Chapter 277: Rhythm
Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo walked side by side, leaving the Jade Fragrance Pavilion and heading along the street toward the city outskirts.
The early spring capital still held a chill. Even at midday, the sun was not very high, hanging in the southern sky, and its light was not harsh.
Spring in the capital was still lively, with people coming and going. Some wealthy young masters and ladies strolled together, mostly clad in furs. The girls were bundled up, looking fluffy, which made their skin appear even fairer.
In previous seasons, many of the capital's wealthy families would have already taken flying ships south to escape the winter, not returning until the turn of spring and summer. But this year was different. Natural disasters had made the south as cold as the north, even colder, so most people stayed in the north. After all, with calamities and chaos elsewhere, it was safer to remain in the capital.
Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo walked slowly, each adjusting their own state. It had to be said that Banguo Cuo, having undergone nineteen reincarnations and lived twenty lives, was a master. He quickly adjusted his spirit, energy, and mind to their peak. At that moment, Qin Mu was still slowly adjusting.
Banguo Cuo's killing intent surged, targeting Qin Mu, and he began to quicken his pace.
His murderous aura was aimed at Qin Mu, forcing him to react and change his walking posture to avoid revealing any openings.
At the Imperial Academy, Qin Mu had once targeted him like this, forcing him to limp and use changes in his posture to keep his every move flawless, denying Qin Mu any opportunity.
Now, Banguo Cuo was returning the favor, using his peak state and momentum to pressure Qin Mu, forcing him to follow Banguo Cuo's rhythm and adapt to his shifting aura.
As long as Qin Mu had to follow his rhythm, Banguo Cuo could seize the initiative, putting Qin Mu on the defensive and making him struggle to cope. To avoid exposing weaknesses, Qin Mu would have to constantly change his walking trajectory and aura. The longer they walked, the more changes he would have to make, eventually exceeding the young man's knowledge and experience, leaving him with no more changes to make!
By the time they reached the city outskirts, killing Qin Mu would only take one or two moves!
"Old fox!"
Qin Mu's expression was grave. This was a terrifying existence!
Banguo Cuo was exactly that kind of fearsome person. Even if Qin Mu was stronger, if there was an advantage to be gained, he would seize it immediately and amplify it as much as possible!
After ten thousand years of tempering, he was rarely swayed by external things. Every word and action followed the experience he had accumulated over millennia. His experience was like runes, like principles, deeply imprinted in his every move.
Yankang's Imperial Preceptor and Blind had both spoken of the unity of knowledge and action, and Ma Ye had also mentioned not overstepping boundaries. Banguo Cuo, with his ten-thousand-year accumulation, had also achieved this step.
Regarding the unity of knowledge and action, Qin Mu had his own understanding.
To know but not act is called insincerity.
To act but not succeed is called inability.
To know and act is a sincere heart; to act and succeed is to carry through to the end. It is already difficult to be influenced by other people or things.
The prerequisite for the unity of knowledge and action is to investigate things to attain knowledge, to study a matter to its utmost and turn it into one's own knowledge.
For example, cooking: perfecting the craft of cooking to the point where color, aroma, and taste are impeccable. Or architecture: building towers and pavilions that are sturdy, beautiful, and functional, magnificent, unshaken by wind or rain, and un-collapsed by earthquakes. Or shipbuilding: thoroughly understanding the principles of shipbuilding, using sturdy materials, so the ship doesn't sink in storms.
This is investigating things to attain knowledge: studying an object or matter to its limit, understanding all the principles within it.
Only by achieving the investigation of things to attain knowledge can one achieve the unity of knowledge and action.
Banguo Cuo was such a person. He had reincarnated time and again, studying various techniques to their utmost. All the knowledge he had learned had become his foundation, part of his words and actions.
Every move, every word, every action of his was deeply meaningful. Even from the first time Qin Mu encountered him, Qin Mu had entered his rhythm.
From Qin Mu's provocation outside the Six Harmonies Hall to Banguo Cuo's conversation in the Jade Fragrance Pavilion, he was weaving a web, methodically spinning a large net to trap Qin Mu within it.
Now, as they walked toward the city outskirts, it was the big spider reeling in the net, spitting silk at Qin Mu, wrapping him up, tightening the bindings, leaving Qin Mu with less and less room to move. By the time they reached the outskirts, it would be time for the big spider to inject venom and kill its prey!
Such a terrifying opponent was unprecedented for Qin Mu!
Neither the Dao Child nor the Buddha Child, nor even those great experts in the Heavenly Realm or Life-and-Death Realm who had pursued him, could compare to Banguo Cuo!
Now, Qin Mu was forced to walk with a limp, stumbling and swaying. But Banguo Cuo walked steadily, more and more steadily.
He was forcing Qin Mu to use all his changes to avoid exposing weaknesses. When Qin Mu's changes were exhausted, that would be his death!
"To be able to clash with such a powerful and terrifying existence is truly a great fortune!"
Qin Mu suddenly stopped. The moment he halted, his body was riddled with openings—every part of him was a flaw!
Banguo Cuo was slightly startled and also stopped.
In that instant, he had the urge to strike. Qin Mu's openings were everywhere; in his eyes, every part of Qin Mu was a fatal weak point. But he hesitated for a moment.
Qin Mu was the leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect, a sect with immense power, the largest secular faction. If he killed Qin Mu here, even if he succeeded, he wouldn't escape the sect's revenge.
In that moment of hesitation, Qin Mu's openings vanished. His aura exploded, his killing intent surged, overpowering Banguo Cuo's, and he lifted his foot to walk forward.
Banguo Cuo's expression darkened. He had to follow, falling into a passive position.
Qin Mu had used his hesitation to turn the tables, which was indeed unexpected. Clearly, although this young man's experience was inferior to his, he possessed a sharpness that Banguo Cuo had long since worn away.
Having reincarnated so many times, the aggressive, enterprising spirit of his first life had been ground down over the long ages. Now, he saw that same spirit in Qin Mu.
This time, it was his turn to be constrained by Qin Mu, forced to follow Qin Mu's rhythm forward. Their body movements and auras constantly shifted, the changes subtle. But as they walked further, Banguo Cuo's swaying grew more pronounced, like a drunken man, stumbling and drawing attention.
Now it looked as if Qin Mu was leading a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old drunk child down the street with invisible ropes.
This was how experts fought, especially when they were evenly matched. A single misstep could reverse the situation!
Qin Mu had used Banguo Cuo's reluctance to act directly in the city to reverse the tide.
Although the situation had turned, Qin Mu did not relax at all. As Banguo Cuo had said, Qin Mu had no time to consolidate the Six Harmonies Realm. Although he had entered the Six Harmonies Realm at the same time as Banguo Cuo, they were different. Banguo Cuo had twenty lifetimes of experience, twenty breakthroughs into the Six Harmonies Realm. In one day, he could fully consolidate this realm and mobilize its power.
But Qin Mu needed time to familiarize himself, to explore and seek, before he could control the power of this realm.
Most critically, he had no movement chart for the Six Harmonies Realm!
The movement chart for the Overlord Body Three Dan Techniques only went up to the Five Luminaries Realm. Although Qin Mu had obtained a stone slab from the Loulan Golden Palace, the technique on it should be a movement chart for the Seven Stars Realm.
Without a movement chart for the Six Harmonies Realm, forcefully cultivating it would easily lead to the dangerous situation of the six harmonies being reversed and heaven and earth thrown into chaos. Even if he didn't die, he would be severely injured.
Qin Mu immersed his mind in the Six Harmonies Divine Treasury. Within this treasury, he saw his own spirit embryo, and also saw the Five Luminaries stars and divine palace in the sky, sensing his Five Luminaries Star Lord.
From the perspective of the spirit embryo, he could see the four directions of heaven and earth.
Clearly, after entering the Six Harmonies Realm, he needed to unify the three divine treasuries. The technique must be able to penetrate all three treasuries, forming a whole.
The Six Harmonies Divine Treasury contained heaven, earth, and the four directions. His magical power expanded, allowing him to activate divine abilities. It was a qualitative leap. But the Overlord Body Three Dan Techniques lacking a movement chart for the Six Harmonies Realm would be his greatest weakness.
Finally, the two walked out of the capital and reached the outskirts. Banguo Cuo's movements grew increasingly exaggerated, stumbling and staggering, but his changes in posture and technique seemed endless, maintaining a flawless state with no openings!
Qin Mu had to admire him. From the city to the outskirts, Banguo Cuo had changed his body techniques dozens of times, each one exquisitely refined, the pinnacle of cultivation.
When he moved like a dragon, he truly seemed like a true dragon walking on the ground. When he moved like a tiger, he felt like a fierce tiger. When he used the phoenix-sparrow technique, he was like a phoenix or sparrow flying low. When he used the swimming fish technique, he was like a fish battling a swift current.
It was hard to imagine that one person could simultaneously master so many body techniques to perfection!
They walked further and further, and the killing intent grew thicker. From Qin Mu's glutton sack, a sword orb flew out, and the Shaobao Sword also rose from the sack, hanging at his waist.
The two butcher knives on Qin Mu's body fell off, each embedding into the ground, only the handles visible, the two knives about ten zhang apart. Then the bamboo staff stuck into the ground, the iron hammer fell, and the brush, ink, inkstone, and paper slid out of his sleeve, all discarded as he walked.
As he walked, his body swayed, and heavy black iron blocks fell from his chest and back. The iron shoes on his feet suddenly burst open, and the iron blocks on his legs also fell off.
He was completely unburdened. His bones crackled and popped, and his aura surged even higher!
Banguo Cuo was still being led by his rhythm, continuing forward. As Qin Mu's aura rose, the pressure on him increased, but he still held on, revealing no openings.
On the distant grass, the grass had already grown. There were many men and women out for a spring outing, strolling together. Some children were flying kites, running wildly across the grass. Some young men showed off their body techniques, leaping into the air in a few steps, stepping on the kites midair, drawing admiration from the girls below.
Then the admiration gradually faded. The people on the outing looked toward the two strange young men, Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo.
Birds in the forest fluttered up in flocks, fleeing far away. The killing intent emanating from the two young men made their hearts tremble.
Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo reached the Tu River. Suddenly, countless large fish leaped out of the water, splashing and jumping toward the center of the river, fleeing in a lively commotion.
At the moment the fish leaped and the birds took flight, a child suddenly closed his eyes, opened his mouth wide, and burst into loud crying. In the midst of the crying, Qin Mu and Banguo Cuo by the river struck almost simultaneously!
—Chapter two will be updated in ten minutes!