Chapter 28 — A Nameless Shadow Emerges from the Ancient Wall
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 3
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.
"Samaya!"
He silently recited the demonic sound, his primordial energy moved, and at once another wondrous power surged up from within him, driving his body into another motion.
His face broke into a smile against his will; his fingers shaped themselves as though plucking a flower, and he struck out a seal.
The might of this seal was not great — indeed, it seemed to have no might at all. And yet Shen Mu sensed that among the Thunder Roar Eight Arts there was one seal-method whose effect was much like that of the Hidden Demon's Freedom Seal: the fifth form of the Thunder Roar Eight Arts, The Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void!
The move Old Master Ma had taught him seemed, at first glance, to carry no great attacking force; but its essence lay in striking at the soul of the one who wielded the divine arts!
The secret of The Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void was this: the fist is as the great sun shining in the empty sky, and the yang thunder in the palm tempers the soul!
And the Hidden Demon's Freedom Seal that the figure on the wall had taught him seemed likewise to have little might, yet it too was aimed at the soul; in principle it ran in the same channel as Old Master Ma's The Sun Illumines the Yang Spirit, Refined in the Void.
The only difference was this: Old Master Ma used the great sun's yang thunder to destroy his opponent's soul, utterly firm and fierce; while the Hidden Demon's Freedom Seal drew the opponent's soul into the palm with a single seal — the palm itself being the Heaven of Freedom — and ground that soul away within the palm, a far more sinister and venomous art, one that left a man no way to guard against it.
What is utterly firm and fierce can still be defended against; but the Hidden Demon's Freedom Seal leaves no room for defense.
Shen Mu was puzzled. The seal-methods of the figure on the wall and Old Master Ma's fist art had many points of correspondence; plainly the two shared one and the same principle, yet the ways in which they expounded that principle were utterly different — one the orthodox path, the other a demonic heresy.
As for which was the better, Shen Mu could not say; he could only say that each had its strength.
Old Master Ma's Thunder Roar Eight Arts was better suited to meeting an enemy face to face, battering him down with the utmost firmness and fierceness; while the Great Perfection Seal was better suited to being loosed suddenly, catching an opponent off guard.
The figure on the wall shrank again by a measure, as though it could scarcely endure the suppression of Zhenyang Palace. Panting, it said: "Watch closely — this is the third seal, the Great Wisdom Radiance Seal..."
The shadow on the wall grew hazy and indistinct. Unconsciously Shen Mu stepped forward twice more, on the verge of crossing the threshold of the side hall. Suddenly he halted; he did not go in, but instead roused the Ninefold Heaven Far-Gazing Eye Art that the Blind Elder had taught him. Another layer of pupil appeared in his eyes, and though the shadow on the wall was dim, in his eyes it became clear.
"If you do not come in, can you see it clearly?" asked the figure on the wall.