Chapter 289 — The Fourteen Techniques of the Dao Sword
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
Since you are resolved to support Imperial Preceptor Jingping's reforms, I will say only this: the Dao follows nature, and to reform is to alter the Dao, to alter nature. The gods are born of nature, transformed by the Great Dao; if you would alter the Dao, you know the stakes. The Wasteland stands as a warning from the past; the Human Emperor must not fail to consider it. " Shen Mu was slightly taken aback. The Dao Lord clearly knew more of the hidden story behind all this. But the Dao Lord was unwilling to say more.
"I have come to see the Human Emperor to make my position clear: the Daoist sect is an enemy of Jingping, but it will not be an enemy of the Human Emperor.
Disciple, bring out the Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sword. " Lin Xuan took a stone slab from a leather pouch at his waist; when he drew it out it stood fully two zhang tall, covered with sword marks scored this way and that. Lin Xuan hesitated.
"Dao Lord. .
.
" "Show him.
" The old Dao Lord said, "The old Human Emperor's swordsmanship was better than mine, a shade more profound. I even let Imperial Preceptor Jingping see the Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sword—why should I not let the Human Emperor of this age see them?
" Lin Xuan the Daoist Heir set the slab upright to one side. The old Dao Lord said, "The Fourteen Chapters of the Dao Sword: one sword to a chapter. When Imperial Preceptor Jingping came to our Daoist sect to study, I allowed him fourteen days to look at them; so I will allow the Human Emperor fourteen days as well. As for our sect's Innate Taixuan Art, that I will not show the Human Emperor.
" Astonishment showed on Shen Mu's face. The Old Tathagata had permitted him to read the Thunder Roar Mahayana Sutra, but had let him see only the method within it, not the gate—the method without the gate.
Now the Dao Lord was allowing him to see the gate of the Innate Taixuan Art but not its method. The breadth of mind of the lords of these two great holy lands was truly vast.
Shen Mu pondered a moment, then took out the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra and said, "I am not accustomed to receiving favors. This is the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra; I will allow the Daoist Heir fourteen days to read it.
" Lin Xuan the Daoist Heir was much tempted and looked to the old Dao Lord. The old Dao Lord's expression shifted slightly; he pondered, then said, "If he lets you look, then look. In the Great Nurturing Nether Demon Sutra, harbor good and you are a god; harbor evil and you are a demon. If you fall to demonhood, it will only show that your cultivation is insufficient and your nature lacking.
" Lin Xuan the Daoist Heir assented.
Shen Mu sat before the stone wall and looked at the sword marks upon it.
The marks ran this way and that, seemingly without any order. He looked at the first sword mark; at first he saw nothing wondrous in it, but as his mind sank into it, he gradually sensed a strange sword intent. In his eyes the sword mark was no longer a sword mark; he seemed to see mathematical principles, as though a Daoist were writing furiously with a great brush, setting down the truths of divination and number.
These truths gradually evolved, forming two taiji diagrams, one black and one white, each perturbing the other. A single point pierces and links the vast motion; within the Two Modes, yin and yang reverse endlessly! Shen Mu's heart gave a slight jolt. The Dao Sword's method of cultivation was indeed unlike any other: the sword carvings on the stone wall held a profound sword intent, and hidden within that intent were mathematical principles, and those principles composed the first form of the Dao Sword.
The principle hidden in the Dao Sword's first form was the binary calculation of yin and yang!