Chapter 27 — The Spirit Embryo's Secret Art First Attained
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Before long Shen Mu arrived outside the valley where the Nether Ape dwelt, and suddenly a hill-like figure rose up from the mountain forest — it was the Nether Ape. After days apart it had grown even more magnificent, and when it saw Shen Mu it was overjoyed; it pounded its chest, signaling him to jump onto its shoulder.
Shen Mu sprang onto its shoulder, and the Nether Ape bounded like the wind, carrying him into the valley and running deeper in.
This was the first time Shen Mu had entered the Nether Ape's lair. Wild deer and wild horses were everywhere in the valley, along with some river deer and dull-witted roe deer; in the heart of it stood an ancient ruin, broken walls and crumbling ramparts, utterly desolate.
The Nether Ape's dwelling was a palace half collapsed, and before the palace stood a ruined stone statue, half beast and half man. Shen Mu opened his Heaven-Reaching Eye, and his heart gave a small jolt.
This statue was the same as the one in Hidden Remnant Village: caught in the Heaven-Reaching Eye, the divine essence within it seemed a beast god propping up heaven and earth, savage and ferocious, its aura blotting the sky.
No doubt the Nether Ape relied on this statue every night to fend off the Gloom and preserve its life.
"Such extraordinary divine essence — could this too be a statue carved by a god?"
Shen Mu jumped down from the Nether Ape's shoulder. A foolish roe deer came up to him, sniffed the hem of his clothes, and chewed on it twice as though it were food. The Nether Ape picked the roe deer up, set it carefully aside, then waved a hand, signaling Shen Mu to follow.
It was the ruler of this valley and also its protector, guarding these animals and turning fierce only toward intruders.
Shen Mu followed it into the tumbledown palace, and at once frowned: the smell of wild beasts lay everywhere, and it must be that the valley's animals came into the palace at night to hide from the Gloom.
"Little one, look!" the Nether Ape said, pointing at a wall.
Shen Mu looked up. On the palace wall were broken murals, mottled and peeling, some places fallen away, others faded to nothing, with only a few panels still more or less intact.
These murals depicted people in cultivation, with arrows inside their bodies marking the courses of primordial energy.
Shen Mu looked for a few moments, and his heart suddenly leaped: he saw the primordial energy guidance paths of the Mystic Body Three Cores Art!
The Nether Ape must have practiced the Mystic Body Three Cores Art, found the patterns on the murals somewhat similar, and so brought him here!
But Shen Mu soon noticed something amiss. The first panel was indeed the guidance diagram of the Mystic Body Three Cores Art, while the second was different: it still followed the paths of the Mystic Body Three Cores Art, but was somewhat more complex.
The energy guidance path of the second panel entered the spirit palace at the center of his brow!
Energy entering the spirit palace led to the third panel, which showed the guidance path of primordial energy within the spirit palace: the energy was not directly breathed in and out by the spirit embryo, but instead formed a wondrous primordial energy array pattern beneath the spirit embryo's feet.
This array pattern was exceedingly complex, no less than the Shenxiao Tiangang array pattern the Blind Elder had taught him. Shen Mu studied it closely, committing it to memory with all his heart, and all the while simulated it with his own primordial energy, forming the array pattern beneath his spirit embryo's feet.
When he had completed the spirit embryo array pattern, his body gave a slight shudder, and at once he felt an inexplicable connection linking him to the spirit embryo!
He breathed, and the spirit embryo breathed with him; he moved, and the spirit embryo made the same movement; he drove the Mystic Body Three Cores Art, and the spirit embryo drove the Mystic Body Three Cores Art as well!