Chapter 1619 — The Moon Palace Tea Tree Overflows with Subtle Fragrance
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
If he possessed the variations Venerable Ling had comprehended, then Shen Mu's Primordial Finger could vary at the heart's will, its might greatly increased! Likewise, from the variations of the Miro Palace dao markings, he could fathom the variations of the Red Rope Knot seal art, and greatly raise the power and might of the Red Rope Knot!
If he could achieve this, then the Red Rope Knot would no longer merely trap Lady Yuanmu, Her Majesty the Empress; one seal brought down, and the foe would be reduced to ash!
"Ling, I will pass on to you a seal art, one likewise born of the Miro Palace dao markings, though it involves dao chains, and is more complex. " Shen Mu's divine consciousness rippled, transmitting to Venerable Ling all he had gained in comprehending the Red Rope Knot seal art.
"Of this seal art, I myself have mastered only the Red Rope Knot in its still state; I cannot make it vary at will. How long before you can comprehend the variations within it?
" Venerable Ling sat silent at the prow and for a long time gave no answer. Shen Mu was in no hurry; as he continued to ponder the mysteries of the dao markings, he sped the golden ship on.
The ship had already come beyond the sky of the Yuan World, and just then it passed by the moon. Within the moon stood a cluster of palaces.
Shen Mu peered over, and saw a woman in white robes come out from the palace, a sword on her back, carrying a flower basket, meaning to gather a few blossoms. The woman saw the golden ship and Shen Mu aboard it, and so stood quietly before the palace gate. Shen Mu steered the golden ship in several circuits around that moon, slowing little by little, until at last he brought the vessel to a halt. He leaped down from the ship and came before that moon palace, where grew many flowers and grasses, and one old tea tree, some hundred years old or more.
The tea tree grew slowly, yet in a hundred-odd years it could still grow quite tall.
"It has been a long time. " The woman came to meet him beneath the tea tree, but stopped there; the moonlight was white and clean, casting dappled shadows beneath the tree.
A hidden fragrance drifted in the moonlight. Shen Mu stepped forward and came beneath the tea tree as well, gazing quietly at Bai Qu'er.
Bai Qu'er was as she had always been: tranquil, lovely, unfettered by the world.
"I know you love tea, so I planted a tea tree. " Her loveliness came with her beneath the tree, lending the hidden fragrance of the garden beyond the palace a lightness and grace.
"You were gone a long while, and some of the tea grew stale, so I drank it myself. I never used to care for drinking it, and yet little by little I came to love it.
" Shen Mu's heart abruptly grew still.
He smiled.
"Is there any tea left?
I have no urgent business.
I would like a cup before I go.
" Bai Qu'er was delighted and went back into the palace to prepare, when Venerable Ling walked over.
"Set out one more tea set.
" Bai Qu'er looked at her deeply, doubtful. "Venerable Ling? The High Emperor's Venerable Ling? " She had once followed her father to the Heavenly Court of the High Emperor, and had seen Venerable Ling once from afar.
Venerable Ling, though a woman, was not one to stand on ceremony; in the High Emperor's day she had gone about unkempt, and now, in a blue robe and woman's attire, she found her hair a nuisance to comb and could not be bothered with it, and so had cut it very short, a far cry from the slovenly figure of those years in leopard-skin skirt and straw sandals. Venerable Ling recognized her.
"The White Dragon clan? The High Emperor's Sword God?
I have seen you; it must have been at the celebration in the Heavenly Court of the High Emperor forty thousand years ago.
You followed the Lord of Bailong City through the crowd, and you were only so tall then.