The Gift of Myriad Evils Refine Forms

Many branches on the pine tree rustled together, as if being blown by a strong wind.

To onlookers, the sound was nothing more than a rustling of pine trees.

To Chu Tianshu's ears, it sounded like a slightly immature voice asking a question.

"Discuss? Is that how it is?"

A branch on the tree trunk slowly stretches out.

The branches fork at the tips, and the pine needles spread out, resembling a palm the size of a palm-leaf fan.

The "hand" was moving very slowly.

Seeing this, Chu Tianshu smiled and extended his hand as well.

The branch immediately accelerated, and when it got close, its tip spun, as if a giant were striking with its palm.

Chu Tianshu raised his hand to block, and the two palm forces collided.

The fleshy palm and the branch, which were originally several inches apart, have now made contact with each other, their gentle energy sensing each other's profound foundation, and they have both increased their strength in unison.

Chu Tianshu's palm trembled, and the pine needles emitted a green light.

BOOM!!

The air exploded in mid-air, causing the air to briefly turn white, as if dust had burst open.

A strong wind blew, sweeping in all directions, and the rich scent of pine filled the air.

The long branches trembled and changed rapidly in the sound of the wind and the fragrance, sometimes like a falling axe, sometimes like a sweeping duster.

Chu Tianshu dealt with the blows with one hand, striking the forked branches repeatedly with the back of his hand and his fingernails.

"This is what we call discussion?!"

Suddenly, the pine tree felt a surge of joy, and the few twigs at the tips of its branches abruptly bent, their tips closing together.

The scene resembled human fingers pinching the shape of a crane's beak.

As the branch lifted upwards, a strange change occurred in the airflow around Chu Tianshu.

The air, like a viscous gel, formed an ellipsoid, enclosing Chu Tianshu within it.

Furthermore, you need to lift his entire body off the ground.

Chu Tianshu exhaled slightly, his feet firmly planted on the ground, sinking into the soil. His internal energy flowed underground, attracting the large area of soil and rocks, and was not carried away by the airflow.

The branch that had been raised high immediately pecked downwards.

Pop!!!

The moment the viscous gas shield was punctured, a ring of air shimmering with a watery sheen suddenly spread out.

This should have been a loud bang.

However, the shockwave was so strong that the air around Chu Tianshu suddenly became extremely thin.

All sounds, lacking a medium, seem to be diluted and filtered in an instant.

Only that pine branch remained, which was pecked off in this quiet area with tremendous speed.

Chu Tianshu's right hand suddenly moved, and his cyan fist, swift as a shadow, slammed directly into the pine branch.

This is like a Kun transforming into a Peng, about to soar into the sky—a punch that delivers a powerful blow.

The Fist Intent was like Raging Waves Split the Shore.

The twigs at the top of the tree were instantly scattered by the punch, and the branches vibrated at a high frequency with a buzzing sound.

Chu Tianshu held back; his punch didn't break the tree branch.

But suddenly, a hundred or so pine needles snapped and scattered in all directions.

Fa'en had been pushed back by the air blast, and then he saw pine needles drifting by and landing in front of him.

When the pine needles fell to the ground, they all made a crackling sound like small firecrackers.

Every single pine needle is split in two from beginning to end.

"Oops! I lost!"

The long branch, like a hand that had been scalded, retracted with a whoosh.

The pine tree was a little downcast, but it immediately perked up again, as if it had found its best playmate.

"Sure enough, touching hands together or clashing swords together is a form of discussion. I saw them playing like this a long time ago, and I was so envious back then. It really is a lot of fun."

Chu Tianshu stroked his chin, pondering for a moment.

"Your boxing style resembles that of a crane?"

A pine tree practicing Crane Fist – it sounds strange, but thinking about it, it feels strangely harmonious.

Chu Tianshu's hands moved in various ways, mimicking a crane's beak and claws, then his fingers were joined together like a sword, with the fingertips slightly angled downwards, as he swung his long arm forward.

At the end, the sword finger flicks, changing the angle from downward to upward.

Throughout the process, the afterimages left by the arms and fingers resembled the wings of a Bai He.

Arms like wing bones, fingers like afterimages, just like flakes of white feathers.

"Huh?!"

The pine tree was very surprised, "How do you know this swordsmanship?"

"I was still not satisfied with just watching a few of your moves, so I took inspiration from their forms and extended them a bit..."

Chu Tianshu was a person who could Spirit Communication Aperture Opening just by looking at pictures when he was five years old, even though he didn't know how to read much. He had a high level of inspiration and association ability.

The key point is that he later had nightmares for many years, and his dreams were full of images manifested by various external evil influences.

Those external evils are not of high quality or large quantity, but they are so numerous that they can be described as having a thousand evils and ten thousand evils.

To distill abstract concepts into concrete images.

It became a powerful talent that he honed through his struggles with life and death.

As his martial arts practice deepened and his spirit and energy became more refined and agile, this ability manifested in his control over the intent and purpose of martial arts techniques.

In other people's minds, the essence of martial arts techniques is a metaphysical concept.

It encompasses mental strength, physical condition, life pursuits, environmental factors, and so on, making it far more complex than simple Mind Power.

Even if you've mastered several different moves, if you suddenly change your mindset halfway through a fierce battle, it can cause inexplicable obstacles, making it difficult to unleash the full power of your next move.

In Chu Tianshu's hands, any technique that he had successfully mastered was, in his mind, like a set of very concrete things.

It can be freely extracted, switched, and mixed without any hindrance.

He has used this advantage against many strong opponents in the past.

However, it allows one to appreciate the essence and meaning of the enemy's moves while fighting.

This was something he gradually developed and honed through his own efforts after being in the wasteland.

While fully focused during the battle, deep in my subconscious I had experienced the entire process and recorded those feelings.

If your mind is pure and bright enough, the things you record, whether intentionally or unintentionally, will naturally appear before your eyes, like fine sand underwater.

"Strange, do you mean you guessed it?"

The pine tree said, "You only saw the first part, how could you possibly guess which trend will follow?"

"From fist to sword, there are many different options, but the move you used is exactly what I was thinking of using."

Chu Tianshu laughed and said, "In your own eyes, your moves might be like a thread floating in the air, without support or restraint. No one but yourself can guess where the thread will lead."

"But in my eyes, your moves are like a mark imprinted on a wooden board—something tangible and real."

"The engraving itself follows the natural grain of the grain; the probability of you deliberately going against the grain is actually very low."

The pine tree looked a little dejected.

"I'm clearly much stronger than them, but it seems I still haven't reached that formless and shapeless realm."

Chu Tianshu shook his head. "Being formless and without form is not necessarily superior to being tangible and with form. We are originally mortals, existing within the realm of form."

"Only by dealing with things in tangible form can we better grasp them, whether by resisting or defeating them, and transform them into our own usefulness. This is the pragmatic path forward."

If his token displays the token holder's characteristics, it would likely include the "Myriad Evils Refine Forms" attribute.

Refining the formless evil into a beast with form was the only thing he could persevere in during his struggle for survival, and naturally it became the path he most approved of.

Pine Tree asked doubtfully, "Really? Although you're stronger than them all, I don't seem inclined to admit you're right?"

"That's probably because you also have your own path to choose from."

Chu Tianshu got back to the main point, "Who are these 'them' you keep mentioning?"

All the branches of the pine tree swayed together, releasing a gentle, long breeze.

The dust at the base of the tree roots smelled of incense ash.

Chu Tianshu had already sensed it; there was a thick layer of incense ash under the pine tree.

It's not the kind of incense sticks with incense sticks like the ones from my hometown, but a kind of earthen incense made by drying incense mud, which can burn completely from start to finish.

Everything in the valley swayed in the breeze, carrying with it fragrance.

The thoughts of the pine tree, like blades of grass in the wind, swayed rapidly, quickly heading towards memories of the past.

If measured in human years, this tree is an ancient pine tree that is over a thousand years old.

Seven or eight hundred years ago, before it had any consciousness, it discovered that there were many strange creatures in the valley where it was located.

That's a person.

Those people were more sentimental than any other animal the pine tree had ever seen, but also more prone to joy.

It seems that because of teachers and written language, they received instruction and inherited more of the wisdom of their predecessors. They possessed delicate and distinct minds, and their emotions had many layers, making them far more "thoughtful" than even the smartest monkey.

The pine tree, somewhat bewildered, felt a mixture of envy and fear of being cut down.

The pine tree is lucky.

Even after that ancient sect declined, and the wooden houses were strangled by plants and turned to dust, no one cut down this tree.

Three or four hundred years ago, another group of people came here, seemingly the inheritors of that ancient sect.

They were wild, arrogant, depressed, and dissatisfied. Besides swords and fists, they also brought bows, crossbows, and armor.

The valley underwent further alterations, with many branches of the pine trees being cut off.

But this group of people died even more tragically; they all perished in the valley.

The pine tree survived, and its perception of humans became much more complex, with curiosity reaching its peak.

Then, more than a hundred years ago, it discovered...

"I feel like I've suddenly become a lot smarter."

The pine tree said, "I've begun to understand memory, and I'm learning self-cultivation from memory."

"Some things I learned were useful, but others I just couldn't learn, as if I were inhuman."

"A few years ago, someone discovered this place and moved here. Some children almost fell into the pond, and I rescued them."

After that, the villagers offered incense to the pine tree.

The pine tree also became more caring towards them, not only protecting the children who came to play in the pond, but also sometimes trying to save villagers who were poisoned by snakes.

When a strange energy emanated from the village chief's body, and he started beating and cursing people in the village, the pine tree immediately noticed the anomaly.

Chu Tianshu said, "You dispelled that Moon Turbidity energy, which is why the Fahui came to investigate, and then you died?"

The pine tree stretched out its branches and lifted a large rock from the edge of the pond.

There was a monk's corpse under the Shitou, which must have been from that Fahui.

This monk was quite arrogant. He brought the relics with him, but before the relics could even exert their power, they were drawn into the water and flowed out with the groundwater.

"This person doesn't even seem human."

The pine tree said, "I've seen many bad people, but the smell of a bad person shouldn't be like this."

"I really want to be human. Humans should never be like this."

Chu Tianshu looked at the pine tree with curiosity.

There shouldn't be any Moon Refining techniques among the cultivation methods practiced by this tree.

But it was not born human, and it almost turned itself into a magical artifact, and it also has a very deep mastery of stillness... Well, that makes sense, after all, it is a tree.

Do you really want to become human?

The pine tree said, "Yes! I also like having someone by my side. Anyway, no one can cut me down anymore. It's a pity that the previous village, fearing the monks' revenge, moved away after burning one last batch of incense for me."

Chu Tianshu smiled.

"I have some people over there who can be sent to keep you company."

He said, "After all, someone should be coming to kick me out soon. I'll hide the team I've trained, and when I start fighting them, I won't have any scruples."

(End of this chapter)