Chapter 662 — A Show of Might at First Meeting
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Shen Mu listened, utterly absorbed, when suddenly his expression shifted. He turned to the Primordial Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, and said, "These children are reciting the history of every era! 'Three parts the Xiao Longhan' — could it mean that in the Longhan era the realm was divided into three? 'Chiming split in two' — might that mean the Chiming era was divided into West Chiming and East Chiming? " The Primordial Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, was likewise shaken.
He said in a low voice, "North and South Shanghuang stand — the Shanghuang era must have suffered some great upheaval, splitting into a Southern Shanghuang era and a Northern Shanghuang era! As for 'Kaihuang one generation passed down'. .
. " His voice grew hoarse. "It must mean that my Kaihuang era had only one generation of Kaihuang. . .
The Divine Son of Chiming must send out a portion of his divinities and demons at intervals to scout the outside world for news. That is how he knows the great events of each era, and he compiles those events into nursery rhymes to teach these children. " Shen Mu nodded.
"Though this Divine Son of Chiming lives in seclusion, from this alone it is clear he is not one content with obscurity. He keeps watch on the outside world — his ambitions are no small matter.
" In the schoolhouse the children were still reciting, heads swaying: ". . . Seven days within the grotto, seven sevens forty.
.
. " They wished to listen longer, but the schoolmaster discovered them. He made the children stop their reading and came out to investigate. Seeing that these few were not three-headed and six-armed, he questioned them briefly, then drove them off. Shen Mu mused, "What does 'seven days within the grotto' mean? " The Primordial Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, said, "Grotto means grotto-heaven. When we came to this Chiming Floating Realm, we did indeed pass through a void opening — such a place should be called a grotto-heaven. I once heard the Celestial Master tell a story. It was said that a woodcutter went up the mountain to gather firewood and heard men playing chess inside a stone house. He went in and found two youths facing each other over the board.
He stood and watched, and when the game was finished and he was about to leave, he found the handle of his axe had rotted away.
The woodcutter hurried down the mountain and found that times had changed — several hundred years had passed in the mortal world. Such a place should be a lesser grotto-heaven. " "The woodcutter watching chess? " Shen Mu laughed.
"That woodcutter — could he be the Celestial Master himself? It suddenly comes back to me: the founding patriarch of the Heavenly Sage Cult heard the sound of woodcutting on the mountain, went to look, and a single glance lasted a hundred years. The woodcutter's story is rather similar. " The Primordial Ancestor, the Human Sovereign, thought carefully.
"The woodcutter in the Celestial Master's story could indeed be himself — I had never considered it so deeply. The Floating Realm is a grotto-heaven world; time here must differ from the outside.
" "Then what of the Land of No Sorrow? Is it also a grotto-heaven world? " Shen Mu asked. The Primordial Ancestor said, "I have never been there.
In those years Kaihuang had the Celestial Artisan Divinities build the Land of No Sorrow, and word never leaked — only later did the divinities learn such a place existed. Since the Land of No Sorrow was built, it should not be a grotto-heaven. " They lodged in the palace estate next door. The servants here, too, were often three-headed and six-armed, and worked swiftly: a cook could stir six woks at once, and when maidservants served a banquet they carried six plates on their palms, and a full table could be prepared in no time.
"If the cultivation arts of the Chiming era were to spread to Jingping, they would surely set Jingping's economy leaping forward once again! " Shen Mu's eyes burned with eagerness.