Chapter 1600 — The Peerless Elegance of That Sword

At the first strike, Gong Tianzun felt as if the dragon spear were a great serpent touched at its fatal seven inches — within the power coursing through the entire spear, a seven-inch length abruptly lost its force, and she lost all sensation of that segment.

At the second strike, the tremor came, and the remaining spear was shorter by another seven inches. Shen Mu's sword moves were so swift that by the time the twentieth form struck the spear, the force of this strike of hers was left with no more than a span as short as the shaft she gripped in her hand!

The sword-light leapt from the spear shaft and shot into Gong Tianzun's brow!

One false step, and every step after is false.

Before confronting Shen Mu, Gong Tianzun had relied on her mighty divine consciousness to calculate all of Shen Mu's means of attack; yet because she knew far too little of him, while she had been read through and through by Shen Mu, she had conceived the idea of crushing him by force. But the very first step of her attack had already fallen into her opponent's trap; from then on, every misstep carried her a thousand li astray, until all was lost in utter defeat.

She was, after all, a Celestial Venerable. In the instant that the sword-light Shen Mu had flicked up pierced into her brow, her primordial spirit rose from within her Heavenly Court, vast and boundless; its left hand lifted, striking toward the back of Gong Tianzun's own head. Her primordial spirit's left hand actually passed straight through the back of her skull, and at the same instant that Shen Mu's Tribulation Sword pierced her brow, its left index finger pressed down upon the sword tip!

Ding.

A crisp, pure sound rang out, and the momentum of the Tribulation Sword was checked.

A drop of cold sweat fell from Gong Tianzun's forehead, struck the gleaming blade tip of the Tribulation Sword, and was split in two by the keen point; a bead of blood from her brow slid down along the tip.

Across from her, Shen Mu held his sword, a mere two paces away.

So close were they that any divine art would be slower than martial technique, and sword-Dao divine arts were utterly terrifying in close-quarters slaughter. But the most terrifying of all was the saber.

The smile on Shen Mu's face faded; he shifted his footwork, and the next moment, Gong Tianzun felt him behind her — a torrential saber intent pressed against her back in that same instant, as if to carve into her flesh!

The feeling was dreadful. She felt her back exposed to Shen Mu; it was not the classic back-to-back formation of martial combat, but rather her back facing his front.

It was an uncanny phenomenon wrought by the Primal Embryo Divine Treasury domain! She at once sprang up and hurled herself forward, landing upon one of the enormous stamens within the twin lotuses.

At the same moment, the primordial spirit within her Heavenly Court at the back of her head struck out ferociously, attacking the Shen Mu behind her!

Yet in the instant her primordial spirit moved, it could not help but freeze — for Shen Mu's primordial spirit was at this very moment behind her primordial spirit, in exactly the same configuration: its back facing his front!

Gong Tianzun's heart seized with horror. Even after leaping onto that stamen, she still felt Shen Mu behind her; his great saber-Dao divine art erupted from behind her back!

Within the twin lotuses, the stamens flaunted riotous colors, each one thousands of zhang in length, standing like tentacles in this exquisite place, swaying with the tides.

Gong Tianzun raced at utmost speed, leaping back and forth among the stamens, stretching every faculty to dodge the saber-light behind her. The saber-light rose behind her — shua, shua, shua — streaks of radiance splitting the sky, dazzlingly bright, yet in the next instant turning into streaks of black lines.

She had to be careful to avoid the black lines left in the wake of that brilliance, for those black lines, too, were exceedingly perilous; the slightest carelessness would carve a saber scar across her body.

Even so, there were times she could not dodge. The saber scars on her body grew ever more numerous, and it was not long before she was covered with wounds from head to foot; meanwhile her primordial spirit, too, raced at utmost speed, evading the moves of Shen Mu's primordial spirit.

Her primordial spirit was likewise riddled with saber wounds. If this continued, sooner or later she would die beneath Shen Mu's assault.

Boom!

A tremendous crash rang out, slamming into the twin lotuses so that they trembled without cease. Gong Tianzun stole a hurried glance — Her Highness the Empress had landed in the middle of the twin lotuses, half crouched, half kneeling.

The woman had regained her ancient god's body, that physical frame of overwhelming toughness, and at the center of the twin lotuses — one half red, one half black — she rose slowly to her feet. "Mu Tianzun—" Her Highness the Empress gave a shrill, piercing cry.

Gong Tianzun suddenly felt the saber-light behind her vanish, and could not help breathing a sigh of relief.

"Mu Tianzun has been driven off by the Empress! " She turned around — and a sword-light came straight through her brow.

At the same moment, the primordial spirit within her Heavenly Court was pierced by a sword-light as well.

Shen Mu put away his sword, bowed deeply, and saluted: "Fellow Daoist Gong, farewell.

" Sword-light erupted from within Gong Tianzun's mind!