荒墟牧神 - 第83章 終極兵裝 - 文瀾書苑

"These statues—one truly could study out of them any number of formidable divine powers!" These days Shen Mu ate and slept among the dragon pillars and temples of Crimson Dragon City; at night he would sleep in a temple or lie atop a dragon pillar, and the moment he woke he would fall into a trance, studying and pondering the mysteries of the city's carvings. With his Lingxiao Heavenly Eye he observed those sculptures, divining the three resonances of form, breath, and spirit, and the three states of essence, momentum, and measure; and gradually, in his eyes, the god-statues ceased to be god-statues and became instead so many courses of vital essence—form and spirit both complete, momentum beyond the common, breath congealed into essence, breath set in motion into measure, form and breath into momentum. He was still a martial artist, still far from any contact with divine powers, yet what filled his mind was nothing less than creating divine powers out of the very craft by which gods and men carved their statues. Shen Mu studied a sculpture before him of a goddess treading a river, and his own vital essence began to move briskly of itself. Suddenly—whoosh—his essence flew out transformed into flowing water; between his palms the essence surged vast and boundless like a river, waves curling, waters racing. Every palm strike carried the sound of breakers; his two palms wove back and forth about his waist, and little by little the sound of waves swelled, surging and roaring. His palm force grew stronger and stronger, until of a sudden he struck out, and his essence became a river that howled and raced, bursting forth some four zhang, and shattered a great stone at the temple gate into powder. This blow of his was no divine power; it was somewhat like a spell, yet not a spell; it resembled a combat technique, yet was not that either—altogether strange. "My apologies." Shen Mu bowed low in salute to the goddess treading the river, then withdrew from the temple and went into an ancient shrine nearby. In this old shrine was enshrined a god with a human face and tiger's claws, treading two dragons underfoot. Shen Mu studied it long, sitting and lying beside it, pondering it over and over. So in a daze three or four days passed, until Shen Mu had grasped the three resonances of form, breath, and spirit and the three states of essence, momentum, and measure; his vital essence moved of itself according to what he had seen. Suddenly a brilliant golden light surfaced on his body, and his every motion and stillness rang like metal striking metal, clanging aloud. His bearing was as that of a god-statue; suddenly golden discs appeared before and behind him, seven in all. Their rims were very sharp, their light faint, while at their centers the gold lay thickest. Shen Mu stirred his body-technique and formed a sword seal with his hand; the discs moved with him. As his essence circulated, the light at their centers grew brighter and brighter, until of a sudden he thrust his sword-finger forward, and from the seven discs emerged threads of golden light, very fine, like slender golden-wire swords. Chichichi—seven golden-wire swords shot out like lightning and pierced the spot his sword seal indicated. Shen Mu drew back his hand, and saw a deep sword-hole in the ground. "Still not the equal of Lord Huo's boxing... Hmm, no—since when has my vital essence become White Tiger essence?" Shen Mu came suddenly to his senses and was pondering this when a strange change erupted in the divine treasury of his primal fetus: his spirit fetus drew a long breath and in one gulp absorbed every last remnant of golden light in his golden sea. He felt his brow suddenly emptied, his mind a blank, and he was somewhat dizzy; when his senses returned he found that the spirit fetus had fallen asleep again. "No—the Village Head clearly said that the three elixirs of the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art mean the spirit fetus awakens three times. So why does mine show signs of