Chapter 1639 — The Dao Ancestor and the Ancient Buddha
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
The Dao Ancestor said, "There we were cut off from the world — truly cut off. There one cannot see Youdu, nor Xuandu, nor the Ancestral Court. Even the Crimson Bright Suspended World lies only at the outer edge of that space, and yet it can keep the Heavenly Court from finding it."
Shen Mu's eyes slowly kindled.
"If Jingping and the Land of No Sorrow could be moved there, we would escape the Heavenly Court; Youdu would not come, Xuandu would not descend, and our race would not be wiped out."
The Dao Ancestor said, "The Old Buddha and I charted the route there and hurried back, never thinking that war in Youdu had already broken out. Fortunately, Tianzun had not yet set out for the Heavenly Court."
"Hope — this is hope!"
Shen Mu paced to and fro. This was the human race's last retreat; the news the Dao Ancestor and the Old Buddha brought revived him, and his thoughts stirred to life again.
He pondered long, then stopped. "To move all of Jingping there — in the long run, that would be but another Land of No Sorrow, another Crimson Bright Suspended World. Losing the soil for the Reform, we would only sink into ourselves. That will not do."
In the Wendao Court, all eyes fell upon him, waiting quietly for his decision.
"But this is the only hope that remains!"
Shen Mu roused his spirits and smiled. "With a way of retreat, we can resist; we can fight our way to a better future! This retreat — keep it! Jingping cannot withdraw into the Chaotic Space now; it must stay in the Yuan World. But a part of Jingping's people can move there, as seed for the human race of later ages!"
The vertical eye at the center of his brow opened, and he looked into Youdu.
Youdu's division was deeper now than when they had left. Where his body stood, there was Youdu — and now Tubo was dead, and with the collapse of his flesh, Youdu too had split into countless pieces.
Yet the splitting was slowly ceasing, for Xu Tianzun was in Youdu, seizing and refining the Dao of Youdu, trying to halt the collapse.
Were Youdu to disintegrate entirely and cease to exist, that too would be a great loss to the Heavenly Court.
With her cultivation and strength, Xu Tianzun could not command all of Youdu.
Just then Shen Mu saw the Heavenly Court's great army march into Youdu beneath the banner of Yin Tianzi.
Yin Tianzi commanded the Dark Capital; the Dark Capital was Tubo's horn, and he too was a figure well versed in the great Dao of Youdu.
Since Xu Tianzun could not wholly command Youdu, Yin Tianzi had come to claim a share of it.
At the same time, the demon armies under Xu Tianzun's command were pouring without cease into Youdu, seizing the dark continents that Tubo's corpse had become.
Shen Mu pondered a moment; his vital essence burst forth, and his hands spread outward, and at once the geography of the myriad heavens and worlds emerged.
In the Wendao Court, the myriad heavens and worlds, wrought of vital essence, floated around them all, building a model of the great universe.
Shen Mu's thought stirred faintly: Xuandu hung above the model of the great universe, and the shattered continents of Youdu overlapped the myriad heavens and worlds.
He adjusted it a while, then asked, "Yue, are the positions of the myriad heavens and worlds correct?"
Yue Tianzun stepped forward, examined it, and adjusted the positions of several heavens.
Shen Mu thanked her, then paced around the model of the great universe, studying and analyzing. After a long silence he suddenly pointed at Jingping's place in the geography of the Yuan World and said softly, "My brother Shen Fengqing occupies the Yuan World and has become a little Youdu; with the power of the Book of Life and Death besides, he can keep the living things of Jingping from being suppressed by Xu Tianzun's Youdu."