Chapter 178 — Nine Turns, Three Gates
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Though Shen Mu was running at flying speed, his mind was still deep in thought, more active than ever before. This meeting with the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping had touched on little, yet it had plunged his mind into a fever of excitement. To stand face to face with a man of peerless talent stimulates a man, presses upon him, elevates him.
To the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping it was merely an ordinary conversation; to Shen Mu it meant something far from ordinary.
Simply to stand before this legendary figure demanded enormous courage, and to speak with him demanded the full exercise of all his intelligence. To converse with the wise fills a man with wisdom; to keep company with the mediocre makes him mediocre. It was on the occasion of this conversation with the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping that Shen Mu brought himself to the peak of his intelligence and, seizing the moment, perfected the Great Unification Art.
Suddenly his steps slowed.
His essence now moved according to an improved Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art -- and the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art as it now stood was the Great Unification Art he had perfected, into which he had woven the strengths of many arts from the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture. The original Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art had possessed no attribute of its own; it served purely to drive other arts, and in raw power it fell short of arts paired with their own divine abilities.
The Eight Thunder Peal Formulas, for instance, could unleash their full might only when driven by the Thunder Peal Mahayana Scripture. The Rain-Bringing Formula required the Dark Warrior Water-Commanding Art to rouse it. The Rushing Thunder Flame Formula needed the Vermilion Bird Fire-Mastery Art to steer it before the power of thunder and fire could be fully expressed.
The Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art, however, was a technique, with no matching spell or divine ability. In the Great Unification Art Shen Mu had comprehended this time, taking the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art as its root and drawing on the scripture the Woodcutter passed down upon the stone, he awakened the varied properties of the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art, enabling it to bring out the power of every kind of method.
The Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art had no attribute, could not temper the body, and had no companion divine ability; it could not be directly transformed into mighty offensive force. With this comprehension of the Great Unification Art, Shen Mu had at last solved that problem. The Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art of today was, above all, all-embracing: use his improved Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art to drive other spells, sword arts, and combat techniques, and its power was in no way inferior to their proper companion arts.
This was what the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture called the Great Unification Art.
Every Cult Master of the Dark Demon Cult had possessed his own unique Great Unification Art. The young Patriarch's original intent had been that Shen Mu, after comprehending a Great Unification Art, should cultivate it alongside the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art -- slower in progress, but able to combine the merits of both arts. He had not anticipated that Shen Mu would improve the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art directly, rather than comprehending an art built upon the foundation of the Great Nurturing Dark Demon Scripture.
Shen Mu himself did not know whether this was for good or ill, whether it was the right choice.
From childhood he had cultivated the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art; it was the art he knew best, and so instinctively he had turned the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art into the Great Unification Art.