Chapter 1276 — Not Worth Mentioning
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Bai Yuqiong's Dao heart was indeed inferior to Shen Mu's, for the number of her heart demons was greater.
When she saw the heart demon Yin Tianzi take form, a second heart demon was taking form as well: Celestial Master Zixi.
Celestial Master Zixi of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court was the one her heart adored; yet the two stood on opposing sides. To love and never obtain, never to be together — and so he became a heart demon.
The heart demon Zixi was more handsome, more dashing and ethereal, than Yan Yunxi in male disguise.
And yet, after the elegant and free-spirited heart demon Zixi appeared, her third heart demon was born as well.
Her third heart demon was, astonishingly, a heart demon Shen Mu!
This heart demon Shen Mu was hideous of countenance and brutish of face, and only with effort could one discern Shen Mu's likeness in him.
Her three great heart demons had finally revealed themselves!
"Lord Mu, are you a match for your own heart demon?
" Bai Yuqiong cried, unable to spare a glance for Shen Mu. On the other side, Shen Mu laughed.
"It is only a heart demon, not the true Lord Yu.
I must face my own heart demon and overcome it, if the demon in my heart is to be wholly destroyed. " "Lord Yu?
" Bai Yuqiong's face paled with shock. That plump boy she had picked up — he was Lord Yu?
In that single instant of distraction, the heart demon Yin Tianzi, the heart demon Zixi, and the heart demon Shen Mu struck nearly at once. The heart demon Yin Tianzi shook his body, and countless primeval divine insects flew forth, surging toward Bai Yuqiong in a sky-blotting tide.
Through nearly two hundred lifetimes, Bai Yuqiong had mostly died beneath the mouthparts of these primeval divine insects, drained of all her vital essence and blood — dead in an instant!
The heart demon Zixi, by contrast, appeared far more graceful: all at once he divided into two, the two into four, the four into eight. Of the eight Celestial Masters Zixi, some excelled at the zither, some at chess formations, some at calligraphy, some at the art of painting.
Still others excelled at the sword Dao, at the martial Dao, at the saber Dao, and at the arts of calculation!
These eight Celestial Masters Zixi each employed their own arts and attacked together; and in the very instant the eight moved, three more Celestial Masters Zixi emerged behind each of them, thirty-two Celestial Masters Zixi in all! Yan Yunxi was a woman of boundless ambition.
In the Kaihuang Era, Yan Yunxi's talent crowned all the heavens, and she walked among the myriad worlds in the guise of a man.
Her aim, like that of every Lord, was to cultivate a complete Heavenly Court.
But she walked the Acquired Dao, not the Innate Dao of the Ten Lords. Moreover, though she cultivated many paths, only eight of the Acquired Daos reached perfection in her; she could not perfect all thirty-two heavenly palaces.
More crucially still, when her cultivation reached the Lingxiao realm, she found that any further step was unspeakably difficult.
She could never take that step, and so remained trapped in the Lingxiao realm, without the slightest advance for twenty thousand years.
Even so, she was one of the most powerful beings of the Kaihuang Era. While the heart demon Zixi attacked Bai Yuqiong, the heart demon Shen Mu charged at her as well.
This heart demon Shen Mu was the impression Shen Mu had left on Bai Yuqiong when he killed Yu Wufei and Yin Jiuzun.
She had always feared Shen Mu, feared that he would awaken the Vermilion Bird spirit soul within her.
In Bai Yuqiong's heart, this heart demon Shen Mu surpassed even the true Shen Mu in mana! She was caught in a siege!
"I am a Celestial Master of the Imperial Throne realm! Every skill I possess was won through two hundred lifetimes of slaughter, bought with my life in battle against Yin Tianzi — not through the lingering shade of my ancestors, nor through the Southern Emperor's spirit soul!
" Bai Yuqiong's imperial might erupted.