Chapter 598 — The Scent of Danger
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Lord Yangxing's death was not a bad thing for him. Lord Yangxing was a helper he had invited down to the mortal realm this time; after all, Lord Yangxing had always stayed in the mortal realm and knew the geography well.
Qi Jiuyi's purpose in inviting Lord Yangxing out was to use his hand to find Shen Mu. Since Shen Mu had been found, whether Lord Yangxing lived or died no longer mattered.
The Butcher strode over, shouldering his long blade. Lord Yangxing's blood had splashed onto him, setting his body alight, but he was a Vermilion Bird spirit body, and such wounds were of no consequence.
"Refreshing!"
A great gash had opened on the Butcher's chest, and beneath the ribs one could faintly see his leaping heart. Clearly his battle with Lord Yangxing had not been easy on him, and he had taken no light wounds. Yet he laughed: "Several hundred years of madness, split open with one blade—it's truly fucking refreshing!"
The Alchemist hurried forward and examined his wound carefully, frowning: "Pig-killer, you were nearly done for. What's there to be refreshed about? Your wound has the residue of Lord Yangxing's divine power. I cannot drive it out for you—you must do it yourself. Be careful. Don't squeeze your heart until it bursts. You are not Xing'an; you cannot swap out your heart and still live. You killed with relish, yes, but you nearly lost your life. You should not be so reckless."
"Blade work does not have as many variations as sword work. True blade work goes straight forward, one move of life and death. If you can take it, you live! If you cannot, you die! It is that simple!"
The Butcher returned his blade to its sheath and gave a great shout. Countless tiny blade lights flickered in the wound on his chest, directly erasing the residue of Lord Yangxing's divine power. He said in a low voice: "My blade work once emphasized refinement, complexity, and variation. But after entering the Dao through blade work, I turned complexity into simplicity. The earlier moves—Night Slash Thousand Cities Wind and Rain, Sun Shines East Sea Thousand Layers of Waves—were too troublesome. Now Long Blade Hangs the Moon Soul and Blade Opens the Bright Moon Ring grow simpler and simpler."
Vajra looked around at the many demon-race divine-power wielders and said: "Remember his words. They make great sense. Spells, divine powers, and battle techniques must all in the future turn complexity into simplicity. But he did not say it all. Simplicity is entering simplicity from complexity. First there is complexity; complexity is a necessary road. Without passing through complexity, one cannot comprehend simplicity. What is called simplicity is when power condenses into a single line, when the Dao gathers into a single line."
The many demon-race divine-power wielders listened, half understanding, and nodded one after another.
Shen Mu heard this and could not help secretly praising him: "Vajra's vision and insight are indeed supremely brilliant. He is a remarkable grandmaster, worthy of being a true demon, a revered king. When I created the first form of the Tribulation Sword, it too was entering simplicity from complexity. What is called simplicity is in fact not simple. The sword technique looks simpler, but in truth it mobilizes all power and carries the rhyme of the Dao, and therefore its might is extraordinary."
An ordinary divine power can mobilize only ten or twenty percent of one's total strength, because all of one's strength is in fact extremely vast. For example, your right hand and left hand each have a hundred jin of strength, and your two legs each have a hundred jin of strength, but when you throw a punch you cannot bring forth four hundred jin of force.