Chapter 1764 — Triumph at Xuandu
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Zaifu and the Divine Blade Camp had scarce charged into the great camp of the Heavenly Court when the armies of Tianlei City came surging endlessly to meet them, barring their way.
The armies of Tianlei City were famed for their formations, and were hailed as the bronze wall and iron rampart of the Heavenly Court; the commander who held Tianlei City was the Star-Dipper Proper God of the Upper Terrace, Xie Jin'an, and beneath his banner were no few masters of the Emperor Throne realm. Tianlei City's charge was to hold the walls, but Jing Ping's onslaught had been too fierce, and under Granny Zhu's command the army had crushed its ramparts; yet when Zaifu led the Divine Blade Camp into the city, they bore the first brunt, and Tianlei City's forces closed in upon them.
"The Green Annals Mirror the Crimson Heart! " Zaifu roared, and his blade-intent joined with that of Luo Wushuang, Zhe Huali, and Bashan; at once the Dao-realm of the Way of the Blade ran through them all and became one.
Yet this formation, which fuses blade-realm into one, required that those who worked it be tempered upon the God-Slaying Terrace before their blade-intent and blade-way could melt into a single whole and lift the cultivation of their Dao-realm.
In the battle of Xuandu of old, it had been worked by five together — Shen Mu, Zaifu, Luo Wushuang, Zhe Huali, and Tian Shu, the Five Ancestors of the Blade Dao — raising the Dao-realm of the blade to the thirty-first heaven, scarce touching the level of a Heavenly Venerable. But now the Five Ancestors of the Blade Dao lacked Shen Mu and Tian Shu. Bashan's cultivation in the blade was by no means weak, yet beside Shen Mu and Tian Shu he fell far short.
Fortunately, in the decades since the battle of Xuandu, Zaifu, Zhe Huali, and Luo Wushuang had advanced in the Way of the Blade with wondrous speed, making up for what Bashan lacked. The four shifted their steps, and the thirtieth heaven of the Blade Dao burst forth.
Unstoppable as a splitting bamboo, they cut their way into the armies of Tianlei City and drove straight for Xie Jin'an. Xie Jin'an knew no fear, and came straight at the four.
His body shook and he became a xiezhi.
Of the four, all but Luo Wushuang were nameless folk; yet as their forms crossed, Xie Jin'an's head fell to the ground.
His primordial spirit left its shell at once and sought to flee, but a blade-light flashed past, and his primordial spirit too was slain. The four spent every ounce of their strength, leading the Divine Blade Camp in a charge toward the battlefield where the Woodcutter and the others fought. The Divine Blade Camp was unstoppable as a splitting bamboo, yet the officers and men of Tianlei City before them were truly too many, and their advance was hard-won.
Granny Zhu came charging up on a colossal beast at the head of her army, guarding their flanks and helping them hold off the Heavenly Court's troops that poured in from either wing. Behind Granny Zhu, a Primal Tree rose slowly.
Gongsun Yan came striding forward, and the Primal Tree grew ever more lush.
She raised her hand, and the primal magnetic divine power thundered, pressing the officers and men of the Heavenly Court's many armies and divisions who surged in from all sides flat to the ground, unable to stir. With a lift of her hand Gongsun Yan swept the sky, clearing a great expanse of it. "Sacrifice your primordial spirits!
" The officers and men pinned to the ground roared, and their primordial spirits flew out one after another, hurling themselves at Gongsun Yan; for against a primordial spirit, the earth's magnetic power could do nothing.
Suddenly dragon-cries shook the heavens.