荒墟牧神 - 第25章 再啟靈藏踏新境 - 錦書坊

Man and ape battled furiously in the valley beneath the cliff, colliding with tremendous force. Shen Mu's arms grew sore and numb; pressed under the Xuan Liao Demon Ape's advantage, he gradually found it hard to hold out. Before long he was beaten black and blue again, yet the Xuan Liao Demon Ape did not strike to kill—it continued to spar with him, holding back a fraction of its strength. "Eat, strong!" The Xuan Liao Demon Ape threw a punch, and the gust of that fist surged wild, carrying no fewer than nine kinds of force—it was the third stance of the Eight Arcane Arts of the Thunder's Roar, Nine Dragons Riding Wind and Thunder. Even as it struck, it urged Shen Mu to eat more, to grow as strong as it was. "Heaven-Reaching Divine Eye, open!" Shen Mu's vital essence surged and rushed into his eyes, forming within his pupils the first heavenly-tier formation pattern of the Nine Heavens Eye-Gazing Art, and in an instant it was as though a second layer of pupil had appeared in his eyes. With the Heaven-Reaching Divine Eye opened, Shen Mu suddenly felt that all things in heaven and earth before him became incomparably clear, profound, and orderly; even the fist the Xuan Liao Demon Ape hurled at him grew wondrous in his sight. He could make out the sway of every single hair on the ape's fist in the air, even discern the motion of every tendon and every muscle beneath the ape's skin, and further still the direction of the ape's power itself! The Nine Heavens Eye-Gazing Art the Blind Elder had taught him let his eyes discover the truth within appearances, bringing his control and mastery of the forces of enemy and self to a height he had never imagined! Shen Mu's fist rose to meet the Xuan Liao Demon Ape's punch. In the instant before man's fist and ape's fist would collide, Shen Mu's five fingers suddenly snapped out one after another, fingertips breaking the air, bursting forth with the piercing shriek of a bowstring loosed from a strong bow and keen crossbow! The second stance of the Eight Arcane Arts of the Thunder's Roar, the Pipa Hand of the Snapping Finger's Shaking Thunder. Old Master Huo's martial art was not all fists—among them were also finger techniques, and the Pipa Hand of the Snapping Finger's Shaking Thunder was one of the most exquisite. Shen Mu's first finger snapped against the Xuan Liao Demon Ape's massive fist, and the ape immediately found all strength gone from that fist. Shen Mu's second finger snapped out, and the Xuan Liao Demon Ape felt the great tendons of that arm violently shudder! Shen Mu's third finger snapped out, and the Xuan Liao Demon Ape felt the muscles of its arm shudder violently as well; panic rose in its heart. Shen Mu's fourth finger snapped out, and the Xuan Liao Demon Ape's arm swung high against its will, exposing the weakness at its chest. Shen Mu's fifth finger snapped against the chest of that colossal creature, and the Xuan Liao Demon Ape felt as though hundreds of wild bulls of the barren wastes had rammed into its chest—it toppled and flew backward against its will! Shen Mu was dumbstruck. Was the Nine Heavens Eye-Gazing Art the Blind Elder had taught him really this powerful? What was powerful was not his stances but his eyes. With the Heaven-Reaching Divine Eye he had effortlessly seen through the shifts and currents of the Xuan Liao Demon Ape's power, found the weakness within that punch, and with his first finger struck the very flaw of the Xuan Liao Demon Ape, directly dissolving that terrifying punch! Whoosh— In the brief instant he was lost in thought, the Xuan Liao Demon Ape exploded upward, sent Shen Mu flying with one punch, then leaped into the air, clasped its hands together, and hammered down savagely at Shen Mu. The earth quaked, and where Shen Mu's body fell a deep pit was smashed out. The Xuan Liao Demon Ape landed with a thud and drove a fist down into the pit. Before its fist could reach the pit's bottom, Shen Mu's finger snapped against its fist once more. The ne