荒墟牧神 - 第533章 刀道封神 - 簡牘書房

The Woodcutter Sage looked across, where several demon gods were arriving, each bringing their prized disciples. Those young demon elites were wreathed in monstrous killing intent, their physiques savage to the extreme, dreadful to behold—clearly veterans who had weathered life-and-death trials.

He had dealt with the demon race before and knew well the ferocity of that kind. Judged purely by physical constitution, even the divine-arts practitioners of Taihuang Heaven who possessed the makings of true gods fell somewhat short of the demons.

Moreover, because Taihuang Heaven was constantly at war, forever clashing with the demon race, it was difficult to establish academies or halls of learning like those of Jingping, nor could it form large-scale sects. As a result, the gods often selected outstanding talents and taught them personally.

This had its advantages and its drawbacks. The advantage was that, taught personally by gods and demons, these practitioners became extraordinarily powerful, every one of them an elite; the inheritance of Taihuang Heaven's dao arts and divine powers had no gaps, and god-level techniques could be passed down. Sang Hua, for instance, had been taught personally by her father, Sang Ye.

The drawback was that a person learned only what their own master transmitted, and it was difficult to learn the peerless arts of others. Sang Hua, for example, cultivated only Sang Ye's techniques and divine powers, never studying anyone else's. Even if she had learned a few, the other party could hardly have instructed her with the same devotion as Sang Ye.

Not learning the techniques and divine powers of others certainly allowed for specialization, but it also meant that, in Shen Mu's eyes, Taihuang Heaven's divine arts and dao methods had made little progress and were far inferior to those of Jingping.

Shen Mu could see this, and naturally the Woodcutter Sage could see it as well.

The Woodcutter Sage looked again at Shen Mu, who was still hammering iron, and could not help but feel doubt stir in his heart: "I noticed him in danger on the battlefield and unleashed a divine power that he might comprehend. He immediately learned it and escaped the peril smoothly. By rights, this heir of mine should be a talent of surpassing brilliance, one who had cultivated the techniques I passed down to the point of perfection, and that is why he could grasp my divine power in the span of a single breath. Yet how has he now become so unreliable? Could I truly have misjudged him?"

Just then, another deity approached, bowed, and said, "Heavenly Master, the seven-star-realm elites of Taihuang Heaven have been brought!"

The Woodcutter Sage looked at the young Taihuang Heaven elites approaching and nodded lightly. "Let them in."

Sang Hua was glancing all around when her eyes suddenly lit up. She said to Shen Mu beside her, "Hey, thresher, that girl is called Yu He—Yu He, ranked first among the seven-star-realm divine-arts practitioners!"

Shen Mu drew a sword from the wall of fire, examined it, found the tempering insufficient, and thrust it back in.

Sang Hua, thrilled beyond measure, said to Shen Mu, "Yu He is the disciple of the true god Pang Yu. She passed the trial of the God-Suppressing Tower and, in the battle at Shi City, slew three young demon experts of the true-demon level. She is hailed as first in the seven-star realm! That woman with her hair piled high like a little pagoda—she is very beautiful!"

The Black Tiger God looked over. The woman called Yu He wore a cold expression. She removed the earrings from her ears, then her bracelets, and adjusted her clothing—clearly ready at every moment for a life-or-death struggle.

"Indeed not bad. She is an expert," the Black Tiger God praised. "She removes every superfluous ornament from her body so that her movements face no obstruction. She deserves to be called one who has been through a hundred battles."