Chapter 26 — One Arm Holds Up the Heavens, Strength Grows Ever Mightier
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
"I think a vital essence arm is fine too.
It's like having an extra arm, and it's pretty fierce in a fight.
" The others did not know whether to laugh or cry. Granny Zhu shook her head: "A vital essence thread is far more nimble; a vital essence arm is far too thick and burly — its toughness, its strength and its sensitivity are all greatly inferior to a thread.
Shen'er, you must refine your vital essence into a thread as soon as you can. " Shen Mu nodded. Only when he contemplated fire could his vital essence show a fire attribute, akin to Vermilion Bird vital essence; but so long as he did not contemplate fire, his vital essence remained ordinary.
And to contemplate fire while refining his vital essence into a thread was still somewhat difficult for him.
The Headman and the others saw the problem too, and each frowned: Shen Mu could bring out the fire attribute only while contemplating fire, and the water attribute only while contemplating water. In battle that was extremely unfavorable!
In battle, would an enemy give you the chance to contemplate fire or water?
They had once thought it remarkable that Shen Mu's Overlord Body vital essence possessed the attributes of water and fire; now they were no longer so sure. "Ah!
Ah!
" The Silent Smith gestured with his hands, smiling in his plain, honest way. The Deaf Elder understood and laughed.
"The Silent Smith is right.
Shen'er has only just grasped the knack; practice makes perfect — if he keeps cultivating, he will surely master it!
" Vital essence of the two attributes, water and fire, was the equivalent of awakening both the Black Tortoise spirit body and the Vermilion Bird spirit body at once: when Shen Mu contemplated fire it was Vermilion Bird vital essence, and when he contemplated water it was Black Tortoise vital essence. In the village, Shen Mu wielded his arm-thick vital essence thread to execute the slaughtering saber art; the saber whirled high and low, again and again nearly cleaving him in two, and whenever danger came, the Blind Elder at his side would ward off the blade with his bamboo staff, lest he truly chop himself dead.
To refine vital essence into a thread and drive a flying sword with vital essence, one had to cultivate step by step, using the vital essence thread to command a precious sword and ride the sword to slay enemies — but it was extremely perilous, and only through diligent practice could one wield it at will. The Butcher's slaughtering saber art belonged to the combat-technique school.
Though the Butcher had absorbed certain merits of the divine-arts school and could send his saber flying from his hand, the combat-technique school was after all vastly different from the divine-arts school in its moves, and to train in driving a flying sword with the slaughtering saber art was extremely perilous. The Butcher's moves were truly too frenzied, too dangerous; that in his madness he would cut even himself was no empty saying. And the Eight Arcane Arts of the Thunder's Roar that Old Master Huo had taught Shen Mu was purely of the combat-technique school, and its methods could not be used to drive a flying sword.
The Nether Demon Metamorphosis Art Granny Zhu had taught him belonged to the arts of magic. The Lame Elder's leg techniques, the Blind Elder's staff art, the Deaf Elder's calligraphy and painting, the Alchemist's pill-refining art, the Silent Smith's blacksmithing — plainly none of these could be used to train in driving a flying sword.