Chapter 854: One Sword Ascends to the Sky
The Heavenly Dragon King’s head was extraordinarily large, floating between the two of them. This dragon king’s head had already undergone corpse transformation, turning a sickly green. Even his long dragon whiskers had turned green, covered in dripping, slimy corpse fluid.
Qin Mu and “Imperial Heavenly Lord’s” divine abilities erupted across the Heavenly Dragon King’s head. Qin Mu raised his hand, grabbing a flying sword that circled him, and thrust it forward. Countless flying swords orbiting him moved with this single strike. The sword tide skimmed the Heavenly Dragon King’s head, every single sword stained with corpse poison.
When his flying swords reached the other side of the Heavenly Dragon King’s head, the green sword tide transformed into a sword formation, engulfing “Imperial Heavenly Lord.”
At the same time, “Imperial Heavenly Lord” directly employed Heavenly Dao divine abilities. The Heavenly Dao had forty-nine aspects, and he activated all forty-nine, manifesting them as forty-nine different forms of divine abilities.
Countless gods and demons resided on the body of the Heavenly Lord of the Xuan Du Heaven, observing and measuring day and night. The Heavenly Court had already figured out most of the Heavenly Dao. Even the Heavenly Lord’s physical form had been constructed by the Heavenly Court, and the Heavenly Dao divine abilities had been deduced as well.
Qin Mu had only derived the Heavenly Fire Great Path from the Heavenly Fire Prism Crystal, but the Heavenly Court had already deduced all the other different Heavenly Dao aspects. The only thing lacking was that the Heavenly Court’s Heavenly Dao was constructed using macroscopic mathematics, lacking construction on the microscopic level.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord’s” Heavenly Dao divine abilities manifested in different forms: Heavenly Principles like a net, Heavenly Fire like a crystal tower, Heavenly Supplication like a ship, Heavenly Records like a stele, Heavenly Vault like a canopy, Heavenly Yang like the sun, Heavenly Yin like the moon, Heavenly Abyss like a chasm. Suddenly, all these various Heavenly Dao divine abilities converged into a single seal. The dense runes forming the divine ability *shua* sound passed straight through the Heavenly Dragon King’s head, seemingly encountering no obstacles, and blasted directly toward Qin Mu!
Their divine abilities did not meet. Instead, they attacked each other’s true bodies first, determined to eliminate the opponent in the first moment.
Because between them was still the Heavenly Dragon King’s corpse-transformed head. Although the Heavenly Dragon King was now dazed and confused, turned into a corpse demon, his strength remained.
If the corpse demon attacked them, no one could stop it. Therefore, eliminating the opponent first was the only way to ensure a clean retreat.
The Heavenly Dao Seal felt like the Heavenly Lord himself had descended, carrying an overwhelming, majestic, and invincible Heavenly Might!
On this side of the Heavenly Dragon King’s head, Qin Mu faced the great Heavenly Dao divine ability. Suddenly, he tore off the willow leaf on his brow. His third eye opened, its gaze deep as an abyss.
“Where my body stands is the Netherworld!”
Violent Netherworld darkness and demonic energy surged forth. In an instant, he seemed to sink into the darkness of the Netherworld. Flames blazed atop Qin Mu’s head—these were the two demon horns formed by the Nine Nether Yellow Springs.
He looked like Tu Bo emerging from the Netherworld, stirring the Netherworld’s Great Path. The rules of the Netherworld’s Great Path turned into countless chains coiling around his body.
Qin Mu, bearing these chains, reached out his massive hand to meet the Heavenly Dao Seal!
On the other side, the sword formation’s power erupted. Countless flying swords leaped at bizarre frequencies. Every single move was the second form of the Calamity Sword, Raising Calamity. Yet all the flying swords disappeared and reappeared, the calamities they formed precisely composing different formations!
His sword path consisted of two chapters: Opening Calamity and Raising Calamity. The insights contained within each were also different.
However, the original Opening Calamity Sword and Raising Calamity Sword were very simple. Although the principles they contained were profound, the sword techniques themselves were extremely minimalist.
Now, any single flying sword executing Raising Calamity was also extremely simple and minimalist. Yet when different Raising Calamity techniques were combined, they formed an extremely complex sword formation!
Moreover, the formation transformed into after each leap was completely different!
This was the result of his recent studies with Blind, learning the reforms of Eternal Peace.
The reforms of Eternal Peace had achieved a great deal in the path of formations. Moreover, these achievements were built upon the foundation of formation achievements from the Kai Huang Era.
Blind was the master of Eternal Peace formations. He led the reforms in the path of formations within Eternal Peace, working with many like-minded individuals to apply the path of formations to people’s livelihoods, improving their lives.
Qin Mu, however, applied the path of formations to his own techniques and divine abilities, adding formation variations to the Raising Calamity Sword.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” was caught in the ever-changing Raising Calamity Sword Formation. Suddenly, his aura shifted drastically. Behind him, a divine bridge spanned the sky. His primordial spirit stood at the end of the bridge, before the Southern Heavenly Gate.
Behind him, layer upon layer of heavenly palaces materialized, forming a vast Heavenly Court, golden light dazzling and filling the clouds.
The Heavenly Court had thirty-six heavens and seventy-two halls. The highest among the seventy-two precious halls was the Ling Xiao Treasure Hall.
There, layers of light and countless visions churned, forming the image of an ancient god, the Heavenly Emperor, sitting solemnly, towering between heaven and earth.
“Supreme Lord of All Paths, All Paths Return to One!”
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” raised his hand in a seal, meeting Qin Mu’s Raising Calamity Sword Formation. The formation’s power erupted. However, when it met his divine ability, the formation’s power seemed to sink into a quagmire. Countless flying swords were frozen, and the formation immediately fell into disarray.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord’s” divine ability erupted, and the sword formation formed by countless flying swords shattered into pieces.
After breaking the formation, “Imperial Heavenly Lord” leaped into the air. He saw the Heavenly Dragon King’s green dragon whiskers curling toward him, narrowly flying past him.
On the other side, Qin Mu forcibly shattered his great Heavenly Dao divine ability. Then he turned sideways. His body suddenly became extremely flat, standing there like a black line, merging with the darkness.
The Heavenly Dragon King’s thick dragon whiskers *chi chi* passed through, not touching him at all.
This dragon king’s huge head rolled its eyes, stopping in front of this black line, but it couldn’t see where Qin Mu was.
This move was something Qin Mu had learned from Ban Gongcuo. In the arts of escape and disguise, Ban Gongcuo was unparalleled, second to none.
“Right, you are still the Netherworld God Child.”
On the Heavenly Dragon King’s head, “Imperial Heavenly Lord” ran swiftly, laughing, “Using the Netherworld’s Great Path to counter the Heavenly Dao is not difficult for you.”
The Heavenly Dragon King’s whiskers abandoned Qin Mu and stabbed toward “Imperial Heavenly Lord,” who was running on his own head.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord’s” form moved like a ghost, dodging the attacks of the whiskers. The whiskers could be soft or hard, actually piercing through patches of dragon scales, revealing the rotting flesh beneath.
At the same time, the scattered flying swords suddenly whistled over. A hand reached out from the black line, slapping heavily against the flying swords. The corpse poison on the swords flew backward, revealing the shiny bodies of the swords.
*Ding ding ding* — the sounds of collision were incessant. The flying swords returned, forming a sword pellet, which Qin Mu caught in his hand.
The Heavenly Dragon King’s head charged over. He opened his huge mouth, spewing out foul corpse gas, and swallowed Qin Mu in one gulp. Just as he took Qin Mu into his mouth, the teleportation runes erupted.
By the time his huge mouth closed, a flash of teleportation light appeared, and Qin Mu vanished.
The next moment, behind “Imperial Heavenly Lord,” who was still running on the Heavenly Dragon King’s head, a flash of light suddenly appeared. Qin Mu thrust his sword toward his back.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord’s” body suddenly changed, transforming into a bird-headed human form. Behind his head was a halo of the great sun. The great sun descended, causing Qin Mu’s sword to stab into the sun halo. This divine sword was instantly burned red-hot, with molten gold and iron flowing down.
Qin Mu exerted force from his feet, holding the sword and thrusting forward. “Imperial Heavenly Lord” struggled, running forward.
The two ran on the corpse-transformed dragon king’s head, each step extremely heavy.
Qin Mu’s body swayed. Two more heads rapidly grew out, and another four arms sprouted from his armpits. His palms changed a thousand times, ultimately turning into sword fingers, each pointing at his own brow.
First form of the Calamity Sword, Opening Calamity.
His sword fingers pointed out. Three sword fingers each touched the divine sword. The sword’s power instantly erupted.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” grunted. The great sun halo was pierced through. Suddenly, his body changed again, transforming into a goddess.
He had been facing away from Qin Mu. Now, as he transformed into the goddess, his head, body, and limbs all twisted backward simultaneously, forming a bizarre posture facing Qin Mu directly.
Her hands clamped down on the divine sword stabbing toward her chest. Between her hands, a bottomless abyss formed.
The Gui Xu Abyss.
This was a massive, madly spinning vortex in the darkness, unfathomably deep. It caused Qin Mu’s Opening Calamity Sword to *chi* sound plunge into the abyss, swallowing Qin Mu along with it!
Qin Mu was swallowed by his Gui Xu divine ability. Countless runes spun around him. He once again used his teleportation divine ability to fly out.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” raised his hand to the sky. Countless stars exploded in the sky, converging into a river of stars, forming a Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare.
Qin Mu’s form had just emerged from the teleportation light stream when he was immediately caught by the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare, unable to break free for a time.
He used his teleportation divine ability again. Suddenly, thunder and lightning flashed, and he was caught by the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare once more.
His form dodged repeatedly, but was captured by the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare time and again.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord’s” hands flew. The Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare became denser and denser. Countless stars converged, becoming even more concentrated. Qin Mu flickered within the net, the space he could maneuver shrinking rapidly.
“Who can master all the Great Path divine abilities of the ancient gods?”
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” suddenly transformed into the Star Lord Kui Mu Lang, wolf-headed and human-bodied. He leaped into the air, avoiding the Heavenly Dragon King’s whisker attacks, and charged straight toward Qin Mu, laughing, “Only I can! Only this physical body! Heavenly Wolf Howls at the Moon!”
He let out a long howl. Light from his mouth turned into a torrent, blasting toward Qin Mu in the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare.
Qin Mu’s divine sword suddenly transformed into a golden brush. The golden brush swept across, drawing a gate in the Heavenly Net and Earthly Snare. He opened the gate and left.
The Heavenly Wolf Howls at the Moon divine ability blasted into the gate, disappearing without a trace.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” was surprised. He flew into the gate, laughing, “The Great Path divine abilities of the lower realm are becoming more and more interesting.”
Just as he rushed into this gate, the Heavenly Dragon King’s whiskers also pierced through. Then the whiskers hooked onto both sides of the gate. The Heavenly Dragon King’s big green head squeezed into the gate, chuckling, “I see you!”
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” leaped up, transforming into a Vermilion Bird with a wingspan of several hundred zhang. He flapped his wings and flew, dodging the Heavenly Dragon King’s attack. He saw Qin Mu ahead, holding the golden brush. The golden brush swept across, and a heavenly palace leaped out.
Qin Mu ran like flying within the heavenly palace, his brush moving like a dragon or snake. He was still charging forward. As his golden brush swept out, layers of space continuously appeared before him.
Then, a Heavenly River flowed from under his brush. Vast waters descended from the sky, roaring and rushing straight toward the Vermilion Bird that “Imperial Heavenly Lord” had transformed into.
The Vermilion Bird was flying too fast to dodge. Suddenly, its body spun. By the time the Heavenly River reached it, it had transformed from a Vermilion Bird into a Black Tortoise. The Black Tortoise roared, walking on the river. The Teng Snake coiled around its body, flapping its wings, moving even faster.
Behind him, the Heavenly Dragon King’s corpse-transformed big head was hit by the Heavenly River, his face covered in water.
The Heavenly Dragon King was furious. He opened his huge mouth and sucked hard. The Heavenly River flowed out from under his neck.
The Heavenly Dragon King opened his mouth and charged forward along the river.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” was about to catch up to Qin Mu when suddenly he saw Qin Mu draw a Heavenly Shuttle. He jumped into the shuttle. The shuttle had two pointed ends and whistled into the air.
Inside the shuttle, Qin Mu held the brush and painted. A massive and majestic deity appeared under his brush.
That was the Heavenly Emperor.
When Qin Mu painted the Heavenly Emperor’s eyes, he lifted the Heavenly Emperor’s eye, sat in the shuttle, and rushed inside.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” wanted to follow him in but found himself crashing into the Heavenly Emperor’s eye.
“Where is he?”
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” was startled. Behind him, the Heavenly Dragon King’s big head charged over.
Qin Mu’s form appeared inside the hanging coffin. He jumped down from the Heavenly Shuttle and turned around. Behind him was a Heavenly Palace Diagram, standing upright in the darkness, shimmering with a faint light.
Qin Mu shook the brush in his hand. The brush turned into a sword pellet. Then the sword pellet burst forth, forming a sea of swords, arranged around the Heavenly Palace Diagram.
Qin Mu’s body shook, transforming into the form of the Netherworld God Child. Darkness spread.
He reached out his hand, grabbed the Heavenly Palace Diagram, and shook it hard. The space inside the diagram instantly annihilated!
As the Heavenly Palace Diagram annihilated, the sword formation’s power erupted. The roars of the Heavenly Dragon King and “Imperial Heavenly Lord” came from within the sword formation. Sword light surged like a tide, engulfing them. However, the two figures flickered within the sword light, about to break the formation!
Suddenly, the Heavenly Dragon King’s corpse-transformed big head rushed out of the sword formation, rolling away, disappearing somewhere.
“Imperial Heavenly Lord” followed closely behind the Heavenly Dragon King, rushing out of the formation. Just as he emerged, his body stiffened, sensing the killing intent behind him.
He whirled around. He saw Qin Mu behind him, the Heavenly River flowing, the heavenly palace faintly visible. Qin Mu’s primordial spirit stood on the Heavenly River, holding a precious sword. It stepped on the Heavenly River, galloping down from the sky, and struck with one sword!
When “Imperial Heavenly Lord” saw this sword light, it was already at his brow. By the time he saw its full form, Qin Mu’s primordial spirit had already pierced through his head with one sword and appeared behind him.
————End of the month, don’t keep your monthly tickets! The Legend of the Shepherd God asks for monthly tickets. If you don’t have monthly tickets, recommendation tickets are fine too——