Chapter 854 — Reunion with an Old Acquaintance at the Peach Blossom Spring

You imparted the Taiwei Calculation Classic to our Dao Gate; whatever accomplishments we now have are merely repaying that kindness.

" Shen Mu, Yutianzun, and the others settled in at the Academy, and Yutianzun followed his teachers to learn the various arts of calculation. The Dao Gate had any number of arithmetic classics, and Lin Xuan had brought back from Qingyuntian a boundless ocean of them; to master them all was no easy task. The study of calculation was exceedingly dry, yet it was the vitally important foundation of the whole system of divine arts and Daoist techniques.

Apart from a few divine arts such as the martial way, which made little demand on calculation, every other system of divine arts relied on it. What Lin Xuan had brought back from Qingyuntian were all macroscopic calculation arts—classics of the Celestial Court's Dao Gate, profoundly subtle and developed to the utmost limit.

The microscopic calculation arts, by contrast, had only just begun.

Though it was Shen Mu who had founded these arts, it was the Dao Gate that expanded them and carried them to glory. Daoist Master Lin Xuan and the others had already derived the Taiwei Calculation Classic to a degree beyond the comprehension of conventional calculation arts; they had even discovered that under microscopic conditions the grand laws of the macroscopic Dao all failed, and they had found a law whereby the microscopic could not be measured precisely.

Yet despite these phenomena, when the microscopic assembled into the macroscopic, the grand laws held sway once more—most marvelous. Shen Mu studied with an open heart and felt that although the Taiwei Calculation Classic discoursed upon the microscopic and answered the microscopic, its system was incomparably great and could be applied to every kind of divine art. It took him more than twenty days to absorb the Dao Gate's achievements and turn them into his own knowledge, and he could not help sighing with myriad emotions.

Daoist Master Lin Xuan had long since known just how acute Shen Mu was, so it came as no surprise to him that Shen Mu had mastered the Taiwei Calculation Classic in just over twenty days; but the old Daoists who had taught alongside him wore expressions of utter incredulity. Shen Mu went to look for Yutianzun. Yutianzun, that supremely perceptive being capable of all things, had this time encountered a bone too hard for even him to gnaw; the various arithmetic classics had worn him down to a withered state.

The Dragon Qilin, by contrast, was in high spirits, sitting in on lectures throughout the Academy's halls and profiting greatly. "Lan Yutian's perception is keen enough, yet in calculation he can be rated only as first-class aptitude—still no match for the Dragon Qilin," Lin Xuan said to Shen Mu.

"He will need considerably more time before he can master all the arithmetic classics of the Dao Gate. " "His strength is perception.

To him, calculation is only a tool in the pursuit of the Dao, and not important in itself. " Shen Mu sighed. "Daoist Master Lin, have you ever seen a peerless genius?

" Lin Xuan became wary.

"Are you preparing to be modest again? " Shen Mu shook his head.

"I count as a genius, too, but my strength lies in aptitude. In perception I am only a little better than you all, and because of my Overlord Body, so long as I am willing to work hard, I learn anything quickly.

Lan Yutian is different. He is closer to the Dao.

The Dao Ancestor created the calculation arts in order to analyze every great Dao under heaven; calculation is a tool for seeking the Dao. If a man is born intimate with the Dao, able to sense it clearly and comprehend it clearly, does he still need such a tool?

" Lin Xuan was dumbfounded for a moment.

He looked at Lan Yutian and saw him scratching his head and ears over a calculation problem, so vexed that sweat beaded across his brow.

"Where has Grandpa Blind gone?

" Shen Mu searched the entire Academy but found no trace of the blind elder.

His heart tightened, and he hurried to find the Dragon Qilin, who was listening to a lecture with the utmost seriousness.

The Dragon Qilin said, "Old Blind went into the peach grove.

He said he would just take a look inside and told me not to tell the Cult Master. " Shen Mu flared up. "That old blind fool never lets one rest easy! How long has he been gone? " "He went in as soon as the Cult Master began his studies. " The Dragon Qilin hastily added, "Cult Master, just go and find him.

I will protect Young Master Lan. Young Master Lan can also refine spirit pills, so the Cult Master need not worry about my provisions.

" "You must guard him well—there must be no mishap!

" Shen Mu hurried out of the town and arrived at the edge of the peach garden. He cast his gaze about and saw the grove dense and luxuriant, blossoms clustering like brocade in countless profusion—one could not count how many trees, how many flowers. He flew up into the sky and looked ahead, only to find the peach trees still stretching before him; he could not fly over them.

He had no choice but to descend and walk step by step into the grove, his imperishable divine sense flying forth in all directions in search of the blind elder.

He walked for no telling how long.

The peach trees around him put forth green fruit; he walked on, and the peaches reddened; farther still, the leaves withered and fell in crimson drifts; and as he continued, snow began to flutter from the sky. Abruptly he turned his head and saw that he was still at the edge of the grove, having advanced only a short distance into it.

"Just as Daoist Master Lin said, this grove is indeed strange!

Grandpa Blind need only turn around to walk out, so why has he still not come out? " He steadied his mind and tried to find a formation, but no matter how he urged his sage eye, he could detect not the least trace of one.

His imperishable divine sense likewise could not find the end of the peach grove. By then the sun had set, the sky was darkening, and stars were beginning to glitter overhead.

Shen Mu looked up to study the stars, attempting to fix his bearings, when he suddenly gave a slight start.

"This configuration of stars is not right. .

.

indeed, it is not right. This is not the star chart that hangs over Jingping—this is the true night sky!

" He abruptly tore away the willow leaf at the center of his brow and said in a low voice, "Lord Heaven, can your true body see me? " From the Shen Continent came Lord Heaven's voice: "Wait, let me search.

.

. Found you!

Eh, when did you leave the Origin Realm? " Shen Mu's mind reeled.

"I am not in the Origin Realm?

Then, Lord Heaven, where am I now? " "A very strange cosmos—you are standing beside a peach tree.

" Shen Mu said in a deep voice, "Lord Heaven, are there palaces ahead of me?

Can you point out the way?

" The avatar of Lord Heaven within the Shen Continent laughed.

"Look up at the stars, and I shall light a guiding star for you. Follow that star.

" Shen Mu raised his eyes to the sky, and a star suddenly appeared among the heavens—evidently Lord Heaven had pinched a sun from somewhere and hung it above Xuandu. Within Xuandu, Lord Heaven set the star moving, and Shen Mu followed its track forward.

After a long while, a stretch of palaces suddenly appeared before him; in the night, ever-burning lamps hung outside the palaces. Then he heard a very pleasant female voice laugh, "I have a guest—an old acquaintance.

Go and bring him in. " "Yes.

" Several girlish voices answered from within the palace, and then a few young women, lanterns in hand, came rustling out through the palace gates.