Chapter 1556 — A Teardrop
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
If he truly wished to resist the invasion of the prehistoric Dao Achievers, why should he keep his bitter vigil beneath the World Tree? He had only to cultivate a few Dao Achievers, and they could have helped him resist the invasion of the prehistoric Dao Achievers. Did he do it? " Shen Mu pressed onward with effort, fell silent for a moment, and shook his head.
"No. " And yet he could not help making excuses for Tai Yi: "Tai Yi is aloof from all things, aloof from the world itself; he is an existence that has achieved the Dao, and he will never interfere in any worldly affair! He only watches the unfolding of worldly events and the changing of dynasties from the standpoint of a bystander. . .
" "Is that so?
" the Master of Miluo Palace asked. "Has he truly never interfered in anything? Then how did the Creator race come to be exterminated?
How did you come to be the master of the World Tree?
And the eye between your brows—how did it come to see through chaos? " Shen Mu fell silent once more. Looked at from these angles, Tai Yi had indeed interfered in worldly affairs; he was not so aloof after all.
It was Tai Yi who made the ancient gods of the primeval age believe that the Great Dao wished to eliminate the Creator race, and so Tai Chu, the Heavenly Emperor, had launched a war against the Creator race, bringing about their annihilation.
Of that once incomparably glorious race, only a handful had escaped into the Great Void, clinging to a thread of life.
Shen Mu's success in planting the World Tree had also depended on a bucket of dao dew from Tai Yi, and Tai Yi had even lent him the Chaos Axe to fell the tree. As for the vertical eye between his brows, it had depended on Tai Yi's eggshell and a drop of dao dew. The Master of Miluo Palace said, "He did not allow the Five Tais of your universe to come into the world smoothly.
If Tai Chu, Tai Shi, Tai Su, and Tai Ji had come into the world smoothly, how could any of what came later have happened?
You would have had at least five Dao Achievers shielding your universe, and the prehistoric Dao Achievers could never have descended at all. Did he do it?
He did not.
Tai Chu was crippled, Tai Shi could not be born, Tai Su was refined into a treasure, and Tai Ji fled from one hiding place to another. Of the four innate Tais who once held the greatest hope of achieving the Dao, not one achieved the Dao. In his bitter vigil over the World Tree, what Tai Yi was actually guarding was only his own life. " He said calmly, "The man who appears the most selfless is often the one with the deepest selfishness. " Shen Mu suddenly burst into loud laughter.
The Master of Miluo Palace said nothing, quietly waiting for his laughter to die down. "I cannot refute you, but neither will I suspect Tai Yi because of this! The one I should suspect most is you!
" Shen Mu continued to walk toward him with unflagging persistence, and his voice echoed through Miluo Palace as he declared, "Daoist brother, you too are a man who appears utterly selfless.
By your own reasoning, you too are the one with the deepest selfishness!
" The Master of Miluo Palace was silent for a moment, then said, "That is one way of putting it.
The universe is fair; when the great limit arrives, every living being must die, and Dao Achievers are no exception. Yet I want to survive, I want to save people—this is indeed selfishness.
" Shen Mu kept walking toward him and shook his head. "That is not what I mean. I mean the Ancestral Court altar!
The entire Ancestral Court is one enormous blood-sacrifice altar—dare you say you have nothing whatsoever to do with it? You have been trapped here all along; you too have been waiting for a chance, a chance to come ashore! That is why you set up the blood-sacrifice altar!