Chapter 1863 — The Primeval Womb of Great Calamity

In the end he sat down in dejection, staring blankly at the River of Chaos. The Golden Ship of World Salvation drifted with the River of Chaos.

The Calamity of Destruction raged, but it could not move the ship a fraction, nor him a fraction.

The Master of Miluo Palace's Dao Heart was withered and still, as if he were about to enter nirvana and dissolve into the Dao.

At this moment, a man with graying temples leading a little girl came aboard the golden ship.

The Master of Miluo Palace looked at him with lifeless eyes; suddenly his eyeballs moved, and the man with graying temples saluted him with the disciple's rite.

"A visitor from the future? " The Master of Miluo Palace returned the salute and said, "I see in you both something that does not belong to this universe. You seem to have walked very far through time.

Do you come from the future? " "Teacher, I am your seventh disciple, Chaos," Shen Mu said.

"I have come back here to see you. " The Master of Miluo Palace stared at them blankly, then suddenly said, "Is the future well?

" "The future is well," Shen Mu said with a smile.

The Master of Miluo Palace fell silent. His dead, still Dao Heart seemed gradually to revive, his ideals returning. He staggered into the golden hall, and in hall after hall he mourned the friends of the past, the living beings and the years gone by.

After a long while he walked out of the golden hall. His seventh disciple and the little girl had vanished.

The Master of Miluo Palace was overcome with a sense of loss. After the Calamity of Destruction came the Calamity of Creation.

When the Calamity of Creation erupted, the Five Primes evolved; when the Grand Ultimate Dao evolved into the Myriad Daos of Heaven and Earth, a new universe was born.

Old Man Wuyai sat in the Jade Pool beneath the World Tree, idly taking up Primal Essence Liquid and rubbing the grime from his body.

The Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation were grand and magnificent, to be sure, but they always left him covered in dust. "Brother Daoist Wuyai.

" Hearing this voice, Old Man Wuyai poked his head out of the Jade Pool and looked out.

Seeing a man with graying temples leading a little girl approaching, he hurriedly leaped out of the Jade Pool, swiftly put on his clothes, and said with a chuckle, "I know you! You are not of this universe, I saw you leap out of the Chaos. " "I am Chaos, seventh disciple of the Master of Miluo Palace.

In the future I will receive benefit from you, Brother Daoist, and so I have come especially to thank you for your aid.

" The young man smiled and said, "You will help me in the future, and I have no way to repay you.

I owe you a favor, and so I had no choice but to return to the past and write you an IOU.

" Old Man Wuyai laughed and said, "So you are Miluo's disciple.

What standing do I have? By seniority, even Miluo must call me senior. Why would I need your IOU?

That will not do!

Forget it, forget it, no need for an IOU.

" Shen Mu's expression was kindly.

"Brother Daoist, you had best keep it. Who knows, it may be of use in the future?

" He wrote out the IOU, and Old Man Wuyai casually took it. Seeing this, Shen Mu kindly reminded him, "Brother Daoist, this IOU cannot pass through the Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation. You had best put it in the roots of the tree.

" Old Man Wuyai did as he was told and said with a smile, "You are an interesting fellow.

" He looked at the little girl beside Shen Mu, finding her lovely as ice and snow, and said with suspicion, "During the Calamity of Destruction of the First Epoch I saw a little girl beside you. This is her, is it not? Why has she not grown? " Shen Mu smiled and said, "She was born in the future and lives by drawing on the Calamity of Destruction.

She has already drawn the power of the several Calamities of Destruction that follow. Only the power of the First Epoch's Calamity of Destruction is one she began to draw after her birth, and so she can only grow in the First Epoch.

" "There are such strange things? " Old Man Wuyai was astonished.

Seeing that the man's conversation was out of the ordinary, his interest was roused, and he sat and discoursed on the Dao with him. The longer they talked, the more extraordinary he found the man. Shen Mu looked around.

This vast, desolate Ancestral Court was without human habitation; only the Five Primes were gathering and brewing, the Five Prime Deities waiting to be born into the world.

"Stop looking. There is no share for you. " Old Man Wuyai laughed and said, "Miluo has long been guarding that place.

The living being in the first vein was taken by him the moment it was born.

By the way, you are also his disciple, and you come from the future, so you must know how I fare in the future, do you not? " Shen Mu said gravely, "Old Ancestor Wuyai's Dharma power is boundless, his might running through cosmic epoch after cosmic epoch. Countless Dao Achievers submit and guard the Old Ancestor!

" Old Man Wuyai laughed heartily. "You really know how to talk! Worthy of being Miluo's seventh! I like you especially!

" .

. .

In the Second Epoch, the Master of Miluo Palace entered the world to save others, teaching divine powers and Dao arts. Life in the world gradually grew more numerous, and many ancient gods and beings of various races followed him to seek learning and inquire after the Dao.

The Master of Miluo Palace's eldest disciple was still a green youth, but he had already received the Master's true transmission, and sometimes he would preach the Dao in his teacher's place.

One day he encountered a strange pair, a father and daughter, and studied them curiously, yet could not discern their origins. Taishang felt a chill in his heart, rose, and inquired, "Where do you two Daoist brothers come from? " Shen Mu said hurriedly, "Elder Brother Taishang, I am your seventh junior brother, Chaos.

I entered the sect later than you, and I am unworthy of the words 'Daoist brother'! " Taishang was bewildered.

Shen Mu said, "What is your origin, Elder Brother? " Taishang said, "I was born from the Taiyi vein, originally an egg.

Our teacher awakened me and had me cultivate at his side.

" Shen Mu suddenly understood, and laughed heartily. "No wonder Taiyi could never beat Lord Taishang, and always came off the worse at Taishang's hands. So that is how it is, so that is how it is!

" He had finally grasped the crux of the matter. Taiyi was the primordial spirit of the Lord of Tiandu, who had seized the body of the Seventeenth Epoch's Taiyi.

Because it was a seizure of another's body, his comprehension and use of the Dao of Taiyi always fell a little short, and he was again and again checked by Taishang, and in the end captured and sealed in the Divine Coffin of Dao Burial! "Elder Brother, has our teacher ever taken you to see Guixu?

" Shen Mu said with a smile.

Taishang felt there was ill intent in his smile, but since the man was his junior brother, he supposed he would not harm him, and shook his head. "No.

" "Why not go and take a look?

" Shen Mu said, guiding him along.