Chapter 780 — The Magnetic Earth Mother
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
The Shangcang Academy had already settled into its proper course. Qi Jiuyi had been invited down from Shangcang by Xu Shenghua to give lessons; and to him were added Xiong Xiyu, mistress of the True Heavenly Palace, Hu Bugui, who had entered the Dao through martial arts, the True Heavenly Palace's little princess Xiong Qi'er, the formation master He Yiyi, the poison master Mu Yingxue, the sword master Luo Yinyu, mother and daughter Liu Ruyin and Liu Zhenqing of the Liu family, and Yi Ke, son of the young Patriarch—so that the Shangcang Academy of the Western Lands could truly be called a gathering of a hundred talents.
Ling Yuxiu, the military commissioner sent by the imperial court, had likewise put her name down at the Shangcang Academy.
Most crucial of all, the Martial Combat Heavenly Master Zhuo Cha had also been lecturing here for a time—not to the female disciples of the Western Lands, but instructing Qi Jiuyi, Xiong Xiyu, Luo Yinyu and the rest in the martial arts. Even Xu Shenghua, the Grand Libationer himself, had run over to sit in on the lessons for a while.
"The Dragon Qilin was ridden off by the Martial Combat Heavenly Master."
Xu Shenghua said, "The Martial Combat Heavenly Master was waiting for you to return his ox. He waited several months for you, and in the end you never gave it back. He was furious, said the woodcutter's whole household were a pack of liars, and rode away on Fat Dragon."
Shen Mu was roaming the Shangcang Academy, taking in the sights at his leisure, while the Heavenly Duke had been dragged off to attend lessons; hearing these words, he blurted out, "How could Fat Dragon possibly bear his weight? Still, it's no bad thing—Fat Dragon hauling the Martial Combat Heavenly Master about will give him some exercise."
Xu Shenghua kept at Shen Mu's side and asked, "Setting him beside this Lan Yutian, I feel that the two of us are false Overlord Bodies, and he is the genuine article. Where did you pick this child up?"
"A million years ago."
Shen Mu sighed and said, "He is no child. He is already a million years old."
Xu Shenghua nodded. "So that is how it is."
"Brother Xu, were you not startled?" Shen Mu studied his expression and asked, full of misgiving.
Xu Shenghua said gravely, "I was startled."
Shen Mu went on studying his face, still unable to find any trace of astonishment in it, and shook his head. "I cannot think what Jingyan saw in you. You have never heard the name Lan Yutian, so you likely do not know his achievements. If I told you that he is the founder and establisher of the divine treasury cultivation system and the Heavenly Palace cultivation system, you ought at last to show an astonished expression, no?"
Xu Shenghua's body gave a shudder, yet his face wore the same expression as before: "The founder and establisher of the divine treasury cultivation system and the Heavenly Palace cultivation system? Then why does he know nothing at all, and need to learn everything over from the beginning?"
Shen Mu recounted in rough outline how he and Niu Sanduo had returned to the early years of Dragon Han, telling of his meeting with Kaihuang, his meeting with the Seven Heavenly Dukes, and the Heavenly Court Grand Gathering and the Jade Pool Grand Gathering, at which he and Kaihuang had together been enfeoffed as Heavenly Duke Mu and Heavenly Duke Shen.
Xu Shenghua still wore that same expression. Shen Mu was dealt a crushing blow.
"As a matter of fact, ever since I met the Seven Heavenly Dukes, I have been turning over a certain question in my mind."
Shen Mu smiled. "Do you know what question that is?"
Xu Shenghua mused for a moment, then his eyes lit up: "Sect Master Shen, this is a prodigious undertaking! You mean to reopen the divine bridge and the divine treasury, to repair the severed divine bridges of the people of Jingping, and the martial artists of the Douniu World as well—they too would then have hope of cultivating to the divine realm!"