Chapter 1558 — The First Rune
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Each instant's change in a Miluo Palace Dao pattern meant that the information the pattern conveyed was several times more than what a fixed, unchanging Dao pattern could convey! The Dao patterns reflected by the two Qiankun Mirrors were but one part in a hundred million million of the information hidden within the Dao patterns! When the vertical eye in his brow examined the structure of a Dao pattern, he could also see its course of transformation from Taiji to Taisu, to Taishi, to Taichu, to Taiyi!
He could not help watching, drunk and enchanted. The information hidden in the Dao patterns of Miluo Palace's master was immeasurably vast; a single Dao pattern could fill the boundless space of two Qiankun Mirrors.
Frightening as that was, what left him more awestruck still was the master's attainment.
The cultivation of a being of that order could no longer be put into words; his knowledge left even a Tianzun-level existence like Shen Mu gasping in admiration.
"Strange.
My vertical eye could never see such things before; why can it see them now?
" Shen Mu suddenly recalled that drop of tears, and thought: "Could it be that the teardrop on the Dao Tree of Miluo Palace's master awakened the power of my vertical eye?
" He fell silent.
Taiyi had used Dao dew to let the vertical eye in his brow see, to pierce chaos; and the tears of Miluo Palace's master had let him command the power of that vertical eye.
Both of these elders had treated him well, and yet the judgment Miluo Palace's master had passed on Taiyi was something he could not set down.
Then, all at once, Shen Mu broke into a smile: "Miluo Palace's master asked me how many tears I needed, and I, fool that I was, gave him no answer. Now it seems I should have asked for a good many more.
" His mood returned to what it had been; he did not go on brooding over Taiyi's identity.
Whether or not Taiyi was a Dao-achiever of prehistoric times, he no longer wished to fret over it.
The elders of Yincan Village had taught him since childhood that to know a man truly, one must not only hear his words but watch his deeds; not only look at what he says, but look at what he does.
One must never lose one's own judgment because of another's appraisal.
Whether or not Taiyi was a prehistoric Dao-achiever, all his deeds of the past had been to the benefit of this universe: he had cut down the World Tree, guarded Great Black Mountain, and kept the prehistoric Dao-achievers from descending, from invading; and that was good.
Taiyi had patched Great Black Mountain, helped Shen Mu resolve the problem of the World Tree, helped the Jingping folk gain a foothold on Great Black Mountain and in the Ancestral Court, and to this day still used the Dao dew from his Dao Tree to mend the cracks in Great Black Mountain; and that was good.
This was his grace to the world. That Shen Mu could open the vertical eye in his brow, that he could grow a World Tree inside his own body, was likewise bound up with him.
This was his grace to Shen Mu.
In repayment, in requital for all he had done before, Shen Mu would follow the map and save him regardless of his true identity. As for what stance the two of them would take toward each other once Taiyi was rescued, that would still depend on watching his words and his deeds.
"If his deeds do not conflict with my principles, and we still share the same purpose, then he and I are still fellow Daoists.
" Shen Mu smiled with easy candor, feeling that at last he could calmly face whatever changes the future brought; his heart was serene, his Dao heart clear and bright.
"But if his deeds conflict with my principles, if our purposes run counter, then he and I are enemies. " Having reasoned this through, there was no longer any knot in his heart, and he went on studying the Dao patterns of Miluo Palace's master.