Chapter 1867 — Have You Been Well Since We Parted?

Every Dao was wrong, and before the final Great Silent Extinction, all striving was in vain. He thought of his persistence through these sixteen cosmic epochs, and all thought turned to ash.

He felt his Dao heart beginning to dissolve and collapse, and the ideals he upheld beginning to shatter.

There was no road left.

The Master of Miluo Palace summoned all the young masters and hall masters and attainers of Miluo Palace, and Shen Mu was present too, holding little Shen Lingyun's hand, silent and wordless.

The Master told them that the future Seventeenth Epoch must perish, and bade them return to the universes that had birthed them, with no need to go to the future again. Up and down Miluo Palace they stared at one another, not knowing why their teacher would speak such words.

The Master sat withered in grief, answering none of their questions with a word, and all Miluo Palace quarreled in an uproar, until at last the Master rose and departed.

He walked across one River of Chaos after another, with Taishang following behind him, watching him return his whole body's attainment to one universe after another.

By the time he reached Miluo Palace at the time of the First Epoch, the flesh upon his body was gradually scattering away.

He climbed the steps, his flesh vanishing and dispersing bit by bit, and when he mounted the final step he had become a withered skeleton.

Taishang heard his teacher utter a long sigh, and amid that sigh he sat down, his Dao Tree emerging behind him, sixteen Dao Fruits giving off a faint light. Taishang prostrated himself and wept loudly.

After a long while, Taishang walked out of Miluo Palace, returned to the Sixteenth Epoch, and ordered all the young masters and hall masters and attainers to return to the universes that had birthed them.

The seven supreme Dao halls symbolizing the achievements of Yujing City were set around Miluo Palace of the First Epoch. The seven young masters each sank into thought.

"Return each to your own age.

" Taishang sighed in desolation.

Young Master Zixiao rose, swept his sleeve, and departed.

"Teacher may abandon hope, but I never will.

" Young Master Lingxiao's gaze flickered as he stood.

"Teacher abandons his ideals, but his disciple may inherit them, and if the disciple abandons them too, then there will never be hope.

Without teacher, I too can cross the Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation. " He too rose and left.

Young Master Wuzong and Young Master Zhanji each sighed, said little, and each departed. Young Master Wuji gave a light laugh and vanished in a flash.

Only Shen Mu and Taishang remained in Miluo Palace, and Taishang seemed about to pass into extinction himself, lifting his eyelids to glance at Shen Mu, saying weakly, "Chaos, why do you not leave?

" "I was born in the Seventeenth Epoch, and cannot yet return to the Seventeenth. " Shen Mu smiled and said leisurely, "Teacher has seen through the future, and therefore his Dao heart has died, but what he does not know is that when he returned to the Sixteenth Epoch's Calamity of Destruction, after that, matters took on a subtle change.

" Taishang lifted his eyelids again and glanced at him. Shen Mu rose and said, "We can return to the Sixteenth Epoch's Calamity of Destruction, and you will find changes different from before teacher entered the calamity.

" Taishang rose half in doubt and crossed fifteen rivers with him, arriving within the sixteenth river.

"Tai Yi!

" Taishang suddenly soared up, charging across the Calamity of Destruction to intercept the fleeing Tai Yi. "Chaos, will you not lend a hand to save me?

" Tai Yi cried aloud.

After a moment, Tai Yi was seized, and Young Master Taishang suppressed him within the Divine Coffin for Burying the Dao, drove in the Divine Nails for Slaughtering the Dao, and patted the coffin. "For you I have prepared this divine coffin for many years.

" Shen Mu smiled.

"Senior brother, before teacher entered the Seventeenth Epoch's Calamity of Creation, did this ever happen?

" Young Master Taishang froze, then shook his head.

Shen Mu smiled.

"Then look again. " At that very moment, great chaos broke out within the Calamity of Destruction, and countless attainers screamed within the calamity and died one after another, devoured by one terrifying power after another. "Wuji, what are you doing?

" Taishang cried out in shock.

"Wuji is slaughtering on all sides, devouring attainers to strengthen her own power.

" Shen Mu stood beside him and said, "This too never happened before teacher entered the Calamity of Creation, did it?

" Taishang was both startled and enraged, yet he saw Wuji actually trying to kill Zhanji and devour her, and just as he was about to stop it, Lingxiao, Zixiao, and Wuzong suddenly arrived together to besiege Wuji. "This too never happened before teacher entered the Calamity of Creation.

" Shen Mu's gaze flickered as he said in a low voice, "Then is the Seventeenth Epoch future teacher saw still the true future?

" Taishang did not understand what he meant, when suddenly a huge wooden ship broke through layer upon layer of chaos and sailed into the river, appearing upon the battlefield where the young masters warred. The huge wooden ship was beaten by the young masters until it snapped in two.

"Tai Yi!

" Taishang stared dumbfounded, not knowing what had happened, for he saw another Tai Yi, along with many Heaven-Openers, appear upon that battlefield, plunging everyone into melee. "Senior brother, this too never happened.

" Shen Mu suddenly shifted across, and just as Wuji seized Zhanji, seizing her whole cultivation and about to swallow Zhanji in one gulp, Shen Mu crashed in, and Wuji's bones broke and sinews snapped as she tumbled away.

Taishang's heart startled, yet he saw Shen Mu all but overturn the entire River of Chaos, and in a brief instant gravely wound Lingxiao, Zixiao, and Wuzong, gravely wound the other Tai Yi, seal the Heaven-Openers, and drive the Heaven-Openers into the ship broken in two.

"Lingyun, take them to the Filthy Grounds.

" Shen Mu said.

Shen Lingyun then drove the broken ship, bearing a shipload of Heaven-Openers toward the Filthy Grounds. Tai Yi vomited blood, wilted and listless, and looked up.

"Chaos, do not exterminate us utterly.

" "Fellow Daoist, please depart.

" Shen Mu pointed with his hand, and a wisp of Tai Yi's soul flew out, passed through the Seventeenth Epoch's Calamity of Creation, and fell into the Seventeenth Epoch universe nine and a half billion years on.

That time was precisely when Taishang dissolved his Dao and reincarnated. Taishang reincarnated, yet in this life his mother bore a pair of twins, two little boys squeezed together.

Within the Sixteenth Epoch's great Calamity of Destruction, Shen Mu smiled faintly at Wuji.

"Second sister, you asked me to meet you at your strongest, and I have done it.

Only of this matter, second sister will have no memory.

" With a whoosh, the Rivers of Chaos of sixteen cosmic epochs rolled up, forming great wheels of reincarnation, and when the wheels dispersed, Wuji was still locked in battle with the three young masters. Taishang glanced doubtfully at Shen Mu beside him, only to see an extra little girl beside Shen Mu, and he was somewhat bewildered, for never before had he seen this girl.

Zhanji looked up at Shen Mu and said, "Seventh Young Master, what just happened?

" Shen Mu smiled.

"Nothing ever happened. " Zhanji no longer knew who she was, her memory wholly altered, her appearance changed too, become a little girl.

The others' memories of Zhanji remained, and in their memories Shen Mu always brought this little girl, who was Shen Lingyun's playmate.

Even as they spoke, Young Master Wuji gravely wounded Lingxiao, Zixiao, and Wuzong, and Taishang had no choice but to step forward to aid them, yet still could do nothing against Wuji.

Within the Calamity of Destruction, Wuji was nearly invincible. "Father, who is this girl?