336 The Golden, Winged Great Peng Appears

To simultaneously control ten thousand swords required ten thousand strands ofspiritual sense. Who could possess such powerful spiritual sense? Even if ZhouDufu was reborn, even he would not be able to do it, and yet Chen Changshenghad done precisely this. For this reason, besides shock, Teng Xiaoming was evenmore perplexed. He did not understand how he was able to do such a thing. Back then in the library of the Orthodox Academy when Chen Changsheng wasfixing his Fated Star, his spiritual sense had spread out over the night sky ofthe capital. As the Divine Empress was observing the stars, she made thefollowing evaluation: "This person's spiritual sense is so strong, his mind soserene. Such a person is very rare in this world. Perhaps this is some oldscholar who bitterly studied for a hundred years and then in one daycomprehended the principles of heaven and earth. Only in this way could thisperson have such good fortune. Just like Wang Zhice all those years ago, thisperson accumulated their strength and then rose up. Naturally, this is noordinary person." In this evaluation, the Divine Empress had compared ChenChangsheng to Wang Zhice, who had comprehended the Dao in a single night andcaused the night sky to shine with the radiance of the stars. From this, onecould imagine how powerful Chen Changsheng's spiritual sense was. Yet if itwere even stronger, it still would not have surpassed Zhou Dufu's. The reasonwhy he could separate his spiritual sense into countless strands cruciallyrested on the second trait the Divine Empress had mentioned in her evaluation. The number of strands a spiritual sense could be divided into had nothing todo with a spiritual sense's inherent strength, only with how stable it was. Zhou Dufu, this peerless expert, naturally possessed a spiritual sense manytimes more powerful than Chen Changsheng. That spiritual sense was like a solidand massive rock. It could be divided in two or even into several dozenstrands, but it could not be divided forever. At some point, they would benothing but tiny bits of gravel that could no longer be divided into anythingsmaller. Chen Changsheng's spiritual sense was incomparably serene. Although he couldnot have a spiritual sense as impregnable as an expert at Zhou Dufu's level, hecould make it even softer and more yielding. Not like solid rock, but likewater. It could be divided into countless drops, then countless droplets, andthen mist. It was as if he could continue dividing it without end. Countless swords flew around the mausoleum, occasionally landing in themonster tide and subsequently erupting in a shower of blood. Sometimes, theywould encounter unyielding resistance that immediately broke some of thedamaged and old swords, making for a rather tragic sight. When the ten thousandswords had just begun their battle with the monster tide, several dozen of thefastest and most intact swords were led by the Mountain Sea Sword and commandedby Chen Changsheng's spiritual sense to fly with focus and resolve deep intothe plains. With this, they finally arrived at the Monster Bull's position. The Monster Bull's grainy eyes emitted a ruthless, dusky light. The slendertail linked to its horn was stretched tight. The grass around it had long beensquashed flat by the berserk Qi it was emitting. The only sound to be heard wascountless densely packed soft swishes. The several thousand black hairs on itstail transformed into nearly invisible and sharp arrows that shot towards themausoleum. 'Dongdongdongdong!' A series of successive strikes resounded out from thedepths of the plain. Those sounds were so packed together they seemed like onelong sound. Several dozen sword rays appeared in the air several li in front of theMonster Bull. They danced about in the air like lightning, accompanied by swordenergy that formed countless dense halos of light in the air. The severalthousand black hairs that had been shot out by the Monster Bull were completelyblocked by the sword rays. In the blink of an eye, the air was filled withseveral thousand tiny white vortexes. That was the result of sword energycolliding with those black hairs. The surface of the plains became covered withthousands of tiny thread-like cracks. The catfish and loaches that had luckilymanaged to survive for the time being did not even have time to burrow into themud before they were sliced into bits. The Mountain Sea Sword did not go to block those black hairs that wereshooting towards the mausoleum. It burst out of that ring of swords with theintent to kill. The heavy black sword body pierced through the air, giving offan ear-aching screech. From up high, it directly chopped at the horn on theMonster Bull's head, using the Burning Heaven move that Su Li had personallycreated. The plain was filled with the sounds of swords cutting at tough monster skin.Chunks of meat flew everywhere as countless sword glows gradually dimmed.Innumerable monsters lay collapsed at either the feet of the mausoleum oramongst the weeds. The drizzle around the mausoleum was still falling, but whenwould this rain of swords over the plains cease? Nanke's eyes were still closed, and the Soul Wood in front continued to shinebrighter and brighter. In that milky white light, her small face seemed evenmore pale. Teng Xiaoming and Liu Wan'er acted as protectors, emitting apowerful and determined Qi. Not a single sword approached her body. After who knows how long had passed, she finally opened her eyes. Thedrizzling rain fell upon her face, but that dark-green flame burning within hercold and emotionless pupils was not at all extinguished by the cold rain.Instead, for some reason, a sacred golden light floated around her pupils.Furthermore, that golden light was eroding away that green color. Chen Changsheng opened his eyes and gazed at her as she floated in front ofthe mausoleum's main entrance. The two calmly gazed at each other, saying nothing. Nanke viewed herself as the successor to the Garden of Zhou. Her methodsoriginated from the restrictions that Zhou Dufu had left behind. Therestrictions had maintained the ten thousand damaged swords in the Garden ofZhou for several hundred years. Today, Chen Changsheng wanted to rely on thosecountless damaged swords and take them away. This would inevitably lead to thedestruction of the fundamental basis of the Garden of Zhou. It was somethingshe could not allow. So even if she had to risk the danger of being beheaded bythose swords, she had chosen to send her soul out of her body. Through this,she was able to make use of the most powerful method at her disposal to killChen Changsheng, return the ten thousand swords to their proper place, andrestore the plain to tranquility. Of course, Chen Changsheng would not accept this arrangement, regardless of itbeing the arrangements of fate or the arrangements made by Zhou Dufu prior tohis death. The battle between the ten thousand swords and the monster tide continued. Inthat short moment in which their gazes met, who knew how many horrifying andbloody scenes occurred? The two sides of this battle were swords and monsters,so there was naturally nobody talking. There was only the whistling of swordsand the howls of monsters. There were no killing cries, yet the killing intenton the plain soared to the heavens. After a short while, the monster tide gradually calmed and shortly afterslowly retreated to the outer perimeter of the mausoleum. Perhaps it wasbecause they realized it was impossible for them to break through those tenthousand damaged swords, or perhaps it was because Nanke had sent her commandthrough the Soul Wood, or perhaps it was because they had sensed something else. Chen Changsheng raised his right hand. As rain dripped upon it, the countlessswords in the plain returned. Several tens of thousands of lower-ranked monsters had died. The sinister andcrafty Earth Monkey had attempted a sneak attack on Chen Changsheng in the verybeginning. In the end, Chen Changsheng had successfully counterattacked, whichhad it suffer heavy injuries from the temple sword. With one hind leg choppedoff and one hind leg crippled, it could no longer stand up straight like ahuman. Hugging the thigh of the Mountain-toppling Fiend, it resentfully staredat the mausoleum, giving off angry grumbling sounds as if it was complaining. The Mountain-toppling Fiend’s massive body was extremely striking in themiddle of that ocean of a monster tide, but its tenacious body was covered withat least several thousand sword scars, both deep and small. Some swords hadsucceeded in breaking through its terrifying defense and striking at the flesh.Its body was drenched with blood that flowed down the broken stone beam in itshand, dripping down to the ground. The Monster Bull deep within the plains seemed to have suffered the lightestinjuries. It was just that the vast majority of the black hairs on its tail hadall been fired off, leaving only a few tufts. It was like it had been burned ina fire, leaving behind a mottled pattern. It was very sorry-looking and dismal,and also rather ridiculous. It was no longer as terrifying as it used to be. Countless swords flew back to the mausoleum. Some of the swords had beenbroken once more, leaving only a small section of the blade. They weresimilarly as dismal-looking as that Monster Bull, their state rather sorrowful.Some of the swords had been attacked by monster poison. The rust had beeneroded away, letting them shine once more, yet it was still hard for them tobear such an attack, and they tottered back to the mausoleum on the verge ofcollapse. Not a single sword had fallen into the plain, but now they fell. Because itcould see whenever one of those swords was about to fall, another sword wouldrush over and support it from below. Even those swords that had been shatteredin battle by the monsters and stamped into the mud were picked out by otherswords. In this way, several swords supporting each other flew to the mausoleum. This scene was very easy to associate with a real battle. Under a bloody sun,hearing the sound of the gong calling the victorious soldiers back to camp, theinjured and exhausted soldiers simply did not have the strength to cheer.Supporting each other, they slowly made their way back to the camp. Thosesoldiers who did not have the strength to walk would be helped up by theircompanions through the aid of crude tree branches. Chen Changsheng did not leave a single sword behind in the plain. This mightcause some people to be moved, but Nanke was not the sort of person to feelsuch trivial passion. From this scene, Nanke saw Chen Changsheng's strength. Hecould spread out his mind to countless places and persist until now. This was asight seldom seen such that even she was filled with admiration. But the more admirable he was, the more he needed to die. That dark-green flame in Nanke's pupils had already become divine gold. Asacred Qi that was hard to describe in words emerged from her petite body. Atthis moment, it was hard to tell that she was the Demon Princess. She seemedmore similar to the South Stream Temple's Holy Maiden. That dreadful shadow had already completely landed behind her. Behind her were the Plains of the Unsetting Sun. That shadow had once obscured half the sky. Now that it had landed, it coveredup the entire plain. The dusky rays of light sent by that distant setting sunlanded upon that shadow and seemed to be sucked up right away. There was noreflection. Just like that, they disappeared without a trace. The present plain was covered with blood. The shadow seemed to slightly riseup and down, as if that blood was bringing it to life. The light of the setting sun was no longer swallowed up. As the light mixedwith the blood, it turned it into a golden color, identical to the color of theflame that burned in Nanke's eyes. A golden color appeared on the edge of the shadow. Gradually, a shape began tobe traced out. With the slow dance of the golden light, this form became moredistinct. It was a pair of wings. A pair of golden wings. These golden wings were colossal. Who knew how many thousands of li they were,but they spanned across the horizon. The Golden-Winged Great Peng finally revealed its true appearance. Along with its appearance, the world changed color. Those dark clouds that hadjust gathered themselves anew above the mausoleum instantly dispersed. All the monsters fearfully lowered their heads. One by one, they each adoptedthe most servile posture and lowered themselves into the blood and chaotic mixof grass and mud. Wave after wave, the monster tide bowed down. Even that mostarrogant and tyrannical Mountain-toppling Fiend humbly bowed before the shadowof the Great Peng. Behind the Great Peng was the setting sun. Countless rays of light overflowedover the edge of the Great Peng's wings, creating countless threads of light inthe sky. This scene was so beautiful that it seemed surreal. It was just like the scenedescribed in the myth contained in the Orthodoxy's Daoist Canon. In truth, there was a mural in the Great Hall of Light in the Li Palace.Depicted on that mural was a scene from ancient times, the scene of the strangephenomena occurring on heaven and earth as the Golden-winged Great Peng wasborn from a cloud of light. The very moment the Golden-winged Great Peng was born into the world, it hadtouched upon the cusp of the Saint realm. Whether it was myth or legend or truth, the Golden-winged Great Peng was adivine beast on the same level as the Unicorn and the Divine Bird, sitting onlybelow the Dragon and the Phoenix. Chen Changsheng silently gazed at the Golden-winged Great Peng as it envelopedthe sky. When he first laid eyes on that shadow, he had been waiting for this moment tocome. Yet just like death, no matter how many preparations you make, when it finallymakes its appearance, you realize that you still aren't prepared. Right now, he was experiencing exactly this sort of feeling.