Chapter 1411 — The Heavenly Dao Is Unfathomable
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
Such a knack even Shen Mu could not help but admire! Among the Ten Heavenly Venerables, likely only Venerable Hong could hold every man in the palm of his hand and still leave him flattered, certain that he was one whom Venerable Hong esteemed! Venerable Hong glanced at Shen Mu and smiled.
"Would Venerable Mu not understand such a line? Do not belittle yourself, Venerable Mu.
Why not set out your own reading, and I will see whether it is right.
" More lords of the heavens came forward with their juniors to pay their respects, and Venerable Hong was smooth and winning as ever, leaving them overflowing with gratitude and delight. "Meet it with order, and it is auspicious; meet it with disorder, and it is calamitous.
To my mind, this means that to govern the world in accord with Lord Heaven is great fortune—Lord Heaven will shelter you. " Shen Mu narrowed his eyes and said calmly, "And to defy Lord Heaven, to throw the Heavenly Dao into disorder, is great calamity—and Lord Heaven kills.
" Venerable Hong glanced at him once more and smiled. "Venerable Mu has misread it.
To govern the world in accord with the Heavenly Dao is great fortune; to go against the Heavenly Dao is great calamity. Our readings may look much alike, but where you take the Heavenly Dao to mean Lord Heaven, there you err.
Lord Heaven is merely a god born of the Heavenly Dao. " Shen Mu halted, standing on the face of the sea, and smiled.
"Perhaps Lord Heaven understands it so. By your reading, Brother Dao, the line means: follow Heaven and live, defy Heaven and perish. By mine, it is a threat—and not so serene as all that. " Venerable Hong took two steps forward, then stopped as well, his back to Shen Mu, and smiled.
"Venerable Mu, why do you suddenly speak such words? Have we not always gotten along well? " He turned around, the smile on his face warm as a spring breeze.
Yet Shen Mu suddenly shivered. On the Jade Pool the sea wind howled, cold and bleak, stirring the sleeves of them both.