荒墟牧神 - 第2章 四極靈髓入體 - 雲海書庫

eason they are called the Seven Divine Vaults." There was a note of authority in the Village Head's voice; by the bonfire's light his face showed now bright, now dark. "The Seven Divine Vaults remain sealed, and it is the martial artist himself who must open them. What bars the martial artist from unsealing a vault is a wall: the Origin Embryo Wall, the Five Lumina Wall, the Six Harmonies Wall, the Seven Stars Wall, the Heaven Origin Wall, the Life-Death Wall, the Spirit Bridge Wall. The process of breaking through these seven walls is called wall-breaking." The one-armed Master Huo gently stroked Shen Mu's head. "If the wall will not break, cultivation cannot begin. Some people are blessed by heaven: their Origin Embryo Wall is broken even at birth, the Origin Embryo Divine Vault opened naturally. A constitution of that kind is called a Spirit Constitution—a body shielded by heaven's grace from the very womb, a natural seedling for cultivation. Those who possess a Spirit Constitution tower above ordinary people in talent by an immeasurable degree, and they cultivate with half the effort for twice the result. The spirit embryo has four attributes, and so there are four Spirit Constitutions: the Azure Dragon, the White Tiger, the Vermilion Bird, and the Black Tortoise. To test which constitution one has, this very Four Symbols' blood is needed." The Pill Master said, "If you were an Azure Dragon Spirit Constitution, drinking the Azure Dragon spirit blood would awaken the Azure Dragon qi within you. Master Huo is an Azure Dragon Spirit Constitution." The one-armed Master Huo loosened his clothes, stood bare-chested before Shen Mu, turned his back to him, and gave a low shout. Shen Mu at once saw a strand of azure qi emerge behind Master Huo's back, running from the tailbone to the crown of his head. Gradually the azure qi took the form of an azure dragon, every scale and whisker rendered to the finest detail. One dragon claw stretched into Master Huo's lone arm, and two more claws coiled about both his legs. "This is the Azure Dragon Spirit Constitution." The one-armed Master Huo put his clothes back on. "Old Granny Zhu is a White Tiger Spirit Constitution." Granny Zhu shot him a glare. "Your old mother here is not about to strip for the likes of you old goats. I'll show Shen Mu by manifesting qi." Her body gave a slight tremor; a tiger's roar sounded faintly from behind her, and a white tiger twelve feet tall, with fierce slanting eyes, loomed indistinctly at her back. "Everyone in this village is a Spirit Constitution. Once, we too knew glory, but now we are nothing but a crowd of old and broken men and women." Granny Zhu laughed. "Us crippled, aged, worthless lot have nothing we can give you. These four cups of Four Symbols' blood are what will rouse a Spirit Constitution. If you are a White Tiger, drinking the White Tiger blood will rouse the White Tiger qi in your spirit embryo; if you are a Vermilion Bird, the Vermilion Bird blood will set its qi dancing; and the Black Tortoise works the same way." "Drink." The Village Head, Granny Zhu, and all the others looked at Shen Mu at once, expectation written on their faces. Shen Mu's heart thumped uneasily. Though in all the years of following the Pill Master to learn herb gathering and medicine refining he had been dosed with no one knew how many strange things, none had been so strange as this. He raised a white porcelain cup. The spirit blood within was burning hot—it was a cup of Vermilion Bird spirit blood. Shen Mu tossed it down in one draught and felt a line of fire run down his throat, coursing through every limb and bone. In a haze, he felt as though a roaring blaze had kindled within him, burning until his very blood seemed about to boil. Before long the burning sensation scattered. "Silent Smith, is he a Vermilion Bird Spirit Constitution?" the Village Head asked. The Silent Smith shook his head. "Continue, Shen Mu," said the Village Head. Shen Mu drank down the second