Chapter 733 — Comprehending the Dao Through Martial Arts

"An Overlord Body?"

Hu Bugui and Senior Brother Lu exchanged glances, and murmured, "Which god clan's constitution is that?"

The two were utterly baffled. They had long dwelled among the heavens of the Dou Niu Realm and seldom ventured out; of the world beyond, they knew next to nothing.

In his early years Hu Bugui had followed his parents abroad, tempering himself, but after settling in the Dou Niu Realm he had cultivated with unflagging diligence and never once gone out again; Senior Brother Lu, for his part, had lived here since childhood. Neither of them had ever heard the legend of the Overlord Body.

In truth, before Shen Mu walked out of the Wasteland Ruins, the world had scarcely heard of the Overlord Body. Only in the last few years had it gradually become known, and even now those who could explain just what an Overlord Body was, in any detail, were few.

The village headman, after all, was an honest man, and seldom took it upon himself to spread word of the Overlord Body.

Beside Shen Mu, the woman was still badly shaken. She hastily felt at her own neck, unable to collect herself.

Shen Mu turned his head and smiled. "Elder Sister, the God-Slaying Mystic Blade on the God-Slaying Platform just now sliced off your head and severed your primordial spirit. I used the arts of Youdu and a creation divine ability to put you back together. Luckily I came quickly, and the blade had no time to drain away your qi and blood; otherwise I could only have saved your primordial spirit, and saving your body would have been rather troublesome. In that case I would have had to mix medicines and refine pills, and my Taotie Pouch is still with Long Pang — going and coming back would have cost no small amount of time."

Only then did the woman come to her senses. She thanked him hurriedly: "This one is Si Meixue. Many thanks, Junior Brother, for saving my life."

"Elder Sister, it was a trifle — hardly worth mentioning," Shen Mu said hastily. "Wait a moment. There is still a blood mark on your neck. I know a thing or two about the arts of preserving one's looks; let me smooth that mark away for you. Don't move."

Si Meixue burst out laughing. "Sweet talker. If I weren't already married, with two children besides, I'd surely run off with you..."

"Don't talk, Elder Sister."

Shen Mu's expression was earnest; tiny runes burst from his fingertips as he carefully repaired the line of blood at her throat. "It's hard to erase the mark completely with spells," he said softly. "It would take a spirit medicine refined into an ointment and applied to the skin — but alas, the Taotie Pouch isn't here..."

He was bare-armed and very close to her, which made Si Meixue a little uncomfortable. She thought to herself: "I married too early. I should have looked around a bit more..."

After treating her for a while, Shen Mu let out a breath and smiled. "The mark has faded a little. When we leave this place I'll refine a few batches of ointment; apply it on time and no trace will remain. Also, I've only just reattached your head, so you mustn't strain yourself too much — too much force and it might suddenly fall off."

Si Meixue was startled; she clutched her neck and dared not stir. "I could never have passed the God-Slaying Platform on my own," she said with a bitter smile. "Thanks to your rescue I got through it. As for Yujing ahead, I can forget about it entirely — I'll never get through, and my head might drop off at any moment. I'll accompany you across in a while, but I won't enter Yujing."

On the far side of the God-Slaying Platform, Senior Brother Lu steadied his nerves and stepped up onto the platform.

Before he had even found his footing, two strands of blood-fiend aura on the platform turned into bloody light and came coiling toward him. Senior Brother Lu hastily bent his fingers and flicked again and again, trying to snap them away.

He was imitating Shen Mu's method: Shen Mu had first used the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones to shake his qi and blood, forcing away the blood-fiend aura that coiled and spun swiftly around his neck, and then driven it back with the force of his fingers.

But he had underestimated the blood-fiend aura's power. The instant his finger flicked against it, there was a hiss — and a length of his finger was suddenly gone!

Alarmed, Senior Brother Lu rolled backward off the platform — but by then the blood-fiend aura had already wrapped around his neck. He tumbled down from the platform, and when he landed, his neck no longer bore a head.

Si Meixue was about to say something more, but Shen Mu had already vanished from her side. The next moment he charged across the God-Slaying Platform, drove back the blood-fiend aura, picked up Senior Brother Lu's head, and, following the same method, reattached it to his neck. "Don't worry," he consoled him. "A head can leave the body for a while without much harm, but not for too long. Too long and you'll die. I once heard the Prefect of Youdu say that within the first seven days after death one can still return to life — so you're not really dead yet, you can still come back... Don't move, there's still one finger I haven't reattached..."

Hu Bugui coughed, prompting him: "Brother Shen, Senior Brother Lu is of the Wuluo Clan. You've put his head on backward — that's what he was trying to tell you. He has faces front and back, but front and back are still distinct; look at the leopard markings on his neck and you'll see. The side where the markings are fine is the front face; the side where they are coarse is the back face."

Shen Mu looked, blushed slightly, and in a flash his vital essence became a sword-light that sliced Senior Brother Lu's head off again.

Senior Brother Lu was frightened out of his wits; fortunately Shen Mu turned the head around and reattached it.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Shen Mu's eyes shone, and his look was encouraging. "Senior Brother, why not try once more? This time roll off the other side of the platform. Even if your head gets cut off again, I can put it back. Then you'll have cleared the trial!"

Senior Brother Lu shook his head hastily and smiled bitterly. "No need. I've tried once; my strength isn't enough to cross the God-Slaying Platform. I'll stay here and wait for you to come back. I've remembered that I still have a wife and children, old folk at home..."

Though he had taken part in this trial resolved to die, having his head cut off at every turn — even if it could be reattached — was a sensation he could hardly bear.

Shen Mu did not press him, and crossed the God-Slaying Platform once more.

Hu Bugui lifted his foot and climbed the God-Slaying Platform step by step. Senior Brother Lu and Si Meixue watched him in anxious suspense: Hu Bugui was the Dou Niu Realm's last hope. If he too could not cross the God-Slaying Platform, the Dou Niu Realm would be utterly wiped out!

If only Shen Mu, an outsider, made it across, the Dou Niu Realm's warriors would lose every shred of face!

Shen Mu also looked toward the platform. Hu Bugui walked forward step by step, unhurried, seemingly without a single superfluous motion, as if out for a stroll — yet around him dozens of Hu Buguis appeared, striking out in all directions!

It was as though in an instant he had gained scores of clones; his attacks were like thunder, driving back the blood-colored fiend aura, which could not get near him at all!

Those phantom figures were not clones; he simply struck so fast that to the naked eye it seemed dozens of him appeared all around at the same moment.

What Shen Mu admired most was that Hu Bugui still looked as though he were walking at an unhurried pace — and that was the truly fearsome thing about his martial path.

"Entering the Dao through the martial soul — that is the martial path. Hu Bugui must be close to entering the Dao through martial arts, isn't he?"