Chapter 28 — A Nameless Shadow Emerges from the Ancient Wall

Shen Mu steadied his mind. A map from before the Wasteland Cataclysm was a precious thing indeed: it marked many of the ruins scattered through the Wasteland, so that if one went out hunting and could not return to Hidden Remnant Village in time, one could follow the map into these ruins and take shelter there from the encroaching dark.

"With this map in hand, I can avoid a great many dangers."

He set himself to memorizing it, fixing the whole of it in his mind, and after a while he found where this valley lay. On the map, the valley was named Zhenyang Palace.

"Zhenyang Palace? Yang sounds the same as the word for calamity."

Shen Mu had learned to read and write at the side of the Hard-of-Hearing Elder. He could not claim to have read the books of the sages through, but he had stuffed his belly full of learning all the same, and he murmured: "Zhenyang Palace — a palace to suppress calamity. And what calamity is this palace meant to suppress?"

He looked about him, and saw that the Dark Ape had gone off at some point; it was not in the hall. Likely the beast had feared that staying here would disturb him, and so had run outside.

"Big Fellow is a considerate one, after all."

Shen Mu walked out of the hall, called the Dark Ape to him, and asked, "Big Fellow, is there anything strange about this place?"

The Dark Ape scratched its head, thought for a moment, then hurried off toward the side hall of Zhenyang Palace. Shen Mu followed at a quick pace, and the silly roe deer came trailing after them.

"This—!"

The Dark Ape entered the side hall and stretched out a hand, pointing. Shen Mu followed the line of its finger and saw that it pointed at a white wall, on which was painted the figure of a man — very small, no bigger than a thumb.

Shen Mu studied the white wall up and down, and found nothing in it besides that tiny painted figure.

The silly roe deer had sniffed its way along; it came up to the wall, sniffed at the little figure painted there, and was just about to lick the wall when a hand suddenly seized it — and the roe deer vanished!

Shen Mu jumped in fright. The Dark Ape too flew into a rage, pounding its chest and roaring at the wall, yet not daring to step forward.

On the wall, beside the tiny human figure, there now appeared the painting of a roe deer, vivid and lifelike. Then Shen Mu saw the painted man begin, little by little, to move; it opened its mouth, and the mouth grew larger and larger, until it was studded with nail-like teeth — and then it swallowed the roe deer in a single bite!

Shen Mu was horrified. Having eaten the roe deer, the painted figure suddenly strode forward, walking toward them!

And then Shen Mu discovered, to his terror, that although the man did not step out of the wall, his body grew taller and taller, larger and larger; soon he was the size of a normal man, and still he did not stop, still he walked on.

Before long the figure filled the entire wall; even the roof of the side hall was covered in his shadow — a single head, a head with its great mouth open — and then his palms spread from this wall onto the other two.

"Little One, run!" The Dark Ape dragged Shen Mu and leaped outside, and they were not caught by the shadow on the wall.

A furious roar came from the wall; the wall shook without cease, dust filling the air, and then the black shadow spread out from within the side hall, and in the blink of an eye the whole side hall was shrouded in that shadow from the wall!

The shadow tried to tear itself free of the side hall's walls, but it could never break loose.

"So this is a demon?"

Shen Mu halted, blinked, and turned his head to test: "Kikota samaya, prajna prajna samaya, kikota prajna samaya."

The shadow shrouding the side hall suddenly fell still and silent. Then the lattice windows of the hall flew open, like two dark sunken eyes, and Shen Mu felt himself pinned by a pair of dreadful gazes, and a chill crawled over his skin.

Then the great door of the side hall boomed shut, and at once swung open again of itself; and between that closing and opening, a hoarse voice came through: "The Great Freedom Mantra. Are you a descendant of my clan? How pitiful — you have not learned the true transmission of the mantra. Has my clan truly fallen so low?"

Shen Mu probed: "Does the Senior know the true Great Freedom Mantra?"

"Naturally I do!"

The door swung open and shut, and a voice brimming with arrogance came forth: "The Great Freedom Mantra of my clan holds supreme power — the sublime power that opened up heaven and earth, the power to attain Great Freedom! And yet in your hands it has come to this? Not the least bit of might! Send this monkey away, and I will teach you the true mantra!"

Shen Mu glanced at the Dark Ape. The ape shook its head and rumbled, "Trust it? Ghost!"

"This Senior is of my clan; he will not harm me. Go outside and wait a while," Shen Mu said to comfort it.

The Dark Ape was still uneasy, but Shen Mu pushed it out.

The door of the side hall opened and closed, and that voice steeped in demonic nature said: "The mantra is the subtlety of moving one's power; it holds within it the strength of gods and demons. You have only the syllables of the mantra, not its spirit and cadence, nor have you received the method by which its power is unleashed. That method is called the Great Perfection Seal — the core secret art of my clan! My power is sealed within this hall and cannot last. Watch closely; I will teach you only once. How much you learn will depend on your own ability!"

On the wall of the side hall the black shadow kept shrinking, and then a smaller shadow appeared, about Shen Mu's height, and within that shadow line after line came into being, all of them in motion — the paths along which primordial energy ran.

That demonic voice said: "The Great Perfection Seal comprises four seal-methods: the Demon God's Divine Power Seal, the Heavenly Demon's Freedom Heaven Seal, the Great Wisdom Radiance Seal, and the last, the union of the three seals, the Great Perfection Demon Seal! This is the first seal, the Demon God's Divine Power Seal! You must give voice to the demonic sound as you strike, only then can its might be roused — kikota!"

Shen Mu did not blink, his eyes fixed on the black shadow on the wall of the side hall, committing the paths of power to memory; and within his body his primordial energy too began to run along those paths.

"Kikota!"

The demonic words burst suddenly from his mouth, and at once Shen Mu felt a dreadful power surge up from within him; that dreadful power drove the five fingers of his hand into a strange seal, and struck forward as though beyond his own control!

Boom —

A dull, heavy sound rolled out. With that single palm strike, Shen Mu had at last produced the thunder note he had dreamed of — Palm Thunder!

Shen Mu stared blankly, finding it hard to believe.

The might of this Demon God's Divine Power Seal that the figure on the wall had taught him was astonishingly great. In variation it could not match Old Master Ma's Thunder Roar Eight Arts, but in sheer power it surpassed the Thunder Roar Eight Arts by a great deal.

Yet the primordial energy consumed by this one move, the Demon God's Divine Power Seal, was immense as well — several times what the Thunder Roar Eight Arts consumed!

The shadow on the wall writhed, as though something were hauling on it, and it was drawn helplessly back into the side hall. Panting, it said: "The power of this side hall is too strong; it presses me down without cease. I have little time left. Watch closely — this is the second seal, the Hidden Demon's Freedom Seal! Samaya!"

On the inner wall, the paths of primordial energy within the black shadow changed once more; but the inside of the side hall was dim, and at this distance Shen Mu could not see clearly.

Shen Mu roused his spirits and, without realizing it, stepped forward; at last he could make out clearly the circulation and the changes of the primordial energy in the shadow on the wall.