"Is she using that fine thread to control this sword? But with a thread so thin, how does she manage to make the sword turn?

" Shen Mu had no time to unravel the mystery, and at once he was off at a sprint. With a thud, the sword grazed past him, piercing into a great tree and burying itself deep in the trunk.

The sword seemed a living thing; it twitched twice in the tree, unable to pull itself free. Then the woman drifted over, her slender fingers closing around the hilt as she drew the blade from the trunk, and said with chagrin: "My White Tiger True Essence is still not strong enough—I cannot yet command it like my own arm. . .

" "Junior Sister Qing, transforming your true essence into fine silk to drive a flying sword and kill enemies is already quite an accomplishment.

" The young man who had trodden the waves beside her came to her side and said with a gentle smile: "What you lack is not cultivation but experience. This time Master has brought us to the Wastes to train, precisely to make up for that weakness. In the past we cultivated on our own and had no real combat—and now this little wretch is our chance for real combat. You will soon master the art of driving flying swords with qi. " The other three youths hurried over, and one of them laughed: "This little wretch has turned himself into a deer, and deer are naturally quick, so he was able to dodge Senior Sister's flying sword.

" Senior Sister Liu's spirits soared. She drove her sword after Shen Mu once more and said with a winsome laugh: "Senior Brother Chu, hold back for now—leave this little wretch to Junior Sister to practice her sword on.

" Senior Brother Chu was the young man who had trodden the waves beside her. He nodded and smiled: "Junior Brothers, let the three of us watch Junior Sister Qing's swordplay together.

" Shen Mu strained with all his might to dodge the sword-light flying at his back, wondering in confusion: "Driving a flying sword with qi? Could the thread in that woman's hand be no real thread at all, but her qi?

Can qi really reach such a level—controlling a precious sword? Can I do it? " He had learned the Beast-Slaying Blade under the butcher, who had only ever taught him to control the blade with both hands, never with qi.

Of this art he knew nothing whatsoever. But seeing Senior Sister Liu drive her flying sword with qi, Shen Mu's mind began to churn.

Since one could drive a flying sword with qi, could one use qi to command other things as well? Yet Senior Sister Liu sent her sword chasing after him again, leaving him no time to think it through.

Besides, Granny Zhu had turned him into an elk; his limbs were clumsy and slow, and the qi within his body had sunk into dead stillness, far less lively than in normal times. Swish— Sword-light flashed, struck from behind, and slashed across his back. Shen Mu felt a chill on his back, followed immediately by a searing pain.

He knew Senior Sister Liu's sword had cut him.

"Damn it! An elk is fast, but not as nimble as my true body.

Granny turned me into a deer, and now I'm wounded—I'm afraid this doom is inescapable. .

.

" The thought had barely crossed his mind when he suddenly felt his mouth split open.

It was not truly splitting open—the mouth of the deer hide was coming away from his body! Shen Mu then remembered that when Granny Zhu told him to run, she had surreptitiously plucked a needle from between "his" brows.

That needle was exactly the one that had pinned down his heavenly soul!

In no time at all, his head came free of the deer hide. Behind him, sword-qi broke the air with shrill whistles, slashing down at him. Shen Mu hurled himself forward with all his might, bursting out of the deer hide completely.

He tumbled and rolled, falling more than ten zhang away, then sprang to his feet and fled at a dead run. Behind him, the deer hide was slashed to pieces by Senior Sister Liu's qi-driven flying sword.

The sword fluttered like drifting petals, coming and going like lightning—clearly, in the course of hunting down Shen Mu, this woman's swordplay had taken a great leap forward! Still, shedding the deer hide had cost Shen Mu a heartbeat.

A youth, treading on leaves above the forest, descended from the sky and landed before him, blocking the way.

The two were separated by only two or three zhang—a distance spanned in an instant. The next moment, they would be face to face!

Shen Mu had no time to change direction, no other thought in his head.

His body, of its own accord, unleashed the leg technique the Lame Old Man had taught him—head down, feet up, legs sweeping out like a whirlwind! "Azure Dragon Arm! " The youth was a few years older than Shen Mu. A mocking smile curled on his lips as he raised both arms to block. Waves of hazy blue light rippled from his arms, and dragon claws covered in scales surfaced from the skin of his hands.

The next moment, Shen Mu's legs crashed against his arms—clang, clang, two sounds of steel striking steel. The smile on the youth's face had not yet faded when he let out a grunt, lost his footing, and was swept back despite himself.

The cloth over his two arms burst apart with a bang, both sleeves fluttering like paper butterflies as shreds danced across the sky.

It could now be seen that his arms seemed carved with dragon-claw tattoos, the claws coiling around his arms.

But having taken Shen Mu's two kicks squarely, his arms had instantly turned red and swollen. "Do you have iron ingots hidden in your legs?

" The youth's hands trembled with pain, his face a mix of shock and fury.

His gaze then fell to Shen Mu's feet: "Are the shoes iron too? " Shen Mu pushed himself up with both hands, landed on his feet, and fled. But the youth's words had reminded him—his legs were indeed bound with iron ingots.

When the Lame Old Man taught him the leg technique, he had demanded that Shen Mu's legs be bound with iron ingots at all times, never to be removed whether rising, lying, walking, or resting; he had to carry them always. In recent days, seeing that Shen Mu's body was growing sturdier and his strength greater, the Lame Old Man had made the iron ingots on his legs heavier still. Not only that—he had also had the smith Mo forge a pair of iron shoes for Shen Mu, to add more weight.

A pair of thick-soled iron shoes weighed ten jin; the iron ingots on one leg weighed twenty jin. Shen Mu bore fifty jin of weight on his legs!

The Lame Old Man had required him to train until he felt no weight from the iron shoes and ingots before he could take them off. In recent days, Shen Mu had grown accustomed to them, and when he had sprinted off just now, it had never once crossed his mind that he was running under a burden. But stopping to take off his shoes and unbind his legs would surely get him caught.

He could not stop, no matter what.

"Crush Mount Sumeru!

" Mid-run, Shen Mu suddenly stamped with his right foot, unleashing the move "Crush Mount Sumeru. " The thick soles of the iron shoes on his feet were stomped into flying mud; the shoes shattered into pieces, fragments bursting in every direction. At the same time, the muscles of his calves tightened, bunching into lumps and swelling outward, bursting the iron ingots off one by one—thudding into the surrounding trees like arrows.

Shen Mu's other foot stepped forward, landed, and likewise smashed through its iron shoe and burst its ingots. Whoosh— His body suddenly became light as a feather, and one step carried him onto the treetops, giving him a start. Barefoot, his toes resting on a treetop, his body began to sink.

And below, sword-light flashed, stabbing upward from beneath—what met his eyes were dozens of razor-sharp sword tips!

Senior Sister Liu's qi-driven flying sword was growing more and more formidable.

She was not driving dozens of swords; she was shaking one sword into dozens of sword blossoms!

Suddenly, Shen Mu recalled the Lame Old Man's words: "Don't think about whether the spot beneath your feet can bear your weight.