Chapter 1297 — Divergent Paths

Bai Yuqiong was startled. They were on the verge of catching up with Lan Yutian; why turn back now?

"Celestial Venerable Yu, he.

. .

" "He is no longer Celestial Venerable Yu, just as I am not Shen Fengqing, and just as you are not the Southern Emperor. " Shen Mu said with a smile, "We are all independent lives, each with our own independent thoughts and consciousness. In the future I will make a new body for Celestial Venerable Yu's memories, and Lan Yutian will return his soul to Celestial Venerable Yu. " He looked at Bai Yuqiong.

"I will also make a new body for you, and shape a new soul to replace the Southern Emperor's soul. " Bai Yuqiong felt as though a great weight had lifted from her, and said with a smile, "The you of now is the true Celestial Venerable.

" Shen Mu could not help laughing.

"The me of now is the true Celestial Venerable? Do you mean that in your eyes, the me of before was no Celestial Venerable at all? Celestial Master Bai, then what do you make of the Ten Celestial Venerables of the Heavenly Court beside me?

" Bai Yuqiong said in all sincerity, "In ability they far surpass you, but in breadth of mind and bearing, they fall far short of your lordship. " Shen Mu laughed heartily.

"No wonder Long Pang is always so fond of wagging his tail. If I had a tail, I would wag it and shake it too!

" Bai Yuqiong pressed her lips together in a smile and quickened her steps to keep up with him.

The two looked back. The lost Lan Yutian was leading his three thousand disciples toward the mighty pass the Carefree Land had built in the Land of the Great Void, where divine generals had already arrived at the head of a vast army. Shen Mu returned to the Divine City of Xiluo, and did not immediately make Bai Yuqiong a new body and a new soul.

He said, "A new soul I can shape, and a new body I can shape as well. But a body shaped by the method of visualization has grave flaws, and one shaped by the Dao of Creation is only a mortal body of flesh and blood. The best way is still to use a creation divine artifact. " Bai Yuqiong's eyes lit up. "There is a creation divine artifact in the Heavenly Court! " Shen Mu thought of Zaofu Palace and its master Shi Qiluo, and his head began to ache; in his heart he truly had no wish to see Shi Qiluo again.

He said, "I can forge a creation divine artifact myself, only Jingping does not yet have enough celestial artisans.

And to create a body exactly like yours, I would first have to survey and map the data of your body. . . " Bai Yuqiong's face reddened slightly. "I would rather do that myself.

I studied the arts of calculation under the Dao Ancestor for a time. " Shen Mu nodded and said with concern, "Surveying the data is a great nuisance.

If it is inconvenient for you, my own attainments in the arts of calculation are not poor either, and I am well versed in entering the Dao in dreams. It should not take long for me to study your body thoroughly. . .

" "I will do it myself!

" Veins stood out on Bai Yuqiong's forehead and her eyes went round. Shen Mu murmured his assent, puzzled at heart.

"Girls are all like this.

What is she angry about?

Even a being like a Celestial Master cannot escape such ways. .

. " He slipped away from the Land of the Great Void without a sound, telling no one. After all, too many in the Land of the Great Void wanted him dead, nearly half of it.

Meanwhile, Lan Yutian had also come to Emperor Kai's domain. Emperor Kai's wounds were not yet healed, yet he still left seclusion to welcome him in person, with all due pomp. Lan Yutian went his own way as ever.

Emperor Kai admired him above all others, and so entertained him warmly; yet in this little fatty he could find not the slightest shadow of Celestial Venerable Yu. At the grand gathering at the Jade Pool in those years, a single meeting had left Emperor Kai wholly convinced of Celestial Venerable Yu.

He believed that while Celestial Venerable Yu lived, he himself ought to declare himself a vassal facing north, and that he had no ambition left to contend for the world.

The Celestial Venerable Yu of that time truly possessed the bearing and elegance of a sovereign over all under heaven; add to that his prestige, his fortune, and his magnanimity, and Emperor Kai felt ashamed that he was far inferior. Yet in this little fatty before him, Emperor Kai could see none of it at all.

From Lan Yutian he could see only a limpid dao heart, a vigorous thirst for knowledge, an endless curiosity.

The Lan Yutian of now and the Celestial Venerable Yu of those years seemed like two different men! Of course, the Lan Yutian of now was a little fatter than the handsome, martial Celestial Venerable Yu of that time, his face plump and chubby.

And when Emperor Kai spoke with Lan Yutian, Lan Yutian never spoke of the great trends of the world; he spoke only of various dao words of unclear meaning, of things shrouded in cloud and mist. But if one listened closely, what he spoke of was in fact the profoundest of great Daos; even Emperor Kai listened as if intoxicated! "Your Majesty, do you think Celestial Venerable Yu is playing the fool?

" Yan Yunxi had observed Lan Yutian for several days and truly could make nothing of him, so she asked. Emperor Kai shook his head and sighed.

"The Celestial Venerable Yu of those years had a heart to dominate the world, and great ambitions to unfold. The Lan Yutian of now has only a heart that seeks the Dao, with no distractions, pure as a newborn child.

He is not playing the fool; he was always like this. Nor is he a fool; rather, all his wisdom is spent in pursuit of the end of the great Dao. " Yan Yunxi was stunned. All his wisdom spent on seeking the Dao? "Under heaven there are few people so pure. The Ten Celestial Venerables are clever, but they covet power, and more than half of their life's experience is spent on power.

Celestial Venerable Yu was clever, and half of his cleverness was spent on unifying the forces of the world and developing the postnatal races.

" Emperor Kai paced slowly and said, "I too am clever, but I must also weigh right and wrong, and choose what to take and what to let go. Wen Tiange is clever, but Wen Tiange frets over reform and change, over the livelihood of the world. Celestial Venerable Mu is clever too, but his cleverness is spent more on seeking a way of life for the common people. People as pure as Lan Yutian need not be many, but there must be some.

Only such people can make an age advance and develop. " Yan Yunxi looked at Lan Yutian, who was pondering the dao arts and divine powers and preaching the Dao to his disciples. Many in the Carefree Land and among the Creators had been drawn to him and unknowingly followed him; by now his disciples numbered as many as five thousand! Yan Yunxi said hesitantly, "Lan Yutian has come to us. We ought to. . .

" "We ought to let him be. " Emperor Kai said with a smile, "For a man like him: whatever resources he wants, give them to him; whatever requests he makes, satisfy them; wherever he wishes to go, let him go. There is no need to manage him. If he wishes to come, he comes, and we receive him with courtesy; if he wishes to leave, he leaves, and we need not hold him back.

" Yan Yunxi assented.

"If he wishes to take away the god-people of our Carefree Land.

. . " "Then let them go. " Emperor Kai said, "In the future these people will come back.

When they return, they will make us look at them with new eyes, their achievements extraordinary.

If I could leave, I would follow Lan Yutian as well; it is only that I cannot leave.

" Yan Yunxi was startled. She looked at Lan Yutian again and murmured, "Truly a strange man. .

. " "He is not strange.

It is we who are strange, Zi Xi.

" Emperor Kai said with feeling, "We are bound by the dust and vulgarity of the world, not so free and easy as he. I envy him.

" Yan Yunxi said with a smile, "I do not envy him.

" Emperor Kai was slightly taken aback.