Chapter 649 — A Sense of Loss
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 5
Not now - I will put it on account first.
" The little eunuch pouted: "Your Majesty, you have already had my head a dozen times or more. " Shen Mu caught up with Ling Yuxiu, and the young pair wandered and played for a while, easy and content, feeling their affection deepen by the moment.
Just as they were about to do something more, the First Ancestor Human Emperor came searching for them; seeing him, Ling Yuxiu hastily withdrew. "She is not a bad girl," said the First Ancestor Human Emperor.
Shen Mu was startled: "You saw all that?
" "The emperor saw it too.
Over there.
" The First Ancestor Human Emperor pointed to a thicket in the distance: "He has been following you two for quite a while. The empress is over there, behind the rockery.
I watched them a moment ago; they did not notice me.
" Cold sweat sprang out on Shen Mu's forehead.
He looked toward the thicket and saw the emperor gathering up his dragon robe and scurrying off with the little eunuch at his heels; on the other side, from behind the rockery, the Empress and her train of maids departed in a fluster.
The First Ancestor Human Emperor watched Shen Mu's embarrassment and laughed: "You are like me - a master who keeps his hands off and leaves all to others. Now that the negotiation with Chi Xi has been handed to the emperor, let us speak of serious matters.
Do you wish to learn my Heaven-and-Earth Seal? You have seen how mighty my Heaven-and-Earth Seal is, and yet I have never found an heir.
Only you can inherit my Seal. . . " "First Ancestor, it is not that I do not wish to learn, but that your heart and mine are not the same," Shen Mu said gravely. "I have not lived your life; I cannot learn your Seal.
" The First Ancestor was stunned, as if he had suddenly taken a crushing blow; in a moment he wilted, his spirits dashed, and he seemed to age greatly.
Shen Mu could not bear it and said, "How about this: pass it to me first.
If I can learn it, I will learn it; if I cannot, I will find you an heir. " The First Ancestor turned sorrow to joy and laughed: "Since you possess an Overlord Body, you are certain to learn it!
My art is called the Heaven-and-Earth Heart Sage Formula. With the heart of heaven and earth within one's own body, one stands amid a collapsing heaven and earth, and though the sky falls and the earth splits with all its force, one stands unshaken - and the power of that rending sky and splitting earth becomes my Heaven-and-Earth Seal!
" He transmitted his art and his Seal to Shen Mu in the minutest detail. Shen Mu studied with all his heart, memorized, and pondered. The First Ancestor Human Emperor's art and Seal were indeed peerlessly exquisite, hardly inferior to the Indra Heavenly King Sutra, and within them were stored all manner of knowledge and insight from the Kaihuang Era. Yet such arts and divine powers bore the deep brand of their age.
Shen Mu pondered them a while and could never find the method. But the First Ancestor Human Emperor was full of expectation, waiting for him to display the Seal; instead he saw Shen Mu, having learned the Seal, go straight back to studying the runes and brands upon the Wheel of Creation, trying to combine the runes and bring forth the divine power of Creation. Idly Shen Mu sent out a seal, and a little palace maid passing by them shrieked and turned into a sheep bleating maa-maa.
Shen Mu was astonished and delighted: "It worked!
It worked! " The First Ancestor Human Emperor was desolate. Shen Mu caught the little sheep running every which way and reversed the seal; the sheep became the palace maid again, who fled in terror.
Shen Mu glimpsed his expression and smiled: "First Ancestor, I told you - our hearts are not the same. I do not have your state of mind, so I cannot bring forth your Seal.
" The First Ancestor Human Emperor shook his head and turned to go, his manner bleak: "You have never tried - how do you know it will not work?