荒墟牧神 - 第1136章 少年折服雲煙仙子 - 錦書坊

Yan'er flew several thousand li before at last she found Shen Mu in a cavern shaped like a splayed figure, hollowed out of a great mountain. Shen Mu was embedded in the cliff wall, his legs spread wide, his arms stretched flat, so grievously wounded that he could not stir a muscle. When Yan'er arrived, the mountain god set to guard the place was a shanxiao, and it was even then craning its neck this way and that, peering into the cave. Yan'er drove the shanxiao mountain god off and hastily pried Shen Mu out of the cave. Shen Mu coughed up blood again and again, yet of a sudden he burst out laughing, coughing blood as he laughed, until soon the blood came hissing out of him like a fountain. "Young Master, stop laughing, quickly!" Yan'er cried in alarm. "Laugh any more and you will spurt out every last drop of your blood!" Shen Mu roused the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art to steady his wounds, and with an effort sat up, smiling. "I am in no great danger. I have merely lost half my life, and I am not about to die. I have already unlocked the first rune!" Yan'er was startled. "Young Master, two whole years, and you have unlocked only the first rune? Then how long will it take you to unlock Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability in full?" "Two years?" Shen Mu was taken aback. He had thought a year at most had passed; never had he imagined it was two years. This was precisely why he disliked seclusion the way other wielders of divine abilities, and gods besides, delighted in it. Seclusion sounded formidable, but it meant cutting oneself off from the real world; a retreat might last decades, even centuries, and one would miss many people and many affairs, would miss the advances in the arts of the Dao and in divine abilities, and would step out of seclusion already fallen behind the times. These two years of seclusion were more than he could endure; fortunately, he had comprehended Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability through and through, and by means of the counterstroke of the Ancient God's Egg he had at last comprehended the first rune of the Ancient God's Great Way! Yan'er secretly rejoiced, thinking, "If it took the Young Master two years to comprehend the first rune of Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability, does that not mean he must stay here a long while yet? Then I can stay forever at Brother Pi's side..." Shen Mu rose and stretched his limbs. "Yan'er, we are going back. It is time we left the Southern Heaven." Yan'er was somewhat disappointed. "Why does the Young Master not stay on here and go on comprehending the divine ability?" "I have already comprehended Heavenly Venerable Ling's divine ability. There is no profit in staying any longer." They hurried back to where the dragon-qilin was, and Shen Mu put away the Ancient God's Egg. "It is time to leave. The Heavenly Court has attacked the Great Void, and I am eager to know how matters stand; besides, the day when I must break the Ghost Ship divine ability draws nearer and nearer." His wounds were not yet healed, so he could do no more than ride on the dragon-qilin's back toward the Spiritual Energy Transference Bridge of the Southern Heaven. When they reached the bridge, Shen Mu turned and looked back over that vast expanse of sky and earth. The Southern Heaven lay all in peace, without war, without turmoil. "The people here do not know that they might have another choice. But they have been schooled into such deep servility that they no longer know how to resist." Shen Mu patted the dragon-qilin, and it bore him and Yan'er into the Spiritual Energy Transference Bridge. His face was as calm as still water, but in his heart he said silently, "They are no more than livestock raised by demigods, who at most will politely ask your leave before they eat you. Death is not what is to be feared. What is to be feared is failing to win a better future for one's children and grandchildren. Perhaps the people who live here will even mock Jingping, laugh at us for overreaching