荒墟牧神 - 第20章 人身孕出古靈胎 - 雲海書庫

lder murmured, "You are the most knowledgeable among us. If even you do not know the cultivation method for a Hegemonic Body, will Mu'er's Hegemonic Body not be wasted?" Everyone around the bonfire fell silent. The Butcher suddenly said, "The cultivation method for a Hegemonic Body was created by people, wasn't it?" Everyone looked at him in confusion. The Butcher gave a mocking laugh. "If the cultivation method for a Hegemonic Body was created by people, then why can we not create one as well? Even if we cannot, Mu'er can create one himself! I bow to no one, which is why my Butcher's Blade Technique was created by me and me alone. If you are frightened into submission by the difficulty before you, then I will look down on every one of you! Mu'er, do not let me look down on you!" Shen Mu nodded heavily. A surge of hot blood rose in his chest, and he called out, "Rest assured, Grandpa Butcher. I will never fail the hopes you have placed in me!" The Butcher threw back his head and laughed, then slapped Shen Mu hard on the shoulder. The others laughed as well, and the heaviness that had hung over them moments before vanished without a trace. Seeing this, the Village Headman felt the knot in his own heart loosen as well, and he laughed aloud. "I deceived them by telling them that Mu'er was a Hegemonic Body, giving them the courage to go on living. Yet I became trapped in a dead end, obsessed with figuring out how to make the lie whole. I never realized that they had already found the drive to go on, while I was still troubling myself over how to sustain the lie." With the knot in his heart undone, his body and spirit felt light and unburdened. Shen Mu's arrival had given the villagers of Hidden Crippled Village the will to go on living, and it had given him the will to strive as well. The Alchemist glanced at him and smiled. It had been a long time since the Village Headman had been this happy, a long time since he had worn such a smile. "I believe we must force the Hegemonic Body to its limits. Only then will the power of its primordial qi reveal itself." In the light of the bonfire, the Butcher's face appeared especially fierce. He said grimly, "Without madness, there is no survival. Since a Hegemonic Body is stronger than a spirit body, its primordial qi must also be stronger than spirit-body primordial qi. But the conditions required to unleash that strength must be harsher as well. We must push it to the limit before we can draw out its power!" The Lame Elder nodded. "Mu'er's iron shoes must be made thicker, and more iron weights must be strapped to him. We must force him to run faster!" The Blind Elder tapped his staff against the ground. "His cultivation used to be far too easy. From now on, we must double it. Only then can we force out his potential." Grandpa Ma said, "Exactly. We must force out his potential, and we must work twice as hard as well." The Mute gestured with both hands, crying "Ah, ah" as he said something no one else could understand. Shen Mu was deeply moved, yet at the same time he sensed that something was not right. He was indeed touched by how warmly the grandfathers and grandmothers of the village cared about him, but why did every one of their sentences contain the words "force out"? The Alchemist narrowed his eyes and joined the discussion. "Nourish him! Keep nourishing him! Nourish him until his primordial qi is resilient enough to display its power! There are more than enough rare beasts and strange plants in the Barren Ruins for me to refine miraculous medicines, and my herb garden outside the village is filled with every kind of spirit medicine imaginable! We can nourish him until a pinch of his skin squeezes out a little spirit liquid!" "Alchemist, you really are prepared to spend a fortune!" Everyone burst into laughter.