Chapter 1669 — Two Figures Alike
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"I should not be called Shen Mu.
I should be called Shen Ken — Shen Fen! " Shen Mu clenched his fists.
The Chaos Hall stood before his eyes; he need only step across its threshold, enter it, and mount the Imperial Throne within, and he would be an existence of the Imperial Throne realm! These days, from the battle of the seventy-two Dao-Achievers in the Jade Capital City to the answering of questions upon the stone steps, had consumed far too much of his vigor and his time.
Yet in the end it was the wisdom of all the world's people that had brought him here.
Once he mounted the Imperial Throne of the Chaos Hall, every one of his primordial-spirit clones in the heavenly palaces of his Great Heavenly Court would enter the Imperial Throne realm as well!
By then he would be but a single step from the great perfection of the Heavenly Court realm. Having absorbed the Imperial Throne arts of Lady Yuanmu, Lord Haotian, and others, he now possessed as many as thirty-three heavenly palaces — only three palaces short of the thirty-six, only three kinds of Imperial Throne art short.
Once those three arts were complete, he would be able to do as Emperor Haotian had done and achieve the Dao through sheer force!
And even without completing them, so long as he reached the Imperial Throne realm he would be stronger than Emperor Haotian by no one knew how much; pinning Emperor Haotian to the ground and beating him would be no difficult matter! Even as he was now, Shen Mu did not think himself inferior to a Dao-Achiever; even if he could not pin Emperor Haotian to the ground and beat him, he would not be the one to fall.
Of course, he had never yet crossed blows with Emperor Haotian, and did not know which of them was the stronger. This time he had gnawed at the people of the world and gained enormously; he had every right to contend with Emperor Haotian for mastery!
Yet when his gaze fell upon the Chaos Hall, he could not help sinking into a daze.
That great hall before him was chaos above, chaos below, chaos on every side — and it had no door!
Shen Mu walked up to it and circled the hall several times, and still he could find no entrance.
This Chaos Hall was a Chaos Hall in very truth: no door, no window, nothing but the outward shape of a hall, as though it were composed of pure chaos.
There was no entering it, and no seeing what lay inside.
Even when he opened the vertical eye at the center of his brow, he could not see what was within. His primordial spirit stretched out both hands and thrust them into the chaos of the hall, striving to part it and seek out what lay inside; but the chaos qi was immeasurably thick and heavy, and even when he spent all his strength, he could not part the chaos of that hall!
He tried again and again, and still he could not enter.
"Is anyone there? " He tried knocking and laughed. "You inside — I heard your Dao-question.
You asked me so many questions; why not open the door and talk face to face?
" No one answered him from within the Chaos Hall.
After a long while, Shen Mu sat upon the stone steps in silent stupor, his brows locked tight.
Now and then he turned his head to glance back at the Chaos Hall, and his brows knit tighter still.
The Chaos Hall stood at the highest point of his Heavenly Court; even seated before the hall, he could take in the whole majestic, boundless holy realm of the Heavenly Court at a single view. Thirty-three heavenly palaces, endless palaces and pavilions, buildings and mountains and waters, billowing and vast; the light of the Dao turned to rosy clouds, the qi of the Dao turned to clouds, drifting through palace after palace.
Even the Lingxiao Halls of those heavenly palaces seemed far lower and smaller than this Chaos Hall. Above his head was Xuandu; the Heavenly Lord of Xuandu revealed his face, blotting out myriads upon myriads of stars, and he too was studying this Chaos Hall, his brows drawn tight.