荒墟牧神 - 第31章 瀾江劍意照寒芒 - 雲海書庫

ood at the joints of the Water Dragon Formation's four limbs, the blacksmith pinned down the dragon body, and the hard-of-hearing old man pinned down the dragon tail. That created exactly the situation now in the village: everyone stood in a different place, bodies staggered, making it difficult to move quickly and difficult to guide a flying sword with qi, unless one had supreme attainment in qi-guided flying swords. Clearly, Shen Mu was not such a man. But Qianxun, his disciple, was exactly such a man. Though Qianxun was still only a martial artist at the Spirit Embryo realm, his mastery of qi-guided flying swords was extraordinary. He had refined his vital-qi threads to incomparable fineness, and his sword-control technique had reached a terrifying level. Once he had controlled a brush with vital qi and painted a lady's portrait from thirty zhang away; in that painting, every strand of the lady's hair was distinct, not one strand out of place. So long as Shen Mu answered with his blade, defeat was certain. But Shen Mu put his knife back and chose to fight empty-handed, which was somewhat unexpected to Qianxun. Still, bare hands against precious swords were a disadvantage any way one looked at it. And the swords he had brought this time were not ordinary swords but spirit swords—swords bred in the spirit treasury of a supernatural adept at the Six Harmonies realm. In sharpness, resilience, hardness, and spirit, spirit swords were far superior to ordinary blades and weapons. Shen Mu bowed. "Senior Brother, please." Qianxun returned the bow. The sword in the bag at his back rang out as he said, "Junior Brother, please." Shen Mu lifted his foot, and at that very moment the sword in the bag at Qianxun's back clanged out of its sheath. A vital-qi thread drove it; a biting chill pressed forward, points of sword light stabbing at Shen Mu. The vital-qi thread was so fine that the naked eye could barely see it. A slight quiver, and the sword shook out blossom after blossom of sword light, thrusting at Shen Mu from every tricky angle, so fast that the eye was dazzled. For a martial artist to have cultivated qi-guided flying swords to such a level was already a rare achievement. Shen Mu moved with incomparable agility, threading between the motionless figures, but Qianxun's sword was faster still, its swordplay so fine it was breathtaking. To the others standing still, the sword posed no threat at all, but to Shen Mu, every stroke was lethal. The sword light was impossible to defend against. Even if he unleashed the Lame Elder's Heaven-Stealing Leg, he could not escape it. There were simply too many obstacles; every motionless person hemmed in his speed and made it impossible for him to give it full rein. Whoosh! Shen Mu called on Fire-Gazing, and his vital qi suddenly turned incomparably fierce and explosive. A faint dragon's roar sounded, and around his arm a fire dragon faintly appeared and coiled. The fire dragon was hazy and indistinct, now its head merging with his fist, now its claws merging with his fingers and palm, changing without cease. The sword light stabbed at him. Shen Mu met it with a punch, and at the instant his fist was about to crash into the spirit sword, he suddenly flung his five fingers open. The air inside his palm exploded with a roar, shaking the stabbing sword tip until it wavered. Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Shen Mu's fingers flicked out in turn, striking the tip, the blade, and the hilt of the sword one after another. Each flick let out a great clang, as if a massive iron hammer had smashed down upon the sword. When his fifth finger flicked out, he sent the spirit sword flying, and Qianxun's vital-qi thread was broken clean through by the force. Shen Mu moved fast, his body twisting through the crowd, closing rapidly on Qianxun. When only a little more than a zhang separated them, Qianxun's face remained wooden; another sword cry rang from the bag at his back, and a second spirit sword flew out and