Chapter 1296 — The Path of Seeking the Dao

At this grand gathering, every soul but Shen Mu ate with little joy: some ate with their hearts in their throats, some ate with their courage turned to ice, and some ate with fury banked high in their breasts. Even so, the occasion held together.

Shen Mu proposed that he himself lead troops to attack Carefree Township, but the assembled generals and soldiers pressed him down as one, saying, "The Celestial Venerable is gravely wounded; better he stay and tend his injuries properly, lest he take the field and, his hurts beyond healing, meet his end.

" Shen Mu had no choice but to let the matter drop. Celestial Venerable Huo was minded to propose letting Shen Mu march to war, so that those god generals he had cultivated — the ones whom Shen Mu's divine powers could not easily overcome — might take the field and be rid of him; yet the generals strained every nerve to keep Shen Mu from leading troops into battle, and Shen Mu himself coughed without cease, declaring his wounds grave.

Truly it was not fitting for him to raise the matter of sending Shen Mu to his death on the battlefield.

After the gathering, Shen Mu "nursed his wounds," while the Celestial Court divided its forces and sent them out to root out the corpse walkers and heart demons scattered across the land, steadying the rear. Word soon came that the brigands of the Taixu Underworld and the Taixu region had drawn in their strength, hiding in a corner of the eastern reaches of Taixu. Shen Mu quietly sought out Bai Yuqiong and asked whether Lan Yutian had emerged from his seclusion. Bai Yuqiong, still not recovered from the grave wound Celestial Venerable Hao had dealt her, said, "Little Brother Lan.

. .

Celestial Venerable Yu should still be in the midst of entering the Dao. He has never once come out of Master Yue's lantern.

" She brought out Celestial Venerable Yue's lantern, opened the little door upon it, and peered inside — and could not help but freeze.

The lantern was utterly empty; Lan Yutian had vanished into thin air! Both broke into a cold sweat.

Bai Yuqiong, her voice thick with tears, cried, "When did he slip out?

Where has he gone?

" Shen Mu's brow bulged with veins; he said in a low, steady voice, "Do not panic, and do not breathe a word of this.

Let us search everywhere!

" The two hurried to search high and low, turning Bai Yuqiong's residence upside down, yet found no trace of Lan Yutian.

Bai Yuqiong questioned the servants of the house, and one said, "When the Heavenly Master was in seclusion, this young man claimed to be the Heavenly Master's younger brother, and so he was allowed to go out. " Shen Mu's spirits surged.

"A clue is a good thing — it means he is still within your Xiluo Divine City.

" The two searched the whole city and still could not find Lan Yutian. A general said, "That divine one struck down several of our brothers and left the city with a number of men.

" The veins stood out on the brows of both Shen Mu and Bai Yuqiong; they knew well that Lan Yutian bore a strange power of attraction, one that made those whose hearts burned fiercely for the Dao follow him without willing it. Who would have thought that the moment he emerged from seclusion he would have spirited away a whole company of men! Bai Yuqiong asked, "How many of my soldiers did he take?

" The god general said, "At first only a dozen or so followed him, but once outside the city, a hundred and more trailed after him.

" Bai Yuqiong was furious: "Why was this not reported?

" "The Heavenly Master had gone to the banquet.

" Bai Yuqiong was helpless.

Shen Mu consoled her: "With a hundred-odd following him, he makes a great target; now finding him will be far easier! " Bai Yuqiong nodded again and again.

The two set off on the trail of those hundred-odd deities, and saw that Lan Yutian was heading for the Celestial Venerables' encampment.

"Oh no!

" The cold sweat rolled down the brows of Shen Mu and Bai Yuqiong.

They pursued madly forward — only to see Lan Yutian and his company suddenly veer away outside the Celestial Venerables' encampment. They had not gone to the Celestial Venerables' camp after all!

Shen Mu was overjoyed and laughed: "He's lost his way again!

" Bai Yuqiong laughed too: "He never knew the roads to begin with!

" The two hurried on, and from the tracks left by Lan Yutian and the others, it was clear that more and more were following him — a hundred-odd before, now a thousand strong! Along the road they even picked up several stragglers.

Shen Mu questioned one of them, and the divine one said, "I do not know how it was, but I simply followed him, muddled and dazed.

Only that following him brought peace to my heart — hearing the sound of the Dao, listening to him preach, I felt both joy and serenity. " Shen Mu asked, "Then why did you fall behind?

" The divine one said, "I had followed them a long while when suddenly I awoke, and found I had come to this place.

I feared he was using sorcery to bewitch us, and so dared not follow further. " Bai Yuqiong did not show herself; hidden deep in space, she said to Shen Mu, "Ask him — after following that man and listening to so much, does he think it was sorcery?

" Shen Mu asked, and the divine one shook his head in confusion, saying, "It was no sorcery. On the contrary, I came to understand a great many things because of it; places where I was once bewildered were suddenly opened clear.

But the more it was so, the more dread I felt, and the less I dared follow further. " "This is a man without the fate for it," Bai Yuqiong said to Shen Mu. Shen Mu nodded, and continued following the tracks of Lan Yutian and his company.

Now and then along the way there were more stragglers.

These divine ones harbored the same misgivings as the one before, and so did not continue to follow Lan Yutian.

Along the route stood many watchtowers of the Celestial Court, and many of the outposts were empty — their men carried off by Lan Yutian. On the road they came upon those bewildered divine ones — some sitting dumbstruck by the water's edge, some lying in the shade of trees, some clutching their heads in bitter thought, some muttering in a low murmur, some sprawled on the ground in loud slumber.

And some were minded to leave Taixu and go home. Shen Mu and Bai Yuqiong looked at each other. These stragglers seemed to have had their very souls dealt a tremendous blow, and had become no longer normal.

And from the tracks upon the ground, the Celestial Court divine ones following Lan Yutian already numbered three thousand!

Shen Mu suddenly sighed, and said in a low voice: "To found a faith, to establish teachings, to render merit — by these three establishments, one becomes a saint.

This founding of a faith and establishing of teachings, Lan Yutian has already accomplished without knowing it.

He is but a single step from the three establishments becoming a saint, as my Celestial Sacred Religion speaks of it. Should he create a cultivation method that benefits all living beings, a system of Dao arts and divine powers that transforms the world, then merit too he will have accomplished. " Bai Yuqiong did not understand his sighing. As the leader of the Celestial Sacred Religion, Shen Mu was deeply shaped by it; founding a faith, establishing teachings, rendering merit, and by these three becoming a saint was well-nigh his lifelong rule, the goal he pursued.

Many had led the Celestial Sacred Religion, yet not one had ever reached this step.

The Woodcutter was the founder of the three establishments becoming a saint, yet he had not accomplished the three; he wished to create a method whereby the acquired Dao might attain the divine. But his aim was too vast — three hundred and sixty trades, three hundred and sixty kinds of great Dao, and by them he sought to cultivate an incomparably grand system of an acquired Celestial Court, bringing grace to all living beings.