Chapter 1376 — Mourning the Great Dao
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 3
Shen Mu wept long and without restraint, a weeping that darkened heaven and shook the earth.
Yuchenzi could not help but grow anxious. He slipped away in a fluster to fetch Wei Suifeng, Yu Chudu and the others, thinking to himself, "When has Venerable Mu ever wept? I at least have never heard of such a thing! When a Heavenly Venerable weeps, it is no small matter — I am not the one to talk him out of it..."
He sought out Wei Suifeng, Yu Chudu and the rest, and told them what had happened. Astonished, Wei Suifeng said, "My junior brother wept? Strange. He fears neither heaven nor earth — what could bring tears to his eyes? I will go and see."
Yu Chudu too rose in haste. Yun Jianli's eyes flickered, and he said, "Venerable Mu has wept before. I heard that in the Jingping Tribulation, when Venerable Mu stood against the Heavenly Court, he called on Heaven and Heaven gave no answer, the Lord of Heaven would not aid him; he called on Earth and Earth was deaf, the Earth Lord would not aid him either. Beset on every side, feeling himself powerless against the Heavenly Court and powerless to save Jingping from fire and flood, he gouged out his eyes and wept."
Wei Suifeng felt great tenderness for this junior brother of his, and rising to his feet, he said, "Let us go and see."
When they arrived, they saw Hua Xuanxiu patting Shen Mu on the back and comforting him in a low voice. Yu Chudu's heart warmed; in the years of their flight, when he had been worn to the bone, Hua Xuanxiu had comforted him in just this way.
Though he had always felt she was comforting him rather as one comforts a wounded hound.
Wei Suifeng laughed heartily: "Mighty Venerable Mu, valiant and splendid man of nine chi — why do you weep like a child?"
Shen Mu checked his grief, raised his head, and said with a cold smile, "I weep for your mediocrity and incapacity, for burning timber fit for a great hall as a bundle of firewood. I weep for how many fine men in this world sink into mediocrity, and for men of talent who never find their use!"
Wei Suifeng was angered by his words and sneered, "Enough of your side-talk! You simply feel that Yun Jianli and I did not stay in the Peach Grove to help you, that we owe you a debt, and so you put on this show of grievance to extort us. There was a battle of Heavenly Venerables in that Peach Grove; had we stayed, we would have been of no use whatsoever!"
Shen Mu shook his head and stood up, his gaze settling upon Hua Xuanxiu. "I am not speaking of that. I am speaking of her. If Xuanxiu had truly listened to you and given up her study of the three realms — Mingde, Danfeng and Chengtian — then in days to come Jingping would surely have lost one of its great Heavenly Venerables, one who opens up realms."
He sighed. "She was nearly ruined by a single word from you. To think that had I not asked that one question, she would have spent her years in mediocrity, able at best to keep company with you and contend with you for eminence — and grief rises in my heart. And then I think of how many such prodigies in history have been ruined by a thoughtless word, and I cannot hold back my tears. 'You are wrong; do not do it' — those words wound more deeply than any other."
Unbidden, he thought of Taiyi.
Taiyi had said that in those years, when Shen Mu abandoned his own path and set foot upon the system of the Heavenly Palace and the Heavenly Court, he himself had become a tear in the corner of Shen Mu's eye.
Now Shen Mu understood what Taiyi had felt then.
Wei Suifeng, Yun Jianli and the others were slightly taken aback, and looked one after another at Hua Xuanxiu.
Yun Jianli ventured, "Does the Venerable mean that these three realms exist?"
Shen Mu nodded.