Chapter 27 — The Spirit Fetus Secret Art First Takes Form
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Before long Shen Mu arrived outside the valley where the Darkfang Demon Ape dwelt, and suddenly a hill-like figure rose slowly from the mountain forest — it was the Darkfang Demon Ape itself. After days apart it had grown even more magnificent, and when it saw Shen Mu it was overjoyed beyond measure; it pounded its chest, signaling Shen Mu to leap up onto its shoulder.
Shen Mu sprang onto its shoulder, and the Darkfang Demon Ape bounded and leaped like flying, carrying him into the valley and running deeper in. This was the first time Shen Mu had entered the Darkfang Demon Ape's lair.
Wild deer and wild horses were everywhere in the valley, along with some river deer and foolish-looking roe deer; in the heart of it stood an ancient ruin, broken walls and crumbling ramparts, utterly desolate. The place where the Darkfang Demon Ape lived was a palace half caved in, and before the palace stood a ruined stone statue, half beast and half man.
Shen Mu opened his Heaven-Reaching Eye, and his heart gave a small jolt.
This statue was the same as the one in Hidden Remnant Village: caught in the Heaven-Reaching Eye, the divine essence within it was like a beast god propping up heaven and earth, savage and ferocious, its aura flooding the skies!
No doubt the Darkfang Demon Ape relied on this statue every night to fend off the assault of the darkness and preserve its life.
"Such extraordinary divine essence — could this too be a statue carved by a god for a god? " Shen Mu jumped down from the Darkfang Demon Ape's shoulder.
A foolish roe deer came up to him, sniffed the hem of his robe, and chewed on it twice as though it were food. The Darkfang Demon Ape picked the roe deer up, set it carefully aside, then waved a hand, signaling Shen Mu to follow.
It was the ruler of this valley and its protector, guarding these animals, fierce only toward intruders. Shen Mu followed it into the tumbledown palace, and at once frowned: the smell of wild beasts lay everywhere, and it must be that the valley's beasts came into the palace at night as well to hide from the darkness.
"Little Bean, look!
" the Darkfang Demon Ape said, pointing at a wall.
Shen Mu looked up.
On the palace wall were broken murals, mottled and peeling, some places already fallen away, others faded of all color, with only a few panels still more or less whole.
These murals depicted figures in cultivation, with arrows inside their bodies marking the flow of vital essence.
Shen Mu looked for a few moments, and suddenly his heart leaped: he had seen the vital essence guiding pathways of the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art! The Darkfang Demon Ape must have practiced the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art, found the patterns on the murals somewhat similar, and so brought him here!
Yet Shen Mu soon discovered something amiss.
The first panel was indeed the guiding diagram of the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art, but the second panel was different: it still followed the pathways of the Mystic Body Three Elixirs Art, yet it was somewhat more complex. The vital essence guiding pathway of the second panel entered the Spirit Treasury of the Origin Fetus at the center of the brow.
Once the vital essence entered the Spirit Treasury of the Origin Fetus, it led to the third panel, and this third panel showed the pathway by which vital essence was guided within the Spirit Treasury of the Origin Fetus: the vital essence was not directly breathed in and out by the spirit fetus, but instead formed wondrous vital essence array patterns beneath the spirit fetus's feet.
These array patterns were exceedingly complex, no less than the Divine Empyrean Heavenly Dipper array pattern the Blind Elder had taught him.
Shen Mu studied them closely, committing them to memory with all his heart, and all the while used his own vital essence to imitate them, forming the array patterns beneath the spirit fetus's feet with vital essence.