This sword of Shen Mu's was the first form of the Tribulation Sword, the sword art by which he had entered the dao — the Opening Tribulation Sword — and the strongest of all his sword arts.

The sword core flew faster and faster. It was a primal weapon he had refined not long before, and now it spun at terrifying speed, skimming low over the sea, while from within it countless slender swords leaped free, every tip turned toward Heavenly Lord Hao.

And behind the sword core came Shen Mu, erupting with all his strength, sprinting at full power!

His mana poured into the core; thread upon thread of vital essence linked the flying swords one to another, and their blades bore runes woven in ceaseless change, leaping like lightning from one flying sword to the next.

The positions of the flying swords, too, shifted and changed without pause, like schools of fish swimming through the sea — the swords were silver fish, darting up and down, threading to and fro, laying bare the charm of the sword art in perfect display.

In that moment his countless flying swords seemed a single whole; the interwoven runes and the surging vital essence revealed matchless variation and nimbleness.

The rushing stream of swords became a brilliant ribbon of flowing light above the sea, and the shifting of every flying sword perfectly embodied the eighteen most fundamental sword forms!

Seen from afar, it was a single flying sword of terrifying length, one very simple technique: a thrust.

Seen close, examined carefully, one could find innumerable variations hidden within that simple thrust.

This was the first time since he had created the Tribulation Sword that he had wielded this sword art so perfectly.

Yet in that instant space itself abruptly seemed to turn thick and viscid. Space has no resistance; what resists is the air — but now a nameless force filled the space, and his technique met enormous resistance in mid-flight.

Shen Mu hurled himself forward in a mad charge, and the Opening Tribulation Sword thrust ahead as if splitting bamboo, its tip drawing ever nearer to Heavenly Lord Hao!

And yet Shen Mu felt the resistance surge as well!

This force was not the strength of any simple divine art, but a pressure upon the rules themselves, uncanny and outside the common order.

Such pressure Shen Mu had met before, when he entered the Southern Heavenly Gate of the Douniu Palace in the Douniu Realm. The pressure of the Southern Heavenly Gate came from all directions, acting upon every aspect of the fleshly body and the primal spirit.

Even upon his Opening Tribulation Sword!

It was the first time Shen Mu had ever encountered a sword-dao divine art being suppressed!

The tip of the Opening Tribulation Sword still pressed forward, but ever more slowly, and by the time it reached Heavenly Lord Hao's face, the speed of its light had grown as slow as a snail's crawl.

At that moment, behind Heavenly Lord Hao, cloud-glow rose in soaring rays, a thousand strands and ten thousand threads, converging from every quarter.

That was not the descent of Heavenly Lord Hao's mother in her true body, but her projection.

Her true self must be within the Heavenly Court; she had not come here in person.

That was a goddess, before and behind whom cloud-glow drifted like ribbons, dazzling beyond compare.

Her figure was slender and graceful; unlike the rough, uncouth style of Heavenly Lady Tianyin, her adornment was very fine.

The cloud-glow formed into flying ribbons that both veiled her body well and brought out the loveliness of her form.

Heavenly Lady Tianyin had crudely and bluntly used divine cloud-glow to cover her private parts, leaving every other part bare; and Heavenly Lady Tianyin wore not one or two pieces of jewelry, whereas this goddess bore many ornaments, and all of them exquisite.

More than ten ornaments: pins and hairpins in her hair, a tasseled jade band at her brow, at her collarbone a pendant like a bright moon of pearl, jade bracelets at her wrists, a thumb ring on her finger, and about her ankles glass beads hung with little bells.

Heavenly Lord Hao looked at the sword-light halted before him and let out a breath of relief, while Shen Mu still strove to press forward, trying to unleash the full might of the Opening Tribulation Sword and force a breach through the goddess's suppression.

Yet the sword still could not get through; it advanced only an inch or so before reaching the limit of Shen Mu's strength.

Heavenly Lord Hao smiled.

"Heavenly Lord Yu, you go too far."

The goddess's divine cloud-glow projection spoke, her voice clear and bright, piercing to the heart, calm with an edge of indifference: "You have come back from the dead, and so you ought to tremble and tread as upon thin ice. Have you forgotten that before your death you were suddenly suppressed by a force? The Coiling Corridor Pavilion was where I lodged with my sister — do you not know that it was my power?"

Shen Mu was still struggling forward with bull-headed stubbornness, determined to cut down Heavenly Lord Hao.

The goddess frowned: "You refuse to know your place. Hao'er, send him on his way. This time leave no future trouble behind — destroy the corpse outright."

Heavenly Lord Hao bowed and assented, then went around the ten-li length of sword-light.

The sword-light was fixed in the air as though congealed.

Heavenly Lord Hao set his heart at ease and walked toward Shen Mu ten li away, saying with a smile, "Mother, he is not Heavenly Lord Yu after all."

The goddess was startled; she turned her head to look at Shen Mu, but could not discern Shen Mu's true face.

Heavenly Lord Hao was in excellent spirits: "He is Heavenly Lord Mu. The true Heavenly Lord Yu is likely still in his coffin, buried beneath the earth."

"Is he the very Heavenly Lord Mu whom His Majesty has just enfeoffed?"

The goddess nodded: "His divine arts are indeed extraordinary, encompassing every sort of inconceivable mystery."

Heavenly Lord Hao walked to the middle of the ten-li sword-light and said, "He used a wondrous divine art to change his face, making himself look the same as Heavenly Lord Yu. Heavenly Lord Yu may have passed the method of becoming a god on to him before death, so that he could impersonate him. But what I would rather know is this: is his original face his true face? I suspect that the face of Heavenly Lord Mu he wears is also false."

The goddess smiled: "My son is clever. Kill him, and he will have no choice but to reveal his true face. Your mother has already suppressed him, so strike without worry..."

Just then, the sword-light suddenly shrank!

The ten-li sword-light abruptly contracted into a knot and halted before Heavenly Lord Hao!

Heavenly Lord Hao was stunned; an icy dread ran through him.

The sudden contraction of the sword-light made him feel, in a daze, as though he were being stared at by an incomparably vicious ancient god, or had fallen into a tribulation of slaughter!

Shen Mu stood five li away, pinned to the sea's surface by the goddess, unable to move, his teeth grinding loud enough to be heard, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

The sword core moved!

Shen Mu suddenly let out an earth-shaking roar.

"Raise the Tribulation—"

The goddess was startled and hastily poured in more mana to press down upon the sword core!

Her power was vast beyond measure, brimming over, and in an instant she locked the sword core down tight — yet, strangely, though the core was suppressed, sword after sword came leaping out from within it.

The goddess pressed down again, but the leaping sword-light could not be held down at all, and it flew straight for Heavenly Lord Hao!

Heavenly Lord Hao retreated at speed; the sword-lights leaped along uncanny tracks — a sword art belonging to none of the eighteen fundamental forms, one that even the projection of an ancient god could not quell.

Ch-ch-ch—

Heavenly Lord Hao's body was pierced through by the sword-light, blood holes torn open one after another.