Chapter 1427 — The Chance to Grasp the Dao

" Shen Mu nodded hastily, his face a little red, and offered in his own defense, "My cultivation art and divine abilities can also swiftly restore the Heavenly Palace after it is destroyed, only my art is not the same as the Treatise on the Creation of the Heavenly Palace.

Still, by drawing inferences from one thing to another, we can exchange ideas well enough.

" The God-Emperor Langxuan said with a blank face, "Indeed, indeed. Heavenly Venerable Mu, who founded his Dao upon divine abilities, is formidable beyond measure. " The two each set forth their own insights and exchanged them; Shen Mu's mind was nimble, and Langxuan was, after all, a Heavenly Venerable, one of the rare clever men under heaven.

To become one of the Ten Heavenly Venerables, having endured the grinding of time and its winnowing, his wisdom was naturally no small thing.

Working together, they soon solved the difficult problems in the Treatise on the Creation of the Heavenly Palace.

The more they spoke, the more excited they became; drawing inferences across categories, they even discovered deficiencies in the Treatise, and their discussion grew ever more fervent.

The flagship had by now come to Yaochi and descended. The divine general guarding the ship hurried over to report, and found the God-Emperor Langxuan and Shen Mu in the midst of discoursing on the Dao, the two Heavenly Venerables both in high spirits, each taking up what the other said, even setting to work to evolve all manner of glyphs; it was a fierce affair. The divine general did not dare disturb them and hastily withdrew, doubt in his heart.

"My master always calls Heavenly Venerable Mu 'Shen the Disaster', and more than once has said that when this fellow came to the Heavenly Court he smashed his divine palace and killed untold numbers of disciples.

He even forced his most valued disciple, senior brother Chang Xiting, to flee the Heavenly Court. Why is master now so in accord with him? " The God-Emperor Langxuan and Shen Mu discussed for two or three days and at last comprehended the Treatise on the Creation of the Heavenly Palace completely, and moreover, building upon it, developed several hundred different divine abilities, each of extraordinary power.

Nor was that all: the two of them also sorted out five different Creation cultivation arts.

Though the foundation of these arts was a notch inferior to the Emperor Throne arts, if one kept delving deeper along these five lines and raised their foundation, in time five Emperor Throne arts might well be born from them.

The two of them still could not stop; sitting there discoursing on the Dao, Langxuan simply tossed out all his doubts at once and studied them together with Shen Mu.

He had not been so excited in a long while; there was a feeling of some latent potential being triggered, as though he had returned to the green years of the early Longhan epoch, with all manner of unknowns awaiting his exploration and development. Their study went deeper and deeper, and scores of days later they were still discussing with fiery zeal, their spirits weary yet still excited.

The content of their discussion was no longer limited to the Jingping Reforms; they had gone on to the Dao of divine consciousness and the Primordial One Qi. Shen Mu's research into divine consciousness and the Primordial One Qi was exceedingly profound, while the God-Emperor Langxuan was the son of Taichu and Gong Yun, born with a deep comprehension of these two great Daos, and having pondered them for over a million years, his attainment was naturally profound as well. This discussion lasted even longer, and they developed all manner of principles, divine abilities and applications of divine consciousness and the Primordial One Qi. After who knows how long, as the two spoke in the highest of spirits, each gained an insight, and a wondrous Dao resonance began to emanate from each of their bodies; this was a sign that they were about to comprehend the Dao.

Suddenly the two of them each fell quiet, watching the other warily, forcibly suppressing the impulse to enter the Dao. Only at this moment did they suddenly remember that they were not friends on the Dao, but enemies. Outside, the divine general slipped quietly in again, intending to see whether the two were still discoursing on the Dao; instead he saw the two standing each where they were, staring at the other's every move, the Dao resonance upon each of them growing ever denser.

The Primordial One Qi coiled about each of them, their divine consciousness surging, both on the very edge of entering the Dao. Yet the accumulated store of each was not enough to sustain this entry into the Dao; if they could but join the other's insights to their own, they could enter the state of the Dao. Strange as it was, though the Dao resonance that flowed from them needed only to touch and collide ever so slightly for both to enter the Dao at once, they stopped.

"Han Feng, how long have Heavenly Venerable Mu and I been here? " Langxuan suddenly asked.

The divine general said hastily, "Master and Heavenly Venerable Mu have been discoursing on the Dao here for three months now. " "Three months?

" The corners of the God-Emperor Langxuan's eyes twitched. "So long?

I seldom discourse on the Dao with anyone for so long; this is the first time.

Heavenly Venerable Mu, you are worthy of being a Heavenly Venerable. Never have I discoursed so deeply, even with the other Heavenly Venerables. You are remarkable.

" Shen Mu nodded.

"As are you. " "But we are not friends, still less friends on the Dao," said the God-Emperor Langxuan.

Shen Mu nodded.

"Those whose Daos differ cannot take counsel together.

" The God-Emperor Langxuan nodded. "I will not take counsel with you, nor need you take counsel with me.

" The Dao resonance within the two of them faded by degrees, growing fainter and fainter, until at last it vanished entirely.

They walked out together, and the God-Emperor Langxuan said, "Since we have already come to Yaochi, I will keep my promise: this Yaochi is yours to ponder and comprehend. " "My thanks," Shen Mu said stiffly, and stepped down from the tower ship.

The God-Emperor Langxuan stood on the ship, watching his receding back, much moved in his heart, and suddenly spoke. "Heavenly Venerable Mu.

" Shen Mu turned his head and looked at him, smiling.

"God-Emperor, what is it?

" The God-Emperor Langxuan paused a moment, then shook his head and smiled.

"Nothing. Only, a fancy rose in me for a moment, a fancy that I might have a friend, but then reality came to mind and the fancy went out. Go and ponder.

" Shen Mu nodded and smiled.

"I too once had such a moment of fancy, wondering if you and I could ponder with all our hearts, to what heights we might carry the Dao arts and divine abilities, whether we could deduce the true Dao of Taichu, and how many Taichu divine abilities we could derive.

But when I think it over carefully, I still find it impossible.

" The God-Emperor Langxuan forced a false smile onto his face.

"Indeed it is impossible.

Face reality. " "Indeed it is impossible.

" Shen Mu turned and walked into Yaochi.

The God-Emperor Langxuan, hands clasped behind his back, watched him go and smiled faintly.

"I do not need friends on the Dao.

. .

" He paused, as if to deepen his own conviction, and said proudly, "That is right! In this world there is no one worth trusting, and so I do not need friends on the Dao! "