荒墟牧神 - 第1175章 變化奇功 - 墨香閣

Lady Tianyin shrank her body, but even shrunk to the utmost she still stood a good deal taller than Shen Mu. She led him into her palace and said with a laugh: "You have gone some days without coming to see me. You are a Heaven Venerable now — I have heard some of your old acquaintances speak of you, and they envy you greatly."

"Hard to tell in a word," said Shen Mu. "Why has your cultivation gone so fast, Lady? You are already at the Imperial Throne realm, are you not?"

Lady Tianyin was delighted, and said joyfully: "You saw it too? Ever since I came back to life, I have felt that whatever I cultivate comes with extraordinary speed. In a few years I had perfected the Spirit Bridge. But then Xu Shenghua came running to me and told me he had opened up the Heavenly River divine treasury, and he made me cast the Spirit Bridge treasury aside. Then he taught me how to open the Heavenly Palace, and I found refining it easy enough."

Shen Mu's face darkened. How hard had his own cultivation been? Nothing like Lady Tianyin, who had sailed with wind and water all the way to the Imperial Throne realm.

Still, it was no wonder. When Lady Tianyin had come back to life she had no realm at all, yet her cultivation strength was already a match for the Yin Son of Heaven. With such splendid capital to her name, it was only reasonable that she should reach the Imperial Throne realm in a mere ten or twenty years.

What was more, her mind was simple and undivided. Xu Shenghua, the Woodcutter and the rest had sorted out the foundational runes of the Great Way of the Tianyin Realm, and once she understood her own Way of Tianyin, comprehending divine powers and fathoming realms alike came to her with utter ease.

And the innate advantage of having once been an ancient god let her attain in the Way of Tianyin a mastery no one could rival.

"You have gained a blessing out of a calamity, Lady," Shen Mu said with a smile. "I have a request I scarcely dare make: would you pass on to me your Imperial Throne cultivation art?"

Lady Tianyin was heartily frank. She laughed: "What is forward about such a request? You are my benefactor — what is one cultivation art worth?"

Shen Mu grew grave: "Lady, you must never be so generous with others. If another learned the mysteries hidden in your art, he could devise means to counter it, and it is all too likely that you would perish."

Lady Tianyin was startled. "You are not thinking of learning my art and then using it against me?" She tilted her head and thought a moment, then laughed: "No, you are not that sort of man."

She laughed merrily: "The Yin Son of Heaven deceived me once already, never fear — he shall not deceive me a second time. My art is called the Mystic Art of Transformation-Birth; it is a most wondrous art, for it can bestow a soul upon life that has none."

Shen Mu was struck blank a moment, then asked humbly: "And what powers does this Mystic Art of Transformation-Birth possess?"

Lady Tianyin went blank as well. After a long while she said, vexed: "I have never thought about that. Ah!" she cried out: "When I created this art, I never once thought of using its divine powers to beat anyone to death!"

Shen Mu was staring and silent for a long time, then bowed low and said in admiration: "Thank you for the instruction, Lady. It is precisely because you never sought to create divine powers of destruction in this Mystic Art of Transformation-Birth that you could seek the Way with all your heart and attain the Imperial Throne realm that everyone else dreams of."

Lady Tianyin, all at a loss, hurriedly raised him up, saying: "I do not know whether this art is of any use to you. At the time I thought only of cultivating, of pressing on along the Great Way of the Tianyin Realm; before I knew it I had reached the Imperial Throne, and I forgot to create any powers of mighty force. To hear you speak so only shames me."