Chapter 1647 — The Lotus of the Dao Blooms on the Golden Boat
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
After who knew how long, Shen Fengqing was growing tired; he opened his three eyes in bewilderment and murmured, "Which hall can it be in? We clearly saw him. .
. " He opened yet another great hall, and a faint, long-drawn sigh drifted out from within.
Shen Mu's spirits surged, and he hurried inside — only to see Shen Fengqing come out with a face full of disappointment, shaking his head: "It's not him. .
. " Puzzled, Shen Mu looked into the hall and saw a figure walking straight toward him. The two met head-on, and the man passed right through Shen Mu's body.
Shen Mu started slightly and looked after that figure. It was an imprint left by the Master of Miluo Palace, his face written over with desolation, and he walked out of the palace just like that.
Shen Mu turned back and abruptly saw, inside this great hall, countless living beings — cities and citadels, every kind of building. They were multiplying and thriving there in harmony and joy.
Then, in a single instant, every one of them turned into white bones; and in the twinkling of an eye, all the cities, citadels, and buildings of every kind turned into vapors of chaos. Those white bones likewise collapsed and crumbled, becoming wisp after wisp of chaotic vapor.
Shen Mu stood in a daze.
Just now this hall had held an entire world; now it held nothing at all. He turned around and saw the imprint of the Master of Miluo Palace standing outside the hall, head raised, staring blankly into the distance.
Shen Mu walked over to stand beside him and looked up as well, but could not see what he was looking at.
Shen Mu turned his head and saw two streaks of tears glimmer at the corners of the Master of Miluo Palace's eyes — his tears, too, had been imprinted upon this stretch of space, becoming eternal.
Shen Mu stood dazed for a moment, then did not stay, but followed Shen Fengqing and Taishi as they continued their search.
The World-Ferrying Golden Boat sailed toward the Southern Heaven in accordance with his will; passing through the void, the golden boat would need a month or two to reach the Southern Heaven.
Shen Fengqing and Taishi were still searching the boat, and since scarcely any two of its great halls were alike, finding the palace where they had encountered Kaihuang was truly too difficult. They met the imprint of the Master of Miluo Palace once again — that most powerful being in all recorded history had left many imprints upon this boat.
Whenever his heart had surged or darkened, his figure was branded upon the boat.
As Shen Mu and the others explored more and more palaces, gradually they encountered more and more Masters of Miluo Palace. These imprints were variously desolate, melancholy, high-spirited, or downcast.
The more places they explored, the more Shen Mu came to realize that the places where the Master of Miluo Palace appeared were essentially the places where the living beings of the First Universe had died. "In other words, when the Tribulation of the First Universe's Destruction erupted, some of the palaces actually had no people in them.
The palaces that did have people — their number was finite. " He abruptly stopped in his tracks, feeling that he had vaguely grasped hold of something.
Shen Fengqing was still searching up ahead.
Shen Mu tilted his head in thought: "The palaces with people and the palaces without people perhaps appear according to some pattern. If there is a pattern, then the number of palaces the World-Ferrying Golden Boat can manifest is fixed — because the number of living beings in the First Universe is also fixed.
" His mind turned faster and faster: "If the number of palaces is fixed, then that means we can search through every one of the golden halls!
" He suddenly drove his divine sense outward, visualizing the paths he had walked and the palaces he had explored, spreading them all out to seek the mathematical pattern among them. Shen Fengqing stopped and looked back.