Chapter 1265 — The Strings Beneath the Venerable One's Fingers
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
" Shen Mu lifted his lantern and folded space — and suddenly Bai Yuqiong's voice came. "Master Yue's treasure is not used in that way.
" Shen Mu's heart stirred. He said gravely, "Heavenly Master Bai, you take the lantern.
" Bai Yuqiong flew out from the lantern, reached out a pale hand to take it, and circulated her magic power. A slender thread of light shot from the lamp, and the space about them swiftly became finer than fine, like a string with no thickness at all.
The aftershock of the collision between Tai Di and Heavenly Venerable Hao rushed in; that terrible fluctuation plucked this string of light, as though an invisible hand were plucking a zither string. Shen Mu, Lan Yutian, and all within the string heard music of wondrous beauty. The collision of the divine abilities of Tai Di and Heavenly Venerable Hao was of immense complexity, yet when it reached the string it played out an overture of the Great Dao.
Though Shen Mu knew the Moon Heavenly Venerable well, he had seldom seen her employ her divine abilities; her arts had always been strange to him.
In truth, when he returned to the past he had come into contact with her many times — yet each time it was the Moon Heavenly Venerable, or those about her, whom he met. Even so, Shen Mu could see that in every age, whether the early, middle, or late Longhan era, or the Shanghuang era that followed, the Moon Heavenly Venerable was an attendant. The attendant of the Cloud Heavenly Venerable; the attendant of the Ling Heavenly Venerable.
Seldom was she the one to lead the transformation of an age. Always she seemed the little sister of the Cloud Heavenly Venerable, the little sister of the Ling Heavenly Venerable; her radiance was forever eclipsed by theirs, and every eye rested on the Cloud Heavenly Venerable or the Ling Heavenly Venerable.
And yet the Moon Heavenly Venerable was no insignificant figure.
On the contrary, it was by her support, by her tireless labors before and behind, that the Xiaohan Heavenly Court, and after it the Shanghuang Heavenly Court, came to such splendor. Shen Mu had seen her zither, and the zither of her disciple, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu; he had heard them play, and it was beautiful.
Never had he imagined that when the Moon Heavenly Venerable played, she was not merely playing notes and melody — not until Bai Yuqiong turned the lantern's light into a zither string did he perceive the vastness of her divine ability, the inconceivable nature of her art.
Her music was not music alone, but the strings of the Dao; touch such a string, and it plays a wondrous movement. The divine abilities of Tai Di and Heavenly Venerable Hao were mighty and marvelous, holding all they had learned and comprehended in their lives, holding their Daos. And now Shen Mu was captivated by the wondrous melody plucked from this string, as though this were the most beautiful thing of all.
He listened, drunk with it. The melody this string played was not merely the Moon Heavenly Venerable's Dao of Space; it was the use of the Dao of Space to play out the Daos of Heavenly Venerable Hao and Tai Di.
"The Dao-pitch of this Taicu tone hides within it the pitch of the Innate One Qi; to comprehend the Dao-resonance of the Innate One Qi from its pitch — how beautiful it is —" Shen Mu was lost in rapture.
When he obtained the innate runes from the eggshell of the Great Emperor Taichu, the labor had been immense, and the mystery of the Innate One Qi almost beyond grasping; but with the pitches and tones of the Moon Heavenly Venerable's zither coming to him, the innate runes he once could not fathom were suddenly clear as day. "The Dao-pitch of this Wuyi tone belongs to the Supreme Spirit Consciousness of Daluo — and look, look! The Dao-pitch of this Supreme Spirit Consciousness is in truth as wondrous as the Innate One Qi, though achieved by a different path!