Chapter 96 — The Sword Walks Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
By the third pass, he could execute the entire sequence of sword moves fluidly. Only the Village Head's near-supernatural quality—sword art like rivers and mountains—still eluded him.
Shen Mu practiced again and again, and his mastery over Sword Walks Rivers and Mountains grew stronger and stronger. Yet to grasp the profundity of the stance and unleash its full power in so short a time remained difficult for him. Before long, Granny Zhu finished preparing lunch and called him to eat. Even at the table, Shen Mu would from time to time curl his vital energy around his chopsticks and drill the sword forms in the air above the dishes.
At night, he practiced for a long while more before sleeping, and even in his dreams he was practicing the sword. This continued for more than ten days, until at last he grasped the key to the Sword Walks Rivers and Mountains stance!
Read a book a hundred times and its meaning reveals itself—so too with sword art. How many thousands of times had Shen Mu practiced this single stance? He knew it by heart.
This time, as he executed it, a sudden flash of insight came to him. He felt vital energy and sword fuse perfectly—high mountains and flowing water, mountain ranges like dragons, long rivers like hanging banners.
His sword art poured forth with incredible speed, and blade-light and shadow painted a scroll of rivers and mountains! Ding—
The blade-light snapped shut, returning into the fish-dragon hilt.
Before him, the sword map of rivers and mountains slowly faded away. Shen Mu stood stunned.
He had finally mastered this stance after all. "Shen'er, you have come of age. "
The Village Head smiled and said, "From today on, you are an adult, not a child.
You may leave Yincan Village—leave the Wasteland Ruins—and make your own way in the world. "
Granny Zhu leaned against the doorframe and watched the sword map appear and vanish, a feeling in her heart she could not name. "Shen'er, you have grown up," she said with a smile.
Shen Mu remained in the village a few more days, learning the Stealing Heaven and Swapping the Sun Hand from the Lame Elder. Once he had mastered it, the day of departure finally arrived. Granny Zhu prepared his traveling supplies—a great bundle stuffed with all manner of things that seemed to Shen Mu entirely unnecessary—and turned the Dayu Youmo Sutra into a pair of white gloves for him to wear on his hands.
After the farewell wine was drunk, Shen Mu finally set out from the village.
The youth looked back and saw all nine villagers of Yincan Village standing at the village entrance—even the Village Head, who had manifested both legs and stood there among them. Shen Mu turned back, embraced Elder Huo, then the Lame Elder, then each one in turn.
Then he stepped back two paces, kowtowed three times to Granny Zhu, and turned to leave. "Shen'er, if you can't win, run!
"
The Lame Elder called out loudly, "There's poetry in distant lands—and also drudgery! "
Elder Huo waved his hand: "Be strong! If someone bullies you, hit them back. Don't just keep yielding!
"
The Butcher raised his butchering knife: "Don't disgrace us old cripples!
Whoever bullies you—chop them up! "
"Be a cultured man!
"
"If you can't win, you can always use poison!
"
"Aaah, aaah aaah!
"
. . .
Shen Mu looked back, waved, and broke into a sunny smile. Before long, he arrived at the valley of the Mizai Palace.
The Xuanliao Demon Ape was cultivating, breathing in and out, a Zen staff planted upright beside him.
The Xuanliao Demon Ape had grown ever more massive and imposing, his cultivation deep and profound. He had trained in Elder Huo's boxing art, and Shen Mu had taught him the Profound Body Three Cinnabar Art.