Chapter 974 — The Supreme Beyond the Clouds
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Shu Jun's two eyes lifted their lids one after the other, and studying him, marveled that Shen Mu should be modest for once. Slowly and deliberately he said, "If you walk out a new road, one wholly different from the Heavenly Palace, then it means you have cast aside entirely the wisdom of the divine-power wielders of these million years, cast aside the experience accumulated by others. The tens of thousands of arts and tens of thousands of divine powers of this million years would all be wholly useless to you. You would amount to carving out a brand-new civilization by the strength of one man alone. "
In Shen Mu's heart, such a thought did indeed exist.
In his view, though the Heavenly Palace system had not yet evolved into the perfect Heavenly Court, it was by no means unchangeable.
He truly wished to abandon the Heavenly Palace cultivation system altogether and pioneer an entirely new system of cultivation.
"But have you thought about how long it would take?
" Shu Jun said.
"It might take you a million years to perfect the new road you have carved out, before this cultivation system could mature. And perhaps you would be the only one on that road, so a million years would be a short time. Yet if you accept the Heavenly Palace system, perhaps you need only several thousand years, or even several hundred, to reach the summit and become the mightiest existence under heaven. This is the counsel of my experience; but the road lies beneath your feet, and how you walk it is yours to choose. "
Shen Mu fell silent, bowed low to Shu Jun upon the altar in gratitude, and dissolved into a wisp of divine consciousness that drifted away.
Shu Jun was perplexed: "Why has this boy become so reverent toward me?
"
Upon the Tai Emperor's altar, Shen Mu raised his head and gazed upward.
Above the altar the Tai Emperor's Seal hung suspended, borrowing the Tai Emperor's power to withstand the ever-strengthening domain of the Supreme Divine Consciousness. Yue Tingge and Luo Wushuang turned to look back; the star-ring upon the cliff had returned to its normal speed of rotation, and was not accelerating, so they let out a long breath of relief.
The altar flew through the air, drawing near the space between the Tai Emperor's brows upon his physical body, and drawing ever closer to the Fire Heavenly Venerable. Yet Shen Mu only kept gazing up at the Tai Emperor's Seal, staring blankly, lost in thought, and though Yue Tingge and Luo Wushuang found it strange, they did not press him with questions.
Suddenly two clear streams of tears slid from the corners of Shen Mu's eyes.
Yue Tingge and Luo Wushuang were both startled, not knowing why this Mu Heavenly Venerable should have so suddenly turned sentimental.
Shen Mu withdrew his gaze, and a desolation surged up in his heart, and he could not help but weep. He had made his decision: not to explore an unknown road, not to explore where that road led, not to explore the wonders at that road's end.
He had once dimly glimpsed that the road possessed endless beauty, yet now he could only forsake it.
He would reopen the Heavenly Palace, and by means of the wisdom of the people of these million years walk onward through the realms of Venerable God, True God, Jade Terrace, Jade Capital, and beyond. Perhaps he could wait a million years, spend a million years perfecting his own road, become an eternal legend, and transcend the realm of the Heavenly Court.
Yet Jing Ping could not wait; the Jing Ping Reform could not wait; his friends, his fellow travelers on the path, they could not wait.
He might miss countless beautiful vistas upon that road, might never see the end of the great path, might miss the origin of the path and the beginning of the path at the great path's end—but he could seize the present, cherish what lay before his eyes.