Chapter 1180 — Emulate Me and Live
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu drove the Profound Body Three-Elixir Art, marshaling his vital qi, while the Mystic Art of Creation revolved to fend off the Way of Yin and Yang, and so he charged deeper along the mountain path.
Before long, he came to the end of the path, having encountered as many as a hundred stone statues in all. Some of these Creators had been turned to stone unawares on their way in, eroded by the Way of Yin and Yang; others had died on their way back out.
Here was a glimpse of just how dreadful this mining region could be.
Shen Mu kept the Mystic Art of Creation in motion, not merely to resist the assault of the Way of Yin and Yang — when that Way altered the material constitution of his physical body and his primordial spirit, he could also adjust his flesh and his spirit back to their finest state. Yet the Way of Yin and Yang likewise changed his vital qi and his divine consciousness, making his qi no longer pure and his consciousness no longer lucid — and that was the most terrifying part of all!
A divine art that altered vital qi and consciousness, that brought one's cultivation crumbling down — he had never encountered such an art in his life! "People say the Dao knows no high or low," he murmured, "and yet high and low it does have.
This Way of Yin and Yang is indeed a cut above the Way of Creation.
" He examined himself with the greatest care, keeping his vital qi under tight control.
For now, he could barely defend himself; had he brought Yan'er and Long Qilin along, he would not have been able to protect them. "This mining region has a mind of its own," he thought, "which is to say, the entire region is alive!
" He cast his gaze in every direction.
Anything within the mining region could change its form at any moment, turning into all manner of dangers, into different forms of life — he could not afford to lower his guard. He stepped into the mining grounds, where traces of the Creators' excavations lay all around.
The Creators who had braved untold hardships to reach this place had never imagined it could be so fraught with peril; as they dug, their bodies and even their very souls were transformed without their knowledge, and by the time they came to their senses, it was far too late. Using the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner as a staff, Shen Mu advanced along the ore vein. The banner had already turned mottled with rust, its heavens darkened, and all the treasures upon it had become somber and dull.
"Mining Taiji Divine Stones here will be no easy task, I fear — the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner cannot suppress the uncanniness of this vein. " He could not help frowning.
This vein was unlike the Chaos Ore Vein: the ore lay exposed, with blocks of Taiji Divine Stone embedded in the rock of the cliff walls. The divine stones, and even the mountain body itself, were in endless flux, like a drop of ink dripped onto a bowl of batter and slowly stirred round.
Shen Mu put the Lapis Azure-Sky Banner away — formidable as it was, it seemed of little use here.
He picked up a pickaxe left behind by the Creators and was on the verge of prying loose a block of Taiji Divine Stone when the cliff wall shifted without warning: black and white flowed together, gradually taking the shape of a human face.
Shen Mu watched in astonishment as the two colors went on flowing, the face growing clearer and clearer, then growing out a body, growing out limbs — and in its hand, too, holding a pickaxe.
The portrait on the cliff was none other than Shen Mu himself, the very image of him, save only that it bore no color. Shen Mu studied the self upon the cliff, yet that self showed not a trace of curiosity — it simply swung up its pickaxe and made a cleaving stroke at him!
Whoosh! The pickaxe actually hacked out of the cliff, turning solid, and came down at Shen Mu's brow in a rush of wind!
The sacred eye between Shen Mu's brows opened wide, a beam of light shot forth, and the pickaxe was smashed to bits.