Chapter 25 — Reopening the Spirit Repository, Treading a New Realm

Man and ape fell upon each other in the valley beneath the cliff, and the clash of their blows was savage. Shen Mu's arms grew numb and leaden; the Dark Ape bore him down, and little by little he could hold out no longer. Before long the Ape had beaten him black and blue about the face again, yet it never struck to kill; it only went on trading blows with him, keeping a measure of its strength in reserve. "Eat! Strong!" The Dark Ape drove a fist at him, and the wind of that blow roared and churned with nine distinct forces — the third form of the Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal, Nine Dragons Ride the Wind and Thunder. Even as it struck it was urging Shen Mu to eat more, to grow as strong as itself. "The Skypiercing Heaven Eye — open!" Shen Mu's primordial energy surged and rushed into both pupils, where it knit the Heavenly Dipper array pattern of the first heaven of the Ninefold Heaven-Gazing Eye Art, and at once it seemed a second pupil had formed within his eyes. With the Skypiercing Heaven Eye opened, all things between heaven and earth before him turned unspeakably clear, deep, and ordered; even the Ape's fist, falling toward him, became a wonder to behold. He could see each hair on that fist sway in the air; he could see the way every great sinew and every muscle beneath the Ape's hide moved, and even the direction in which the Ape's strength ran! The Ninefold Heaven-Gazing Eye Art the Blind Elder had taught him let his eyes find the truth beneath the surface of things, and raised his command and mastery of the strength of foe and self to a height he had never imagined! Shen Mu's fist rose to meet the Dark Ape's, and in the instant before man's knuckles and ape's collided, his five fingers snapped out one after another, piercing the air with a shriek like a bowstring loosed from a mighty drawn bow! The second form of the Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal: the Flicking Finger that Shakes the Thunder, the Pipa Hand. Old Master Ma's art was not all fists; there were fingers in it too, and the Flicking Finger that Shakes the Thunder, the Pipa Hand, was the finest of them. Shen Mu's first finger flicked against the Dark Ape's enormous fist, and straightway the Ape found all strength gone out of that fist. Shen Mu flicked a second finger, and the Ape felt the great sinews of its arm quake violently! He flicked a third, and the Ape felt the muscles of its arm quaking too, and alarm rose in its heart. Shen Mu flicked a fourth, and the Ape's arm swung up high of its own accord, baring the whole of its chest. Shen Mu flicked a fifth against the chest of that towering creature, and the Dark Ape felt as though several hundred wild bulls of the Barren Ruins had charged into its breast; it was flung back and away, tumbling head over heels! Shen Mu stood dazed. Could the Ninefold Heaven-Gazing Eye Art the Blind Elder had taught him truly be so formidable? What was formidable was not his moves but his eyes. With the Skypiercing Heaven Eye he had seen through the shifts and the direction of the Dark Ape's strength with ease, found the flaw in that one blow, and struck that flaw with his first finger, dissolving the Ape's terrifying fist outright! Whoosh — In the very instant his mind wandered, the Dark Ape exploded upward, blasted him away with a single punch, then leaped into the air, clasped both fists, and hammered down at him with all its might. The earth shook; where Shen Mu's body fell, a deep pit was smashed into the ground. The Dark Ape came down with a thud and drove a fist into the pit, but before that fist could land, Shen Mu's finger flicked against it from the bottom of the pit. The next moment the Dark Ape's huge body was sent bouncing high, and Shen Mu sprang up out of the pit and gave chase into the air. Nine Dragons Ride the Wind and Thunder! Bang, bang, bang — a string of thunderous impacts rang out, and the Dark Ape's great bulk crashed down like a falling star, mowing over more than a dozen great trees in a row. A long while later, Shen Mu and the Dark Ape had fought their way to the top of the cliff, and there they lay flat, gasping. Neither had the strength left to go on. Formidable as the Skypiercing Heaven Eye was, it devoured a great deal of primordial energy, and even Shen Mu, for all his deep cultivation, could scarcely bear it. After resting a while, the Dark Ape sat up, raised a thumb, and pointed at itself. "Me — big brother!" Shen Mu sat up too and shook his head. "Me — big brother. You — little brother." The Dark Ape flew into a rage, thrust out its fist, its arm knotted with lumps of muscle. "Me — strong!" Shen Mu seized one of its fingers, swung it up, and smashed it down hard on the ground. "Me — stronger!" The Dark Ape flipped over and leaped up, and man and ape were at each other again. Soon both were spent once more, and each lay down gasping. Shen Mu recovered a little strength and rose, practicing the Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal there on the cliff top; the Dark Ape rolled upright and watched without blinking. Yesterday he had passed it the art only once, and it had learned no more than the rough shape and outline. Now Shen Mu showed it every detail of the Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal and explained the secret of issuing power in every form. The Dark Ape learned with astonishing speed, and in a few hours had mastered the complete Eight Arts of the Thunder Peal, until Shen Mu's scalp prickled to watch it, and he wondered whether at this rate he would still be able to beat this big fellow. "This creature is a born genius of the martial arts. Can a beast truly have such spirit? Then... could it cultivate?" Shen Mu thought it over, sat down, and taught the Dark Ape how to breathe and guide its breath, passing on his own Mystic Body Three-Elixir Art. The Dark Ape copied the breathing exercises with great solemnity. The Mystic Body Three-Elixir Art was in truth the shallowest sort of energy-drawing art; its method of practice was very plain, no more than moving and guiding primordial energy. Before long the Dark Ape had basically grasped the energy-drawing art, its breathing steady and simple. This had much to do with its nature, in fact: it ate only vegetables, it was quiet by disposition, and its mind was simple and pure — which was why it could master the art in so short a time. "This fellow — a true genius of the martial arts." Seeing how quickly it grasped things, Shen Mu could not help praising it from the heart. "Big fellow, cultivate well. Tomorrow I will come and fight you again." With that he leaped down from the cliff and made for the village. The Dark Ape watched him go, then sat down again and murmured, "Little runt..." For the next dozen days or so, Shen Mu came every day to trade blows with the Dark Ape. After they fought, the Ape would offer him fruit to eat, and Shen Mu would teach it how to cultivate; he even passed on to it the leg techniques of the Lame Elder's Heaven-Stealing Divine Leg. The Dark Ape had been skilled in fists by nature, but its kicks were crude in the extreme; once it had learned the Heaven-Stealing Divine Leg, however, its legwork turned fiendishly tricky, so that even Shen Mu would come off badly if he let his guard slip. Shen Mu's strength advanced at a furious pace, and the Dark Ape's progress was frighteningly fast as well. Soon its primordial energy had achieved no small measure; when they dueled, if Shen Mu did not use the Skypiercing Heaven Eye he could gain no advantage at all — indeed, he would fall to the worse. That afternoon, after fighting the Dark Ape, Shen Mu went as usual to lend a hand in the mute's blacksmith shop, and as usual sat watching the fire at the forge, just as the mute had taught him. Within his Divine Court of the Spirit-Soul, primordial energy burned like fire, tempering his spirit embryo, and everything looked as it always had — when all at once the spirit embryo began wildly drawing in the golden light from the sea of light, countless motes of gold pouring