Chapter 6 — The Child Treads the Wind and Escapes the Ape's Maw
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The sword fluttered like drifting petals, coming and going like lightning—clearly, in the course of hunting down Shen Mu, this woman's swordplay had taken a great leap forward! Still, shedding the deer hide had cost Shen Mu a heartbeat.
A youth, treading on leaves above the forest, descended from the sky and landed before him, blocking the way.
The two were separated by only two or three zhang—a distance spanned in an instant. The next moment, they would be face to face!
Shen Mu had no time to change direction, no other thought in his head.
His body, of its own accord, unleashed the leg technique the Lame Old Man had taught him—head down, feet up, legs sweeping out like a whirlwind! "Azure Dragon Arm! " The youth was a few years older than Shen Mu. A mocking smile curled on his lips as he raised both arms to block. Waves of hazy blue light rippled from his arms, and dragon claws covered in scales surfaced from the skin of his hands.
The next moment, Shen Mu's legs crashed against his arms—clang, clang, two sounds of steel striking steel. The smile on the youth's face had not yet faded when he let out a grunt, lost his footing, and was swept back despite himself.
The cloth over his two arms burst apart with a bang, both sleeves fluttering like paper butterflies as shreds danced across the sky.
It could now be seen that his arms seemed carved with dragon-claw tattoos, the claws coiling around his arms.
But having taken Shen Mu's two kicks squarely, his arms had instantly turned red and swollen. "Do you have iron ingots hidden in your legs?
" The youth's hands trembled with pain, his face a mix of shock and fury.
His gaze then fell to Shen Mu's feet: "Are the shoes iron too? " Shen Mu pushed himself up with both hands, landed on his feet, and fled. But the youth's words had reminded him—his legs were indeed bound with iron ingots.
When the Lame Old Man taught him the leg technique, he had demanded that Shen Mu's legs be bound with iron ingots at all times, never to be removed whether rising, lying, walking, or resting; he had to carry them always. In recent days, seeing that Shen Mu's body was growing sturdier and his strength greater, the Lame Old Man had made the iron ingots on his legs heavier still. Not only that—he had also had the smith Mo forge a pair of iron shoes for Shen Mu, to add more weight.
A pair of thick-soled iron shoes weighed ten jin; the iron ingots on one leg weighed twenty jin. Shen Mu bore fifty jin of weight on his legs!
The Lame Old Man had required him to train until he felt no weight from the iron shoes and ingots before he could take them off. In recent days, Shen Mu had grown accustomed to them, and when he had sprinted off just now, it had never once crossed his mind that he was running under a burden. But stopping to take off his shoes and unbind his legs would surely get him caught.
He could not stop, no matter what.
"Crush Mount Sumeru!
" Mid-run, Shen Mu suddenly stamped with his right foot, unleashing the move "Crush Mount Sumeru. " The thick soles of the iron shoes on his feet were stomped into flying mud; the shoes shattered into pieces, fragments bursting in every direction. At the same time, the muscles of his calves tightened, bunching into lumps and swelling outward, bursting the iron ingots off one by one—thudding into the surrounding trees like arrows.
Shen Mu's other foot stepped forward, landed, and likewise smashed through its iron shoe and burst its ingots. Whoosh— His body suddenly became light as a feather, and one step carried him onto the treetops, giving him a start. Barefoot, his toes resting on a treetop, his body began to sink.
And below, sword-light flashed, stabbing upward from beneath—what met his eyes were dozens of razor-sharp sword tips!
Senior Sister Liu's qi-driven flying sword was growing more and more formidable.
She was not driving dozens of swords; she was shaking one sword into dozens of sword blossoms!