Chapter 725: The Legendary Overlord Body
The peasant woman walked straight toward the next divine hall in Jade Capital. The deity guarding this hall was also a farmer from the same village.
"Madam," the deity guarding this place said, nodding slightly as he saw her arrive, then continued watching the fierce battle between Qin Mu and Hu Bugui unfolding within the hall.
The two stood together—they were husband and wife.
Back when the Kaihuang Heavenly Court was destroyed, the Martial Combat Celestial Master, who presided over war, led the elites of the Bullfighting Heavenly Palace into battle. That war was filled with countless variables and unforeseen changes, changes that even now left them utterly baffled.
The speed at which the Kaihuang Divine Dynasty collapsed left these war gods bewildered and deeply powerless.
After that battle, the war gods of the Bullfighting Heavenly Palace suffered heavy casualties, with only about a hundred survivors. The Martial Combat Celestial Master, disheartened, led them to find the orphaned children of the fallen war gods, hiding the Bullfighting Heavenly Palace deep within the Great Ruins. As for these war gods, they transformed into farmers tilling the land.
Some formed families, but few had children, because the Divine Bridge realm of their offspring no longer existed, and they would inevitably die. They couldn't bear to witness their children's deaths.
The past glory had become a yellowed picture in their lives. Now, they were just a group of farmers plowing fields. Only when they re-entered the Bullfighting Heavenly Palace and saw the descendants of their comrades still retaining their soaring fighting spirit did they recall those turbulent years.
Qin Mu and Hu Bugui fought their way here. Their clash grew even more intense, fully embodying the essence of martial combat.
Their physical bodies, muscles and tendons, primordial spirits, and primal energies were all tightly unified, each possessing unique body-forging methods and power-release techniques.
Martial arts divine abilities were also physical divine abilities, belonging to the combat technique school. Physical divine abilities unleashed the power of the body, not cultivating spells, but the power they released surpassed that of spell-based divine abilities.
Martial arts divine abilities required reaching the level of entering the Dao through martial arts. In the current world, truly few could achieve this step.
Under Qin Mu's pressure, Hu Bugui was getting closer and closer to this realm.
His combat techniques grew increasingly powerful, gradually turning the tables and putting great pressure on Qin Mu, forcing him to constantly improve his own combat techniques during their exchange.
"To be able to unleash such a formidable Three Heads and Six Arms, he has received true teachings."
The woman said, "It's much stronger than the Three Heads and Six Arms of many gods and demons in the Heavenly Court, but without comprehending entering the Dao through martial arts, he ultimately cannot defeat Hu Bugui."
The farmer beside her said, "Hu Bugui is indeed very strong. He can withstand the attacks of Three Heads and Six Arms, and his counterattack power is growing stronger. His strength and insights have reached the level of entering the Dao through martial arts. He's improving so fast."
The woman felt the same. Hu Bugui's progress was too rapid. When he returned to the Bullfighting Realm, he had already awakened his spirit embryo, which was the least promising. People in the Bullfighting Realm thought he was finished, that he couldn't cultivate a martial soul.
Yet Hu Bugui managed to cultivate one.
Not only did he cultivate a martial soul, but he also took the lead among his peers by cultivating a martial arts primordial spirit ten years later!
And now, he would surpass everyone, entering the Dao through martial arts!
Such talent, aptitude, and effort were truly rare in the world!
Qin Mu and Hu Bugui fought out of this divine hall, shattering the back door to pieces. The husband and wife were both speechless. The woman smiled and said, "My back hall is also a mess. Let's go to the next hall, where Senior Brother Tian is stationed. Senior Brother Tian has a fiery temper. I'm afraid he might strike at Hu Bugui and interrupt his enlightenment."
The couple hurried to the next hall. Qin Mu and Hu Bugui fought their way there, but the deity guarding this hall didn't intervene directly. Instead, he quietly watched the two of them blast through his hall.
"It's been many years since the Bullfighting Realm had a young person enter the Dao through martial arts."
That deity, surnamed Tian, looked excited. He followed the couple out of the hall and walked forward behind Qin Mu and Hu Bugui, muttering softly, "Entering the Dao through martial arts is too difficult, countless times harder than other methods of entering the Dao. Now, finally, we've waited for such a youth..."
They could all see that Qin Mu's battle with Hu Bugui was actually well-intentioned, meant to keep Hu Bugui in a state of enlightenment, so none of them disturbed them.
Gradually, Qin Mu and Hu Bugui had nearly fought their way through the thirty-six halls of Jade City, with more and more deities following behind them, all intently watching this battle.
Suddenly, Hu Bugui's aura surged, and everyone's eyes lit up, their expressions tense.
Now was the most critical moment for Hu Bugui!
Whether he could take this step depended on this very moment!
At that instant, all of Hu Bugui's afterimages vanished. In the moment before they disappeared, each afterimage was executing a different physical divine ability, each move completely distinct.
Then, these phantoms overlapped and merged with Hu Bugui's body.
All the deities watching this battle felt their hair stand on end, every strand rising involuntarily. This was an instinctive bodily reaction, the natural response of martial artists to the martial Dao.
They each had astonishing mastery in physical divine abilities, yet despite cultivating profound techniques, they could never take that step into entering the Dao through martial arts.
Their talent and comprehension were limited, their potential exhausted. Though they sensed the martial Dao was right ahead, just one step away, they could never enter that gate.
When Hu Bugui entered the gate of the martial Dao at that moment, it inevitably triggered a resonance in their vital energies.
Hu Bugui slightly crouched, and his aura exploded. Qin Mu opposite him felt a chill run down his spine. That terrifying aura instantly made him sense death approaching!
Without thinking, he wanted to unleash his Calamity Sword's first form, Opening Calamity, to defend, but he forcibly restrained himself. The power of Opening Calamity was too strong, a killing blow.
His purpose this time was to pass the Martial Combat Celestial Master's martial arts trial and legitimately rescue the Woodcutter Saint.
"I am the Woodcutter teacher's disciple. The Martial Combat Celestial Master has always looked down on the Woodcutter teacher. Then I'll earn back that face for him!"
Just as he thought this, the power of Hu Bugui's strike had already erupted. The burst speed of martial arts divine abilities was astonishingly fast, enough to rival Qin Mu's Opening Calamity strike.
The burst speed of this divine ability far surpassed Qi Jiuyi's great divine abilities, and was even faster than Zhe Huali's blade Dao, almost impossible to react to!
Wind Shakes the Pine Forest, Trembling the Valley!
He threw this punch, simple and straightforward, but after he threw it, Qin Mu saw the afterimages formed by the fist's intent and spirit—a series of afterimages from different techniques and divine abilities extending from Hu Bugui's body!
Qin Mu activated the Overlord Body Three Dan Technique, Three Heads and Six Arms, using his six arms to unleash various physical divine abilities to forcefully block. The moment they made contact, he felt an unimaginable, overwhelming force surging in, smashing and crushing the power of his own body!
His arms trembled, went numb, his bones shook, his primordial spirit shook, and his primal energy could barely condense.
The martial arts spirit transmitted from Hu Bugui's move was vast and mighty, charging straight in, breaking all techniques with sheer force, majestic and unstoppable.
He had achieved returning to simplicity, condensing all martial arts into one punch. The punch seemed incredibly simple, but the changes hidden within were unimaginable.
Qin Mu retreated, letting out a long roar, exhausting everything he had learned, unleashing all the physical divine abilities he had mastered. Grandpa Ma's fist, heavy as Mount Sumeru; Butcher's blade, cutting through the false sky; Cripple's leg, swift as lightning; along with the various divine abilities of successive Human Sovereigns, the First Ancestor's Heaven and Earth Seal, and Emperor Shakti Heavenly King Buddha's Buddhist techniques—he unleashed them all.
He broke through Hu Bugui's first afterimage, but the second followed immediately. Qin Mu continued retreating, the stone slabs beneath his feet shattering. He was like a novice just learning martial arts, mobilizing all his power, activating his martial soul, gathering all his strength into his body to confront Hu Bugui.
The speed of unleashing physical divine abilities was inherently faster than spell-based divine abilities. With Three Heads and Six Arms, he could unleash physical divine abilities three times faster than an ordinary person!
Moreover, Qin Mu's footwork shifted and changed. With each half-step, his body rotated by a third, and another pair of arms would precisely unleash a divine ability to meet Hu Bugui's great martial arts divine ability.
He was like a madly spinning, retreating top. In an instant, he retreated over ten miles, crashing through the back doors of one hall after another, blasting through them.
His six arms unleashed countless physical divine abilities in that instant, pushing his potential to the limit. Earlier, his blood energy was like a rainbow; now, it blazed like fire, filling the sky!
Meanwhile, Hu Bugui stood there, still in the posture of throwing that punch, while before him, a series of afterimages executed various physical divine abilities—some fists, some kicks, each move different.
The afterimages surged forward wildly at incredible speed. In that moment, the speed of their offense and defense was beyond imagination. It wasn't until Qin Mu retreated out of Jade City that the thunderous sounds of their physical divine abilities reached the ears of the gods in Jade City!
Describing this moment takes time, but in reality, it happened in an instant.
From the moment Hu Bugui's punch exploded to Qin Mu retreating from Jade City, covering a distance of over ten miles, it took only a brief instant. In that instant, Qin Mu unleashed an incalculable number of physical divine abilities.
After he was forced out of Jade City by Hu Bugui's great martial arts divine ability, the power hidden in the trail of footprints he left on the ground finally erupted. Countless fragments of stone along his footprints exploded one after another, like brilliant fireworks.
Bang, bang, bang—one after another, bursts of stone fireworks bloomed, exploding all the way out of the city, right up to Qin Mu's feet.
At that moment, all of Hu Bugui's afterimages merged together, appearing before Qin Mu, and the full power of the great martial arts divine ability erupted!
This was the true essence of the move Wind Shakes the Pine Forest, Trembling the Valley. Even if you could withstand the preceding series of attacks and changes, you could never withstand the might of all the afterimages combined into one!
A great divine ability that had entered the Dao realm was this formidable, unbreakable and unstoppable!
Entering the Dao through martial arts was so difficult that even the gods under the Martial Combat Celestial Master couldn't achieve it, but once one stepped into the Dao realm, their cultivation and strength underwent earth-shattering improvements!
Qin Mu was utterly focused, his eyes fixed only on Hu Bugui's punch. Nothing else existed. His blood energy went wild again. At this moment, it wasn't just his martial soul possessing his body; his primordial spirit also entered a mysterious, martial state—that was his martial arts primordial spirit!
There were three steps to entering the martial Dao: first, awakening the martial soul; second, awakening the martial arts primordial spirit; third, advancing into the martial Dao and comprehending one's own great martial arts divine ability.
He had spent ten days awakening his martial soul, and under the suppression of Hu Bugui's great martial arts divine ability, his potential exploded, awakening his martial arts primordial spirit in an instant!
The dozens of deities in Jade City were about to step in to block Hu Bugui's strike for him when suddenly, a deep voice came from before the Lingxiao Hall in Jade City: "Do not act rashly."
The gods quickly stopped and turned to look. They saw a deity with a bull's head and a human body, surrounded by swirling flames of light, standing like a divine king before the Lingxiao Hall, majestic and imposing. It was the unremarkable old ox under the old farmer.
This old ox had none of his plowing demeanor. His eyes flashed with divine light as he spoke solemnly, "Don't hinder his entering the Dao through martial arts. This is his most critical moment."
"Entering the Dao through martial arts?"
The crowd was puzzled. A woman murmured, "But Hu Bugui has already achieved entering the Dao through martial arts. He should be awakening from it now... Could it be?"
The gods showed expressions of disbelief as they looked toward the battlefield between Qin Mu and Hu Bugui.
There, Qin Mu seemed to have grown a thousand arms in an instant, unleashing all the martial arts he had learned in a way different from Hu Bugui's.
Clearly, the person the old ox referred to as entering the Dao through martial arts was not Hu Bugui!
"So this is the legendary Overlord Body that the Woodcutter Great Celestial Master spoke of?" the old ox murmured softly.
— On time update! I'm very proud! I'm exhausted today, my head feels like it's about to explode, but I still have to write, preparing tomorrow's chapter. I'm off to keep writing. Fans of The Legend of the Shepherd God, remember to vote for it!