荒墟牧神 - 第26章 一臂擎天力更雄 - 雲海書庫

was stranger still was that the attributes were water and fire! For, as everyone knew, a spirit body had a single attribute — it was absolutely impossible to have two. Shen Mu was clearly of ordinary aptitude, and yet he had two attributes, and fire and water at that, which could never coexist. That was the very heart of the mystery. "Does an ordinary person always awaken two spirit bodies once his spirit embryo awakens?" He felt a little lost. "What exactly did the Mute teach him, that his primordial energy should have taken on water and fire attributes? Could other ordinary people do the same?" He knew that in recent days the villagers had exhausted every device to make Shen Mu's Tyrant Body primordial energy unleash its power: the Alchemist had tried medicinal supplements; the Lame Elder, the Butcher, and Old Master Ma had driven him through frantic training; the Blind Elder had grudgingly imparted his Holy Eye; the Hard-of-Hearing Elder had tried to bring Shen Mu into the Dao through calligraphy and painting, so that he might paint out divine powers. But what means the Mute had employed, he did not know. He had never dreamed that the one to rouse the might of the Tyrant Body's primordial energy would turn out to be the Mute. All he knew was that the Mute had made Shen Mu observe fire and observe water. How observing fire and water could give Shen Mu's primordial energy attributes of fire and water — that subtle mystery was beyond him. The Mute was the village blacksmith and had never once shown his hand. In the village, the Blind Elder was the most amorous, the Butcher the most ostentatious, the most warm-hearted was the ice-cold Old Master Ma, the most sinister was the ever-effusive Lame Elder, the most solid and dependable was the Alchemist, the most free of worldly desires was the Hard-of-Hearing Elder, the most changeable was the hunchbacked Granny Zhu, and the most taciturn of all was the Mute. Of the Mute the Village Head knew next to nothing — only that someone had cut out his tongue, that he was a master hand at artifact forging, and that he scraped out a living making kitchen knives, plows, hoes, and the like for the villagers of nearby settlements. From the way he had guided Shen Mu and made his primordial energy erupt with power, the Mute's cultivation and attainment were probably the highest in the village after his own. "Mu'er, can you refine your qi into a thread now?" Granny Zhu asked expectantly. Shen Mu tried to gather his primordial energy into a fine thread. The next moment, his primordial energy burst out of him — as thick as an arm, wreathed in flames. This huge, coarse "primordial thread" wrapped itself around the cleaver and chopped down, and the log before him, as thick as a bucket, split clean open — a frightful display of force! The villagers gawked at the arm-thick thread and were all left speechless. Shen Mu's thread was certainly mighty enough, but refining qi into a thread meant refining primordial energy into a fine and delicate filament, so that it became all the more nimble and versatile — able to control a treasured sword, drive a flying sword with qi, and execute many techniques that could not be used at ordinary times. What Shen Mu produced could not be called a thread; it might more properly be called a primordial arm. A primordial thread this thick devoured a prodigious amount of energy, besides. The Lame Elder scratched his head and said, "I think a primordial arm is fine too. It's like sprouting an extra arm — no small advantage in a brawl." Everyone did not know whether to laugh or cry. Granny Zhu shook her head. "A primordial thread is far more agile. A primordial arm is too thick and coarse — in toughness, strength, and agility it is far inferior to a thread. Mu'er, you must refine your qi into a thread as soon as possible." Shen Mu nodded. It was only while observing fire that he could make his primordial energy reveal a fire attribute, like Vermilion Bird primordial energy; as s