Chapter 1864 — The Youth, Tiandu, and Tai Yi

Later, Tai Shang did indeed go to Guixu to have a look, and carelessly slipped and fell into the great abyss of Guixu of the Second Epoch, nearly dying within. The Master of Miluo Palace rushed over upon hearing the news and pulled him up, only to find the honest Tai Shang holding one in each arm, a pair of identical girls, the clever and quick-witted Guixu goddesses.

"Who told you to go down there? " the Master of Miluo Palace rebuked him.

"How perilous it is in there!

With your present strength, descending would cost you your little life!

" Tai Shang set the Guixu goddesses down, lowered his head in admission of fault, and said, "It was Seventh Brother who told me to come and look. Seventh Brother and his daughter were here just a moment ago.

.

.

" He looked around, but Shen Mu and his daughter were long since gone from sight. "Could I have been tricked? " Tai Shang scratched his head.

The Master of Miluo Palace's expression darkened, and he said with earnest gravity, "Though this Seventh Brother of yours is genuine, I perceive a certain wickedness in him; he does not seem like a good man.

You may yet meet him again in days to come, and you must keep your distance from him. " Tai Shang, having escaped death, nodded again and again in assent. The Master of Miluo Palace turned to the pair of Guixu goddesses and at once perceived their extraordinary nature. He said, "You two are in truth one person: one mind in two bodies, one Dao with two functions.

Never take yourselves for two people.

Take yourselves for two, and disorder is certain to arise.

From now on, you shall cultivate under me.

" The two girls, their hearts suddenly enlightened, bowed low and said, "Pray, Master, bestow names upon us.

" "One lives, one perishes; the Dao and its law are boundless. You shall be called Wuji," said the Master of Miluo Palace. "You must beware of your Seventh Brother, Chaos, and not let him swindle you.

" The two girls exchanged a smile: "Master, we are clever and quick-witted. Who could possibly swindle us? " The Master of Miluo Palace shook his head, somewhat uneasy, and at the same time felt a peculiar strangeness in his heart: "How could the future me have taken such a disciple?

He acts with reckless abandon; he must be given some guidance. " He went to seek out Shen Mu, who was sleeping soundly in the starry sky of the Second Epoch, dream after dream emanating from the Chaos, the Chaos transforming into miniature universes one after another, while Chaos's daughter flitted through those universes, playing joyfully. The Master of Miluo Palace stood before this expanse of dreams, when suddenly a Dao Achiever Shen Mu poked his head out from one of the universes.

The Master of Miluo Palace smiled and nodded in greeting, only to see that this Dao Achiever Shen Mu was speaking in a language no one could understand, crying out to him with an anxious face. The Master of Miluo Palace could not understand, when all at once he saw that miniature universe perish, the Calamity of Destruction erupting, every Shen Mu in that entire universe turned to ash of tribulation, leaving only a stretch of Chaos.

And that Dao Achiever Shen Mu likewise became ash of tribulation, yet fragments of Daluo Heaven and a withered Dao Tree remained; then the Calamity of Creation erupted, and the fragments of Daluo Heaven and the withered Dao Tree were annihilated with it, existing no more. The Master of Miluo Palace fell into thought, turned back the way he had come, and from then on Miluo Palace had this rule: none were permitted to disturb the sleep of Seventh Young Master Chaos. He took precautions, and in the stage when the Second Epoch was still growing, he began preparing to contend with the Calamity of Destruction.

The Second Epoch was long and enduring; many clever and powerful beings were born within it, and many tales worthy of tears and song unfolded, their splendor in no way inferior to the Seventeenth Epoch, their sweep and grandeur surpassed by none. Having fulfilled his duty of transmitting the Dao and teaching, the Master of Miluo Palace began to forge the first Jade Capital City.

The Golden Ship of Salvation is ferrying: ferrying the world within the ship; the Jade Capital City is defense: defending against the Calamity of Destruction without.

He devoted himself to perfecting the Jade Capital City and paid no mind to affairs outside, for Tai Shang had already achieved the Dao and could do many things on his behalf. Yet Tai Shang would come to lodge complaints, saying what Seventh Young Master and his daughter had done now, how the father and daughter went about cheating and swindling everywhere. The Master of Miluo Palace inquired into the particulars, and they all proved to be trifles, with no error in matters of great right and wrong.

He said, "Pay him no mind. He is your junior brother; do not look upon him with prejudice.

" "He entered the sect earlier than I did.

Why call him my junior brother? " Tai Shang said sullenly.

"His abilities surpass mine; he ought to be my senior brother. " "He came back from the future, and his conduct is mature and steady; it is you, rather, who are the flighty one," said the Master of Miluo Palace.

"As I observe his deeds, though they seem like cheating and swindling, he commits no fault.

It is you, rather, who often seem well-intentioned yet end by doing harm.

You should learn much from your junior brother.

" Afterward, Tai Shang did indeed grow much steadier, thinking thrice before he acted. The Second Epoch, even so, was destroyed. The Master of Miluo Palace wished to save everyone, but failed once more; only Tai Shang and a handful of other Dao Achievers were preserved within the Jade Capital City, while Wuji, having hidden in Guixu, escaped the great calamity of destruction.

The Master of Miluo Palace left the battered Jade Capital City in desolation, watching the great calamity of destruction wantonly ravage the Second Epoch, and felt a deep, profound helplessness.

At that moment he saw his seventh disciple again: Chaos roaming freely with his daughter through the Calamity of Destruction of the Second Epoch, the little girl absorbing the power of the calamity.

Within the Calamity of Destruction of the Second Epoch there existed many things that had not existed in the First Epoch: a plot of ground for discarding filth, and a chaotic space. The father and daughter bustled back and forth within the calamity, and none knew what they were about.

Even though the Master of Miluo Palace's magnanimity and bearing were formidable, at this moment he could not help but grow angry. He sought out Shen Mu and his daughter and said with grief and indignation, "What exactly have you come back to the past to do?

Why watch the Calamity of Destruction unfold? Why not save the people of the world?

" Shen Mu and his daughter halted. Shen Mu saluted and said, "Master, I have come only to bear witness, to seek certain people and certain things.

I will not interfere with the past.

Moreover, I cannot save them. " "Only to bear witness? " The Master of Miluo Palace shed tears.

Thinking of the countless multitudes of the Second Epoch, of fellow Daoist after fellow Daoist buried in the Calamity of Destruction, grief surged up in his heart, and only after a long while did he say, "How is the future? " "The future is very good. " Shen Mu pinched off a wisp of Chaos qi, fashioned it into a meditation cushion, and gave it to him, saying, "Master, the Third Epoch still has countless multitudes, and still needs Master to enter the world and ferry them across.

" Before the Calamity of Creation of the Third Epoch erupted, the Master of Miluo Palace at last recovered his Dao heart and his ideals.