Chapter 398 — Making Connections
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Cowering under Dawnspring’s shroud and waiting to be besieged was absolutely not Shen Mu’s style. His style was to seize any opportunity and strike a fatal blow with thunderous force. The Butcher had once told him that seeing an opportunity was not hard; he who saw it and seized it was a hero, while he who saw it and crouched motionless was a coward. Many men stronger than the Butcher had ultimately fallen into his hands, precisely because the Butcher was bold and fierce, never hesitating, never looking ahead and behind—he seized the moment the instant he saw it. The opportunity Shen Mu seized this time was to strike while that demon god, occupied with using its pointed mouth to ferry many-bodied demons into Dawnspring, had no chance to break free. He drove the Dawn Ark straight through the world Dawnspring had formed, swung up the sun, and smashed his foe to pieces.
To remain trapped in Dawnspring and fend off enemy attacks was not his way. That was following the enemy’s rhythm, and it would only leave him besieged, letting the enemy fight however it pleased. He had to fight at his own rhythm—break out, charge forth, strike at the enemy’s head, and kill the head. You fight your fight, I fight mine. If I win, you die. It was that simple. This was the essence of the Butcher’s blade art.
The chieftain of the Sunherds was still limp. He watched Shen Mu haul back the massive sun that had crushed the demon god, the chain rattling, the sun scorching the land around it until the earth became bubbling magma, belching great bubbles one after another. Suddenly Shen Mu’s eye twitched, and the old chieftain’s eye twitched too. Both heard dull snapping and cracking sounds from inside the sun. Shen Mu blinked, shook the chain gently, and lifted the sun, but he did not use his full strength, as if afraid the sun would shatter. The old chieftain rose unsteadily, only for the sun, which had just floated into the air, to emit a sharp splitting crack. He looked up and saw a terrifying crack running across the sun, and his legs gave way as he sank down again.
“It’s all right, it’s all right.” Shen Mu’s voice boomed in reassurance. “It hasn’t broken! Everyone rest easy!”
The many-bodied demon god had been shattered by his one blow, yet countless many-bodied demons on the Dawn Ark were still attacking in a frenzy, slaughtering and assimilating the Sunherd warriors. At the same time, countless demons were devouring one another—the big ate the small, making their bodies ever larger and their cultivation ever stronger. Like snowballs gathering mass, three increasingly colossal many-bodied demons appeared on the Dawn Ark, while even more many-bodied demons kept streaming into their mouths, feeding themselves willingly.
“What I killed was not the true body of the many-bodied demon god?” Shen Mu’s heart jolted. He let out a thunderous shout, and at once the sun in the sky erupted with incomparably fierce true fire, pouring downward and washing over the entire Dawn Ark in an instant. The true fire blazed wildly, turning the whole Dawn Ark into a flaming divine vessel. Countless many-bodied demons were burned with sizzling shrieks, dissolving into black smoke amid the flames.
He controlled the complete Dawn Ark. Though this vessel was a treasure meant to tow the sun in its rising and setting, it also wielded tremendous offensive power. In the past, when Yan Jingjing had controlled the Dawn Ark, the sun had been extinguished, so she could never fully unleash the vessel’s might. Now that Shen Mu had kindled the sun, the Ark’s ferocious majesty had finally blossomed.