荒墟牧神 - 再啟靈藏踏新境 - 雲海書庫

ile later, Shen Mu and the Dark Ape had fought their way to the top of the cliff, and there they lay flat, gasping. Neither had the strength left to go on. Formidable as the Skypiercing Heaven Eye was, it devoured a great deal of primordial energy, and even Shen Mu, for all his deep cultivation, could scarcely bear it. After resting a while, the Dark Ape sat up, raised a thumb, and pointed at itself. "Me — big brother!" Shen Mu sat up too and shook his head. "Me — big brother. You — little brother." The Dark Ape flew into a rage, thrust out its fist, its arm knotted with lumps of muscle. "Me — strong!" Shen Mu seized one of its fingers, swung it up, and smashed it down hard on the ground. "Me — stronger!" The Dark Ape flipped over and leaped up, and man and ape were at each other again. Soon both were spent once more, and each lay down gasping. Shen Mu recovered a little strength and rose, practicing the Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal there on the cliff top; the Dark Ape rolled upright and watched without blinking. Yesterday he had passed it the art only once, and it had learned no more than the rough shape and outline. Now Shen Mu showed it every detail of the Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal and explained the secret of issuing power in every form. The Dark Ape learned with astonishing speed, and in a few hours had mastered the complete Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal, until Shen Mu's scalp prickled to watch it, and he wondered whether at this rate he would still be able to beat this big fellow. "This creature is a born genius of the martial arts. Can a beast truly have such spirit? Then... could it cultivate?" Shen Mu thought it over, sat down, and taught the Dark Ape how to breathe and guide its breath, passing on his own Mystic Body Three-Elixir Art. The Dark Ape copied the breathing exercises with great solemnity. The Mystic Body Three-Elixir Art was in truth the shallowest sort of energy-drawing art; its method of practice was very plain, no more than moving and guiding primordial energy. Before long the Dark Ape had basically grasped the energy-drawing art, its breathing steady and simple. This had much to do with its nature, in fact: it ate only vegetables, it was quiet by disposition, and its mind was simple and pure — which was why it could master the art in so short a time. "This fellow — a true genius of the martial arts." Seeing how quickly it grasped things, Shen Mu could not help praising it from the heart. "Big fellow, cultivate well. Tomorrow I will come and fight you again." With that he leaped down from the cliff and made for the village. The Dark Ape watched him go, then sat down again and murmured, "Little runt..." For the next dozen days or so, Shen Mu came every day to trade blows with the Dark Ape. After they fought, the Ape would offer him fruit to eat, and Shen Mu would teach it how to cultivate; he even passed on to it the leg techniques of the Lame Elder's Heaven-Stealing Divine Leg. The Dark Ape had been skilled in fists by nature, but its kicks were crude in the extreme; once it had learned the Heaven-Stealing Divine Leg, however, its legwork turned fiendishly tricky, so that even Shen Mu would come off badly if he let his guard slip. Shen Mu's strength advanced at a furious pace, and the Dark Ape's progress was frighteningly fast as well. Soon its primordial energy had achieved no small measure; when they dueled, if Shen Mu did not use the Skypiercing Heaven Eye he could gain no advantage at all — indeed, he would fall to the worse. That afternoon, after fighting the Dark Ape, Shen Mu went as usual to lend a hand in the mute's blacksmith shop, and as usual sat watching the fire at the forge, just as the mute had taught him. Within his Divine Court of the Spirit-Soul, primordial energy burned like fire, tempering his spirit embryo, and everything looked as it always had — when all at once the spirit embryo began wildly drawing in the golden light from the sea of light, countless motes of gold pouring