Chapter 723 — The Most Charismatic
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
"Heavenly King, we can travel by stages and take in the present customs and life of Jingping along the way."
The Woodcutter suggested, "The Jingping Reforms are not mere words; they were truly put into practice. What you see along the road will surely change your view."
Di Yiyue said lightly, "You are the Heavenly Master of the Kaihuang Reforms. You presided over them, and in merely twenty thousand years you pushed the Kaihuang Era to the point where the Outer Heaven Court could not rest until it destroyed that era. Surely you don't mean to take part in these Jingping Reforms as well? How many years do you intend to spend pushing Jingping to the point the Outer Heaven Court cannot bear?"
Hearing her raise the Kaihuang Era, the Woodcutter Sage's face darkened with sorrow, and he said with difficulty, "I did indeed lead the Kaihuang Reforms, but I have had no hand in the Jingping Reforms. Those were truly led by my three disciples."
He held up one finger. "My eldest disciple passed down that the sage's way lies in the people's daily use."
They walked as they talked, and Di Yiyue observed the daily life of the people along the way. The Woodcutter raised a second finger. "My third disciple applied that very saying in Jingping, and that is why Jingping has the appearance it does today. I taught my eldest disciple for a hundred years; I taught my third disciple for only two. As for the Jingping Reforms, I had a hand in none of it. I only ran errands for my third disciple."
Di Yiyue glanced at Shen Mu and smiled. "You just said it was your three disciples who led the reforms, but you've only mentioned the eldest and the youngest. You haven't mentioned the second."
The Woodcutter Sage looked at Shen Mu, and at once felt his head about to burst. He shook his head. "The second disciple, I never taught him for a single day. I don't even know how it happened. Somehow, in a muddle, I had such a disciple."
Di Yiyue asked curiously, "What did he do?"
The Woodcutter Sage wanted to rouse his spirits but could not. He said listlessly, "He is the man behind my third disciple."
Di Yiyue was puzzled.
The Woodcutter Sage said in a voice drained of strength, "When Jingping and my third disciple were in the gravest peril, it was his full support that preserved Jingping and saved the emperor and Old Three. When Jingping met peril again, once more it was he who preserved Jingping and Old Three. And when peril came yet again..."
"Great Heavenly Master, say no more. I understand the rest."
Caught between laughter and tears, Di Yiyue said, "Surely it was he who preserved Jingping and Old Three again, wasn't it?"
"I cannot make out this disciple of mine."
The Woodcutter Sage's expression was strange. He quietly sized up Shen Mu and said in a low voice, "He is far too hard to understand. I have never seen a temperament so peculiar. He has the boldness to reform and transform, and an almost indelible ambition and confidence, and he is clever and odd, curious about everything, curious like a silly roe deer. And yet..."
He thought a moment and went on. "And yet he has a strange charm. When he is focused, he researches all sorts of bizarre things. He actually went alone to the Tianyin Realm and revived Lady Tianyin, and created arts that can reunite shattered souls, remake souls, and bring the dead back to life!"
"He also created the Primordial Spirit Guiding Art at the Liuhe Realm, letting one cultivate the primordial spirit even at the Liuhe Realm, and in one stroke changed a cultivation system that had been passed down for untold tens of thousands of years!"