荒墟牧神 - 第31章 瀾江劍意照寒芒 - 雲海書庫

Shen Mu's heart hammered wildly as he drew the pig-sticker from his back. It was the first time he had ever faced such an array. Mu Beilan's presence bore down on him invisibly. Every move, every word of this old man since he entered the village gave off boundless pressure. When he fought Senior Brother Qu of the Lanjiang Five, he had been pushed to the limit and forced to strike, but the formation before him now made him flinch. "I pissed on the stone statue at the village entrance—what else is there to fear? I've seen the girl Wu, that demon from Zhenyang Palace. I wasn't afraid then, so can I be afraid now? No matter how strong Mu Beilan is, he can't be stronger than gods and demons!" Shen Mu pulled himself together, and his flustered heart gradually steadied. He looked around and frowned slightly. The village was small. Counting himself, twenty-two people stood here like so many wooden posts, every one in a different position, bodies staggered, cramming the tiny village to the brim. The village head lay on a stretcher, the pill master stood beside it, the Butcher, who had only the upper half of his body, stood bolt upright on a wooden post, Master Ma leaned slantwise against another post, Granny Zhu carried a basket, the mute stood at the blacksmith shop's door, the hard-of-hearing old man held a writing brush still dripping ink, and the lame old man stood on one leg, leaning on his cane. The men Mu Beilan had brought also held positions chosen with care—each one so strange that it was hard to move quickly through the village, let alone fight. Such a place demanded supremely high skill in qi-guided flying swords. If one drove a flying sword by vital qi, one had to be extremely careful that one's sword did not touch the other people or be affected by them; it required an incomparably delicate sword technique. What Shen Mu practiced was the Butcher's Slaughtering Blade Art, a blade art of the battle-technique school, and such an art could never accomplish that. "Fight here?" Shen Mu asked. Qianxun nodded. "Right here!" Shen Mu thrust the pig-sticker back into the knife pouch on his back and left both hands empty. Seeing him put the pig-sticker back into its scabbard, Qianxun's eyes glittered. It was somewhat beyond his expectation that Shen Mu would rather fight empty-handed. Before coming, Mu Beilan had already taken them to inspect the ruins in the canyon. From Senior Brother Qu's remains, which had been gnawed to bare bones, Mu Beilan had deduced that Shen Mu used a blade art. At the time, Shen Mu had picked up a wooden stick from the ground and used it as a blade, striking Senior Brother Qu's body again and again. It had left tiny dents on his bones, and around each dent the bone showed hairline cracks. From this one could tell that Shen Mu's blade art was superb, and that his footwork must be very fast as well; only with outstanding legwork could he have kept moving and struck every corner of Senior Brother Qu's body. Mu Beilan's abilities were extraordinary, and he was one of the foremost experts under heaven. From the traces Shen Mu left, Mu Beilan could tell that Shen Mu had used battle techniques. The battle-technique school excelled at close combat, but it had little proficiency or accomplishment in qi-guided flying swords. From that moment, Mu Beilan had settled on a method of killing Shen Mu. After his people entered the village, each took a different position, laying out the Li River Water Dragon Formation and deliberately leaving nine formation eyes, with Mu Beilan at the dragon-head position. Apart from Qianxun, the others were all the most elite masters of the Lanjiang Sect. To keep the Li River Water Dragon Formation from unleashing its combined-attack might, the villagers of Hidden Remnant Village had to block the formation eyes one after another: the village head and the pill master blocked the dragon eyes, the blind old man blocked the heart-eye, the lame old man, Granny Zhu, Master Ma, and the Butcher st