Chapter 1449 — Nurturing the Spirit with the Blade
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
Around the Yong River the fishing boats had stopped fishing; on the riverbank fishermen and divine ability practitioners alike halted to watch, and they saw blade light sweeping across the river like sunlight scattered on the water, rippling and shimmering.
Yet that shimmering light did not cling to the river's surface but suddenly leapt up, filling the blue sky, and more blade light traveled through the river water like great fish, like azure dragons.
Light after light wove and crossed, splitting the sky, leaving black lines in their eyes.
The divine ability practitioners of Jingping at once bled black from both eyes, and blade wounds suddenly appeared on their bodies; startled, they hurriedly restrained the fishermen along the bank, forbidding them to look again lest their eyes be harmed. The battle in the river had reached such a pitch that although the fluctuations of power in the combat arts school were not as mighty as those of divine abilities, and divine abilities spread their power over a wider range, the combat arts school that took the blade as its core hid a spirit in its moves that could easily wound the Dao heart and spirit of onlookers.
Especially Shen Mu, Zaifu, and the other three—grand masters who had entered the Dao through the blade; their moves seemed not to reach this far, yet every move and stance held their Dao, and a single glance stirred one's essence, qi, and spirit as if a keen blade had touched the body!
The stronger one's cultivation, the stronger this resonance, and the graver the injury! The divine ability practitioners restrained the fishermen, and the dragon palace in the Yong River was migrating too; divine dragons great and small swam along the riverbed, eyes shut, following the Dragon Emperor of the Yong River upstream or downstream.
"Hide in the heavens at the heart of the Yong River, bar the doors tight, shut your eyes, do not observe or examine, do not look or listen, do not sense or receive!
" The Dragon Emperor of the Yong River was named Lord Huanlong, a great master of the river with deep cultivation, and he was much pleased with himself, crying: "Formidable, is it not?
My lord has returned! " The edge of a treasured sword comes from grinding; so too with the blade.
Shen Mu took qi as his blade, and his whole essence, qi, and spirit were ground by the four great masters ever stronger and keener; the same Dao-entering divine ability, with a different state of mind and different moves, when executed, became a different blade art. But in the end, though the five turned their Dao-entering divine abilities over a thousand times, they could not overcome Shen Mu, nor force him one step further to comprehend a deeper Dao realm.
Three days later, the sweeping, shouting figures were gone from the Yong River; only five figures remained, standing at scattered intervals on the river's surface, motionless, their essence, qi, and spirit in combat. This sight was even more terrifying!
Blade qi and spirit filled the river's surface, twisting space; thousands upon thousands of strands of blade qi collided fiercely in the air like schools of fish.
The blade nurtures the spirit. They were contending with spirit!
Nearby, many scholars of the former Yong River Academy, now the Yong River Sect, came hurrying at the news; no sooner had they reached the riverbank than their primal weapons flew up beyond their control, ringing and clashing in the air against the blade qi.
Crash. One primal weapon after another shattered in the air, startling the scholars.
And the closer to the Yong River, the faster the primal weapons shattered.
Strangely, this blade qi was harmless to the human body, and did no harm to grass or trees, insects or fish; it seemed to target only weapons. "Sect Master Su!