334 Ten Thousand Swords Form an Army

As the Soul Wood in Nanke's hand glowed once more, that monster tide which hadbeen somewhat pacified by the shocking appearance of those innumerable swordsonce again flew into a frenzy. Yet that enormous figure standing in the depths of the monster tide remainedas stable as a mountain. It was a Monster Bull, the legendary Monster Bull. The reason it was called 'legendary' was because, as recorded in the Daoistscriptures, tens of thousands of years ago, the humans and demons had paid anenormous price to render these monsters extinct. It was also because thesemonsters possessed an extraordinary strength, which had become its own sort oflegend. The Monster Bull possessed a fighting power similar to that of the upper levelof Star Condensation. Although their souls had not been enlightened and theydid not possess true intelligence, thus falling short of a human upper levelStar Condensation expert, in the mountains and wastelands in which they lived,they were absolutely on par with those human upper level Star Condensationexperts, and perhaps even more powerful than them in terms of destructivepower. The reason for this was that the Monster Bull was the rarely seen typeof monster that was skilled at long-range attacks. The Monster Bull's body was as massive as a mountain, its surface covered witha natural layer of solid armor. The tip of its solitary horn could piercethrough rock. Its most special characteristic was also the one which spawned the most fearand unease. It was that slender tail on its behind, covered in black hair. Whenit was sitting down, its slender tail would curl up in a pile. When itencountered an enemy, or prey, the slender tail would straighten itself andthen wrap itself around the horn at the top of the head. The final result wasthat the tail became a bowstring while its body turned into an enormous bow. This was a truly mystical matter, but what was even more incomprehensible wasthat the arrows used by this massive mountainous bow were actually those finehairs on its tail. What those black hairs were made of was a mystery. On theMonster Bull's body, they were as soft as silk, yet when they were launchedfrom the tailstring, they became as firm as iron, as fast as lightning, andimpossible to avoid! With the strength of the upper level of Star Condensation coupled with such astrange and unstoppable method of attack, this terrifying monster slew manyexperts even as the humans and demons conquered the continent. The tales of theMonster Bull's might spread far and wide to the extent that some people evensuspected it to possess the bloodline of the Unicorn. Of course, this sort ofconjecture was not very widely accepted. Who knew how many single-hornedmonsters existed in the misty mountains and abysses of the continent? TheUnicorn was such a pure divine beast—how could it leave behind such murderousdescendants? Seeing that massive figure in the monster tide that was slowly straighteningitself, that Monster Bull like a mountain peak rising from the ground, ChenChangsheng felt that the hand holding the Demon Commander's Banner Sword wassomewhat cold. Even separated by several dozen li, he felt like he could seeits eyes. They were two tiny eyes, as small as a grain of rice, emitting a dulldusky light. They were a pair of abnormally frightening eyes. It was just a feeling, but he firmly believed that this monster could see intohis own eyes—else how could he feel threatened from so far away? Chen Changsheng knew that this horrifying monster would soon launch anunending stream of long-distance attacks at him, but before he could respond tothose arrows of hair filled with boundless power, he had many other problems toresolve—for instance, the grumbling that he could faintly hear rising up fromthe front of the divine path, or those thunderous earth-shattering booms comingfrom the middle of the monster tide. That grumbling sound was very weak. If he did not know how terrifying theowner of that sound was, he might have even thought it was somewhat cute. Chen Changsheng clearly remembered that in the Four Seas Scroll of the DaoistCanon, there was a monster recorded that called out just like this. That monster was called the Earth Monkey. It had a thin and small body and itsfur was the color of yellow earth. Its fierce teeth and neck were bothextremely long. It could stand up like a human, but it would run on all fours.It was incomparably swift, and moreover, its claws and teeth were both verysharp, such that it could be said that there was nothing it could not breakthrough. Its temperament was cruel and bloodthirsty, and its favorite meal washuman flesh. The most frightening thing was that this monster was highlyskilled at traveling stealthily, its movements so miraculous that it seemed totravel underground. It was incredibly difficult to track it down. Even anopponent that was many times stronger than it would often be caught off guard.They would be ambushed and then be eaten alive and thus die. It was anextremely horrifying picture. Yet what made him the most wary was that thundering coming from the ocean thatwas the monster tide. The thunder was the sound of the ground cracking apart. This was not caused bysword intent rising upwards but by some monster with boundless strength tearingapart the earth as it angrily roared. He saw the dreadful figure which was like a mountain amidst the monster tide,and he knew that it had not completely stood up. Rather, it was bending itswaist as it searched for a weapon. This weapon could be a mountain, or it couldalso be those solid rocks that lay underneath the soft mud. The bigger andheavier the rock, the easier it would be to use.  This monster was called the Mountain-toppling Fiend. It had a long mouth andcoiled horns, and possessed an unimaginably brutish strength. Its strength wassuch that it could push down mountains, then use the hills as weapons and throwcrushed stones that they seemed like stars. The gales that were its roars werelike knives. It was fearless beyond compare, and the Pavilion of Divination hadranked it third on its ranking of monsters. The Monster Bull, the Earth Monkey, and the Mountain-toppling Fiend—they wereall monsters that had the qualifications for their names to be entered in theDaoist Canon, and they were terrifyingly strong. They had become legends, orperhaps been forgotten, but who would think that in this day and age in whichhumans and demons had long reigned over the continent, their figures would befound in these plains of the Garden of Zhou? The restrictive rules of the Garden of Zhou that governed what level ofcultivation humans needed to be to enter seemed to have no effect on thesemonsters. It was no wonder that over these past few centuries, all the humancultivators and demons that had entered these Plains of the Unsetting Sun hadnever come out. It seemed that they had already become food for thesehorrifying monsters. A black hair soared across from the horizon, almost causing Chen Changsheng tolose his grip on the Demon Commander's Banner Sword. The grumbling soundnearing the mausoleum and the thunderous noises from the distant plains enteredhis ear and made his face go deathly pale. For an instant, he had felt theshadow of death upon him. Previously, because of that massive shadow, these high-ranked monsters hadremained silent. Now that the ten thousand swords had ascended to the sky andNanke danced amidst the remnants of the rain, they no longer remained silent.Thus, three unimaginably powerful Qis began to spread out in front of themausoleum, then they began to grow increasingly berserk. Chen Changsheng was only at the upper level of Ethereal Opening. Even withthese countless swords by his side, he could not change this fact. These threeupper level Star Condensation monsters, whether it was in cultivation orstrength, were capable of crushing him. He even found it hard to resist thepressure of these three monsters, so what could he do? Suddenly he recalled that on their way to the Mausoleum of Zhou, Nanke hadwanted to shadow them and thus used the Soul Wood to forbid those monsters fromattacking. If she had not, then perhaps they would have already died. As forwhy Nanke did not have those monsters lead the way, they had their speculations. "These monsters don't necessarily listen to your orders." Chen Changsheng gazed upwards at that colossal shadow in the sky and thoughtabout the legendary monster, half a step into the Saint realm, that lay behindthat shadow. After a moment of silence, he turned to Nanke and said those words. The remnants of rain fell from those scattered clouds in the sky: drip dropdrip drop. Nanke's eyes were closed while her black hair madly danced behindher small body. The Soul Wood floated in front of her, growing ever brighter,like it was about to turn transparent. She paid no attention to his words, orperhaps she did not even hear them. The monster tide continued to sweep towards the mausoleum. The nearby plainsthat had just been dyed blood-red were quickly covered up by the black ocean. The sinister grumbling sound was growing weaker and weaker, but this did notmean that the terrifying Earth Monkey was leaving. On the contrary, itsignified that it was preparing to launch its attack! The Mountain-toppling Fiend was in the waters of the plain. It had finallyfound a several zhang long stone beam and stood straight up. Thus, a hillappeared in the middle of the monster tide. Behind the black ocean, the Monster Bull silently gazed at the mausoleum. Itseyes the size of grains of rice emitted a dusky light as they rested on ChenChangsheng's body. Its slender tail curled around the horn on its head, andthen stretched tight, with several thousand black hairs densely arranged on itssurface. It was impossible for Chen Changsheng to defeat these three high-rankedmonsters, but he did not fear them. His eyes were still bright, just like thebrightest lights of those countless damaged swords that surrounded themausoleum. Around the mausoleum, the cold wind gently blew and the ten thousand swordssoftly cried. The distant monster tide was like an ocean, the great monsters like mountains. The Mountain Sea Sword flew back in front of him, slightly trembling. To move and to not move were two incompatible actions. The swords and themonsters would inevitably clash in battle. If these damaged swords were to go off on their own and battle with themonster tide, then in their disorganized action, they would most likely fallone by one and thus perish. But now, he was here. The ten thousand swords were an army. Perhaps some would be soldiers, orperhaps the vanguard, or perhaps the center of the army, but he was the general. How should he command these countless swords in this battle? He did not know. Even though he had studied the Daoist Canon since he was achild, even though he had completely memorized every book the Orthodox Academyhad on cultivation, he still could not have not learned all these ten thousandsword styles. No one could do this. Then how could he command these innumerableswords so that they could express their full might? He grasped the Yellow Paper Umbrella and sensed the message transmitted bythat sword intent. Entering the plains, finding the Mausoleum of Zhou, and the appearance of theSword Pool—all of these things had to do with this strand of sword intent. Perhaps that was the answer. He sensed that sword intent's pride and calmness. Pride and calmness were two entirely different emotions, even slightlycontradictory. For the most part, they would not appear together at the sametime, whether it was with a sword intent or a person. Strangely, Chen Changsheng felt this mixture of pride and steadiness to bevery familiar. It was not the sort of familiarity he had with the Daoist Canonwhich he could memorize back to front, but a true familiarity. It was the sortof familiarity he had seen with his eyes, sensed with his soul, and evenbattled with. The answer came very simply. This was the sword intent of Mount Li. He hadonce felt it on the bodies of those young geniuses from Mount Li— Guan Feibaiwas arrogant and conceited, thus cold; Gou Hanshi was calm and warm, thus kind;Liang Banhu was silent and taciturn, thus trustworthy; and Qi Jian possessedall three of their traits. Originally this sword intent had come from Mount Li. He observed the YellowPaper Umbrella in silence. At this moment, he still did not know that this strand of sword intentbelonged to the legendary Heaven Shrouding Sword, but he knew what he should donow. Even if Zhou Dufu was reborn, he would not be able to use ten thousand swordintents to command ten thousand damaged swords to display ten thousand swordstyles, so there was no hope for him to do so. Yet he could use this swordintent from Mount Li to command the ten thousand swords to use the ten thousandsword styles of Mount Li. The only question he had to address was how tosimultaneously control a legion of spiritual senses. When there is only one problem to solve, that question would often be the mostdifficult to resolve. Even the philosopher of metaphysics in the Li Palacewhich thought of strange things every day would not believe that there wassomeone who could split their spiritual sense into countless strands. There wasnot even a need to try, but Chen Changsheng wanted to attempt it. His left hand gripped the handle of the Yellow Paper Umbrella. His spiritualsense swiftly moved, commanding the sword intent in the umbrella to scatteraround the mausoleum. In an instant, it made contact with those damaged swords.He clearly sensed the remnants of sword intent within those damaged swords.Those sword intents were already exhausted and weak, and some of them were sofaint that he could barely sense them. He respectfully and firmly requested those sword intents to yield and handover their control. The tyrannical Mountain Sea Sword agreed. The aloof temple sword agreed.