Chapter 705 — The Blazing Thoroughfare
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
The Taixuan Canon of Calculation was used to explain the macroscopic aspect of all things in the cosmos, and thereby to deduce the macroscopic great Dao of the cosmos; the Taiwei Canon of Calculation was used to explain the microscopic aspect of all things, and to expound the microscopic great Dao. Of course, Shen Mu had deduced the Taiwei Canon of Calculation only from the microscopic aspect of the heavenfire, and it still had many deficiencies. For the moment it could explain only the Xuandu Heavenfire. "Then can I now calculate the great Dao of heavenfire?
" Shen Mu grew excited and devoted himself to deducing the intricate crystal structure of the great Dao of heavenfire. His understanding of fire runes was inferior to Yan Jingjing's—in truth, the depth of his research was inferior to hers, though its breadth surpassed hers.
His fire runes included the Vermilion Bird vital qi, which encompassed the mainstream Vermilion Bird rune system; the Yinghuo Star Lord rune system of the Yinghuo Fire Lord True Art; the various rune systems of divine fire and demon fire in the Dayu Youmo Scripture; and the flame dragon script of the Ancestral Dragon Taixuan Art. Even so, Shen Mu's mastery of fire runes was far from perfect, for beyond these there were the fire runes of the Great Sun Star Lord, the fire runes of the Phoenix, the fire divine arts of the Demon Race, and many other kinds besides—an immense multitude. This time, in deducing the great Dao of heavenfire, he had to cast aside every fire rune he had learned before and begin from zero.
The hardest part of beginning from zero was writing the character 'one. ' In truth, this 'one' meant fixing the trajectory of the first point to form a basic calculative structure, then calculating the calculative structure of the second point from the trajectory of the first, and then establishing the third point, the fourth point.
Only when the calculative structures of all the points had formed a unique crystal structure was the first step complete.
After that came the use of the Taiwei Canon of Calculation to compute more and different crystal constructions; different crystal sequences could compose divine arts of differing power. Shen Mu tried his hand at the calculations, while Long Qilin bore him and the sword elixir onward under their weight. By the time they reached the Shenduan Mountains, which had been razed flat, he had at last, for the first time, determined the first divine art of the great Dao of heavenfire.
The divine art was still crude, not refined. The Dao itself had no power; what had power was the divine art. This one divine art was the expression of the power of the great Dao of heavenfire. With the first divine art in hand, he could labor bitterly at it and create a second heavenfire divine art, a third heavenfire divine art.
. . Suddenly a voice came: "Shen Fengqing, Divine Son of Youdu!
" Shen Mu was slightly taken aback. There were not many people who called him both Divine Son of Youdu and Shen Fengqing.
He looked up and a faint smile appeared.
"Brother Qi—Qi Jiuyi. " Qi Jiuyi stood upon the ruins of the Shenduan Mountains and said calmly, "Divine Son of Youdu, I have come to take my leave of you. I will return to the Heavenly Court and no longer concern myself with the affairs of your lower realm.
Do you know what that means? " Shen Mu's eyes flickered.
"It means the Heavenly Court is about to move against Jingping. " Qi Jiuyi nodded.
"These past days I have traveled throughout Jingping and seen the Imperial Preceptor's reforms blazing like wildfire. Then I met my three senior brothers. You know them.
" Shen Mu said, "Lou Yunqu, Kui Qingpei, and Fu Yanqi.
Did they too enter the Wilderness Ruins when Taihuang Heaven fell? But the three of them alone cannot stir up much of a storm.
Jingping now has many experts—whether Chiming, the Demon Race, or Taihuang Heaven, all have many masters. Killing the three of them would not be difficult.