Chapter 1244 — I'll Give You Some Face

Di Yiyue arrived in haste, swept up the Martial Dao Heavenly Master with a flick of her sleeve, and brought him back.

Her sleeves wheeled and flew; her divine abilities were wrought with a mastery past art, for whether it was the Four Emperors' great divine abilities of the Four Poles Heaven or the divine abilities and Dao arts of other ancient gods, she took them up as easily as one plucks a thing from a shelf, and even the great Dao divine ability of Tu Bo of Youdu gave her no trouble at all. Her gifts were peerless: she had even comprehended Emperor Throne arts of her own devising, and was not merely one who could learn them.

In the age of the Founding Emperor she had stood second only to Shen Ye himself, a being who could contend with Shen Ye for the throne of the Founding Emperor — and yet she had, after all, lain dead for twenty thousand years.

Yin Tianzi had schemed against her and struck her down, and though Shen Mu revived her, those twenty thousand years were lost all the same.

When her divine ability met that great hand, two dreadful forces collided, and at once the seething divine sense within the hand invaded her art and shattered it.

Di Yiyue's face changed drastically; Zhuo Cha, the Martial Dao Heavenly Master, in that instant threw himself across before her, one force breaking ten thousand arts, and drove a fist into the Daluo Heaven of divine sense. Shitian, the Azure Emperor, Tian Shu, Yama and the rest came flying up, only to see that hand close into a fist; the vast fist met the fist of the Martial Dao Heavenly Master, the one great and the one small, and burst out with a force beyond all terror.

Zhuo Cha spat blood and was flung backward once more.

About Shitian, Buddha-light and the fire of wrath blazed high, and the martial arts of the Buddhist Dao erupted; Yama swept out his cloak, the void went black, and a divine sword thrust out of the darkness; the Azure Emperor's body gave a shake and became an Azure Dragon of immeasurable vastness, his body rolling on like a mountain range. Tian Shu ground his teeth, his lips dry and his throat parched; he wanted a drink, but there was no wine to be had, and so he steeled himself, hefted the Imperial Gate Divine Saber, and went up.

At the same time the Ark of the Other Shore was bearing Fengdu into the void at even greater speed, but the next moment wave upon wave of dreadful force came rolling, and Tian Shu, Yama, the Azure Emperor and the others were hurled backward, crashing into Fengdu aboard the ship; they slid for several hundred li and still could not check their fall.

Only the Martial Dao Heavenly Master and Di Yiyue still held against the assaults of that great hand. The Great Emperor's arm seemed able to reach out to an infinite distance; that hand of his made fist, hook, palm, seal; it chopped, hacked, pared, sliced, flicked, so that the Martial Dao Heavenly Master and Di Yiyue were hard put to keep pace.

Suddenly Zhuo Cha spat blood yet again and was struck flying back, slammed onto the ship, bounced up, slammed down again, tumbling and rolling, flying he knew not how far before he finally came to rest.

Niu Sanduo rushed forward in alarm, about to see whether his master lived or died, when Zhuo Cha ground his teeth, rolled over, leapt onto his back and shouted, "Sanduo, fight him to the death! " "Stand firm, my lord! " From Niu Sanduo's mouth came a long lowing cry; his body swelled madly and all at once reared upright, becoming a Martial Dao Demon King with an ox's head and a man's body, every inch of him knotted with muscle, and each knot of muscle forced the blue dragon scales up on end.

The old ox's blood and qi seethed and burst from his body, wreathing him like blood dragons; and Zhuo Cha set his feet apart upon the two sharp horns, gave a roar, and the clothes on his body split into four and five pieces, the sinews of his flesh moving beneath his skin like great dragons.

A moment before he had worn the face and bearing of an old farmer; now he seemed to have shed decades, from old age to the prime of life, and from the prime of life to youth, all corded muscle, his blood and qi like a rainbow — the very image of the man he had been when he followed the Founding Emperor, striving and fighting, staking life against life, a desperado who counted his own death cheap. The reason he had become an old farmer was that his heart had grown old.

Ever since the Founding Emperor abandoned the sentient beings of the Origin World, chose not to fight, and fled away to the Land of No Sorrow, Zhuo Cha had aged, becoming an old farmer who knew nothing but his fields and the hammering of Wentian Pavilion. And now, facing the Great Emperor's great hand, his hot blood had kindled again.

Niu Sanduo strode out, thunder rumbling and lightning flashing, and in a few steps reached the edge of the Ark of the Other Shore; he leapt, hurtling straight for the Great Emperor's hand. Di Yiyue came flying toward them and was struck back; Zhuo Cha spread his five fingers and gave a light support at the small of her back, dissolving the Great Emperor's force, and said in a low voice, "Those of the Lingxiao Realm and the Emperor Throne Realm, come up.

Fisherman, woodcutter, you two go back!

" Han Tang, the Fisherman Heavenly Master, wound in his rod and caught hold of the Woodcutter Saint, whose face flushed scarlet; gripping his great axe, he said, "I can still fight. .

. " Shitian, the Azure Emperor, Tian Shu and the others charged forward once more, one in purpose, barring the way before that great hand, killer move following killer move without end, and still they were forced back and back.

Just then, in the void, an enormous head slowly rose and thrust into the void, revealing the Great Emperor's colossal face, vaster still than that hand. His eyes slowly opened, both pupils blazing with a light beyond measure, as though two suns burned in their sockets.

The space between his brows split apart, revealing a deep cavity where the Taichu Primordial Stone had once been — but the stone had been shattered by Gong Yun, the Divine King. The Woodcutter Saint, standing on the ship, hastily looked down, and there in the Lotus Continent he saw the Great Emperor's imprisoned flesh still struggling to break free; from his vast and mighty thighs root after root had driven into the Lotus Continent, joined with the Great Void, so that for the moment he could not tear himself loose.

The Great Emperor's other hand rose and reached into the void.

Despair rose in every heart, and it was then that Shen Mu sprang up, and the Woodcutter Saint hurriedly reached out to seize him, yet was a step too late.

Di Yiyue and the others raised their heads and looked upon that face, towering above them by a height beyond knowing, and a deep helplessness welled up in their hearts. Yet at that very moment a small figure flew past among them, a peach-wood hairpin pinched in his fingers; the hairpin glinted, and pointing and tracing, he attacked the Great Emperor.

"Brother Mu!

" Di Yiyue cried out in a great panic and hurried in pursuit of Shen Mu, when suddenly the Great Emperor raised his palm and shouted, "Stop! " Shen Mu halted, the hairpin still pinched in his fingers; Di Yiyue caught up with him and threw herself across before him.

The Great Emperor's gaze fell upon the hairpin in Shen Mu's hand, and his voice came a little hoarse: "You have learned it? " Shen Mu nodded and smiled.

"I have.

" "Then I will give you some face.

" The Great Emperor's immeasurably vast face broke into a smile, and he chuckled, "We are not enemies sworn to kill one another; there is no need for us to fight to the death. I will not provoke you, and do not you provoke me; let our well water and our river water keep apart. Heavenly Venerable Mu, what say you?

" Shen Mu smiled.

"That is my thought as well.