Chapter 839 — The Chief Culprit
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Shen Mu thought for a moment, then said, "He ought to know. He is younger than you, but not by much. When it comes to antiquity, he ranks among the very top of the human race, second only to the Seven Heavenly Venerables.
There is surely a great deal he knows!
" The Imperial Heavenly Venerable's spirits soared. They flew into that band of azure glow, and as the green light before their eyes receded, what came into view was Qingyun Heaven. Shen Mu looked back: outside, the sun was already setting in the west, yet here the sun still blazed bright on high.
He looked upward; the sun in the sky was no true sun but one built by the Daoists of this place, and he could see many Daoists flying in and out of that solar orb. "Dao Master Lin, the various branches of your Dao lineage have attained extraordinary heights in the art of numerology!
" Shen Mu said to Lin Xuan.
Dao Master Lin Xuan was greatly pleased and laughed. "All things in heaven and earth can be described by numerology.
Our Dao lineage devotes itself exclusively to this art, so it is only natural that we have achieved something.
" His mood lightened considerably, and he looked around, nodding again and again. The terrain of Qingyun Heaven was mountainous, with rivers and peaks everywhere, but the place was not large—roughly the size of the old kingdom of Jingping, a hundred thousand li across.
And yet, small as the sparrow was, it was complete in all its parts; Shen Mu was even surprised to see a man-made moon and a man-made starry river. The stars in the moon and the river were not large—round, bulbous spheres of about a hundred zhang across, and many of them bore a single palace. Each of those stars could just barely hold one palace; a second would have made it crowded.
Some Daoists were swimming through the starry river, shifting the positions of the stars to form astral arrays, while elderly Daoists beside them showed them how to lay out the formations.
Surveying the vault of heaven as a whole, the stars, the constellations, and the array of the starry river together composed the shape of a towering deity: the twin rivers of stars formed its eyes, nebulae traced the texture of its skin, and the constellations built the structure of its body. "The Heavenly Duke?
" Shen Mu clicked his tongue in wonder and laughed. "Qingyun Heaven actually forged the form of the Heavenly Duke out of stars! Such a level of numerological skill is supremely brilliant indeed!
" Yuchen said, "Naturally.
Our Dao lineage excels at numerology, and the Heavenly Court values us for precisely that: it has us compute the Heavenly Dao and analyze the physical structure of the Heavenly Duke. The Daoists of Qingyun Heaven often go to the Mystic Capital to survey and map the Duke's bodily frame.
Many disciples of the Dao lineage serve upon the Duke's person. " A corner of Shen Mu's eye twitched violently. The Heavenly Court had the Dao lineage compute the Heavenly Dao, map the Duke's physical structure, and then, here in Qingyun Heaven, piece together a body for the Duke out of stellar arrays—what could the Heavenly Court intend? A sense of dread rose in his heart: "To replace him!
The Heavenly Duke is in peril!
Once the Duke is removed, the Heavenly Court means to fashion a new one! " "Your Jingping Dao lineage may be beneath notice, but it is, after all, a tiny offshoot of the true Dao lineage," Yuchen said to Lin Xuan.
"Since we spring from the same root, this once I will permit you to acknowledge your origin and return to the fold. " Daoist Zha raised an eyebrow, feeling most displeased.
Dao Master Lin Xuan said, "Thank you, Elder Brother Yuchen. " Yuchen looked at Shen Mu and frowned slightly.
"As for Shen the Overlord Body—you truly should not have come to my Qingyun Heaven.
The Heavenly Sage Sect is also called the Dark Demon Sect.