Chapter 23 — The Wilderness Village Boy Provokes Divine Might
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
"How much did you memorize? " the Blind Elder asked. "Six or seven parts in ten.
" A look of satisfaction came over the Blind Elder's face. "In so short a time, six or seven parts in ten is no small feat.
Recover your vital essence.
" Shen Mu broke into a run, driving the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art to restore his vital essence swiftly.
When his cultivation had returned to its peak, the Blind Elder said, "Now rouse the Tiangang array patterns I taught you, and look again at the stone idol. Is it different from before?
" Shen Mu at once roused his vital essence into his eyes; the vital essence built the Shenxiao Heaven Tiangang Array Patterns—he had learned only six or seven parts of them, incomplete—but with vital essence spread through his eyes, that cool comfort that could see through all things came over him again.
He raised his eyes to the stone idol of the old man with the dragon's head before him, and his heart and spirit quaked. The idol that had once seemed so ordinary in his eyes was suddenly ablaze with color!
The idol seemed to come alive, as though it had become a deity propping up heaven and earth! He could even see fine rays of light bursting out around the idol, ray upon ray, setting off the idol's sacred solemnity! And in that instant his spirit was crushed beneath the idol!
In his eyes the idol was no longer a stone idol but a living god! The god's divinity, bearing, breath, cadence, and momentum bore down on his spirit, and then came on to bear down on his body, so that his knees ached to kneel to the ground!
"Keep looking.
Do not close your eyes, and do not kneel.
" The Blind Elder said coldly, "When you were small you even climbed up on the idol to shit and piss.
As a child you dared such things—why, grown, do you kneel?
Shen'er, the Nine Heavens Eye-Gazing Art is not only the opening of the eyes; it is the opening of your spirit, that you may face the world's power and the world's malice head-on! " "A martial artist's strength lies not only in the might of his techniques—the strength of his spirit matters more!
If your spirit is defeated by a heap of broken stones, then even with the greatest martial power in the world you will accomplish nothing!
" The Blind Elder stamped his bamboo staff on the ground and shouted, "If you contend with the idol, if you withstand its oppression, your spirit too will grow strong! To make your strength great, first make your spirit great. Be your own god, and fear nothing! " Cold sweat rolled down Shen Mu's forehead as he fought with all his might against the urge to kneel.
The pressure the idol brought to bear on him was too strong; he could not withstand it at all. The Blind Elder spoke of fearing nothing, but he simply could not do it. Eyes unopened and eyes opened were two entirely different things.
With eyes unopened, the idol was only a stone idol; a man could climb it and shit and piss on it without a care. But with eyes opened, the idol was a deity, and any act—even gazing upon that deity—was blasphemy! The Blind Elder said, "It is easy to break the gods in a ruined temple; it is hard to break the god in your heart.
Do you know who said those words? " Shen Mu's heart and soul were held in the idol's grip; he could not answer.
"The man who spoke those seemingly treasonous words was none other than the Imperial Preceptor of the Kingdom of Jingping beyond the Wilderness Ruins, teacher to the reigning Emperor Jingping—a being hailed as the first man beneath the gods!
" The Blind Elder, terrible in his dignity, shouted, "Shen'er, the gods that dwell in your heart are all alien gods, false gods.
Break them, and only then can you raise up your own idol! Never mind a stone idol—if a true god stood before you, you must never kneel! " He planted his bamboo staff to one side, undid his belt, and laughed aloud: "Not only must you not kneel—you must piss on it!
" "Piss on it?
" Shen Mu was dumbstruck.