Chapter 577 — The Ancestral Dragon's Grand Mystery Art
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
That was his spirit embryo, his Five Luminaries, and his Sixfold Universe Divine Treasury; the vital essence ran through these divine treasuries and formed an unspeakably complex system, and the track it followed in each treasury was different from every other. Nor was that all: look at any single organ of his body, and one would find that the vital essence ran through the heart along a strange track, through the kidneys along a track unlike the heart's, through the legs along a track unlike that of the five viscera and six bowels, exquisite beyond all telling.
He sought to blend the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones into the movement of his vital essence, and there was little that needed changing: when the vital essence ran to the heart, he need only apply the Pulling Tone; when it ran to the blood vessels, the Adhesive Tone; when it ran to the spirit embryo, the Spinning Tone. That was all. There in the True Dragon's lair he revised his art, blind and deaf to all around him, and Elder Qinghuang and Jiang Miao were drawn by the commotion of his revisions, their eyes falling upon the diagram of the art's movement before him. "Don't bother looking.
" Elder Qinghuang shook his head and said to Jiang Miao, "You cannot learn it. This man's wit borders on the monstrous; his foundations and his wisdom have reached a point you cannot understand, cannot learn.
Let me tell you of the mysteries within the Ancestral Dragon's Grand Mystery Art, and resolve your doubts.
" Jiang Miao said in a small voice, "Maha.
" Elder Qinghuang laughed.
"You need not fear me.
" Jiang Miao, taking his courage in hand, took human form and stood obediently to one side. Elder Qinghuang explained the Ancestral Dragon's Grand Mystery Art to him, keeping it as plain as he could lest the boy fail to understand. The explaining went on four or five days, and at last Shen Mu had blended the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones into his Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art.
When he roused that art, the Eight Tones came forth of themselves as his vital essence moved, tempering flesh, primordial spirit, vital essence, and the heart of the Dao. Even when he used his divine abilities, the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones ran on, tempering those abilities too!
Shen Mu paced about the True Dragon's lair, sending out one divine ability after another, dragon roars unending, the power of each move greater than the last, and he could not help but rejoice. Zheng, he drew his two Butcher Knives and swept them out in Night Slaughter of a Thousand Cities' Wind and Rain, but no sooner had the blade art come forth than both knives in his hands were shattered to powder!
Shen Mu stared a moment, then drew a bamboo staff from his Taotie Pouch and thrust it out; the staff turned to dust. "The Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones are too powerful; common essence weapons cannot bear them at all. " He took out the Sword Pellet.
Within it flying swords flowed like water; they became a long saber, and Shen Mu seized it and pulled it apart to either side. The long saber split in two, and he used them to perform Crosswise and Lengthwise, a Vast Thread of Sky! The blade lights crossed, mightier than ever before, and nearly cut through the dragon pillars of the lair; Shen Mu hastily withdrew the move, and so the lair escaped being torn down.
He examined the two long sabers, then suddenly tossed them up; in the air they came apart into flying swords that slowly circled around him. Shen Mu looked them over carefully, let out a breath of turbid air, and said with relief, "A good thing my flying swords were well forged; otherwise I would truly have no weapon left to use.
" He fell to brooding again.