Chapter 345 — Heaven Collapses, Earth Splits
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The hall was called the Hall of Annals. The characters on the plaque were somewhat blurred, yet one could still see that whoever had written those three characters had attained the very heights of calligraphy and the way of painting. The words "Hall of Annals" carried a weight of history; from between the strokes a deep, weathered antiquity swept over the face. "In the Kaihuang Era, the Hall of Annals was a place of great renown.
" Sage Qingyou walked into the hall.
There were no books left inside — only row upon row of ancient shelves. The inner hall was a circular space, exceedingly vast, and Shen Mu saw that many of the shelves were set into the domed walls, so that one had to walk upon the walls to reach them and read. It was a pity that all the books here were gone. "Many of the books in this place were destroyed in the wars; the surviving volumes were moved by us to other halls for safekeeping.
The immortals who opened up Little Jade Capital originally intended to tear down the Hall of Annals, but then felt it was meaningful to leave it standing, and so they did not touch this hall.
" Sage Qingyou stepped onto the wall and walked among the rows of empty shelves, his palm stroking these ancient bookcases. Shen Mu followed him onto the wall, and started slightly: the wall gave off a geomagnetic yuan force that seized his body and held it fast, letting them walk freely upon the wall. "Those immortals who opened up Little Jade Capital — in the Kaihuang Era, they were the ones charged with recording history. " Sage Qingyou said, "Not only did they record the history of the Kaihuang Era, they also recorded the history of the ages before Kaihuang.
Precisely because they recorded history, they witnessed failure after failure and knew well the peril. So after the Kaihuang Era was destroyed, they moved the Hall of Annals here and created the holy land of Little Jade Capital.
Little Jade Capital keeps far from the mortal world and takes no part in its quarrels; it merely floats quietly beyond the world, recording the rise and fall of all things. Does the Human Emperor know where the Hall of Annals originally stood in the Kaihuang Era?
" Shen Mu shook his head.
Sage Qingyou walked up onto the dome, head downward and feet upward, and said, "Then the Human Emperor must know the meaning of the word Jade Capital? " "Jade Capital — the capital city where the Heavenly Emperor dwells," Shen Mu said. Sage Qingyou sighed. "Yes — the capital where the Heavenly Emperor dwells. Jade Capital is the Heavenly Court. The name Little Jade Capital was meant to commemorate the capital of the Heavenly Emperor. The history recorded in the Hall of Annals was, in truth, written for the Heavenly Emperor to read.
" Shen Mu was deeply shaken.
He stared at him blankly and murmured, "Little Jade Capital comes from Jade Capital? " "That's right.
Little Jade Capital comes from Jade Capital!
" Sage Qingyou turned around and looked at him and Li Zheng, and said in a low voice, "Little Jade Capital comes from Jade Capital, the capital city of the Kaihuang Era! The Human Emperor Hall comes from there too! Holy Advent Mountain comes from there too!
They are all fragments of Jade Capital!
Those who created the three holy lands — whether the immortals of Little Jade Capital, or the first Human Emperor of the Human Emperor Hall, or the Woodcutter Sage of the Heavenly Sage Cult — all came from Jade Capital of the Kaihuang Era!