Chapter 1448 — The Blade Dao of the World

"Grandpa Tu, where are we going?

" "To call upon the strongest blade Dao practitioner under heaven.

" Dozens of days later they came to the Yong River. On either bank lay fair and mighty country, and upon the water fishing boats came and went, drifting among the waves.

It was already noon and the sun stood at its fiercest; the boats steered for the shore to hide from the blaze.

The two stood upon the river, Shen Mu's hands empty, and doubt crept into his heart: this time Zaifu had not bade him forge a blade, so did that mean no blade would be needed here? And besides, was not the strongest blade Dao practitioner under heaven Zaifu himself?

Just then a great voice came booming suddenly from the riverbank, laughing loudly: "Shen!

Back in Jingping to sponge off your elders again? " Shen Mu followed the sound and saw a young general clad all in divine armor, a demonic blade slung across his back, appear upon the bank.

The young general trod the empty air and sprang, and beneath his feet ten thousand blade lights raced, bearing him swiftly over. Shhk—the ten thousand blade lights beneath him suddenly gathered into one demonic blade that swam like a dragon and chopped at Shen Mu. Shen Mu raised his hand, caught the blade light between index and middle finger, clipped it in two with a snap, and said mildly, "Zhe Huali.

It has been a long while.

" Zhe Huali crashed down onto the river; the surface burst open and the water splashed Shen Mu all over.

"You live so merrily up in the heavens, Heavenly Venerate Mu—a name to frighten the wits out of anyone! But every time you come back you shamelessly sponge off your elders!

What are you sponging off this time? " The demonic blade Zhe Huali had, in these years, been charged with guarding a divine city on Jingping's western line, the Tianyuan Divine City at the source of the Yong River, and had grown into a formidable general. Shen Mu's face could not help darkening.

He said sullenly, "Sponging off my elders? You lot stay in Jingping and sponge off the elders every day of your lives, and I come back once in a while to sponge, and you scold me for it.

. .

" Zhe Huali laughed. "The Dao arts and divine powers of Jingping long ago ceased to be what they were when you left.

There are so many geniuses now, so many masters they cannot be counted, and I truly fear you have fallen behind. " Though he spoke thus, a keen light flickered in his eyes, eager for the fray, and the demonic blade Dragon Fang on his back gave off low growls like a demon dragon, plainly excited, itching to trade blows and teach Shen Mu a lesson at once. In the old days, when Shen Mu taught Zhe Huali a lesson, the Dragon Fang blade had been taught a lesson more than once as well.

This demonic blade was spiritual—a tooth of the Azure Dragon, the Eastern Emperor, grown demonic.

Utterly uncanny, and it remembered grudges.

After another moment, blade radiance abruptly flickered in the sky: one layer of blade radiance, one heaven, eighteen heavens in all.

The blade light of those eighteen heavens poured down straight at Shen Mu in the middle of the river.

Shen Mu seemed not to notice; above his head blade qi soared to the heavens and became a heavenly palace of the blade Dao. His blade Dao spirit-soul stood within the Nine Hells Terrace, gathered qi into a blade, and cut upward against the eighteen heavens of the blade Dao.

Clang!

The air rang out and blade radiance scattered across the sky; then all at once the radiance drew in and became a divine blade that sprang upward.

Above, an arm reached down, seized the divine blade, and a one-armed figure crashed down upon the river, the water it threw up turning to blades that flew cutting in all directions like scattered jade. Zhe Huali stood motionless upon the river with folded arms, blade light like silk before and behind him, cutting apart every blade of water.

That one-armed god was none other than Luo Wushuang, the Divine Blade. Luo Wushuang saluted Zaifu and Zhe Huali; Zaifu returned the salute, but Zhe Huali lowered his hand by half and said, "Greetings, Daoist Brother Luo.

" He had severed the master-disciple bond with Luo Wushuang, and Luo Wushuang had driven him from the school; so he could only call him Daoist Brother, yet because of his former standing as disciple he lowered his hand by half.

Luo Wushuang saluted Shen Mu: "Shen the Overlord Body. " He did not name Shen Mu Heavenly Venerate, but Overlord Body.

Though the enmity between them had dissolved, and Luo Wushuang had walked free of the shackles of his own blade Dao, the two had after all been foes, and a knot remained in his heart; hence, Shen the Overlord Body. "Divine Blade Luo," Shen Mu returned the salute.

Divine Blade Luo was Shen Mu's name for him: they had staked their lives together in Taixu, fought shoulder to shoulder, and Shen Mu admired both his blade and his character.

Especially when Luo Wushuang drew his blade to slay Lady Yuanmu and the Empress's clones Yun Chuxiu and Lian Huahun—ruthless to the bone, sparing nothing, no beauty worth more than a blade. In Shen Mu's heart he was a ruthless man unmatched in his generation. Luo Wushuang said, "Heavenly Blade, all who have come today are the masters of Jingping's blade Dao.

May we begin?

" Zaifu shook his head. "Not yet.

We wait for one more. I sent men to invite him months ago. " From his Taotie pouch he took out a little boat, filled with jars and jugs, all sealed with the finest wine.

Zhe Huali's expression changed.

"Did that man not go to the Carefree Land? He will come as well?

" He glanced at Shen Mu and went on, "I hear that man owes Heavenly Venerate Mu a great deal, owes Jingping too much; he swore that in this life he would never set foot in Jingping, and hid himself away in the Carefree Land. " Zaifu smiled.

"He came long ago.

When the Heavenly Court's armies took Taixu and sealed the Void Bridge, he broke out of the encirclement and slipped into Jingping. He was not the only one; many others entered Jingping by way of the Three Chambers of the Void Bridge and lay hidden there.

He did indeed keep his oath and never enter Jingping, and roamed the Northern Lands instead. But an oath sworn by a drunkard is worth a fart. " He smiled slightly, his voice loud and long, unhurried: "This wine of mine is no common wine. The Thief God stole it from the holy ones of the various heavens; among them is wine the Heavenly Court offers up to the Heavenly Emperor, brewed by the Wine God ranked first in all the Heavenly Court! " "Wine from the Heavenly Court's Wine God—of course I had to come!

" A mighty laugh came from the sky, and there, from among the Four Great Heavenly Kings under Kaihuang, came Tian Shu, Heavenly King of the Nether Capital, his chest bared, the divine blade Imperial Gate on his shoulder, reeking of wine to the heavens, laughing: "Only the Heavenly Blade understands me, knows my little weakness. To tell the truth, I was bound by my oath and dared not set foot in Jingping—but before I came I got myself drunk, threw down a few jugs of horse piss, and all that oath nonsense stopped mattering! " He landed upon the little boat, reached out and lifted a jar, and drank with his head thrown back, emptying it in one breath.

"This is Buddha wine brewed in Mahabrahma of the Buddha Realm—a savor of pure ghee!

" He slapped open another jar and drank deep. "Wine of the Daoist sect's Azure Cloud Heaven—once you drink it your head is full of strange talismans and numerals! And this jar is the Wine God's, offered to the Heavenly Emperor; it is truly another thing altogether! " The fine wines of the various heavens each had their own savor. Soon Tian Shu was dead drunk, his eyes glazed, yet still he drank jar after jar. "Can this drunkard still go on?

" Luo Wushuang said with a frown. Tian Shu glanced sidelong at him and chuckled.