Chapter 756 — The Nineteenth Sword
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
More than ten ornaments: pins and hairpins in her hair, a tasseled jade band at her brow, at her collarbone a pendant like a bright moon of pearl, jade bracelets at her wrists, a thumb ring on her finger, and about her ankles glass beads hung with little bells.
Heavenly Lord Hao looked at the sword-light halted before him and let out a breath of relief, while Shen Mu still strove to press forward, trying to unleash the full might of the Opening Tribulation Sword and force a breach through the goddess's suppression.
Yet the sword still could not get through; it advanced only an inch or so before reaching the limit of Shen Mu's strength.
Heavenly Lord Hao smiled.
"Heavenly Lord Yu, you go too far."
The goddess's divine cloud-glow projection spoke, her voice clear and bright, piercing to the heart, calm with an edge of indifference: "You have come back from the dead, and so you ought to tremble and tread as upon thin ice. Have you forgotten that before your death you were suddenly suppressed by a force? The Coiling Corridor Pavilion was where I lodged with my sister — do you not know that it was my power?"
Shen Mu was still struggling forward with bull-headed stubbornness, determined to cut down Heavenly Lord Hao.
The goddess frowned: "You refuse to know your place. Hao'er, send him on his way. This time leave no future trouble behind — destroy the corpse outright."
Heavenly Lord Hao bowed and assented, then went around the ten-li length of sword-light.
The sword-light was fixed in the air as though congealed.
Heavenly Lord Hao set his heart at ease and walked toward Shen Mu ten li away, saying with a smile, "Mother, he is not Heavenly Lord Yu after all."
The goddess was startled; she turned her head to look at Shen Mu, but could not discern Shen Mu's true face.
Heavenly Lord Hao was in excellent spirits: "He is Heavenly Lord Mu. The true Heavenly Lord Yu is likely still in his coffin, buried beneath the earth."
"Is he the very Heavenly Lord Mu whom His Majesty has just enfeoffed?"
The goddess nodded: "His divine arts are indeed extraordinary, encompassing every sort of inconceivable mystery."
Heavenly Lord Hao walked to the middle of the ten-li sword-light and said, "He used a wondrous divine art to change his face, making himself look the same as Heavenly Lord Yu. Heavenly Lord Yu may have passed the method of becoming a god on to him before death, so that he could impersonate him. But what I would rather know is this: is his original face his true face? I suspect that the face of Heavenly Lord Mu he wears is also false."
The goddess smiled: "My son is clever. Kill him, and he will have no choice but to reveal his true face. Your mother has already suppressed him, so strike without worry..."
Just then, the sword-light suddenly shrank!
The ten-li sword-light abruptly contracted into a knot and halted before Heavenly Lord Hao!
Heavenly Lord Hao was stunned; an icy dread ran through him.
The sudden contraction of the sword-light made him feel, in a daze, as though he were being stared at by an incomparably vicious ancient god, or had fallen into a tribulation of slaughter!
Shen Mu stood five li away, pinned to the sea's surface by the goddess, unable to move, his teeth grinding loud enough to be heard, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
The sword core moved!
Shen Mu suddenly let out an earth-shaking roar.
"Raise the Tribulation—"
The goddess was startled and hastily poured in more mana to press down upon the sword core!
Her power was vast beyond measure, brimming over, and in an instant she locked the sword core down tight — yet, strangely, though the core was suppressed, sword after sword came leaping out from within it.
The goddess pressed down again, but the leaping sword-light could not be held down at all, and it flew straight for Heavenly Lord Hao!