Chapter 1620 — Against the Tide

"That is no fault of Su Muzhe's. He may be the Grand Sacrificer of Wendao Academy, but in my presence he always feels that I am his elder, a woman who lives only in legend. When a man meets a figure out of legend, naturally he is a little ill at ease.

" Venerable Ling said, "So he is forever trying to strike up a conversation with me, and never knows what to say, and ends by pouring out everything about you. Do you remember the time Si Youyou took you to market, set her heart on a bolt of cloth, and having no money on her, left you in pawn at the draper's? She forgot to redeem you; it was the blind elder who felt his way there and bought you back. " "The village headman's mouth . .

.

and Granny too! " Veins stood out one by one on Shen Mu's brow. He surveyed the void, steered the golden ship deeper into it, and with a forced laugh said, "Just now Bai Qu'er asked me to put a question to you: what is to be done with the remnants of the Supreme Emperor? She has hidden them away, but her strength is too modest to shelter them through the great calamity. " "The people of Kaihuang's age were also remnants of the Supreme Emperor; the people of Jingping's age are remnants of the Supreme Emperor as well.

To my mind there is no difference between any of them. " Venerable Ling said, "Then let these people be merged into Jingping, and spare me the trouble of running to three places. " She did not press Shen Mu further on matters of the heart.

Compared with a troublesome business like that, she preferred to delve into study.

Once again she immersed herself in the evolution of the Red Rope Knot Seal. That seal touched upon too much knowledge; even for a personage such as her it would take tens of thousands of years to fathom — and from this one could see what a difficult thing it had been to create the Red Rope Knot.

She was by nature extraordinarily clever. In those years Venerable Yu had said with envy that Venerable Ling's aptitude, insight and intellect surpassed even his own. For all that it was spoken in modesty and admiration, her aptitude, insight and intellect were indeed of the highest order.

Shen Mu likewise composed his mind and set to pondering the dao patterns; whenever he failed to understand something, he spoke up and asked. At first Venerable Ling answered him with patience. Later she grew impatient, judging his questions too simple, and snapped, "Everything is in my insights. Go comprehend it yourself!

" Shen Mu's face flushed crimson and he wished the earth would swallow him; he could only go obediently and comprehend it on his own.

At last the golden ship broke through the thirty-fifth layer of the void and sailed into the ultimate void, where the wind of cold silence howled, dissolving all matter — yet against the Golden Ship of Salvation it could do nothing. Venerable Ling pointed out for him the path to the Great Luo Heaven of Divine Consciousness. Shen Mu steered the golden ship onward through the ultimate void; the ultimate void was vaster than the whole of the universe by a measure beyond knowing.

As the universe grows, it grows ever larger, ever broader; the thirty-six layers of the void will gradually merge with the universe, and the spiritual qi and spiritual power between heaven and earth will thereby grow ever thinner, and the distances between galaxy and galaxy ever greater.

"With the strength I have now, can I imprint the ultimate void, and make my own power imperishable? " Shen Mu's eyes shone bright.

He drew the Tribulation Sword and took his stand at the bow, trying to rouse his divine art, seeking to imprint it upon the ultimate void. He executed the divine art of the thirty heavens, beginning with the first form of the Tribulation Sword, Raising the Tribulation, and working through to the thirty-first form, the Silence of the Wheel of Rebirth. Yet these thirty-one great divine arts, once imprinted on the ultimate void, dispersed in a moment like smoke, leaving not a trace behind.

Shen Mu frowned — and all at once Venerable Ling's voice came from behind him: "A fine divine art. " Shen Mu turned to look. Venerable Ling's gaze rested on the place where he had just imprinted the art, and she praised it a second time: "A fine divine art. " Shen Mu laughed.

"This is the Dao Realm that Kaihuang created. I have already cultivated it to the thirty-first heaven; when I perfect the thirty-sixth heaven, I will be able to imprint the ultimate void.

Ling, you probably still do not know much about this matter of the Dao Realm. Let me explain it to you.

The Dao Realm was founded by Kaihuang. It was originally condemned as heterodox and heretical; now it has become the prevailing doctrine.

The Dao Realm is divided into thirty-six heavens . .

.

" Venerable Ling waved a hand and shook her head. "This talk of the Dao Realm is one school's opinion, nothing more.

I have already asked Kaihuang about it in person at Wendao Academy. It amounts to no more than that. " Shen Mu stared, eyes wide, and stammered, "You — you . . . " Venerable Ling said, "Venerable Mu, with your aptitude you should long ago have guessed: the Dao Realm merely sets up a framework of rules for the common sort, and lets the common sort walk within that framework; walk to the very end, and one may attain the Dao.

But it exists to restrain the common sort. " A breath lodged in Shen Mu's chest, and he nearly could not draw air.

Venerable Ling said, "I have seen that you have a move called the Primordial Finger, which uses the primordial runes.

Aim one at the ultimate void. " Shen Mu did as he was told, and pointed one finger. In this time he had comprehended many transformations of the Primordial Finger. That one finger was terrifying in its power: a shaft of violet light shot from his fingertip, pierced the ultimate void, and left a finger-mark in that void.

The finger-mark did not disperse for a long while.

Within it the countless transformations of the Primordial Finger shifted and drifted, infinitely mutable — and so the finger-mark would not be erased by the ultimate void. Shen Mu was dumbstruck.

He examined his finger-mark in close detail, and something stirred in his heart; yet he did not know what principle he had grasped.

Venerable Ling said, "This divine art of yours — which heaven of your divine art is it? " Shen Mu shook his head. "It is not my divine art.

It is a finger art I comprehended from the dao patterns of the Miluo Palace. It is the Miluo Palace Master's divine art .

. .

" "By that reasoning, is the divine art of your Dao Realm's thirty-first heaven your divine art?

It is the divine art of the various great daos. The divine art of the Primordial Finger is your divine art, and it is also the Miluo Palace Master's divine art.

" Venerable Ling said, "Which heaven of the Dao Realm do you take the Primordial Finger to be? " Shen Mu was at a loss, unable to keep pace with her thinking. "This divine art does not belong to any heaven.

" Venerable Ling said, "The Miluo Palace Master has already passed beyond the level of 'which heaven of the Dao Realm.

' He has seen through the essence of the Dao; the Dao Realm can no longer confine him.

If you cultivate along the Dao Realm, you remain inside the framework, bound by your own hand.

Only when you leap out of it can you understand why the Primordial Finger, though it is not of the Dao Realm, can yet be so powerful. " Shen Mu blinked, his eyes a blank haze. Venerable Ling looked at him, her brows knitting deeply, and said with forbearance, "The Dao-nature follows no wave; the Dao-nature dreads no winter. In this teeming realm, turn back and behold your own heart. Do you understand now?

" "I .

. . " The corner of Shen Mu's eye twitched.

He hesitated.

"I still do not seem to quite understand .

. . " At the grand feast at Jade Pool a million years ago, he had been able to teach Venerable Ling the Dao of Creation; yet today, he could no longer quite grasp the state she spoke of.