Chapter 1842 — Everything Returns to the Origin

" He opened the first volume, its pages forged of the same divine gold as the World-Crossing Golden Ship, branded with words written in Hongmeng runes. Hao Tianzun stared with wide eyes until his head swam, and after long looking had not understood a single word.

To read the words upon that record, one must first comprehend every transformation of the Hongmeng runes, and only then can one draw the mysteries from the words!

The tidings borne by any single character in that record could likely rival the tidings borne by an entire Great Dao!

After a long while Hao Tianzun set down that volume and turned to the others, and it was the same with every one!

Though he exhausted his wisdom, he could not read a single word!

"Since the Palace Master's records cannot be read, I will settle for less and look upon the supreme arts of the Young Masters of the Miluo Palace!

" He steadied himself and came beside the records left by Eldest Young Master Taishang, and opening one, his face darkened.

Eldest Young Master Taishang had written his arts in words exactly like those of the Master of the Miluo Palace! Hao Tianzun came beside the records of Second Young Master Wuji, and his face darkened again, for upon them there were no words at all, only a heap of symbols beyond all reading.

He came to the records left by Third Young Master Lingxiao and opened one, and upon it was Lingxiao's commentary upon the Master's arts, dense and close. Yet even the commentary could not be read!

Only one with profound mastery of the most basic Hongmeng runes could hope to read those notes.

Hao Tianzun came to the records of Fourth Young Master Zixiao, and Zixiao's records were likewise annotations upon the Master's arts.

He came before the records of Fifth Young Master Wuzong and Sixth Young Master Zhanji, and those records were every one the same.

Hao Tianzun came before the records of Seventh Young Master Chaos, and hesitated a moment, thinking, "The stone of another mountain may polish my jade.

Though Shen Mu is my mortal foe, a mortal foe does not hinder me from grasping his arts! " He opened the volume, only to find the runes upon the golden book like ghostly scribbles, utterly unreadable! Hao Tianzun's eyes went black, when suddenly the runes upon the golden book shifted and became words he could know, yet they were a string of numbers, precise to the place of instants.

And those numbers never ceased to change.

Hao Tianzun shut Shen Mu's volume, doubt stirring in his heart. "Young Master Chaos is truly chaos itself, beyond all understanding.

.

. Hmm, strange!

" Though he had closed the golden book, before his eyes there still floated that string of leaping numbers!

Hao Tianzun rubbed his eyes, yet the string of numbers seemed branded upon his eyes, still there, and still changing without pause! "Can it be that Shen Mu foresaw that I would read his record here at this hour, and so buried a divine power within the book to strike me?

Impossible! " Panic rose in his heart.

That ever-changing string of numbers seemed a reckoning of time, its foremost place years, then months, duodecimal from months to years, then days, tricenary from days to months. After days came watches, duodecimal, and after that still finer reckonings, down to the decimal place of instants. The leaping of the figures seemed without pattern, yet it was the fruit of reckoning each stage by a different base.

"These figures are dwindling.

When all return to zero, what will happen?

" Hao Tianzun was bewildered.

The number in the years was ninety-three, which is to say, after ninety-three years the numbers before his eyes would all return to zero.

Hao Tianzun set the matter aside for the nonce and looked to the supreme arts of the Hall Masters, yet they were still abstruse and hard to grasp, until at last he could only turn to the arts of the Attainers and study their comprehension of the Master's Hongmeng runes. At that time Young Master Lingxiao came to the Tenth Era and stood before the apocalypse of the Tenth Era, gazing into the Long River of Chaos.

Within the river, Young Master Zixiao had returned to the hour of his wife's death.

That universe had already shown the tide of great destruction, and at the moment the apocalypse was about to burst forth, he and his wife held each other close. Young Master Lingxiao stared blankly at the scene, for he knew Zixiao had repeated this last tenderness times beyond counting.

Every time he longed for his dead wife, he would return here, enter the apocalypse, go back to his Tenth Era self, hold his most beloved wife, and struggle and strive with all his might, seeking to redeem it all.

Yet all was labor in vain. This time was the same.

Young Master Lingxiao watched no further, and put aside his thought of comforting Zixiao, departing alone.

Some wounds he could not heal.

"Zixiao, only by vanquishing Old Seven, descending into the Seventeenth Era, and carrying on the Teacher's ideals can you hope to win back your wife!

" Young Master Lingxiao said silently in his heart.

"Now no man disturbs your Dao heart. I hope you can rouse yourself and fight for the future!

" "Where is Moon Tianzun? " Upon the World-Crossing Golden Ship, Langwan looked east and west, and not finding Moon Tianzun, asked in puzzlement.

She and Moon Tianzun were closest, their ties deepest, and the two often joined hands against foes, yet in this great war she had not seen Moon Tianzun, and her heart could not help but tremble.

Shen Mu said gently, "Moon Tianzun has gone to the Fourteenth Era Universe. In the future, I will return to the past and rejoin her there.

" Langwan looked deeply at him, yet she pressed him no further.

Elsewhere, Old Man Wuya and Young Master Wuji gained a breathing space and hid away to heal their wounds.

Old Man Wuya, being the World Tree, was known to all men wherever he was, but the trail of Wuji was known to none. Ninety-three years slipped by unawares, until one day the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court assailed the host of Jingping, and Hao Tianzun, his cultivation and strength greatly grown, confident and full, met Kaihuang Shen Ye alone. Kaihuang Shen Ye glanced at him, his gaze strange, and shook his head.

"Hao, your hour of death has come. " Before Hao Tianzun's eyes, the last numbers leapt and danced, then suddenly returned to zero.