Chapter 1205 — The Refined Scholar
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu's eyes went wide, and he laughed.
"I never imagined you kept such close watch on me, Brother Dao. " The scholar Tai Yi shook his head. "It is not only you I have watched. In truth, I have watched many. One of the little bamboo horses that checked Ling Heavenly Venerate's manuscript was me. I was also a peach in Yue Heavenly Venerate's peach grove, and the fish that Kaihuang Shen Ye hooked and then lost off the hook, and a ghost at Tu Bo's side. Or a star drifting past Tian Gong's eyelid, or a white hair of Hao Heavenly Venerate, plucked out and thrown away.
" He laughed. "I have been to too many places and seen too many people. Every figure who left a heavy stroke upon the vastness of history, I have gone to see them all. I also saw you abandon your own path and return to the path of the Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Court, and I sighed over it. At that moment, I was a tear you let fall.
" Shen Mu's body gave a slight shudder. He remembered how, after seeking Shujun's counsel, he had resolutely cast aside his former path and chosen to cultivate the Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Court; at that time he had been unable to hold back his tears, and at his ear he had heard a faint, mournful sigh. He steadied himself and asked curiously, "Brother Dao, your divine powers are vast.
Yet you have come back here. For what reason?
" The scholar Tai Yi laughed.
"I have always been here. There is no coming back, or not coming back. " Shen Mu knew in his heart that Tai Yi's realm was beyond his fathoming, beyond his understanding.
Perhaps, had he not abandoned that path back then, he might have cultivated to Tai Yi's realm, but now it was no longer possible. The scholar Tai Yi looked around him and said, "This tree is a place of great peril. It runs through one cosmic era after another, and the powerhouses of those eras all wish to climb up from the past to this place, to escape death. That you chose this place as your domain, we may count as fate. " Shen Mu laughed.
"Were it not for the guidance of those two ancient gods in the Taiji lode, I could never have obtained this, the Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground. " The scholar Tai Yi's expression turned strange, but he said no more of it.
"This place was originally mine. But since you have made it your domain, then you too must do something to guard the Ancestral Court. " Shen Mu said gravely, "Brother Dao, give me your instructions. " The scholar Tai Yi said, "As you said, my sealing of Great Black Mountain can only delay matters; it cannot end the threat forever.
In time, Great Black Mountain will still split apart, and those past eras will still try to invade.
What I need your help with is this. " "Nothing could be more my duty! " Shen Mu agreed readily, and laughed. "And if foreign enemies invade my domain, I shall be relying on you as well, Brother Dao!
" The scholar Tai Yi had not expected him to make such a request.
He thought for a moment, then laughed. "As you wish.
" Shen Mu let out a long breath. He knew that neither his strength nor his forces could compare with the Ten Heavenly Venerates; he had always been trembling with fear, treading on thin ice.
Now that he had obtained the "Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground," he was forever worried that he could not hold it. But with Tai Yi's word, even if the Ten Heavenly Venerates came in person, they likely could not take this "Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground" from him! Little did he know, the Ten Heavenly Venerates had never set their eyes on this "Ancestral Court's foremost treasure ground" at all. "With Tai Yi here, I can set out with the First Ancestor and the others to blockade gates without worry!
" Shen Mu rubbed his fists and palms together, inexplicably excited. "In the past, the Dao Ancestor took Lin Xuan, and Rulai took the Buddha's Son, to blockade the Great Academy; and Bashan Jijiu took me to blockade the Golden Palace of Loulan.