荒墟牧神 - 第723章 藉武悟道 - 簡牘書房

He was imitating Shen Mu's method: Shen Mu had first used the Ancestral Dragon's Eight Tones to shake his qi and blood, forcing away the blood-fiend aura that coiled and spun swiftly around his neck, and then driven it back with the force of his fingers.

But he had underestimated the blood-fiend aura's power. The instant his finger flicked against it, there was a hiss — and a length of his finger was suddenly gone!

Alarmed, Senior Brother Lu rolled backward off the platform — but by then the blood-fiend aura had already wrapped around his neck. He tumbled down from the platform, and when he landed, his neck no longer bore a head.

Si Meixue was about to say something more, but Shen Mu had already vanished from her side. The next moment he charged across the God-Slaying Platform, drove back the blood-fiend aura, picked up Senior Brother Lu's head, and, following the same method, reattached it to his neck. "Don't worry," he consoled him. "A head can leave the body for a while without much harm, but not for too long. Too long and you'll die. I once heard the Prefect of Youdu say that within the first seven days after death one can still return to life — so you're not really dead yet, you can still come back... Don't move, there's still one finger I haven't reattached..."

Hu Bugui coughed, prompting him: "Brother Shen, Senior Brother Lu is of the Wuluo Clan. You've put his head on backward — that's what he was trying to tell you. He has faces front and back, but front and back are still distinct; look at the leopard markings on his neck and you'll see. The side where the markings are fine is the front face; the side where they are coarse is the back face."

Shen Mu looked, blushed slightly, and in a flash his vital essence became a sword-light that sliced Senior Brother Lu's head off again.

Senior Brother Lu was frightened out of his wits; fortunately Shen Mu turned the head around and reattached it.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Shen Mu's eyes shone, and his look was encouraging. "Senior Brother, why not try once more? This time roll off the other side of the platform. Even if your head gets cut off again, I can put it back. Then you'll have cleared the trial!"

Senior Brother Lu shook his head hastily and smiled bitterly. "No need. I've tried once; my strength isn't enough to cross the God-Slaying Platform. I'll stay here and wait for you to come back. I've remembered that I still have a wife and children, old folk at home..."

Though he had taken part in this trial resolved to die, having his head cut off at every turn — even if it could be reattached — was a sensation he could hardly bear.

Shen Mu did not press him, and crossed the God-Slaying Platform once more.

Hu Bugui lifted his foot and climbed the God-Slaying Platform step by step. Senior Brother Lu and Si Meixue watched him in anxious suspense: Hu Bugui was the Dou Niu Realm's last hope. If he too could not cross the God-Slaying Platform, the Dou Niu Realm would be utterly wiped out!

If only Shen Mu, an outsider, made it across, the Dou Niu Realm's warriors would lose every shred of face!

Shen Mu also looked toward the platform. Hu Bugui walked forward step by step, unhurried, seemingly without a single superfluous motion, as if out for a stroll — yet around him dozens of Hu Buguis appeared, striking out in all directions!

It was as though in an instant he had gained scores of clones; his attacks were like thunder, driving back the blood-colored fiend aura, which could not get near him at all!

Those phantom figures were not clones; he simply struck so fast that to the naked eye it seemed dozens of him appeared all around at the same moment.

What Shen Mu admired most was that Hu Bugui still looked as though he were walking at an unhurried pace — and that was the truly fearsome thing about his martial path.

"Entering the Dao through the martial soul — that is the martial path. Hu Bugui must be close to entering the Dao through martial arts, isn't he?"