Chapter 1711 — A Treacherous Minister Lurks at the Emperor's Side
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
The Hall Master of Lingguan shook his head: "If Your Majesty truly made a move, I fear you would not last ten moves in his. Your Majesty, in mending the flaws of your method you have only made your own method flawless — but why should the Seventh Young Master go seeking your flaws? He has already fathomed our master's supreme art, and there is one move more, the supreme art of our master's mortal foe. Between those two moves, Your Majesty must lose. Within ten moves, Your Majesty's very life is in peril. The Third Young Master and the Fourth Young Master cultivated you, but not so that you might die at the Seventh Young Master's hands; your role is not to perish in a death-grapple with the Seventh Young Master."
The Heavenly Emperor frowned.
The Hall Master of Lingguan said: "If Your Majesty wishes to defeat him, it is in fact simple. You need only cultivate the third method of attaining the Dao, and you may break his divine power."
The Heavenly Emperor was about to ask further when Shen Mu's voice suddenly came: "That headless prehistoric Dao-attainer — last time he cut off your head, ruined your Dao tree and destroyed one of your dao fruits, and I forgot to ask your name. May I ask, which hall master of the Miluo Palace's seventy-two halls are you?"
The Hall Master of Lingguan did not continue, but turned and bowed deeply: "Of the seventy-two halls, the Lingguan Treasure Hall — known as the Ling Sage of Miluo Palace, and called the Hall Master of Lingguan. I greet the Seventh Young Master."
Shen Mu turned his head and said joyfully to his own shadow: "Lord Shang, this time at last we know whom we killed."
Lord Shang's voice came from his shadow: "Young Master, for a man about to die, what need to ask his name?"
"A matter of courtesy."
Shen Mu turned back and smiled faintly: "Lingguan, do you dare fight me before the lines?"
The pair of ox-horns on the Hall Master of Lingguan's shoulders twitched, and he laughed aloud: "Seventh Young Master, you have an assassin lurking in your shadow, waiting to strike at me by stealth — do you think I do not know? Today I will not contend with you; you and I shall have our day of decision!"
The Heavenly Emperor invited him into the palace, saying with great courtesy: "Brother of the Dao, this third method of attaining the Dao — you must explain it in full. Please!"
Shen Mu frowned; the Golden Ship of Salvation sailed toward Carefree Village and moored in the Taiqing Realm, and he said: "Prepare for battle!"
His gaze fell upon the Heavenly Court's great encampment opposite, and a faint anxiety stirred in him.
"The third method of attaining the Dao was created by the Second Young Master of Miluo Palace. The Second Young Master, Wuji, is a goddess of Guixu; her Dao is the Boundless, vast and dim, traceless and limitless, its roots unfindable. When she attained the Dao, she found that the method of attaining the Dao through the Dao-realm that our master passed down, and the method of attaining the Dao of Jade Capital City, were both of no use to her. Her Guixu Dao could never be imprinted upon the void."
The Hall Master of Lingguan and the Heavenly Emperor Hao entered the palace and sat down, and he said: "At that time she created the Guixu method of attaining the Dao and at last attained the Dao, with a power so great that even our master praised it unceasingly. I observe that you carry the blood of the Guixu goddess and have cultivated the Guixu Dao — only, the Guixu Dao cannot attain the Dao, and so I thought of the Second Young Master's method."
The Heavenly Emperor Hao bowed low to the ground and said: "I beg you, Brother of the Dao, to teach me!"