Chapter 746 — Rivaling the Gods

The crowd laughed among themselves, shook their heads, and scattered with a great uproar. What Ling Tianzun spoke of was far too profound, far too abstruse; they could make nothing of it at all.

They had gathered around Ling Tianzun in the first place in order to hear this gifted young woman speak of what she had comprehended over the years, to learn her divine arts and methods. But now the things she said were so rarefied and mysterious that no one could grasp them — plainly, she had lost her mind.

To stand listening to a madwoman's ravings, would that not rob this Yaochi Gathering of all meaning? Soon the space around Ling Tianzun was empty and bare, leaving only Shen Mu, Kaihuang, and Old Ox. Kaihuang lowered his voice: "The Yong River.

" Shen Mu's heart went cold; he nodded, and at the same time doubts rose in him without end.

The Yong River — its waters ran on forever, from west to east, flowing day and night without a moment's pause.

This great river was perhaps the Heavenly River of the present day, and judging by the flow of its waters, the Yong River did not accord with the divine art Ling Tianzun had described, the art that froze matter into eternal stillness.

Unless — though the waters of the Yong River flowed, every particle that composed it remained in a state of fixity; the flowing was mere appearance, and in truth the river ran from the past into the future. The water never moved; what moved was the matter about it. And yet such a divine art was far too inconceivable; the principles it involved were already beyond Shen Mu's understanding and beyond his imagining.

"Or perhaps what does not move is not the Yong River, but the mist. . .

" A thought lurked at the back of his mind, though he did not know how such a divine art might be created.

The Yong River did seem to be a point joining past, present, and future. Twice now he had inexplicably crossed back into the past, and both times it was because he had stepped into the source of the Yong River and met with the affair of the mist — and so, for reasons he could not fathom, he had crossed through time.

Such crossings must have been caused either by the Yong River or by the mist! Ling Tianzun was still somewhat indignant.

She laughed coldly: "Fools, all of them, every one a mediocrity! When I have created the divine art that leaves matter unaltered, unchanging, neither increasing nor decreasing, then you will all know that there is no such thing as time! Senior brother, you understand me, don't you?

" Her eyes shone with hope.

"Sister Ling, I understand you very well. " Shen Mu said abruptly: "I understand your thinking. Matter changes, and by tracing it backward, one can make a man grow from old age back into the semblance of his youth, and even bring the dead back to life. But that is not tracing time backward — it is tracing matter backward.

" Kaihuang nodded: "I understand as well.

We use the art of Creation to make plants grow, to make animals grow, to bring them swiftly to maturity — but that is not a time art; that is the art of Creation.

The art of Creation works by altering the internal arrangement of matter in plants and animals so as to make them grow. It does not send them ahead into the future. " Old Ox could not follow any of it; he had no choice but to flick his ox ears this way and that, staring wide-eyed, utterly at a loss.

Ling Tianzun was sorely troubled. She kicked at her worn, ragged shoes, her toes poking out, and said in distress: "But none of them understand me, none of them believe me — even Yu Tianzun and the others think I have gone mad. Must I freeze the matter of the entire universe, must I make matter flow backward, before they will discover that they were wrong and I was right? " Shen Mu gave a shudder. Make the matter of the entire universe flow backward?

This woman's ideas were truly perilous!

And yet no one possessed such a fearsome dharma power. "Sister Ling, you ought to keep walking along your own road. Perhaps in the not too distant future you will meet someone who has come back from the past through your divine art, and that will prove the world's judgment of you was wrong. " Shen Mu smiled and encouraged her: "Walk on, keep walking on, prove that you are right! " Ling Tianzun was greatly heartened.

Then she shook her head and said bleakly: "I myself do not know whether I can prove it.

I am too lonely.

Almost everyone says that the Ling Tianzun of those years no longer exists, that only a madwoman is left.

. . You two are among the very few people I have met who can understand me.

Let us study it together!

" Her eyes lit up again; her expectant gaze fell upon them, and she said eagerly: "I have toiled away at this alone, with no fellow Daoist to walk beside me or talk with me, and I truly fear that one day I shall give up. I do not want to become a madwoman in others' eyes! " Shen Mu hesitated, then shook his head: "The time I can remain here is not long. Sister Ling, why not do this: in these days, stay with us, and we will discuss and study together. My companion and I may not be as gifted as you, but we can help you solve a few difficulties.

When the day comes, some months from now, that we must leave, then you may decide whether you wish to be a madwoman. What say you? " Kaihuang's heart stirred slightly, and he looked toward Shen Mu.

"He knows we will leave some months from now? Just how much else does he know? This fellow seems to know me very well. And there is a certain hostility in him toward me — could he be an enemy of my future? None know me better than my rivals.

" Ling Tianzun's eyes brightened. She laughed: "So long as you do not mind that I am a little mad and a little slovenly, then for these months I shall be with you. Lately, so many of my old friends have turned from me. .

. " Shen Mu said: "I see only sister's spirit; I do not see sister's form. In my eyes, sister is a goddess, peerless under heaven!

" Ling Tianzun was moved. She gathered her hair up again with the wooden pin and said: "This Yaochi Gathering has a palace of mine as well.

Let us go there to study. Yu Tianzun may believe I am wrong, but he is decent enough — he gave me a palace. " The three of them followed her.

Kaihuang asked: "In these days there are many ancient gods in the Heavenly Court, and this is the season of the Heavenly Court's grand gathering. Why is Yu Tianzun able to hold a gathering at Yaochi? Yaochi ought to be the dwelling place of some ancient god, ought it not?

" "Yaochi is a place of pleasure in the rear palace.

" Ling Tianzun walked on ahead: "The Empress is very fond of Yu Tianzun. This time, at the Heavenly Court's grand gathering, the Empress and the Heavenly Emperor will of course attend in person, and so they granted Yaochi to Yu Tianzun, letting him hold the Yaochi Gathering. " "The Empress admires Yu Tianzun, and gave Yaochi to him to hold the Yaochi Gathering?

" Shen Mu and Kaihuang exchanged a glance, each turning over his own thoughts. They had not yet met this Yu Tianzun, but a man who could secure a line to the Empress must be a smooth, many-faceted sort, deft in every social art — he was not merely a genius who had opened the Primal Embryo Treasury.

Even as they spoke, a voice came to them: "Ling Tianzun, are you still studying that so-called divine art of the nonexistence of time? " Ling Tianzun halted. Her expression turned somewhat displeased — the girl had no guile, and every mood showed plainly on her face.

She said sourly: "Huo Tianzun, what do you mean by 'the divine art of the nonexistence of time'? " Shen Mu, Kaihuang, and Old Ox looked toward the speaker, and saw a youth striding over.