Chapter 1363 — Stealing the Dao Fruit
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 3
" Heavenly Venerable You pulled the ghost-face mask from the back of his head onto his face, rolled his eyes, then pushed the ghost-face mask back behind his head.
The two Heavenly Venerables were, after all, of profound insight, and soon sorted out the dao patterns of the dao wound left by Heavenly Venerable Xiao; but as for the runes of the Great Dao contained within those dao patterns, they understood them only in part. The two of them explained it all in detail to Shen Mu, and Shen Mu unraveled the dao patterns bit by bit, when suddenly his voice turned most displeased: "Heavenly Venerable Xiao has learned the microscopic arts of calculation as well!
" Heavenly Venerable Yue and Heavenly Venerable You did not know what he meant by this, and neither took it to heart.
Shen Mu fell silent. Heavenly Venerable Xiao had learned the microscopic arts of calculation and reconstructed his runes of the Great Dao, so that his cultivation was now so mighty that he could single-handedly stand against Tubo and the two Heavenly Venerables, Yue and You. And all of this was the effect of the Jingping Reforms!
"That Heavenly Venerable Xiao could master the microscopic arts of calculation in so short a time shows that he has been staying in Jingping all along, quietly studying the fruits of the Jingping Reforms. Yet he cannot have stayed in Jingping the whole time, for he must also remain in the Heavenly Court, and even from time to time make a trip to the Ancestral Court or to Taixu.
" Shen Mu pondered for a moment, and reached a conclusion in his heart: "When I summoned his soul, his soul was not drawn into Heavenly Venerable Xiao's body; rather, the soul was reincarnated and became another person, who slipped into Jingping to steal the learning of the Reforms.
" That Heavenly Venerable Xiao should go to learn the Jingping Reforms was no surprise to him; in truth, Shen Mu wished for nothing more than that all ten Heavenly Venerables should study the fruits of the Jingping Reforms.
So long as the Jingping Reforms were useful, the ten Heavenly Venerables would not send down calamity to destroy Jingping, not until Jingping became a threat to them. Yet what made Shen Mu wary was that Heavenly Venerable Xiao had always had an identity within Jingping, and over these ten-odd years that identity of his had likely already climbed into the middle or upper ranks of Jingping!
Given time, he would be like a parasite, seizing control of Jingping's power, and might even, perhaps, oust the magpie and take its nest!
"He means to steal the fruits of the Jingping Reforms without a sound, just as in those years the demigods stole the power of the ancient gods, just as the ten Heavenly Venerables stole the power of the Heaven Emperor. However this world may change, the power of these old rulers will never fall to others! " Shen Mu said silently, "If the power of Jingping does not belong to the people of Jingping, but falls into the hands of parasites like Heavenly Venerable Xiao, then the Jingping Reforms have failed.
In that case, Jingping is nothing but another Longhan Revolution. .
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" The Alchemist coughed once and reminded him, "Shen'er, keep unraveling the dao patterns. " Shen Mu steadied himself and went on listening as Heavenly Venerable Yue and Heavenly Venerable You explained the form of each rune, while he unraveled the mysteries of these runes of the Great Dao.
A long while passed, and the three of them together unraveled the dao wound left by Heavenly Venerable Xiao. This dao wound was not, in fact, so very severe; in his haste he had blown Shen Mu's head apart without having time to use his full strength.
The Alchemist already had a plan in mind, and at once compounded the medicine.
Once he had refined the spirit elixir, he immediately treated Shen Mu's injuries, and Shen Mu's dao wound slowly faded.