Chapter 1865 — The Youth, Lingxiao, and Zixiao

Some said he was a spy sent by Miluo Palace; some said he was close to the Old Man of Boundlessness and was the Old Man's spy.

"Young Master Chaos is more like a spy our Tiandu City planted at the side of Miluo Palace and the Old Man of Boundlessness!

" someone said, to shocking effect.

Just then the Lord of Tiandu brought back a girl he had picked up from the Calamity of Destruction, and announced joyfully, "Let me introduce to you all: this is Ling!

A Daoist friend who shares our aspirations! " The folk of Tiandu City rose to their feet one after another.

Ling the Heavenly Venerable's gaze was like a blazing sun upon snow; it swept over the crowd and came to rest on Shen Mu's face. Shen Mu's face was all smiles.

When Tiandu City opened heaven and created the Seventh Epoch of the universe, Shen Mu took no part in it, but watched from the sidelines. The figures of the Lord of Tiandu and the thirty-six Heaven-Openers were eternally branded into time and space, becoming an imperishable scroll, but in that scroll there were neither father nor daughter, nor Tai Yi.

In the Seventh Epoch, Tiandu City wholly overshadowed Miluo Palace and the Old Man of Boundlessness. The Heaven-Openers oppressed Miluo Palace and the Old Man in every way, and Tiandu City gradually changed in nature.

The Lord of Tiandu did not notice, or perhaps even if he noticed he would not have cared. He and Ling the Heavenly Venerable were the same kind of people: apart from the Dao, there was nothing else.

The Seventh Epoch had from the first been a testing ground for him and Tiandu City, and all the living beings of the Seventh Epoch were but appendages within that testing ground. So he believed, and so the Heaven-Openers believed as well.

As Tai Yi walked the world, watching the deeds of his past-life self and the Heaven-Openers, he sighed inwardly, "Teacher, you were right.

I was wrong. . . " In this life, even he could not attain the Dao again.

In every epoch before, he had been able to attain the Dao and cultivate another Dao Fruit; only in the Seventh Epoch could he not cultivate a Dao Fruit. Because the Dao of heaven and earth was wholly in the grip of the Heaven-Openers! Whomever the Heaven-Openers wished to attain the Dao, that one attained the Dao; whomever they wished to erase the cultivation of, that one's cultivation was erased!

The Seventh Epoch's decline and destruction came earlier than expected.

The Master of Miluo Palace visited Tiandu City three times, and on the fourth visit he slew the Lord of Tiandu. At that time Shen Mu was right there, standing beside Lingxiao.

Lingxiao's eyes were bright and sparkling, fixed unblinkingly on the divine art the Master of Miluo Palace employed when he killed the Lord of Tiandu. Shen Mu, however, was watching Ling the Heavenly Venerable.

Her Immutable Mass-Energy had not yet reached great accomplishment, yet she silently rescued Tiandu's primal spirit, and Tiandu was separated from Tai Yi.

War broke out between Tiandu City and Miluo Palace, lasting from the end of the Seventh Epoch all the way to the Tenth. Ling, one of the Heaven-Openers, displayed transcendent battle power, slaughtering so many of Miluo Palace that the dead and wounded were grievous, and was hailed as the shadow of Miluo Palace.

Yet Ling went her own way alone, and moreover was close to Chaos, the seventh of Miluo Palace, and so was cast off by the Heaven-Openers.

From the Seventh Epoch to the Tenth, it could be called a war that swept the universe, exceedingly savage. Lingxiao attained the Dao and cultivated the Lingxiao Hall, but for that very reason was besieged and suppressed by the Heaven-Openers, wounded again and again.

That was the most colossal war of all; among the seventeen epochs of the universe, its like could scarcely be found again. By the Tenth Epoch, Miluo Palace was gravely weakened.

Taishang, Wuji, and Lingxiao had all been severely wounded by Ling the Heavenly Venerable, and the Master of Miluo Palace had no choice but to act, suppressing Ling the Heavenly Venerable of the Heaven-Openers. Only then were the Heaven-Openers of Tiandu City held down, and they gradually went into hiding and vanished.

Tai Yi went to see Zixiao. At this time Zixiao was still a swordsman, wholly enamored of the sword; his wife, by contrast, was a woman of outstanding quality.

At Zixiao's home Tai Yi met Shen Mu and his daughter, who were there as guests.

The three shared a tacit understanding, and together they witnessed the birth of Zixiao's Melody of Dao Attainment. The true Melody of Dao Attainment of Zixiao made the three of them strike the table in admiration and savor it for a long while. "Zixiao is but a man of the wilds, yet he has won such a wife; how enviable.

He has not yet joined Miluo Palace; do you not intend to leave something behind? " Tai Yi's eyes flickered as he asked Shen Mu.

Shen Mu shook his head.

"I came here only to hear this famous melody. In my battle with Zixiao I held certain victory, and in the end I was defeated by this melody. Zixiao's wife is a remarkable woman; I could not fail to meet her.

" Tai Yi wanted to make a move against Zixiao, but Shen Mu stopped him, saying, "Zixiao too was defeated by this melody. " Tai Yi was puzzled.

Later, the Calamity of Destruction of the Tenth Epoch erupted. At the height of that calamity, Zixiao's Melody of Dao Attainment sounded once more.

Tai Yi came at the sound, and met Shen Mu again.

Shen Mu stood in the calamity holding Shen Lingyun's hand, watching that husband and wife embrace amid the fire of the calamity, a moment that was eternity. The Zixiao of this time was the Zixiao of the Seventeenth Epoch; he chose to remain forever in this moment, together with his wife.

The Zixiao of the Eleventh Epoch entered Miluo Palace, and the Dao arts of Miluo Palace made him the Fourth Young Master. The Twelfth Epoch arrived. Tai Yi sought out Shen Mu and said, "I have found that lanky freak.

He is under the command of the Old Man of Boundlessness.

"