Chapter 729 — Proving the Dao with a Fist
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
A few girls put their heads together, whispering, studying him without cease; then, for what reason he knew not, they giggled.
"Sect Master, they say you are ugly," the Dragon Qilin, sharp of ear, whispered.
Shen Mu's face darkened. The Dragon Qilin shivered, lifted a claw, and gave himself a slap on the mouth, then walked along obediently, thinking, "I'll likely go hungry for a few days before the Sect Master's anger cools.
. .
" Though the spirit bridges of these god-race folk were severed utterly, trapping them in the Life and Death realm, each one of them was terrifyingly strong, in no way inferior in strength to masters of the Spirit Bridge realm! At last they came outside the South Heaven Gate.
The old farmer, leading his ox, was the first to step within the gate; then he stopped, turned, and looked at the crowd.
All the god race halted and stood outside the gate with the utmost respect.
Shen Mu halted too and studied this South Heaven Gate. He had seen the South Heaven Gate of the Desolate Ruins: towering and immense, standing like a gate that propped up the heavens.
Though tattered and ruined, it still possessed a spirit that upheld heaven and earth, utterly ancient and majestic. This South Heaven Gate, by contrast, was far smaller; even so, it was tall and imposing, like a portal split open from a mountain ten thousand zhang high.
The South Heaven Gate was covered in every kind of vein and pattern, runes and sigils no doubt, forming dazzling designs that flickered bright and dim. "Your spirit bridges are severed and cannot be mended; in this life you have no hope of reaching the South Heaven Gate and cultivating to godhood.
But you are the hope of all those whose spirit bridges are broken. " The old farmer's voice was loud and resonant; he said gravely, "Twenty thousand years, and the remnant clans of the gods have died off generation after generation, yet to this day they endure unbroken.
So long as one lives, there is hope! You have no spirit bridges, but that does not mean you cannot use the martial way to fly across the void where the spirit bridge should be. Where there is no road, make a road! " "If there is no road, then smash through life and death, hammer out a road with the martial way, and let the martial soul go straight to the heavenly palace!
" Shen Mu was shaken to the core; at last he understood the purpose of this trial of the heavenly palace.
For the remnant clans of the god race in Douniu Heavenly Palace, their spirit bridges severed, the Martial Heavenly Master hoped to carry the heavenly palace on through the martial way, to use the martial soul to bridge that realm of the spirit bridge which did not exist, so that the bloodline and spirit of the god race might endure and a new road be opened!
If the Spirit Bridge realm did not exist, then let the martial soul fly across it, straight to the heavenly palace, and cultivate to godhood. This martial soul was the martial-way Prime Spirit, a martial-way Prime Spirit that could cross the void where the spirit bridge should be. The Prime Spirits of other divine-ability wielders had spirit bridges; treading them, they could fly across into the heavenly palace.
The divine-ability wielders of Jingping, even with their spirit bridges broken, could mend them with the three formulas and at last fly across to the heavenly palace.
But the god-race descendants of Douniu Heavenly Palace had no spirit bridge at all, and could only rely on their own Prime Spirits to force their way across the void!
If they could not cross, they would fall into Youdu beneath the Life-and-Death Sacred Treasury, and die, body and way alike!
For twenty thousand years the Martial Heavenly Master had hidden in a mountain village, and his aim was likely no more than to cultivate these god-race descendants, that they might go on cultivating!