Chapter 1036 — The Closer to Home, the More Timid the Heart

Shen Mu felt as if he had returned to the days of the Hidden Cripple Village, where the village headman personally trained him in the sword, personally teaching him to perceive the true meaning within the way of the sword. The Twentieth Sword Form was extremely difficult to learn.

Shen Mu was already a sword master, but even with a grand master of the sword like the village headman teaching him in person, he had to comprehend the sword dao anew from the very beginning. He was like a sword boy just beginning to learn the sword, following the aged village headman; the two held longswords in their hands, each stance and strike simple and clear, their sword technique the most basic of forms—plain, clumsy, and unadorned.

"Since you went to the Heavenly Court, you have tempered your sword dao and sword heart far less. Your mind has grown disturbed. " The village headman taught him with wholehearted concentration: "The Heavenly Court is a dazzling world.

It has broadened your horizons, true enough, but it has also cast dust over your sword heart and left your sword dao standing still.

" Thus the old man and the young man emptied their minds and lived a simple, plain life for more than ten days. Besides practicing the sword, Shen Mu would sit with the village headman as each of them breathed in and out before his own divine sword.

They activated no cultivation art; they simply felt the spirit hidden within their swords and resonated with the swords. On this day, Shen Mu felt his sword core breathing in tandem with him. When he inhaled, the sword core seemed to inhale as well, gradually swelling larger; when he exhaled, the sword core seemed to exhale, gradually growing smaller.

Between one breath and the next, he felt his qi and blood flowing into the sword core.

Not only qi and blood—even his divine sense seemed inseparable from the sword core. And his soul, too, seemed to take the sword core as part of its own body. The village headman was greatly gratified.

"You are now able to learn the Twentieth Sword Form," he said.

Thus Shen Mu learned the Twentieth Sword Form.

The Twentieth Sword Form was an extremely powerful basic sword move; it was more like a mental method.

One had to inject one's qi and blood, divine sense, and soul into the sword to augment its might, and therefore it could be applied to any sword move whatsoever.

In other words, this move could even be applied within basic sword moves such as the Nineteenth Sword Form!

However, learning Sword Twenty did not necessarily mean one could execute Sword Twenty, because the conditions for unleashing this basic sword move were far more stringent—one had to comprehend the sword domain. Although Shen Mu had learned the move under the village headman, he had not yet forged a sword domain, and so he still could not unleash it. "The sword domain is a domain within the way of the sword.

Comprehending a sword domain requires a deeper understanding of the sword dao.

You cannot force it for now," the village headman said. "Maintain a pure sword heart, and you will awaken to your own sword domain.

I myself have only just touched the threshold of the sword domain. Your foundations in the sword path are very solid, and you know how to study deeply.

Your natural aptitude is better than mine, and in the future your achievements will surely surpass mine—it is only that your temperament is too flighty. " During those ten-odd days, Shen Mu benefited greatly, and his heart was filled with a thousand reflections; but immediately afterward he cast the village headman's teachings behind him and ran outside the capital to work with the Blind Elder and the Mute Artisan on micro-forging.

The village headman was rather helpless and could only let him be. Shen Mu, as the Holy Infant of the Creator race, might not be a supreme grandmaster in the comprehension of divine sense, but his vision and experience were extremely lofty, and his attainments in divine sense made him one of a handful of experts. The micro-forging problem that had plagued the Mute Artisan and the Blind Elder for a long time was soon solved by his hand. Under the direction of the Mute Artisan and the Blind Elder, Jingping's forging arts had already reached their peak; advancing even one step further was almost impossible.

But micro-forging required changing physical structure, something Jingping's present skills could not achieve. Physics—one is the thing, and one is the principle, the principle hidden within the thing. Investigate things to extend knowledge, and only then do you understand physics.

But micro-forging was about changing physics.

This required divine sense to pinpoint precisely the sequence of every microscopic crystal within the dark gold. A stone from another mountain can polish jade, and applying the Creator race's achievements in divine sense to micro-forging was exactly what could make up for Jingping's shortcomings. Shen Mu, the Blind Elder, and the Mute Artisan threw themselves wholeheartedly into the research, paying no attention to anything else. After more than ten days, the three of them watched as they personally forged a piece of dark gold into divine gold, and all were stirred beyond words.

"Micro-forging! Changing physical structure is only the surface of it—there can be far broader applications!

" Shen Mu said excitedly.

"Imprint runic formations on microscopic crystals.

A single drop of water has billions of microscopic crystals; a single sword has even more.

If micro-forging can be developed to its limit, and micro-engraving and micro-imprinting are applied to divine weapons and treasures, their power will be raised beyond that of gods and demons at the same cultivation realm!

" The Mute Artisan was also inexpressibly excited, rubbing his hands together. "The Kai Emperor once spoke of this as well. This will be an era of the forging dao—an era in which mighty magic treasures rule the world!

" Shen Mu encouraged him, his voice full of a bewitching power: "And Grandpa Mute Artisan will be the one who opens up this era! " The Mute Artisan roared with laughter, his voice sonorous, the furnace fire behind him shooting up to the sky. The Blind Elder, however, was a little displeased.

He shook his head.

"If micro-forging is developed to its extreme, what need will there be for us humans? If magic treasures become too powerful, then when war comes, it will be magic treasure versus magic treasure, divine weapons flying everywhere. Would we divine-power practitioners, gods, and demons still have any need to cultivate? " Shen Mu said to the Blind Elder in a low voice, "Micro-forging can also be applied to cultivation. That is where Grandpa Blind's wisdom comes in.

See here—apply the micro-engraving and micro-imprinting of micro-forging to the construction of primordial qi, the sequencing of formations, the tempering of the flesh, the reinforcement of divine storehouses, and the forging of heavenly palaces, and it can strengthen the selves of divine-power practitioners, gods, and demons. It can even be used in the cultivation of the primordial spirit!

" His voice once again took on that bewitching power: "Grandpa Mute Artisan opens the era of the forging dao, and Grandpa Blind will correct him—letting divine-power practitioners, gods, and demons equal divine weapons and treasures, or even surpass them! Don't let Grandpa Mute Artisan have all the glory!

" The Blind Elder stroked the beard on his chin and chuckled.