Chapter 107: Mortal Obstacle, Killing Song

On the side of Nanzhao Royal City, every morning was the most comfortable time.

The morning mist had dispersed, the sun was bright, and a few wisps of cotton-like white clouds floated in the vast blue sky.

A cuckoo bird landed on a branch of the sophora tree.

Being close to the water, it got the moon first; its ethereal and clear call took the lead in this courtyard, far covering the bird calls from other places.

Chu Tianshu had just finished breakfast, and at this moment stood on the stone floor, patting the crumbs from his hands, dressed in white, barefoot and bare-handed.

Suddenly, his right arm reached forward, the entire arm seeming to lengthen, and his palm dropped downward.

In an instant, the tips of his five fingers on his right hand had touched the ground, while the palm was empty, a few inches away from the ground.

Chu Tianshu had already changed his posture.

His body leaned forward, his legs curled a foot off the ground, his left hand behind his back.

From head to toe, only the fingerprints of his five fingers on his right hand were in contact with the ground.

Then the little finger curled and retracted, the ring finger, middle finger, and thumb curled inward one after another, leaving only one index finger pointing at the ground.

Even for someone who had just mastered "Dragon Entwining Body," this act of bearing the weight of the whole body with one finger was not too difficult, let alone for Chu Tianshu today.

However, this was just a prerequisite for his practice.

Chu Tianshu's gaze dropped, and the right hand reflected in his eyes faded in skin and flesh, leaving only a pair of translucent white hand bones.

The mental power stored in the divine sword at his waist turned into a thin, transparent firelight, surging within his body along an invisible lead line.

That line of fire, leisurely and gracefully, flowed to the bone of his right index finger.

Power expanded, and at the same time, a feeling of soreness, swelling, heat, and itching fed back from his right index finger.

The firelight changed from a line to a stream.

The diameter of the transparent flame increased to the extent of the index finger bone.

Chu Tianshu controlled the swelling and shrinking of the finger muscles, blue veins appearing on the back of the finger, then receding and calming down.

The invisible flame also cooperated with this rhythm, swelling and shrinking.

The bone of the finger seemed to be subjected to powerful squeezing and trembling in an instant, then suddenly relaxed, comfortable to the extreme, and welcomed a second squeeze in the blink of an eye.

The extremely rapid repetition produced a feeling of itching from within the bones.

It was itching more and more uncomfortably, but he couldn't scratch it, causing bad associations to arise in his mind.

It was as if his bones were growing violently again, about to grow teeth.

The cavity of the bone marrow would be filled with sharp teeth, until it broke through the limit and proliferated on the surface of the bone.

That kind of image was grotesque and terrifying, lingering in his mind.

The biggest shortcoming in Chu Tianshu's body now was his bones.

Although the fist art of Entering Shaolin could transfer the effect of practice to the shortcoming by itself, using methods like medicinal sand to practice, after all, was separated by several layers to reach the bones.

And now, with the wondrous means of Inner Nei Nei Sheng Wai Wang, and a soldier spirit to help him regulate the mental power stored in the Three-Seven Divine Sword.

He could precisely control that concentrated mental power and, in coordination with his fist art experience, temper it directly into the bones.

But the human brain, from birth, had ready-made ways of processing many body signals.

The stimulation Chu Tianshu was causing to his bones now made it difficult for his brain to classify.

The overly sour and refreshing feeling made his brain subconsciously start to recall various bizarre and terrifying images in his memory.

If there weren't such bizarre ones, he would use his powerful associative ability to start piecing them together.

In fact, this situation was also mentioned in the fist manual of "Entering Shaolin."

Some fist art experts with heavenly talent recorded in Shaolin history, as well as Yu Dayou himself, had all pondered fist art to the point of being like madness and yet reaching perfection at some stage in their lives.

At that time, it was as if the human body, this mortal flesh, would take the initiative to hinder your practice, making it difficult for you to concentrate.

They called this the "Mortal Obstacle," believing that to become a Vajra Bodhisattva, one had to experience many such obstacles.

However, the vast majority of people didn't even have the opportunity to touch such obstacles, and their honing of the flesh was far from reaching the degree where the brain couldn't classify it.

Chu Tianshu had reached it now.

He had previously anticipated how to make himself practice better and become stronger after possessing the soldier spirit power of Inner Nei Nei Sheng Wai Wang.

But he hadn't anticipated that he would encounter the "Mortal Obstacle" at this time.

As long as he didn't stop this practice method, the images flowing through his brain would become more and more numerous, and more and more spliced and strange.

The fist manual mentioned that the response method given by high monks in Shaolin history was to recite "Amitabha."

Not crazy, not slow, not high, not low, reciting continuously, saying it was reciting Buddha, but actually it was like chanting Buddha.

Chanting until every thought of yours was "Amitabha"!

Using "Amitabha" to suppress distracting thoughts, naturally, in an invisible way, one could return to a state of concentration.

But Yu Dayou criticized that Shaolin originally belonged to the Chan sect, and this Buddha-reciting method had already deviated to the Pure Land sect.

Moreover, fist art was the art of killing and warfare of the military family, and the meaning of this Amitabha was inconsistent with the original meaning of fist art, so reciting it only had small benefits.

The solution given by Yu Dayou himself was, "Thirty-six guards, experienced in a hundred battles, reciting the word 'Kill' in unison"!

He himself did not recite it, letting his guards recite the word "Kill" outside.

Because he had fought in the north and south, and trained troops with one hand, he had similar battlefield experiences with his subordinates.

The people outside recited "Kill," the killing aura was clear, and the internal and external resonance naturally could trigger the killing aura he had cultivated on the battlefield.

In this way, both inside and outside his heart, he could use a vast killing aura to extinguish distracting thoughts.

Moreover, he didn't need to recite slogans himself, and could use all his breathing energy on the coordination of fist art, with better results.

Chu Tianshu frowned, still subconsciously wanting to complete the practice by himself, his heart moved, and he blurted out.

"Lin!"

Lin, Bing, Dou, Zhe, Jie, Zhen, Lie, Qian, Xing!

Such nine-character true words should often be kept as secret blessings, and nothing cannot be broken!

The nine-character true words, each character had an individual artistic conception, and when connected, they formed a whole piece of different artistic conception.

After flowing into the Buddhist sect, the nine characters recited together often displayed the artistic conception of deterrence, pressure, and sealing.

But the original "Six Jia Secret Blessings," and the "Vertical and Horizontal Secret Blessings" that Chu Tianshu learned.

When reciting the nine characters together, they all focused on a vast and sharp aura.

Yu Dayou could rely on killing aura to destroy distracting thoughts, so the sharp aura of the nine-character true words should also be able to do it.

"Bing, Dou, Zhe..."

Chu Tianshu recited halfway, then suddenly closed his eyes and mouth.

No, the more he recited this, the more scattered his thoughts became.

He had to borrow the agility of the soldier spirit to control the output efficiency of the mental power in the sword, coordinate with the experience of fist art practice, and recite a set of profound true words.

This complexity was too high, and he couldn't handle it.

In theory, the nine-character true words could coordinate with fist art practice to deal with the Mortal Obstacle, and the effect of combining them might be excellent.

But in reality, Chu Tianshu didn't have the ability to combine these things yet.

He closed his eyes and was silent for a while, his cross-legged legs touched the ground, his fingers retracted, and he paused his practice.

"Brother, help me invite thirty-five guards over."

Outside the Sophora Tree Courtyard, there was already a guard on duty, and hearing this, he turned around immediately.

Soon, including this brother himself, a total of thirty-six guards entered the courtyard.

They all knew that Chu Tianshu was an honored guest of Zheng Hui.

Moreover, that battle a hundred miles outside the city where the old monk's corpse was mobilized, after the event, several guards checked the scene and pondered, deeply feeling that Chu Tianshu's strength was profound, and after returning, they couldn't help but share it with their companions.

Therefore, when these thirty-six people looked at Chu Tianshu, they all had some awe, and also had emotion that Chu Tianshu was so young.

"Everyone, do me a favor, shout 'Kill' in unison later; whether the volume is the highest is not important, what's important is concentration."

Chu Tianshu smiled, "Try shouting ten times first; if I don't say stop, just keep shouting."

The thirty-six people nodded.

Chu Tianshu touched the ground with one finger again, his body leaned forward, and his legs left the ground.

"Kill!"

These thirty-six people were all well-trained; one of them waved his hand, and the voices shouted by the crowd overlapped in one place, which was indeed neat.

"Kill! Kill! Kill..."

Several birds on the sophora tree were startled, and after circling in the air for a while, seeing that everyone was just shouting and not moving, they curiously landed back.

Chu Tianshu listened to these shouts, his brow slightly furrowed; these thirty-six people, although the shouts were neat, the killing aura was not neat.

And the killing aura was not strong enough.

General Yu, what level and what temperament were those thirty-six guards of yours? The book doesn't say.

"Sigh!"

Chu Tianshu sighed slightly, preparing to pause again.

"Kill!!"

In the courtyard next door, a sound suddenly rang out, as resonant as gold and stone, just happening to merge with the shouts of the thirty-six people.

Thirty-six people shouting 'Kill' in unison could not cover up the characteristics of this sound.

Several birds on the large sophora tree screamed and flew up suddenly.

Only a few feathers fell in the air, and those birds flew far away without looking back.

This "Kill" made a layer of goosebumps rise on the back of Chu Tianshu's hand.

That was Haidong Lai's voice; he was recuperating in the large room in the courtyard next door, and presumably he had heard the conversation and sighing here completely, only then spitting out this word "Kill."

His strength was damaged, but his killing aura was not damaged.

Different courtyards, the obstruction of thick high walls, were all in vain in the face of such killing aura.

Chu Tianshu felt enough stimulation, but his face showed some helplessness.

Haidong Lai's killing aura was heavy, of course far superior to these thirty-six guards.

But Chu Tianshu hadn't asked him before because Haidong Lai's killing aura might easily stimulate himself.

Facing this kind of killing aura, let alone helping himself clear distracting thoughts, Chu Tianshu was instinctively already imagining the scene of fighting the opponent.

Those guards also became nervous, unable to help but grip their sword hilts.

They also knew that the guest was in the courtyard next door, but they couldn't stop being on guard, and their throats were tight, unable to shout the next 'Kill'.

"Are you trying to actively shape an atmosphere and attempt to gain insight into a move?"

Another voice came from outside, Cheng Xiazi's sword sheath tapped the ground, and he walked in from outside the courtyard gate.

"To be heart and blade as one, clear and flawless; your soldier spirit has just formed, and you are preparing to gain insight into a move?"

Chu Tianshu thought for a moment and said: "Perhaps... it really is a bit like the requirement for gaining insight into a move."

"Then I'll help too."

Cheng Xiazi sat against the wall, suddenly drew his saber and placed it horizontally in front of him, tapping the blade with the sheath.

*Ding! *

Every time the saber vibrated, he shouted once.

"Kill!"

Tapping once, shouting once, at first the killing aura was not heavy, and the sound was hoarse and low.

But tapping once after another, shouting once after another, the word he shouted became longer and longer.

The wild has creeping grass, the earth is desolate, comrades by the side, hometown behind.

War drums shake the sky, welcoming the army to charge and kill!

Kill, kill, kill! Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!!

The blind man was not an assassin, not an internal guard, and now he was not even a person in the army.

But every sound he made seemed to be still singing a poem on the battlefield.

Rough, barbaric, a poem that just repeated that one word, but the tune had a hundred different variations.

Many people were on the battlefield because they carried many things in their hearts, and those who were forced to join the army were also for their own families; the family needed a soldier, and if it were really a rogue with no family or relatives, they would indeed have escaped military service.

But when fighting bloody battles, there was nothing in people's hearts, only that tenacity.

Casting aside life and forgetting death, there was no life or death, so where did distracting thoughts come from?

Only, Kill!

This killing aura didn't seem to be toward the people in front of him, nor toward the people of the past, but toward heaven.

The guards all forgot whether they wanted to shout again, only listening to every sound.

One sound of the saber, one sound of the person.

The word 'Kill' in the courtyard next door sounded again, but it actively changed.

The voices of the two people competed wonderfully in the same tapping rhythm of the saber, adding a kind of invincible dominance to that thin and stubborn killing aura.

Chu Tianshu's brow, at some point, smoothed out, gradually lowering his brows and drooping his eyes, looking at his own hands.

His eyebrows originally had a kind of heroic spirit, but at this moment, they were as focused as a long-browed Arhat.

This time, the transparent flame circulating only within his body filled one finger, and after a hundred swells and shrinks, it flowed to the metacarpal bones.

Like the tide rising and falling, gradually reaching the entire arm.

The Arhat has not yet subdued the demons, first sitting quietly in the fire!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 108 =====