Chapter 1620 — Against the Tide
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shen Mu frowned — and all at once Venerable Ling's voice came from behind him: "A fine divine art. " Shen Mu turned to look. Venerable Ling's gaze rested on the place where he had just imprinted the art, and she praised it a second time: "A fine divine art. " Shen Mu laughed.
"This is the Dao Realm that Kaihuang created. I have already cultivated it to the thirty-first heaven; when I perfect the thirty-sixth heaven, I will be able to imprint the ultimate void.
Ling, you probably still do not know much about this matter of the Dao Realm. Let me explain it to you.
The Dao Realm was founded by Kaihuang. It was originally condemned as heterodox and heretical; now it has become the prevailing doctrine.
The Dao Realm is divided into thirty-six heavens . .
.
" Venerable Ling waved a hand and shook her head. "This talk of the Dao Realm is one school's opinion, nothing more.
I have already asked Kaihuang about it in person at Wendao Academy. It amounts to no more than that. " Shen Mu stared, eyes wide, and stammered, "You — you . . . " Venerable Ling said, "Venerable Mu, with your aptitude you should long ago have guessed: the Dao Realm merely sets up a framework of rules for the common sort, and lets the common sort walk within that framework; walk to the very end, and one may attain the Dao.
But it exists to restrain the common sort. " A breath lodged in Shen Mu's chest, and he nearly could not draw air.
Venerable Ling said, "I have seen that you have a move called the Primordial Finger, which uses the primordial runes.
Aim one at the ultimate void. " Shen Mu did as he was told, and pointed one finger. In this time he had comprehended many transformations of the Primordial Finger. That one finger was terrifying in its power: a shaft of violet light shot from his fingertip, pierced the ultimate void, and left a finger-mark in that void.
The finger-mark did not disperse for a long while.
Within it the countless transformations of the Primordial Finger shifted and drifted, infinitely mutable — and so the finger-mark would not be erased by the ultimate void. Shen Mu was dumbstruck.
He examined his finger-mark in close detail, and something stirred in his heart; yet he did not know what principle he had grasped.
Venerable Ling said, "This divine art of yours — which heaven of your divine art is it? " Shen Mu shook his head. "It is not my divine art.
It is a finger art I comprehended from the dao patterns of the Miluo Palace. It is the Miluo Palace Master's divine art .
. .
" "By that reasoning, is the divine art of your Dao Realm's thirty-first heaven your divine art?
It is the divine art of the various great daos. The divine art of the Primordial Finger is your divine art, and it is also the Miluo Palace Master's divine art.
" Venerable Ling said, "Which heaven of the Dao Realm do you take the Primordial Finger to be? " Shen Mu was at a loss, unable to keep pace with her thinking. "This divine art does not belong to any heaven.
" Venerable Ling said, "The Miluo Palace Master has already passed beyond the level of 'which heaven of the Dao Realm.
' He has seen through the essence of the Dao; the Dao Realm can no longer confine him.
If you cultivate along the Dao Realm, you remain inside the framework, bound by your own hand.
Only when you leap out of it can you understand why the Primordial Finger, though it is not of the Dao Realm, can yet be so powerful. " Shen Mu blinked, his eyes a blank haze. Venerable Ling looked at him, her brows knitting deeply, and said with forbearance, "The Dao-nature follows no wave; the Dao-nature dreads no winter. In this teeming realm, turn back and behold your own heart. Do you understand now?
" "I .
. . " The corner of Shen Mu's eye twitched.
He hesitated.
"I still do not seem to quite understand .