Chapter 1524 — I Am the Unfettered Wind

Long Xiao hesitated, forcibly suppressing the urge to flee, and descended from the sky once more, his voice rolling through the air like thunder: "Let me say this plainly first — if I find I cannot win, I will leave at once, and I will not throw my life away! Heavenly Venerable Mu, do you understand?" Shen Mu did not look at him; his gaze remained locked on that gaunt, towering stranger. "As you please," he said, light as the wind. Long Xiao's enormous body tore fully free of the Beast World and lunged at the gaunt stranger, churning up wind and thunder. His nine heads blotted out the sky above the Ancestral Court; eight of them visualized and worked their arts, and their spirit-consciousness divine powers burst forth, blasting at the gaunt stranger, while the ninth head cried aloud: "Heavenly Venerable Mu, remember this — my son Long Pi is on good terms with you. If I die, with his present cultivation and strength he cannot inherit my position! He will surely be torn to pieces by the other giant beasts of the Beast World!" His talons thrust out; even as his spirit-consciousness powers hammered the gaunt stranger, his mighty flesh — which had endured the sacrifices of countless Creators — erupted with unparalleled force, and his talons, like the sharpest of blades, tore at the gaunt stranger! Times had changed. The Long Xiao of old had clung to his own ways, sunk in silence on the far side of the Ancestral Court, ruling the ancient giant beasts and lording it over them; but now he had plainly learned much of Jing Ping's knowledge from Long Qilin, and both the might of his divine powers and the strength of his flesh were far greater than before! At his level of cultivation, progress was exceedingly hard; but Long Xiao differed from others — the knowledge he possessed was only the knowledge of the Creators' age, and when he studied the fruits of Jing Ping's transformations, his foundations erupted and his cultivation and strength leapt forward! He too was an existence of the Heavenly Venerable rank. In those years he had been the being the Creators used to overawe the ancient gods; even the Heavenly Duke and the Earth Lord had to yield him a measure of respect. Now, with wings added to a tiger, as he swooped down his very flesh shrank rapidly! Shrinking his flesh allowed his power to condense to a high degree, making his physical attacks stronger. He had also seen that the strange eye in the Black Mountain of the Ancestral Court, and the strange man within the eye, were no small matter; therefore he struck with his full strength from the very first! The gaunt stranger's appearance was pitiful — one arm severed, his brow smeared with blood, wounds everywhere on his body — yet he showed only contempt for Long Xiao's ferocious assault. Boom — Long Xiao's spirit-consciousness powers, highly condensed, rushed into his body, seeking to visualize within him and burst his flesh apart; but when the spirit-consciousness powers unleashed by Long Xiao's eight heads entered the gaunt stranger's body, there came eight muffled thuds in succession — before his spirit-consciousness could even begin to visualize, it was crushed alive by the gaunt stranger's powerful flesh! Chi! Long Xiao's talons fell; the gaunt stranger raised a hand to meet the claw, closed his five fingers, and seized Long Xiao's great talon. Long Xiao howled and strained with all his power; the gaunt stranger strained as well, and there came a crack-crack of sound. Long Xiao was in such pain that tears streamed down; his nine heads whirled, and suddenly he opened his great jaws and bit down at the gaunt stranger! The gaunt stranger's body was half in the past universe and half outside the riven Black Mountain; he could not easily dodge, and was bitten on the body, the sharp teeth sinking into his flesh! Suddenly the power of the vertical eye at the stranger's brow erupted; he turned his head and swept it, and a beam of light slashed out level and flat. Blood fountained skyward — one of Long Xiao's heads was cut away, then the second, then the third! Long Xiao screamed; his other dragon claw dug at the gaunt stranger's heart, plunging into his chest — but at once his claw felt a surging might burst forth from the heart his claw gripped, and his claw began to melt! Boundless terror filled Long Xiao's heart. What manner of being was this? Only half a body, wedged in the strange eye and unable to move, and yet with a single hand he had gravely wounded an existence like himself! Was there such a powerful being in this world? He hurriedly released his bite, struggled, soared into the air, abandoning his three severed heads, and tried to flee back to the Beast World. But the gaunt stranger still gripped his dragon claw and did not let go; instead he exerted force and dragged him back down from the sky. Terror and unease filled Long Xiao's heart. He fought the stranger with all his might; his body shook and countless dragon scales flew from him, each scale like a bright mirror yet incomparably sharp, slashing at the stranger! The strange eye behind the stranger hummed and quivered; the countless dragon scales suddenly lost control and flew toward the strange eye — even Long Xiao's severed heads rose of themselves and flew toward the eye. "Am I the sacrifice, then?" Long Xiao's blood ran cold. He saw the vertical eye at the gaunt stranger's brow burst forth with light again; this strike, he feared, would cut away all his heads! Fear gripped his heart. Among the ten Heavenly Venerables, even the strongest could not have pinned him down so utterly with one hand, much less defeated him in a single blow! And now, this stranger's single strike would likely kill him, use him as a sacrifice, as nourishment! Just then, he suddenly saw a tiny figure flying close along the dragon scales, weaving beneath them at extreme speed, racing toward the gaunt stranger. "Heavenly Venerable Mu..." Long Xiao gave no more thought to it; his six heads whirled up and down, striving to dodge the light shot from the strange eye, but he could not dodge in time — a beam slashed him, and another head fell. Like a many-headed python with its heads cut off, he let out a world-shaking scream, but he could not escape his fate of death. Suddenly Shen Mu had already flown before the stranger, his five fingers spread, and pressed a seal upon the stranger's chest! Hum! Dazzling light erupted, brilliant beyond measure — it was a Taiji diagram spread wide, which he had forced into the stranger's body! Taiji Evolves, Yin and Yang Move! Shen Mu, backhand and forehand, his arms like rain, madly pressed seal after seal upon the stranger's chest! Wherever his palms landed, the stranger's body petrified at flying speed; the petrified area grew larger and larger, and the petrification spread faster and faster! The stranger let out a world-shaking roar, released Long Xiao, and reached out to seize Shen Mu. Shen Mu darted about upon his body; every blow was his twenty-third heaven Dao-entering divine power, Taiji Evolves, Yin and Yang Move, striking from the stranger's belly up to his Adam's apple, from his Adam's apple to his lone arm. The stranger's hand, reaching for Shen Mu, gradually halted; his shoulder had already petrified, and his palm could no longer reach Shen Mu — but the vertical eye at his brow slashed a beam of light at Shen Mu. Long Xiao knew this was the most critical moment; forcing down the dread in his heart, he raised his talons to shield Shen Mu above. The light from the eye was incomparably sharp; with a chi it cut his talons away. Long Xiao's five heads reared up in pain, wailing without cease, but his tail swept across to block the blow in turn. His tail was severed! At the same time, the stranger's entire arm petrified, and the petrification went on creeping up along his neck. Shen Mu had already turned back from the arm and killed his way up to the stranger's face, blow after blow landing with unerring precision on the acupoints