Chapter 1539 — The Hard Clash with a Heavenly Venerable

"Heavenly Venerable Mu — thank you for traveling so far to deliver treasure! " The Lady of Heaven Qiang chuckled and reached out a hand in summons; the two god-blades flew over with the Tribulation Sword wrapped between them, the hilt dropping toward her palm. But the peerless beauty within the tattered Dao Fruit on the tree beneath her suddenly stirred; perceiving the truth, she shouted, "Juyu, it is a trick!

That is no Dao-attainer's Dao Sword — it is a treasure of his own! " The Lady of Heaven Qiang's palm had barely touched the hilt when she saw Shen Mu racing forward with his back to her, both hands behind him — not in the desperate panic she had imagined, but with an air of unhurried ease.

Her heart lurched.

She released her grip at once and drove the two god-blades to twist the Tribulation Sword apart, when at that very moment Shen Mu's hands, linked behind his back, one above the other, both flashed into sword-mudras!

His hands shifted in small arcs behind his back, the mudras changing faster than the eye could follow! As she let go of the hilt, she saw the Tribulation Sword slip free from the entanglement of her two god-blades — in an instant the sword had entered a state of form without substance, passing straight through the twin blades: no body at all, nothing but light.

Swish! The sword-light whirled, tracing a sword-flower.

Her hand had no sooner opened than she saw her five fingers leap from the palm, dancing in the air like sprites possessed of life. For one fleeting instant the Lady of Heaven Qiang's expression turned strange — in the very moment the sword-light cut them off, the fingers came to life, flesh squirming, bone growing, until each became a tiny Shen Mu, and all five bowed to her in unison!

The Tribulation Sword hung hilt-upward, as if held in reverse by those five miniature Shen Mu, who thrust it forward with folded hands!

One Qi of Chaos-Primordium — the Way Travels Together! The Lady of Heaven Qiang's chest burst apart.

The inverted divine sword pierced through her breast and out her back; wherever it passed, her body dissolved into chaotic qi, blasting clean through her physical form!

She cried out, and tier after tier of celestial palaces emerged behind her; her cultivation leapt upward. She reached out and seized both god-blades, and with a single flick of their dragon-tails, the five finger-born miniature Shen Mu were shattered to dust!

The two god-blades, blazing with renewed might yet soft as ever, swept at the divine sword behind her. At the same time, Shen Mu on his little boat still had his back to her and the boat was still rushing forward, but the sword-mudras linked behind his back had grown swifter still, impossible to make out! Swish, swish, swish!

Under his control the Tribulation Sword flew up and down, shifting through one stance after another, evading each strangling sweep of the two god-blades in its state of form without substance!

This divine sword was not aimed at the Lady of Heaven Qiang but at the Dao Tree beneath her feet: thread after thread of sword-light flew among the withered branches, shearing them off!

The Lady of Heaven Qiang, frantic, broke into a cold sweat. She soared up from the God-Slaying Platform and drove her god-blades in pursuit of the Tribulation Sword.

The sword cared for nothing, but she had to avoid cutting the branches, for the two God-Slaying Mystic Blades were so terrible that the moment they touched a bough, the Dao Tree could not withstand even a single blow of the twin blades. All at once the Tribulation Sword whirled around the trunk at furious speed, and the Dao Tree came crashing down.

The Lady of Heaven Qiang blazed with fury as her body plummeted.

The streak of sword-light then stabbed like lightning into the falling God-Slaying Platform, raced away, and howling along the surface of the River of Chaos, caught up with Shen Mu's little boat. Standing on the boat, Shen Mu raised his left hand, and the Tribulation Sword soared up from the river, separating from the platform; the platform dropped into his palm.

He stored it away in the ancestral court of his divine treasury, unfastened the scabbard with his right hand, and watched as the Tribulation Sword slowed, its light paled, and it sank gently downward into the sheath.

He hung the scabbard at his left hip, turned his head, and smiled at the Lady of Heaven Qiang. By now the Lady of Heaven Qiang, together with the woman in the battered Dao Fruit, was falling toward the River of Chaos!

"Heavenly Venerable Mu! " Clutching her two god-blades, she strained to steady herself and keep from plunging into the River of Chaos; yet there was nothing in the chaos to borrow force from, and her body would not stop sinking.

Her beauty drained with terror. She hastily landed on a wooden stump, but down in the River of Chaos below, one strand of white bones after another rose; souls writhed in the chaos, their faces contorted, every one of them reaching for her on the stump!

The Lady of Heaven Qiang's twin blades whirled, hewing through countless broken limbs, when the tattered Dao Fruit came flying through the blade-light.

Suddenly Dao light shone out on every side from within the fruit, and the uncanny presences within the River of Chaos flinched away from it.

The woman within the fruit, her aura growing faint, shouted, "I cannot hold out much longer!

Cross the river at once, or both of us will fall into the past universe! " Shen Mu turned his head and saw this, his gaze strange.

"Who is this woman? Her power is considerable — I wonder how she would compare with the Primal Sage of Miluo Palace.

.

.

" On a devil-sent impulse, he took out the rod of instruction the Primal Sage of Miluo Palace had given him, drove it forth, and sent it flying at the Lady of Heaven Qiang.

Crack! It struck her across the head, and she flew into a rage.

Shen Mu hastily snatched the rod back, thinking, "I forgot — the Lady of Heaven Qiang has no primordial spirit. Hitting her with the rod is completely useless.

"