Chapter 1301 — The Two Modes Dharma Eye
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
Shen Mu surveyed the Jingping scenery around him and took his bearings. Without a flicker of feeling in his face, he said, "I merely fear the Supreme Emperor, and I was unwilling to have Mu Tianzun lose face. So I asked him for some trifle or other — at least it was an exchange, not coercion."
Taishi in the egg did not believe one word of it, but since Shen Mu would not speak, he could not guess at his thoughts either.
Far off, Shen Mu caught sight of the true body of Gongsun Yan, the Primal Lady of Earthly Virtue: that primal tree was lusher and more verdant than ever, its canopy broader than before, standing in the east of the Primal Realm, drawing every eye.
The Earthly Virtue Celestial Palace upon the primal tree's crown had already been completed. Most of the officers and soldiers in the palace came from Jingping; the Heavenly Court had enfeoffed Gongsun Yan as the Primal Lady of Earthly Virtue, to govern half the realm — yet many in the Primal Realm would not submit.
In Gongsun Yan's name Jingping attacked those unsubmissive kingdoms, and now its territories spread outward, its dominions several times greater than of old.
Shen Mu looked about at the land and its customs, and saw that Jingping's heavenly artisans were throwing up sky bridges in the conquered territories, laying roads, opening supervisory foundries, working the lodes, seeking to lead the people of these new domains by Jingping's own principles.
"The Emperor expands too swiftly, and Jingping's officers and soldiers have not kept pace. We must halt, and spend a span of time rearing new young champions, or the realm will not hold."
Shen Mu entered the Upper Capital of Jingping and said to Ling Yuxiu, "The lands of Taixu can no longer be held; they cannot last much longer. To draw such notice now will bring the Heavenly Court's suppression down upon us."
Ling Yuxiu agreed.
Shen Mu then fetched blueprints in a multitude that would have sweated an ox and filled a warehouse to the rafters, and said, "These blueprints describe a Creation Divine Artifact of extraordinary complexity. Does Jingping have heavenly artisans enough to forge such a thing?"
Ling Yuxiu gazed at the mountain of blueprints, appalled. She turned over a few at random, frowned, and said, "With blueprints as intricate as these, refining such a thing would call for artisans beyond counting! It could not possibly be forged in a short time!"
Shen Mu probed, "How long?"
"Merely for the artisans to comprehend these blueprints would take more than ten years; to refine it would take far longer."
Ling Yuxiu reckoned a moment. "The various supervisory foundries must also keep working, forging other divine weapons to sell to the Heavenly Court — we have no such surplus of hands. To forge it would take a hundred years."
"A hundred years is too long; we cannot wait so long!" Shen Mu said flatly. "The foundries can spare few artisans, so go and summon the Daoist sects, and let those Daoist priests come down from the mountains to lend aid! And Xu Shenghua of the Western Lands — invite him as well, to forge the Creation Divine Artifact with us."
Ling Yuxiu hesitated. "The situation is so urgent that even Xu Shenghua must be summoned?"
Shen Mu nodded. "Within a hundred years, this heaven and earth will be overturned. Taixu cannot hold even ten years. Once Taixu is levelled, the Ten Heavenly Venerables will surely move against the Lord of Heaven. When the Lord of Heaven dies, Tu Bo alone will not be able to prop up the sky, and the other ancient gods, the Three Emperors, will bear up even less. If forging the Creation Divine Artifact takes a hundred years, then Jingping will have no prospect whatever against a unified Heavenly Court!"
Ling Yuxiu felt a chill in her heart, and straightway sent men to invite Xu Shenghua and Dao Lord Linxuan.