Chapter 729 — Proving the Dao with a Fist

Yet before I had put forth any strength, he was lying in a stinking ditch. " Shen Mu smiled, cold sweat starting on his forehead. He could well imagine how wretched the Woodcutter Sage had looked then.

When a scholar meets a soldier, no amount of reason avails. The divine-ability wielders of the continental heavens drew near, and Shen Mu blinked.

These people must be divine-ability wielders from the kingdoms of the continental heavens, yet oddly, not one of them was truly human.

Bird head on human body, beast head on human body; some bore turtle shells on their backs, some were covered in beast fur, some had three heads and six arms, some had many heads and many eyes.

"The god race of the Kaihuang era!

" Shen Mu narrowed his eyes.

He also caught sight of several divine-ability wielders of the White Bat god race!

In this Douniu Heavenly Palace, everyone was in fact a descendant of the god race of the Kaihuang era!

"Sect Master, there are women among the White Bat god race! " the Dragon Qilin whispered, lowering his voice. "Fu Yuqiu and Fu Yuchun of Nether Valley will be overjoyed. " Shen Mu recalled those two white bats of Nether Valley and could not help smiling, and then the smile turned to a look of worry.

The old farmer, leading the old ox, walked along the spirit bridge toward the South Heaven Gate, unhurried.

"Do not celebrate yet.

If you want to go by the rules of the jianghu, then do as they do: first let them test whether you are worthy. Come, you will go with them through the South Heaven Gate, and fight your way all the way to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. " Shen Mu said hurriedly, "Heavenly Master, I am still of the Heavenly Human realm; I cannot enter the South Heaven Gate!

Why not a fair duel? " "A fair duel?

" The old farmer turned his head, and his deeply wrinkled face showed mockery. "When the Heavenly Court Beyond the Domain and the Kaihuang Heavenly Court went to war, was that ever fair?

Fight your way to the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, and I will let you carry the woodcutter out!

" On the spirit bridge, the god race of the continental heavens fell in behind the old ox, one after another, their manner reverent; the old ox unhurriedly followed the old farmer toward the South Heaven Gate.

Shen Mu too was in the crowd. Quietly he lifted the willow leaf and looked at these god-race folk, and could not help blinking: every one of them was in the Life and Death realm! All of them were exceedingly robust, their cultivation exceedingly high, yet not one had cultivated a spirit bridge!

Everyone's spirit bridge was severed, severed even more utterly than the spirit bridges of the divine-ability wielders of Jingping!

The divine-ability wielders of Jingping still had spirit bridges, broken though they were; so long as they cultivated the three formulas Shen Mu had passed down, the Magpie Bridge Formula, the Mystic Guidance Formula, and the Divine Crossing Formula, they could mend their spirit bridges and fly across the South Heaven Gate. But the god race dwelling in the heavens of Douniu Heavenly Palace had their spirit bridges utterly severed, and the realm of the spirit bridge no longer existed for them.

With the realm of the spirit bridge gone, the three formulas could not mend their bridges either, and so they could never cultivate to godhood. In other words, every one of the god race who multiplied and lived upon this continent would, for the whole of their lives, be trapped at the realm of the Life-and-Death Sacred Treasury.

"What is going on here?

" Shen Mu wondered.

"Why are their spirit bridges severed so utterly? " His heart was full of doubt, and the god race were just as curious about him; seeing that he had an eye growing from his forehead, they could not resist staring again and again.

A few girls put their heads together, whispering, studying him without cease; then, for what reason he knew not, they giggled.

"Sect Master, they say you are ugly," the Dragon Qilin, sharp of ear, whispered.

Shen Mu's face darkened. The Dragon Qilin shivered, lifted a claw, and gave himself a slap on the mouth, then walked along obediently, thinking, "I'll likely go hungry for a few days before the Sect Master's anger cools.

. .

" Though the spirit bridges of these god-race folk were severed utterly, trapping them in the Life and Death realm, each one of them was terrifyingly strong, in no way inferior in strength to masters of the Spirit Bridge realm! At last they came outside the South Heaven Gate.

The old farmer, leading his ox, was the first to step within the gate; then he stopped, turned, and looked at the crowd.

All the god race halted and stood outside the gate with the utmost respect.

Shen Mu halted too and studied this South Heaven Gate. He had seen the South Heaven Gate of the Desolate Ruins: towering and immense, standing like a gate that propped up the heavens.

Though tattered and ruined, it still possessed a spirit that upheld heaven and earth, utterly ancient and majestic. This South Heaven Gate, by contrast, was far smaller; even so, it was tall and imposing, like a portal split open from a mountain ten thousand zhang high.

The South Heaven Gate was covered in every kind of vein and pattern, runes and sigils no doubt, forming dazzling designs that flickered bright and dim. "Your spirit bridges are severed and cannot be mended; in this life you have no hope of reaching the South Heaven Gate and cultivating to godhood.

But you are the hope of all those whose spirit bridges are broken. " The old farmer's voice was loud and resonant; he said gravely, "Twenty thousand years, and the remnant clans of the gods have died off generation after generation, yet to this day they endure unbroken.

So long as one lives, there is hope! You have no spirit bridges, but that does not mean you cannot use the martial way to fly across the void where the spirit bridge should be. Where there is no road, make a road! " "If there is no road, then smash through life and death, hammer out a road with the martial way, and let the martial soul go straight to the heavenly palace!

" Shen Mu was shaken to the core; at last he understood the purpose of this trial of the heavenly palace.

For the remnant clans of the god race in Douniu Heavenly Palace, their spirit bridges severed, the Martial Heavenly Master hoped to carry the heavenly palace on through the martial way, to use the martial soul to bridge that realm of the spirit bridge which did not exist, so that the bloodline and spirit of the god race might endure and a new road be opened!

If the Spirit Bridge realm did not exist, then let the martial soul fly across it, straight to the heavenly palace, and cultivate to godhood. This martial soul was the martial-way Prime Spirit, a martial-way Prime Spirit that could cross the void where the spirit bridge should be. The Prime Spirits of other divine-ability wielders had spirit bridges; treading them, they could fly across into the heavenly palace.

The divine-ability wielders of Jingping, even with their spirit bridges broken, could mend them with the three formulas and at last fly across to the heavenly palace.

But the god-race descendants of Douniu Heavenly Palace had no spirit bridge at all, and could only rely on their own Prime Spirits to force their way across the void!

If they could not cross, they would fall into Youdu beneath the Life-and-Death Sacred Treasury, and die, body and way alike!

For twenty thousand years the Martial Heavenly Master had hidden in a mountain village, and his aim was likely no more than to cultivate these god-race descendants, that they might go on cultivating!

"To cultivate godhood through the martial way is the martial soul; when the martial soul enters the way, it is the martial way! " the old farmer cried, leading his ox forward.

"Enter the gate!

I will test your martial way! I await you in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall!

"