Chapter 405 — A Visitor from Afar
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Xing An laughed. "The Art of Creation can alter the course of a fruit tree's growth, and can alter the flavor of the fruit. It can even make the fruit poisonous. It can even change the fruit's structure, change the fruit's species. It can even make the fruit control another's every movement."
He reached up and plucked a bright red fruit. The fruit actually unfurled, turning into a small red snake, its tail coiled about his wrist while its flat head rose from his palm, hissing and flicking its tongue.
Everyone started in fright. And at that very moment, hissing came from every direction. The fruit trees blanketing the hillside bore tens of thousands of fruits, and now every last one of them unfurled, turning into small red snakes that hung suspended, staring fixedly at them!
"The Nether Demon Cult's Art of Creation is not bad, is it?"
Xing An laughed. "I learned it from the Great Venerable of the Golden Palace. A pity that even the Great Venerable himself never fathomed the essence of this art. Disappointing. And the Nether Demon Cult is even more disappointing: not one among them could comprehend the mystery of this art. But the girl is quite good, to have recognized the art. And Cult Master Shen is extraordinary too, to have seen that I used the Art of Creation to change the form of a species."
Si Yunxiang blurted out, "You recognized us?"
Xing An laughed. "I did not recognize you. But the Great Venerable painted me a picture, a portrait of Cult Master Shen, for fear I should mistake the man."
Shen Mu looked at the red snakes covering the hillside and his expression shifted. He knew the Art of Creation recorded in the Great Nurturing Nether-Demon Sutra was most extraordinary. He himself had tried using the Earth Origin Art to plant trees and hasten their ripening, and had once grown a whole tree of yellow pears. But Xing An had cultivated the Art of Creation to the point of changing a species, and that was a height that left one utterly behind.
"The young patriarch cultivates the Art of Creation as well. I wonder whether he could reach this step."
His eye twitched. Strong as the young patriarch was, he might not possess such an ability. This Xing An was like an omnipotent deity!
To plant a tree, to have the tree bear fruit, to turn the fruit into venomous snakes, that was the work of a god making things!
One after another the red snakes swayed their flat triangular heads on the branches, as though dancing to music, most orderly, and yet how could so many venomous snakes move as one?
Xing An had just said that eating the "fruit" would let one control that person. It seemed that had not been an idle boast!
The sight made the blood run cold.
Shen Mu drew a long breath and said gravely, "Why must Senior Brother Xing An seek me out and have me help you?"
Xing An sighed. He lifted his own hand, turned it over and over, and sighed. "Because these bodies do not always obey me. Sometimes they even reject me. I know there are many masters at your side. I know some of the old fellows about you, the Sword God, for instance. He poses a threat to me; not a strong threat, but the old fellow's skills are far from weak. Fortunately he has already left for the Great Thunderclap Monastery. Laughable, really."
Shen Mu's heart sank. This Xing An was harder to deal with than he had imagined. Going in search of Lord Huo was only a pretext; his true aim was to lure the tiger from the mountain, to send the Headman and the others off to the Great Thunderclap Monastery.
He had no need of Lord Huo's arm at all. He must long since have obtained a godlike arm!
His target was one and one only: Shen Mu.
"Laughable, that a man unknowingly sheds his dead skin, replaces his bones, his hair, his flesh and blood. In only seven years, every organ within the body is renewed."
Xing An's gaze was uncanny, a strange radiance shining from his pupils, nine rings arising in his eyes. That was the Nine Heavens.
The Blind Elder's Sacred Pupil.