Chapter 1444 — The Blade of Law
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Walk straight ahead—the young man in the red robe listening to music on the Sparrow-Gathering Terrace, that's him. " Shen Mu walked on. Music sweet to the ear reached him; among jade halls and jeweled towers, singing girls sang, dancing girls danced, and musicians plucked the strings and pipes. Shen Mu looked up. On the high terrace a man in a great red robe sat with a woman on each arm, and around him many divine-arts practitioners frolicked with him, their laughter shaking the heavens.
Shen Mu walked forward and started up the stairs. At the foot of the stairs a divine-arts practitioner blocked him. "His Excellency is listening to music upstairs.
The Sparrow-Gathering Terrace has been reserved entirely. Please go back.
" Shen Mu leaned in close; the muscle of his shoulder flexed with a bang, and the practitioner was sent flying backward, smashing a great hole in the Sparrow-Gathering Terrace. Shouts of rebuke came from above, and many practitioners poked their heads down. Shen Mu flicked his fingers one after another, and each practitioner was sent flying upward by the force of his finger-wind, crashing through the floors with resounding thuds.
Shen Mu climbed the stairs. Suddenly he heard the hum of a sword. He tapped lightly with the iron strip. The practitioner's flying sword was incomparably sharp, and what he held was only an iron strip beaten from common iron—yet when he tapped the flying sword, it burst apart at once, while the iron strip remained unharmed. He had used no cultivation at all, only the simplest of techniques.
Technique, method, Dao.
These three are the steps by which a divine-arts practitioner learns and advances.
First one learns technique—sword technique, Daoist technique, blade technique, formation technique, medical technique. When technique is learned to its utmost, one learns method—sword method, Dao method, blade method, formation method, medical method. Only when method is perfected can one comprehend the Dao.
The Dao cannot be learned; it can only be comprehended.
What Shen Mu used was the simplest blade technique, passed down in Hidden Remnant Village, while his opponent employed exquisite sword methods—the classic sword arts handed down in Jingping, bearing even traces of several sword moves created by Jiang Baigui and Shen Mu himself.
Yet Shen Mu had reached the point where great skill appears artless. Though it was the simplest blade technique, breaking his opponent's exquisite sword methods was simplicity itself. He mounted the terrace, and dozens of sword lights came at him head-on. The men with Wei Qinghe all sprang up, cursing without cease, riding their swords to kill him, all of them using Jingping's most exquisite sword arts.
In Shen Mu's day these sword arts had been rare in the world—one might even call them sect-guarding-level sword arts. But now anyone could learn them.
Shen Mu held the iron strip, flicking and tapping lightly. Crack after crack rang out. He did not pause his steps but walked on, flying swords bursting apart before him, behind him, all around him.
Suddenly a divine light struck at his face—the man in the red robe, Wei Qinghe, had abruptly roused a divine sword and thrust it straight at Shen Mu's brow! Shen Mu raised the iron strip and cut into the wind. Ding—a clear, ringing note.
Wei Qinghe's face lit with joy. He leaped up and cried, "You broken-down wretch bought by some lowborn—you dare assassinate me, and you don't even know who my father is! My father dotes on me; he long ago bestowed on me a divine sword to protect me.
. .
" Not a nick marred the iron strip in Shen Mu's hand, while the divine sword suddenly showed dense cracks, then burst with a crack and shattered across the floor.
Wei Qinghe was terrified out of his wits. Shen Mu walked up to him. "Wei Yong's son, Wei Qinghe?
" Wei Qinghe said in a panic, "Brother, you're still young—don't do anything rash. . .