Chapter 1828 — Everything Arranged Flawlessly

The taut muscles in Shen Mu's shoulders relaxed. He still did not wholly trust Tai Yi. The moment Tai Yi's palm had landed on his shoulder, he had indeed been startled, but he quickly regained his composure. If Tai Yi had meant to move against him, he could have done so long ago, back when Shen Mu was fighting the thirty-five members of the Heaven-Opening Host. There would have been no need to wait until now. "What the Ancestral Court needs more is the Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, not Tai Yi."

Tai Yi sensed his hostility rapidly withdrawing, and smiled faintly. "You should not be delayed here. I will suppress them. You return to the Ancestral Court. The burden there is heavier. I will pick a lighter task."

"Do you know how to complete this forest of obelisks?" Shen Mu asked.

"You can teach me."

Tai Yi spoke with utter seriousness. "I learn things very quickly."

In the past, it had always been Tai Yi who transmitted divine abilities and Dao arts to Shen Mu. Now the roles were reversed. The obelisk forest seal of the Eldest Young Master, Tai Shang, was born from the Primordial Chaos Runes, a sealing divine ability evolved from those runes. As for the Primordial Chaos Runes, Tai Yi had some understanding of them, but not much. His comprehension did not run as deep as Shen Mu's.

Shen Mu passed on what he had gained. Tai Yi studied it with care, and whenever he encountered something he did not understand, he asked directly.

His cultivation was exceedingly high. When he voiced his doubts, he used the language of Dao. The language of Dao contains information of immense enormity and complexity, striking straight at the essence of the question.

Shen Mu likewise answered in the language of Dao, resolving the most complex questions in the simplest form.

The two asked and answered in turn. Dong Yang, Ya Ya, Zhu Santong and the others barely suppressed their injuries and listened with ears inclined. The language of Dao between the two was profound and obscure, difficult to comprehend, but if they could grasp even one or two sentences, they benefited greatly.

As for the Heaven-Opening Host suppressed within the stone steles, they mocked and sneered, deriding the Dao arts and divine abilities of the Miluo Palace as outdated, abilities that existed in name only and in truth could not withstand a single blow.

Shen Mu and Tai Yi paid them no heed. As time went on, Tai Yi's language of Dao became the Primordial Chaos language of Dao, and Shen Mu answered in the Primordial Chaos language of Dao as well. Their questions and answers grew even more profound, until even Dong Yang and the others could no longer understand.

Dong Yang sighed, somewhat dispirited.

In his day, he had been able to stand equal in fame with the Eldest Young Master, Tai Shang. But the divine abilities and Dao arts of the present had long surpassed the era he belonged to. The exchange between Shen Mu and Tai Yi left him gazing after them, far behind and utterly outdistanced.

After several tens of days, Tai Yi finally mastered the rune transformations and formation changes of the obelisk steles. Not only that, but in the course of their questions and answers, he discovered many transformations that neither Shen Mu nor even the Eldest Young Master, Tai Shang, had ever found. Shen Mu benefited greatly.

Tai Yi attempted to activate the Primordial Chaos Runes as Shen Mu did. After a long while, the impression he gave was that of a human-shaped stone stele.

"Dao brother, try the formation changes again," Shen Mu prompted.

Tai Yi tried to mobilize the power of the obelisk forest. Shen Mu nodded and smiled. "Dao brother, you have mastered it. Since that is so, then this place is yours to control."

He rose to his feet and stretched his body. Tai Yi sat down in his place and said, "Dong Yang, what are your plans?"

Shen Mu stepped forward to help Dong Yang and the others heal their Dao wounds. The old man Dong Yang hesitated a moment, then said, "Ling asked me to come and look after the Lord of Tian Du..."

Tai Yi cut him off. "You no longer dare to enter the world."

The old man Dong Yang fell silent. After a moment, he said in a strained voice, "I truly no longer dare. In my day, I was one of the most gifted beings across the past seven cosmic epochs, and one of the most powerful. And now, I..."

He shook his head and said in a strained voice, "I no longer dare to enter the world."

The old woman, the matron, the girl and Zhu Santong and the others hesitated. What they had dreamed of day and night was to be freed from suppression and return to the world. Yet hearing the old man Dong Yang's words, they too wavered.

The Dao arts and divine abilities of today were vastly different from those of their time. The development of the Dao arts had advanced beyond what these old monsters could comprehend. In their day, they had been rare geniuses of their respective eras, but now they were likely long outdated.

"We can still throw our weight around in the obelisk forest, brag a little, talk about our deeds of old. But to enter the world..."

Zhu Santong scratched the bristles on the back of his head and shook it. "Heh heh! Who would even recognize us? Most likely, before we could finish bragging, we would be cut down."

Shen Mu's gaze flickered. Suddenly he said, "Dao brother Dong Yang, all of you, if you trust me, I can give you a chance."

Everyone looked over. In their eyes were anticipation, but also hesitation and fear, the dread of what was to come.

Suppressed here, they looked fierce and malevolent, but having witnessed the destruction and creation of one cosmic epoch after another, they had long since lost all grand ambition. They had become a pitiful lot.

Shen Mu cleared his throat and said, "Lord Shang was once suppressed here as well. Later, he came with me. You know what little Shang is like, honest and simple, plain to the core. But when he wanted to enter the Seventeenth Epoch Cosmos, he still had to follow my rules. He had committed many evils in the past, but I gave him the chance to turn over a new leaf and start again. I, Jing Ping, possess the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, which can send men through reincarnation. So I sent little Shang to be reborn..."

Tai Yi raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

Shen Mu cleared his throat again and said cautiously, "Before Lord Shang reincarnated, he dissolved his own great Dao. The Great Luo Heaven, the Dao tree, Dao flower and Dao fruit, the Dao of Slaughter, all of it dissolved, returned to heaven and earth, to nourish the Seventeenth Epoch Cosmos. Little Shang reincarnated as a blank sheet of paper, starting over from the beginning."

Tai Yi glanced at him again. Shen Mu cleared his throat once more and said, "Now my Seventeenth Epoch Cosmos is in the midst of the Jing Ping Reform, in full swing, talents emerging in throngs. Little Shang is already a youth of about twenty, and among my Jing Ping he stands out from the rest."

Tai Yi was about to glance at him again. Shen Mu glared ferociously at him, then turned back with a kindly countenance and said to the crowd with a smile, "If little Shang could do it, so can all of you. His heart of Dao remained unchanged. He had faith that in reincarnation he could start over, that he would still be a talent of the first order under heaven, that he could still keep pace with the Jing Ping Reform, and even become its future leader! If any of you think you can compare with him, then by all means, like him, reincarnate into my Jing Ping. But if any of you think you are not his equal, then never mind. You may remain here."

The old man Dong Yang hesitated. Though he found Shen Mu's words not entirely trustworthy, they were indeed tempting.

Zhu Santong, the girl and the others also hesitated. Shen Mu's words gave one the feeling of a pit already dug, waiting for you to jump in. It all seemed somewhat unreliable.