Chapter 1434 — The Age of Great Strife Approaches
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"How strange. Even the Creator knows nothing of a place called the Land of Taiji, and all that can be found is a false Taiji mining ground. How did Her Majesty the Empress ever find her way here?"
Doubt gnawed at Shen Mu. The ancient gods of the Land of Taiji were exceedingly strange — a pair of twin ancient gods. Every other divine egg had been dug out; only these two had escaped the purge.
And these two ancient gods were exceedingly clever. Back when Shen Mu had found this place by way of Taisu, he had displayed such extraordinary mastery of divine arts that the mining ground could do nothing to him, so the two ancient gods had come straight to terms with him, giving him a hundred Taiji divine stones and a single Taiji primal stone, and telling him the whereabouts of the Great Black Wood.
For the Empress to have found this place, she could not possibly have managed it without the guidance of an ancient god. Only an egg-born ancient god could find the Land of Taiji.
Then who had guided her — the Goddess Taisu, or Xiao Heavenly Venerable?
"Taisu is helping Hao Heavenly Venerable; she would never turn around and guide the Empress. Xiao Heavenly Venerable and the Empress are sworn enemies; even if Xiao were willing to guide her, the Empress might not be willing to come to this place. Taishi is with me, and Taiyi would never show himself to meddle in worldly affairs. Then the only one who could have guided the Empress here is..."
Shen Mu's face turned strange. "Only the Taiji ancient gods themselves. Taisu found Hao Heavenly Venerable to be her helper in contending for the world and seizing back the Taisu lode, to help her attain the Dao. The Taiji ancient gods' lode is still whole, and the reason they would court Her Majesty the Empress is most likely that they too wish to find a helper among the Ten Heavenly Venerables — a helper to contend for the world. These two ancient gods are not so detached, not so indifferent, as they claimed."
He quickly reached his judgment: "The one making trouble is not Lady Yuanmu, but the Taiji ancient gods! These two must have seen the Ten Heavenly Venerables throw the Ancestral Court open, and known that their lode could hardly be preserved — that at any moment it might be discovered. So they prepared early. They mean to enter the world."
At that moment, Lady Yuanmu's divine artifact Yutianzun was watching Jue Wuchen; Qiang Heavenly Consort was watching her; and Shen Mu was watching all three of them at once.
Jue Wuchen seemed oblivious, and went on toward the Taiji lode. Gradually Shen Mu sensed something amiss, and hastily looked around.
"The path Jue Wuchen is walking is not the one that leads to the heart of the Taiji lode. Walking as she does, she will only stray from the mining ground, never enter the true one... Yes — the Taiji ancient gods sensed that someone was following her, and made a false mining ground!"
Shen Mu understood at once: "These two ancient gods are masters of forgery above all! And Her Majesty the Empress has more than Jue Wuchen's body to employ — she has her true body as well!"
He stopped trailing Qiang Heavenly Consort, Jue Wuchen, and the divine artifact Yutianzun, withdrew without a sound, and went straight for the true mining ground.
The Taiji mining ground was familiar ground to him. The last time he came here, he had needed the Taisu divine egg to stir the power of the Glazed Azure Heaven Banner before he could pass through the incomparably perilous Taiji star domain. This time, he had mastered the four great daos of Taichu, Taishi, Taisu, and Taiji, and going deep into the Taiji star domain held not the slightest danger.
Shen Mu followed the mining ground the whole way, and after a long while he suddenly turned his head — he had long since left the continent of the Ancestral Court and come into a vast starry sky.
He turned back, and before him was still the great desert, still the Ancestral Court.