Chapter 1535 — Alone into the Imperial Capital
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
When they reached the outskirts of the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains of the Ancestral Court, Shen Mu handed the Ancestral Ground of the Dao Fire to Granny Zhu. Granny Zhu could not help frowning; guessing his thoughts, she asked, "Do you mean to go to the Jade Capital City?"
Shen Mu nodded. "Tai Yi is lost within the Jade Capital City, and bade me follow a map to save him. But the map he spoke of, I have never understood what it means. I must go to the Ancestral Court myself and see exactly what is there. And I want to see with my own eyes what the Jade Capital City truly has to do with the Jade Capital realm. Until I see it with my own eyes, I can never be at ease."
He paused, and explained to them, "I have already cultivated to the Nine Hells Terrace realm. To advance further, I must step into the Jade Capital trap! Otherwise, in dharma power I can never catch up with the Ten Heavenly Venerables. Even if I cultivate the thirty-six heavens of the dao realm, in dharma power I still cannot be stronger than the Ten Heavenly Venerables. The Jade Capital City, I must go."
Granny Zhu was faintly worried. "You leave the Ancestral Ground of the Dao Fire on the Holy Mountain; what if Heavenly Venerable Fire comes out of the Jade Capital City and comes to seize it?"
Shen Mu smiled faintly and said softly, "Rest easy, Granny. If he and I meet in the Jade Capital City, I will make him realize that the Ancestral Ground of the Dao Fire no longer belongs to him, and that the Great Black Mountain of the Ancestral Court is forbidden ground he may not set foot upon."
His words brimmed with immense self-confidence, and it was as though he had returned to the man he once was.
"Then at least you should take Tai Yi's staff, surely?"
Granny Zhu thrust Tai Yi's staff into his hand. "You have the Tribulation Sword, but Tai Yi's staff is, after all, the dao weapon of one who has attained the dao. Carrying it can do no harm."
Shen Mu thought it over, and put the staff away. He waved his hand, watching Granny Zhu and the others walk into the Holy Mountain and on toward the World Tree, and said silently in his heart, "Granny, I will not let what happened to Lame Grandpa happen again, to any of you. I have grown up. In the past you protected me; now it is my turn to protect you."
He spread his cloak and turned away.
"Junior Brother!"
Wei Suifeng came flying after him, holding up a great cauldron, calling loudly, "Junior Brother, wait for me!"
Shen Mu halted, and frowned. "Eldest Senior Brother, I cannot take you with me. The Jade Capital City is too dangerous; I cannot spare the attention to protect you..."
"Bah, bah!"
Wei Suifeng was beside himself with fury. "I am the Emperor Yunluo, who roamed and commanded for a million years, and I need your protection? What I mean is, I have been to the Jade Capital City. I followed Tai Yi across sixteen Chaos Rivers, and I left a map behind. If you go there, using my map will save you a great deal of trouble."
Shen Mu thanked him.
Wei Suifeng set the great cauldron down, and the star-sand within rose into the air, assembling into a map of the Jade Capital City.
But the places marked on that map were only those Wei Suifeng and Shujun had walked; the places they had not walked remained blank.
Shen Mu studied it closely, and committed it to memory.
Just then the star-sand abruptly changed, revealing another map, utterly unlike the one before, seamed with thousands upon thousands of lines and paths, exceedingly complex.
Shen Mu was astonished, and studied this map closely: the terrain in it he had never seen at all!