and all things between heaven and earth.
When these principles transformed into sword techniques, using swords to form patterns that continuously calculated and evolved into all things between heaven and earth, they possessed the magnificent power of the Dao!
The Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sword—each chapter was an ideal world, pure mathematics transforming into beautiful patterns that interpreted the wondrous principles of heaven and earth.
This was the greatest difference between the Dao Sect and the Buddhist Sect. The Dao Sect was the study of mathematics; the Buddhist Sect was the study of the mind.
Among the disciples of the Dao Sect, there was this joking saying: "Poor at mathematics? Then why bother cultivating the Dao? Go home early and hold your child."
The two collided with their divine powers—one wielding sword techniques, the other commanding physical and magical powers. When the divine powers transformed from magical energy collided, the result was terrifying. The horrifying power shook the river surface, suspending the great waters, trembling the ground, making the earth quake.
The aftershocks sent streams of fine water piercing through willow trees along the riverbank, sword qi stabbing into rocks. In an instant, the shore was riddled with holes!
Qin Mu's earth-shattering strike crashed into the ideal world Ban Gongcuo's sword light had created. Even the overwhelming force of his attack was decomposed by the mathematics contained within the sword light!
In Ban Gongcuo's swordsmanship, mathematics—this dry and tedious subject—appeared so captivating, so brilliant.
Within the mesmerizing sword light, nine water dragons and the water Buddha rapidly collapsed. They were utterly powerless against the second strike of the Dao Sword!
Countless streams of sword light flowed, striking the great bell formed from the Buddhist light and sutras around Qin Mu. Ripples appeared on the bell's surface, and the next moment, the bell was shattered!
Qin Mu's expression remained unchanged. The sword pellet flew up and landed in his hand. In an instant, sword light burst from the pellet. Qin Mu did not employ Sword Treads Through Mountains and Rivers, but directly executed the second move of the Sword Diagram!
Crash—
The Yong River bank turned crimson. Blood-red sword light surged like a vast ocean. Within the bloodlight, it seemed as if an emperor of the gods was slowly rising from a sea of blood, sword pointing at his enemy, overlooking all things!
One Sword Opens the Emperor's Bloody Ocean!
The Dao Sword and the Sword Diagram collided. Ban Gongcuo grunted, his Five Qi and Three Origins instantly shattered. Unmatched sword light and peerless killing intent surged toward him.
His body soared into the air, leaping like a dragon, executing an incredibly wondrous movement technique. His form shifted repeatedly—like a startled swan, a swimming fish, a flying sparrow, or nine phoenixes—but he still failed to evade all the sword light.
Chii, chii, chii! Streaks of blood appeared on his body. He leaped and landed on the river surface, causing water to explode in all directions!
Whoosh—
Qin Mu leaped up. The sword light in his hand vanished as the sword pellet transformed in the wind into a great saber, slicing through the river surface with a hiss!
Ban Gongcuo swung his sword pellet to meet the attack. A series of bangs echoed as he bounced across the river like a stone skipped by a child, skipping sixty-seven times before finally stopping.
Meanwhile, Qin Mu charged across the river surface, each step causing explosions. The splashing waves shot in all directions. Before the water could even fall, he had already covered several hundred zhang.
The great saber formed from his sword pellet retracted sharply, flowing around his fist like water. Qin Mu punched out. Boom! The river surface trembled as water dragons infused with green light roared and rushed dozens of zhang, engulfing Ban Gongcuo.
The river erupted into chaos as forty-five great dragons flew from his fist, merging with the river water, plunging headfirst toward Ban Gongcuo with unceasing thunderous booms.
Qin Mu leaped into the air, spreading his ten fingers with palms facing skyward, then pulled down violently. Bolts of lightning illuminated the river surface as concentrated thunderbolts crackled into the center of the forty-five great dragons!
As Qin Mu descended, the sword pellet in his hand had already transformed into countless streams of sword light—Sword Treads Through Mountains and Rivers!
The sword light transformed into a vast landscape of mountains and rivers descending from the sky, crashing into the river. The overwhelming power dissolved countless amounts of water. Within a ten-zhang radius, the river water was instantly cut into countless droplets, forming a landscape of water!
Blood bloomed within the water, rapidly fleeing toward the riverbed at an angle.
Qin Mu raised his hand. The Shao Bao Sword at his waist hummed and flew out. Qin Mu's index finger twirled, and the Shao Bao Sword spun wildly. Countless streams of sword qi circled the Shao Bao Sword, forming a drilling sword technique that pierced through the water, shooting straight to the riverbed, chasing the trail of blood.
His robes fluttering, he descended lightly from the air, stepping upon the undulating river surface. Behind him came the sound of rushing water—the waves his footsteps had exploded as he ran, sent flying into the air and only now beginning to fall, like cascading jade and jade.
On the river surface, Qin Mu shifted his steps, and the surrounding water immediately changed. River water spiraled around him, and beneath the surface it seemed as though transparent flood dragons wove and intersected around him, forming a perfect circle.
Shing—
The Shao Bao Sword broke through the river surface and flew out, circling through the air, still spinning wildly. But its spinning slowed progressively, and by the time it reached Qin Mu before him, it had already stopped.
The sword sheath at Qin Mu's waist transformed into a fish-dragon, flew out, opened its great mouth to swallow the sword, then transformed back into the sheath and returned to his waist.
Qin Mu's expression remained as calm as ever. He stood quietly there as the sword pellet flew from his hand, hovering before him like a slightly larger water droplet.
Around him, lines of water slowly rose into the air, ascending to the top of his head like rain flowing backward. The risen river water transformed into mist, forming a cloud that enveloped an area of over ten zhang.
Within the cloud, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. Crack, crack! The thunderbolt light flickered, faintly revealing scales and claws.
"Ban Gongcuo, you have disappointed me."
Qin Mu's calm voice carried across the river surface as he said flatly, "Was the cultivation of your previous nineteen lives all for this? Why don't you dare to come out? I'm still waiting to kill you so I can go back and continue eating. After all, the food is getting cold."
The river surface showed no movement.
Qin Mu frowned and turned toward the riverbank.
He retraced his steps. Around him were astonished faces, turning to watch him. The people following his gaze watched as he moved.
Qin Mu ignored them. He picked up his discarded brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. Then he walked to the iron hammer, reached out to grasp the handle, suddenly swung the hammer, and smashed it toward the ground with tremendous force. Boom! The air before him compressed into a wall, which then exploded and shattered.
Qin Mu's strike hit the ground. The earth sank and cracked. Tremors came from underground as a figure fled rapidly into the distance!
Qin Mu soared through the air, and in the next instant, he arrived before the bamboo staff. His palm slapped down, and the bamboo staff plunged into the earth with a thud. A streak of blood shot from the small hole the bamboo staff had left.
Qin Mu moved in rapid succession, leaping several times to arrive before two pig-slaughtering knives. Inverted, he gripped both handles, lifted the knives, and spun. Swish, swish, swish! Countless knife lights slashed into the earth.
His body spun while moving forward, knife light falling like rain and cascading water, cutting into the ground.
Suddenly, Qin Mu spread his legs, the knife...