Chapter 730 — A Paintbrush Cannot Capture Its Spirit

" He cast aside all distracting thoughts, forgot all divine powers, forgot his sword techniques and his sword way, forgot all the conflicts and troubles outside, forgot Jingping, and let his spirit return to early childhood, to that time of bitter cultivation at Hidden Remnant Village, to that time of arduous training under Old Huo, the Blind Elder, and the Butcher.

In those days he had tempered his body with the elders of the village, and in his spare time herded cattle and played a bamboo flute. His mind became utterly simple, as if he were once again a boy tending cattle -- and yet there was a difference.

In the past his mind had been simple as blank paper; now, after enduring all manner of trials and perils, he had let his heart settle and clarify. The wisdom beads that Emperor Shakra Heavenly King Buddha had given him suddenly scattered around his neck; one by one the wisdom beads fell away, and with each that fell, another wisdom bead formed.

These were wisdom beads formed of his own wisdom. Each bead was the size of a chicken's egg, round and translucent, flowing ceaselessly around his neck as if they could refract the human heart.

Shen Mu strode boldly into the Southern Heaven Gate.

The moment he entered, he felt an invisible pressure pressing down, crushing his bones until they crackled.

This pressure was comparatively mild against the flesh, but its assault on the primordial spirit was the most savage of all! Shen Mu roared, urging on his Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art, and forcibly withstood the pressure as he advanced. The farther he went, the greater the pressure.

From within his body came waves of dragon roars -- the Eight Tones of the Ancestral Dragon -- and the roaring shook through him, driving his qi and blood to flow through every part of his body.

He had already caught up with the first wave of those who had collapsed and could not rise.

He reached down and lifted them up, one in each hand, and flung them out of the Southern Heaven Gate.

To leave them beneath the gate would only let them be crushed to death, and his heart could not bear it. The pressure grew heavier and heavier, and the qi and blood around Shen Mu overflowed, growing denser and denser.

His qi and blood were nearly wild, churning behind him into a surging torrent, while his gaze grew brighter and brighter.

Behind him, the torrent of qi and blood sometimes transformed into an azure dragon with thunder rolling, sometimes into a black tortoise stirring waves on a black sea, sometimes into a vermilion bird with flames towering to the sky, sometimes into a white tiger fierce and savage.

All manner of manifestations shifted and changed behind him, helping him cleave through waves and press boldly forward!

At last he caught up with those ahead.

They had been crushed into people no more than three inches tall, and yet not one of them had fallen back; they continued forward, blood ceaselessly streaming from eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, still bearing the pressure, still trying to walk out of the Southern Heaven Gate.

Shen Mu too was crushed until he stood little more than a foot tall. He stepped ahead to the front of the crowd and suddenly burst into laughter, wild and unrestrained: "What the painter's brush cannot capture is the spirit!

" Drawing on the Eight Tones of the Ancestral Dragon and the Sanskrit chants of the Buddhist school, he shouted aloud, walking bare-chested, and chanted at length: "How could so petty a thing exhaust the lofty sage's intent? Wings lighter than powder, thinner than silk, forever drawn by blossoms, unable to bear itself!

" Behind him, the crowd listened intently and were unconsciously moved by his voice; the qi and blood within their bodies surged, linking together, emboldened by Shen Mu's essential spirit.

"If even Brahma is not the self, how could I cast my life away for a heavenly palace?

" Shen Mu parted the willow-leaf mark between his brows, shook his body, and manifested three heads and six arms. The three vertical eyes on his forehead blazed with golden light, and his three faces beamed with joy as he laughed: "Mountain moon through pines shatters gold; river wind over water drives snow to avalanche!

Once I trample through the gate of Heaven's tower, I sit in the ancestral court and laugh at heroes!

" "Good! " A descendant of the gods cried out, his heart and spirit surging, unable to contain himself.

His song was bold and free, fusing everyone's essential spirit into one, leading the godly descendants onward.

Their spirits linked and their wills united, they actually managed to hold firm against the pressure of the Southern Heaven Gate, their qi and blood surging behind them like a vast sea, a blood sea heaving with waves. At this moment, the old farmer leading the ox had already arrived at the Lingxiao Treasure Hall of the Heavenly Palace and was about to step inside when suddenly his heart sensed something; he turned and looked back, and saw blood light shooting straight into the clouds from the Southern Heaven Gate, its aura clashing against Douniu Palace and shaking the stars!

The old farmer was astonished, watching the scene: beneath the Southern Heaven Gate, Shen Mu led the crowd striding forward, and their bodies gradually grew taller and taller, until the pressure of the Southern Heaven Gate had no effect on them at all! "Master," the old ox spoke, "this one-hundred-and-seventh-generation descendant of Kaihuang seems quite extraordinary.

His power to move others is strong, and he has the breast of a true hero, rather like Kaihuang in his day. In the past, only a very few could pass through the Southern Heaven Gate; now that he has come, there may be dozens who cross it.

" "The Southern Heaven Gate is only the first trial; the real danger still lies ahead.

" The old farmer's face was expressionless. He turned and walked into the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, saying, "This pass, the Lingxiao Hall, you shall guard. I want to see whether he can fight his way in!

" The old ox rose onto its hind legs, gave its body a shake, and the azure dragon scales all over it flowed with a clatter as it laughed: "Master is bullying them.

But unless one topples you, who could ascend to the Heavenly Palace while lacking an entire realm?

"