Chapter 1865 — The Youth, Lingxiao, and Zixiao

"A lanky one-eyed freak? " (The lanky freak has one eye, not three; the earlier text was in error and has been corrected.

) Tai Yi pondered a moment, then ventured, "The lanky freak you speak of, the one clinging to the roots of the World Tree, waiting to enter the Seventeenth Epoch? The one with a single eye in the center of his brow, a very large eye, who dwells upon the twelfth ring of the World Tree? " Shen Mu nodded. "I do not know him.

He was a divine being of the Twelfth Epoch; it is now the Fourth Epoch, and the Twelfth is still far off.

" Tai Yi said, "When the Twelfth Epoch comes, I will find him for you. What happened after I left the Great Black Mountain?

" Shen Mu said mildly, "Only trifles. " Tai Yi looked at the white hair at his temples and said abruptly, "How many years did you endure before you returned here?

You have suffered much, have you not?

" Shen Mu stroked Shen Lingyun's little head gently, his gaze soft, utterly calm: "Not long. Merely three and a half billion years.

And my daughter and I, returning to the past, have already lived through more than two hundred billion years. " "That is why, when I saw you, I knew you were the Seventh Young Master, Chaos, and not Mu the Heavenly Venerable. Mu the Heavenly Venerable bears no such weight of years as you.

" Tai Yi gazed far off at the Divine City of Tiandu amid the Calamity of Destruction, where his past-life self was contending with a host of fellow Daoists against that calamity. He already knew the outcome of that struggle, knew that many Daoists would die within it, and that those who did not often met their end in the Calamity of Creation.

It was precisely this outcome that had resolved him to create a perfect world! And that would come to pass in the Seventh Epoch! Tiandu's Opening of Heaven!

That had been a feat to set the heart surging.

Apart from Shen Mu, who as one of the Heaven-Openers took no part in it and merely lingered at the margins to make his face familiar, everyone else had joined in that Opening of Heaven!

Afterward, he would die at the hands of the Master of Miluo Palace, be saved by Ling, and be sent in the form of a primal spirit to the future Sixteenth Epoch.

"Young Master Chaos, you say this is the Master of Miluo Palace's compensation to me? That he lets me begin again from the Fourth Epoch? " Tai Yi was somewhat at a loss.

He looked toward Miluo Palace amid the Calamity of Destruction and shook his head. "He would not be so kind-hearted.

" He received no answer from Shen Mu; turning his head, he found that Shen Mu and the little girl had vanished without a trace.

The Fifth Epoch arrived.

Tai Yi watched Tiandu go in search of the Five Tai of that epoch, and strangely enough, visitors from the future had pursued him into this epoch as well and begun hunting Tai Yi down.

Those were the powers of Miluo Palace from the future Sixteenth Epoch, crossing one long River of Chaos after another to reach the Fifth Epoch, returning into the bodies they each possessed in this age, frantically searching for his whereabouts.

Foremost among them was Young Master Taishang, who led hall-master-level existences of Miluo Palace in hunting him everywhere. He had no choice but to hide wherever he could, changing his identity at every turn.

In the Fifth Epoch, Miluo Palace and Tiandu City had become two great holy lands, each on a grand scale. Miluo Palace already showed the rudiments of its later form; Taishang had already cultivated the Taishang Hall and was revered by many Dao Achievers as a Young Master, for he was the First Young Master of Miluo Palace.

As for Wuji, though she had joined Miluo Palace in the same period as Taishang, she had not become a Young Master.

On the contrary, she kept a low profile within Miluo Palace, never able to attain the Dao, her strength inferior even to that of other Dao Achievers.

Beyond these two holy lands there was a third: the Old Man of Boundlessness. By the Fifth Epoch the Old Man of Boundlessness already had a following of immense size; mighty figures came without cease to take him as their master and beg his protection. The forces under the Old Man of Boundlessness even surpassed those of Miluo Palace and Tiandu City.

As Tai Yi walked the world, he would occasionally encounter Shen Mu, though in those days Shen Mu's reputation, whether in Miluo Palace or Tiandu City, was none too good; people often called him a freeloading fraud. The three holy lands were forever at strife. Though they fought until heaven and earth were rent and rivers of blood flowed, both the Master of Miluo Palace and the Lord of Tiandu were restrained, keeping the Dao Achievers of their holy lands in check.

It was the Old Man of Boundlessness who was deeply uneasy about Tiandu City, hounding it relentlessly.

Tai Yi strove to avoid being drawn into the struggles of these three powers, but Young Master Taishang seemed to have fixed his eye on him, descending from the Sixteenth Epoch into his body from time to time and pursuing him without letup. The Sixth Epoch came as promised. Tai Yi changed his appearance to evade Taishang, who had chased him into the Sixth Epoch, and there he met Shen Mu again.

The little girl at Shen Mu's side seemed never to grow; she was as lovely as ice and snow as at their first meeting, and she followed Shen Mu always. "Miluo Palace's Third Young Master, Lingxiao, has entered Miluo Palace. " Tai Yi's eyes flickered.

He said to him, "A few days ago Taishang, in league with Lingxiao, hunted me down. Chaos, have you no thoughts on the matter? Third Young Master Lingxiao is the chief culprit who presided over the blood sacrifice of the Seventeenth Epoch!

" Shen Mu was astonished.

"The third is a man of the Sixth Epoch? Then I must go and have a look!

" Tai Yi watched them depart and breathed a sigh of relief.

Miluo Palace hunted him everywhere, and it had truly worn him down; if Shen Mu could stab Lingxiao in the back, his own burden would be lighter.

Some days later, Tai Yi saw Shen Mu drinking and laughing merrily with Young Master Lingxiao, as intimate as brothers born of different parents. Tai Yi was choked with fury.

He was about to question him when he saw Young Master Taishang arrive with a host of Miluo Palace experts to hunt him down, with Shen Mu at the side waving banners and cheering them on.

Tai Yi had no choice but to change his appearance once more and flee. Later, the Dao Achievers of Miluo Palace warned their young junior brother Lingxiao, recounting Shen Mu's various deeds, and only then did Lingxiao gradually distance himself from Shen Mu. In the Sixth Epoch a great event occurred: Wuji attained the Dao and became the Second Young Master of Miluo Palace, cultivating the Wuji Hall.

Shen Mu went to offer his congratulations as well, and said in a low voice, "Second Sister, how many Guixu Divine Maidens did you eat?

" "Seventh, what nonsense are you spouting? I do not understand you.

" Young Master Wuji's eyes were bright and sparkling. Some days later, Tai Yi happened upon Shen Mu being hunted by Young Master Wuji, and the two fled together.

"With your strength, you need not fear Wuji. Why do you not strike back?

" Tai Yi asked, puzzled.

Shen Mu smiled and gave no answer. Shen Lingyun said in her crisp little voice, "My father says that he never strikes back at anyone who dies by his hand.

" Tai Yi was greatly shaken, and let out a breath of turbid air. At last the end of the Sixth Epoch came, and the Calamity of Destruction erupted.

Tai Yi was still being hunted, so he changed his appearance and hid himself in Tiandu City, only to meet Shen Mu once more.

In this life, Shen Mu and Shen Lingyun had actually come to the Divine City of Tiandu, declaring that as the most ancient elders of Tiandu City, they must this time help Tiandu City accomplish a feat unmatched in all the world!

The folk of Tiandu City were deeply suspicious and raised a clamor.