Chapter 1036 — The Closer to Home, the More Timid the Heart
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu felt as if he had returned to the days of the Hidden Cripple Village, where the village headman personally trained him in the sword, personally teaching him to perceive the true meaning within the way of the sword. The Twentieth Sword Form was extremely difficult to learn.
Shen Mu was already a sword master, but even with a grand master of the sword like the village headman teaching him in person, he had to comprehend the sword dao anew from the very beginning. He was like a sword boy just beginning to learn the sword, following the aged village headman; the two held longswords in their hands, each stance and strike simple and clear, their sword technique the most basic of forms—plain, clumsy, and unadorned.
"Since you went to the Heavenly Court, you have tempered your sword dao and sword heart far less. Your mind has grown disturbed. " The village headman taught him with wholehearted concentration: "The Heavenly Court is a dazzling world.
It has broadened your horizons, true enough, but it has also cast dust over your sword heart and left your sword dao standing still.
" Thus the old man and the young man emptied their minds and lived a simple, plain life for more than ten days. Besides practicing the sword, Shen Mu would sit with the village headman as each of them breathed in and out before his own divine sword.
They activated no cultivation art; they simply felt the spirit hidden within their swords and resonated with the swords. On this day, Shen Mu felt his sword core breathing in tandem with him. When he inhaled, the sword core seemed to inhale as well, gradually swelling larger; when he exhaled, the sword core seemed to exhale, gradually growing smaller.
Between one breath and the next, he felt his qi and blood flowing into the sword core.
Not only qi and blood—even his divine sense seemed inseparable from the sword core. And his soul, too, seemed to take the sword core as part of its own body. The village headman was greatly gratified.
"You are now able to learn the Twentieth Sword Form," he said.
Thus Shen Mu learned the Twentieth Sword Form.
The Twentieth Sword Form was an extremely powerful basic sword move; it was more like a mental method.
One had to inject one's qi and blood, divine sense, and soul into the sword to augment its might, and therefore it could be applied to any sword move whatsoever.
In other words, this move could even be applied within basic sword moves such as the Nineteenth Sword Form!
However, learning Sword Twenty did not necessarily mean one could execute Sword Twenty, because the conditions for unleashing this basic sword move were far more stringent—one had to comprehend the sword domain. Although Shen Mu had learned the move under the village headman, he had not yet forged a sword domain, and so he still could not unleash it. "The sword domain is a domain within the way of the sword.
Comprehending a sword domain requires a deeper understanding of the sword dao.
You cannot force it for now," the village headman said. "Maintain a pure sword heart, and you will awaken to your own sword domain.
I myself have only just touched the threshold of the sword domain. Your foundations in the sword path are very solid, and you know how to study deeply.
Your natural aptitude is better than mine, and in the future your achievements will surely surpass mine—it is only that your temperament is too flighty. " During those ten-odd days, Shen Mu benefited greatly, and his heart was filled with a thousand reflections; but immediately afterward he cast the village headman's teachings behind him and ran outside the capital to work with the Blind Elder and the Mute Artisan on micro-forging.