Chapter 911 — First Trial of the Calamity Blade
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
The temple was magnificent and opulent, yet its decorations were vastly different from any temple Shen Mu had seen before. Its murals and pillars were covered mostly with images of prostrate dragons—dragons groveling beneath a tree, seized with dread of that ancient tree.
The old tree's bark was like dragon scales, its branches archaic and grotesque, like a thousand dragons and ten thousand serpents.
Shen Mu surveyed his surroundings, puzzled, and smiled. "Is the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven not of the dragon race?"
The Divine Sovereign Wuji invited him to the seat of honor. "Our master attained the Dao from a green tree. Before the Longhan era, our master was an old tree, its branches and leaves withered and bare. The Heaven Venerable Yu comprehended the Dao beneath that tree and founded the Primordial Fetus Divine Treasury, becoming the foremost Heaven Venerable of that age. At that time all the heavens trembled, and the ancient gods appeared in the sky to praise the Heaven Venerable Yu and bestow blessings upon him. Our master, too, received benefit from the Heaven Venerable Yu. The ancient tree had been on the verge of death, yet unexpectedly gained a touch of divine breath, and the old tree revived, transformed into a divine tree."
Shen Mu let the dragon qilin crouch at his feet, while Yan'er transformed into a plump girl and stood behind his seat, all trace of her peach-grove beauty gone, looking instead rather simple and naive.
Shen Mu studied the murals in the temple. "I never imagined the Azure Emperor of the Eastern Heaven had such deep ties with the Heaven Venerable Yu."
The divine beings under the Divine Sovereign Wuji's command were displeased to see him seated in the place of honor, and when they saw that Shen Mu had brought no beauties or fair companions, but instead an exceedingly fat maidservant, their doubts about the Heaven Venerable Mu's taste only deepened.
The Divine Sovereign Wuji smiled. "Yet though our master became a divine tree because of this, it was also because of this that he met with calamity."
Shen Mu ignored the gazes of the others and asked, "How so?"
"Originally, our master was without useful timber, and moreover aged and rotten—a piece of decayed wood. It could not be cut for furniture, nor carved into a handsome divine statue, and was even troublesome to burn as firewood. And so it survived."
The Divine Sovereign Wuji wore a smile, his words laden with deep meaning. "But once our master became a divine tree, it became useful instead. A few years later it was cut down and refined into a treasure, and so for several hundred thousand years it had no control over its own fate. Heaven Venerable Mu, to be without talent and without use—that is the way of survival. Would you not agree?"
Shen Mu laughed heartily. "There is some truth to that."
"Because our master became useful timber, it was cut down and refined into a treasure. At the Yaochi Grand Gathering in the early years of Longhan, our master was brought up to Yaochi and thereby had the chance to see the nine Heaven Venerables—among them Heaven Venerable Mu—and to witness the glory of that golden age."
The Divine Sovereign Wuji said, "At that time our master was dim and insensate, a primal weapon grasped in someone's hand, listening to the sermon amid the crowd. And the ones who expounded upon the Heavenly Palace from the divine platform were the Heaven Venerable Yu and the Heaven Venerable Hao. Only later did our master learn that the Heaven Venerable Yu was in fact Heaven Venerable Mu—and for that, our master is deeply grateful to you."
Shen Mu was rendered speechless with laughter. "I never imagined that among those who listened to the sermon at Yaochi in those years, there would be so many future titans."