Chapter 1558 — The First Rune

The changes in these Dao patterns were too many, the information they held incomparably complex; Shen Mu reckoned that if he stayed here and studied nothing but a single Dao pattern, the time it consumed would have to be reckoned in tens of thousands of years. "I have no such time to waste.

" His gaze flickered and he had an idea: "Rather than stay here and watch the patterns change, better to study their root, to first understand the Hongmeng primal qi runes of the deepest layer.

Once I understand the Hongmeng primal qi runes, I can try to evolve them layer upon layer from the changes at the foundation, and so construct the Dao patterns.

" The changes at the foundation were the changes of the Five Tai.

He had watched them long enough to judge that the Five Tai changes hidden in the master's Dao patterns ought to be reversible: one could go from the Hongmeng primal qi in its Taiyi state, through the Five Tai changes, and evolve into Taiji primal qi; and one could equally evolve from Taiji primal qi up to Hongmeng primal qi.

Shen Mu was already attempting to transform his own primal qi into Taiji primal qi; if he could fathom the Hongmeng primal qi runes, he might try reversing the Five Tai changes and turn his primal qi toward Hongmeng primal qi.

"Once I understand the Five Tai changes, I can imitate the Dao patterns of Miluo Palace's master, imitate them as exactly as I can, and then deduce the incomparably complex changes within them, and so obtain the information hidden in this rune.

That way I will be faster than sitting here comprehending them one after another by I know not how many times! " Shen Mu had a clear measure of his own gifts and insight.

He was not the cleverest man under heaven, nor were his insight and gifts the finest.

Xu Shenghua was cleverer than he; Jiang Baigui had better insight; Lan Yutian's gifts were higher than his by who knew how much. He could not match such men; he could only use every lazy method he could, seek out shortcuts, to make up for his want of cleverness, insight, and gifts.

"Strange!

Every Dao pattern on the walls of Miluo Palace has the same Hongmeng primal qi rune within it! " Shen Mu had watched for a long while, and his face grew stranger and stranger. There was only one Hongmeng primal qi rune; this was a truly bizarre thing!

The great Daos of heaven and earth all have many kinds of foundational runes: the Dao of Thunder, for instance, has several hundred innate runes; the Dao of Heavenly Yin has as many as three hundred and twenty-four.

Or take the sword Dao and other acquired great Daos, which have no runes; yet the foundational sword techniques can serve as runes, and the sword Dao's foundational runes number twenty.

That is because the sword Dao's development has not yet reached its utmost. Above the twenty foundational sword techniques there may yet be a Sword Twenty-One, a Sword Twenty-Two; they have simply not yet been created by anyone.

The more foundational runes, the more changes; this is common knowledge. Yet of the Hongmeng primal qi rune there is only one. One single rune evolved Taiyi, Taichu, Taishi, Taisu, Taiji, and from Taiji evolved the great Daos of heaven and earth, and the great Daos of heaven and earth evolved endless, inexhaustible change!

"The learning of Miluo Palace's master can only be looked up to, like a high mountain.

" Shen Mu sighed in admiration, and with all his heart strove to fathom the mystery hidden in this Hongmeng rune, his mind fixed on nothing else.

Not far from him, the woman within the Dao Fruit was calling into Miluo Palace in the Dao tongue, trying to win the permission of its master to enter the palace.

Only, the gates of Miluo Palace never opened.

Several more days passed, and a Dao Tree came sailing over the Long River of Chaos and arrived at Miluo Palace.

Shen Mu was startled awake by the aura of Hao Tianzun. Gazing into the distance, he saw Hao Tianzun, Zu Shen Wang, Gong Tianzun and the others descend from the Dao Tree.

The Langxuan Divine Emperor was among them. Plainly, because of Xiao Tianzun's defeat, the Langxuan Divine Emperor too had been forced to throw in his lot with Hao Tianzun.

"Hao Tianzun's general situation is already set.

Once he leaves the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, that should be the hour when he proclaims himself emperor and tramples the four directions!

" Shen Mu's heart tightened.

Hao Tianzun had no rivals left; the seat of the Heavenly Emperor was as good as his! "Then which young master of Miluo Palace stands behind Hao Tianzun?

" He had scarce thought this when he saw Hao Tianzun stride forward, not toward the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, but toward the Zixiao Hall!

"Which young master is in the Zixiao Hall?

" Shen Mu asked. The woman in the Dao Fruit, who had never once entered Miluo Palace to meet its master, had remained muddled and forlorn, and hearing the question, she said, "The Fourth Young Master is in the Zixiao Hall.

" "The Fourth Young Master?

He is that emperor beneath the tree whom I met on the surface of the Seventh Long River of Chaos!

Then that means. .

.

" Shen Mu's expression flickered between light and dark: "Hao Tianzun got entangled with Miluo Palace's Fourth Young Master while crossing the Seventh Long River of Chaos?

That he could defeat Xiao Tianzun, did he rely on this Fourth Young Master's guidance?

Or had the two of them been in collusion long before?

"