Chapter 909 — The Ancient Sheath Hides the Blade; Storm and Rain Wash Away the Dust

At this moment his spirit embryo was in a wondrous state: destroyed by the torrent of runaway essence, and the next instant restored.

And the sword art was his sword dao, the third chapter of the Calamity Sword, the Chapter of Meeting the Tribulation. Meeting the tribulation, this was the sword dao he had created out of his grief over the catastrophe that had befallen the Yuan World and the upheaval Jingping had suffered, founded upon the spirit of the living beings who faced that catastrophe head-on.

In the world of dreams he had reenacted the catastrophe; through countless slaughters he had honed that one sword stroke that cleaved through the catastrophe within the dream world! The Chapter of Meeting the Tribulation of the Calamity Sword means to go forth to meet the tribulation of one's own accord: to face the catastrophe of heaven and earth, to face the misery of all living beings and the inconstancy of worldly affairs, to face the strongest of enemies, to face the heart of gods, the heart of demons, the heart of men!

In the Chapter of Meeting the Tribulation, the first to meet the tribulation is the one who holds the sword.

Shen Mu met the tribulation: he swept away his own heavenly palace, razed his own great spirit treasures, leaving only the spirit embryo, cutting off every path of retreat, burning his boats.

Only when there is no way back can one advance and never retreat! This was the dead end he faced, and the dead end Jingping faced: no way back, only forward, forward, ever forward, to fight out a road, to carve out a road!

This road must be walked out, no matter what!

Boom! His spirit embryo was crushed to powder, yet the next instant it appeared again, still holding the sword, still working the Meeting of the Tribulation, and this time the power in his grasp was greater.

Again his spirit embryo was crushed, again restored; again and again annihilated, again and again recovered.

After each meeting of the tribulation he was stronger than before.

After Heavenly Venerable Yu opened the Prime Embryo Spirit Treasure, the next spirit treasure was the Star River Spirit Treasure; he had sought power from without, comprehending the star river between heaven and earth.

But this time Shen Mu was not imitating Heavenly Venerable Yu. He sought power from within.

To seek the power of heaven and earth from without was indeed mighty and convenient, yet when Heavenly Venerable Yu had opened the Prime Embryo Spirit Treasure, he had not borrowed the power of heaven and earth but developed himself.

Therefore Shen Mu cast aside not only the spirit treasure cultivation system and the heavenly palace cultivation system built upon the power system of the ancient gods, but even the cultivation system of the great dao of heaven and earth that Heavenly Venerable Yu had opened when he opened the Star River Spirit Treasure.

This time he would walk the path of self-development that Heavenly Venerable Yu had used when he first opened the Prime Embryo Spirit Treasure, the most primal method of cultivation, cultivating only oneself, borrowing nothing from without!

He would no longer borrow strength from gods and demons, no longer borrow strength from heaven and earth. In this catastrophe of the Yuan World, he had called on heaven and heaven had not answered, called on earth and earth had not responded.

The inaction of the remnants of Kaihuang, the cowardice of the Lord of Heaven, the silence of the Earth Lord, the malice of the Heavenly Emperor, all had left him feeling utterly powerless, and made him realize that borrowed power was in the end unreliable.

The only thing reliable was himself!

If he had no soul, then he would split heaven from earth and make himself a soul anew! If he had no essence cultivation, then he would meet the tribulation, subdue the essence, and raise his cultivation!

This road had no turning back; he could only walk it to the end, walk it into the dark! His spirit embryo was destroyed again and again and restored again and again, until at last Shen Mu felt his power reach its limit.

The Chapter of Meeting the Tribulation of the Calamity Sword became in his hand the edge that splits heaven from earth: one sword dividing yin and yang, severing dusk from dawn, cleaving apart the two breaths of god and demon! The turbulent Prime Embryo Spirit Treasure at last steadied.

His spirit embryo stood upon the flowing twin breaths of god and demon, yin and yang divided, like a scroll of the taiji diagram, clear and distinct as two rivers.

From the spirit embryo's vantage, these twin breaths of god and demon moved in steady order, vast and boundless, like a pure land, a holy ground. This was his spirit platform, the ground on which his spirit embryo stood.

A sun rose slowly from the current that divine essence had become, scattering radiance; on the other side the moon gathered in its light and sank slowly into the demonic essence.

Shen Mu's spirit embryo looked up: the sky was brilliant with starlight, and the star river wheeled like a bright mirror, reflecting his face.

The face in the star river was like the Lord of Heaven enthroned on high; he was his own Lord of Heaven.

Shen Mu's spirit embryo looked down: beneath the spirit platform was darkness, reflecting his face; he was as the Earth Lord in his own world.

His spirit embryo lowered the sword, and all was still.

Within the spirit embryo, he felt as though something were taking root and sprouting.

That was his soul, the soul won by splitting heaven from earth, like the seed of this heaven and earth, already growing little by little.

Other people's souls and spirits were separate; only when spirit and soul joined was there a primal spirit.

But his soul had been born out of the meeting of the tribulation, and from the moment of its birth it was one with his spirit embryo, indivisible.

The spirit embryo sat cross-legged, gazing blankly, lost in thought.

Outside, Long Qilin and Yan'er were shaken to the soul, yet they saw Shen Mu's body slowly shrink, his frame no longer so huge, so bloated. Soon Shen Mu was as he had been, neither fat nor thin, his figure well proportioned.

Long Qilin's two big ears had been gnawed bare of skin by Yan'er and were dripping blood, and Yan'er's wings had been bitten by her own beak to a good deal shorter.

The two were just about to ask Shen Mu how his cultivation had gone when suddenly his legs gave way and he fell to his knees, prostrate on the ground, sobbing aloud.

Long Qilin and Yan'er looked at each other.

In his weeping they could hear boundless grievance and humiliation.

This humiliation was the humiliation of what he himself had suffered, and the humiliation of the suffering Jingping had endured!

Long Qilin was about to step forward to comfort him, but Shen Mu's weeping gradually turned to laughter, laughter growing louder and higher.

His face was streaming with tears, yet the laughter came from the heart, sweeping away all his former dejection and grievance! Amid the laughter Shen Mu rose to his feet, and knelt no more.

Long Qilin and Yan'er were dazed; in that moment Shen Mu seemed to have become another person.

All along the way, though Shen Mu had always worn a smile and never shown a bitter look, they could sense the frailty and despair within him.

And now he seemed reborn, as though he had returned to the bright, sunny big boy he once had been.

Yet there was a difference, though they could not say just where; they only felt that the Shen Mu of now was the blazing sun after a storm.