Chapter 1566 — The Path to Attaining the Dao
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
" "As though Shen'er in the time of the Jingping Calamity — alone, with no one to turn to. " The Blind Elder said quietly, "Back then, after the Lame Elder carried Shen'er out of the Jingping Calamity on his back, he told me these things.
In saving Shen'er, the Lame Elder was always the quickest; it was always he who saved him. .
.
" Their hearts lay heavy.
In the Jingping Calamity all the pressure had fallen upon Shen Mu alone, and when he struggled every way he knew, when he found that no matter how he fought he could not save Jingping, he too must have been like that phantom in the chaos: in agony, alone, helpless. They left this golden hall and walked on to the next.
At the edge of the Hundred Thousand Sacred Mountains, Shen Mu sought out Xu Shenghua and Lan Yutian, who were mending the cracked Black Mountain.
Shen Mu told them of what had befallen him in Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, and spoke of the Seventy-Two Treasure Halls, the Lingxiao Trap, and the Zixiao Trap.
He did not wish to distract the two of them, and so he said little of the matter of Taiyi.
The two listened, rapt. Xu Shenghua thought for a moment, then said, "The Seventy-Two Treasure Halls have been carved up among the seven Heavenly Venerables.
That is to say, the seven Venerables now command the greatest resources; they hold most of the halls in their grip, and apart from them no one can attain the Dao through the Heavenly Palace system.
" Lan Yutian shook his head. "Not long ago Jiang Baigui and Emperor Yanfeng came here, and Jiang Baigui showed me his Seventy-Two Treasure Halls and Thirty-Six Heavenly Palaces. It moved me deeply.
Even without the Seventy-Two Treasure Halls of Jade Capital City, one can still attain the Dao.
Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court is not the only road to walk. " "As things stand, there are four roads to attaining the Dao. One is Jiang Baigui's — the acquired way.
One is the road you and Lord Shen tread, Lan Yutian — attaining the Dao through the Five Tai.
One is the Dao-realm road of Venerable Shen Kaihuang — attaining the Dao through the Dao-realm. And one is the traditional road of the Heavenly Palace — attaining the Dao through force, borrowing strength from Jade Capital City.
" Xu Shenghua mused, "Of these roads, the simplest is attaining the Dao through force, borrowing strength from Jade Capital City. The deepest in cultivation is attaining the Dao through the Dao-realm.
The hardest is the acquired way.
The broadest and most profound is attaining the Dao through the Five Tai.
These past years, as I mended Black Mountain, I have been thinking of my own road to the Dao, and I have gained something from it. I want to walk a road unlike any of yours — a fifth road. " Shen Mu asked, "And what have you gained, Brother Xu? " Xu Shenghua said, "I want to walk the road of attaining the Dao through the primordial spirit.
I have been thinking: the World Tree is like the primordial spirit of this universe, and the universe is, as it were, the World Tree's body. Perhaps only by attaining the Dao through the primordial spirit can one escape extinction. Only, I have not yet thought it through clearly. " Shen Mu's eyes lit up, and he smiled.
"You truly have ideas, Brother Xu. It may well work. " "But now I no longer wish to walk that road. " Xu Shenghua said gravely, "Venerable Hao and Venerable Xiao have thrown in their lot with the Dao-achievers of prehistory. Once they attain the Dao through force, the pressure on you will surely be immense.
If I too took the road of attaining the Dao through force, I could possess great power in a short time, and when the decisive battle with Venerable Hao and Venerable Xiao comes, I could lend a hand. . . " "What pressure do I have? " Shen Mu laughed heartily. "Ten Heavenly Venerables have already become seven, and in the coming war between Venerable Hao and Venerable Xiao, a few more Venerables will die!