荒墟牧神 - 再啟靈藏踏新境 - 書海閣

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 wh