Chapter 1561 — Zither Music on the Great River

"It must have been then that the Master of the Miluo Palace began to build the Jade Capital, hoping to create a divine city that would shelter the weak.

In his dream, that city was also to be the fountainhead of the next universe's civilization. " Suddenly he understood, a little, why the Master of the Miluo Palace's heart had died, why he had returned to the universe of his birth, why he had chosen to transform into the Dao.

From the First Universe to the Sixteenth, the Master of the Miluo Palace had dreamed of saving everyone, and every time he had failed.

He had settled for the next best thing: a divine city of shelter that would carry the seeds of past universes' civilizations into the universes to come.

And all of it had become a tool in the hands of the Jade Capital's young lords, who fought for power and profit. He found no hope anywhere, and so his heart died; he returned to the age of his birth, set the Miluo Palace down there, and chose eternal death.

"A man worthy of respect.

.

. " Shen Mu leapt down from the golden ship and walked amid the ruins of the Jade Capital, mourning that being who had stood between heaven and earth; his heart surged and swelled, and at last settled into reverence.

He bowed in reverence to those ruins, then sprang up and returned to the Golden Ship of Salvation.

The golden ship entered the long river of chaos of the Fifth Universe and made straight for the moment of its utter extinction; when the whole universe was destroyed, he at last found where Tai Yi stood.

When Tai Yi fell into mortal peril, he could not refrain from using his strongest fleshly body!

This time, however, hunting Tai Yi's traces was no longer the chief purpose of his journey; more and more, his gaze came to rest upon the Master of the Miluo Palace.

The Master of the Miluo Palace had built another Jade Capital, but this time he was not alone: at his side were a few followers, keeping the Jade Capital with him, trying to pass through the tribulation of destruction without relying on the power of the World Tree.

That calamity was no different from the last, and the Jade Capital became ruins once more.

Whether those followers of the Master of the Miluo Palace survived, Shen Mu did not know; by the time the Fifth Universe was wholly annihilated he had already gone ashore, and could not see how it ended.

The Golden Ship of Salvation sailed over one universe's tribulation of destruction after another, and from beneath the long river of chaos many withered skeletal hands clutched up at the ship, trying to come aboard and ferry themselves across the calamity. Shen Mu drew the Tribulation Sword and hacked away, cutting down the Dao-achievers who tried to climb aboard.

In universe after universe he found traces of Tai Yi, and saw the Master of the Miluo Palace's persistence, and saw his followers grow ever more numerous.

The divine city they built grew more complete and more solid, and through failure after failure drew ever nearer to the Jade Capital of later ages! "The Jade Capital of today was forged by the Master of the Miluo Palace out of failure after failure; it was not raised in a single day.

" Shen Mu could not help but marvel. Judging by the way the Master of the Miluo Palace had built the Jade Capital, there was indeed no Jade Capital trap!

The true traps were the Lingxiao trap and the Zixiao trap!

The Golden Ship of Salvation came to the tribulation of destruction of the Tenth Universe; here all was calm and still, and no Dao-achiever tried to board the ship.

Shen Mu raised an eyebrow, quietly had the ship pick up speed, and kept his guard up.

Last time it was here that he had met the Fourth Young Master of the Miluo Palace, that Dao-achiever with the air of an emperor who sat beneath a tree studying a zither score!

That time, because Nanxiang Yuanjun had borrowed the name of the Master of the Miluo Palace, the Fourth Young Master had let them pass.

But he had never said he would let Shen Mu come back!

More frightening still: other Dao-achievers could not walk out of the long river of chaos alive, yet this Fourth Young Master of the Miluo Palace stood upon the river unscathed, his fleshly body, his dao fruit, and his dao tree all whole!

If he appeared to bar the way again, then even with the Golden Ship of Salvation, Shen Mu had no certainty of escaping!

The ship moved faster and faster, until it was running at its utmost; the far shore drew nearer and nearer, and Shen Mu's anxious nerves slowly eased.

Just then a bank of chaotic mist came surging toward him from ahead, and from within the mist came faintly, broken and halting, the sound of a zither.