Chapter 1682 — Sounding the Depths (Happy Holidays!)
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"The Eldest Young Master of Miluo Palace — the lineage of his Dao arts and divine powers, too, comes from the Primordial Rune!
" Shen Mu tried to rouse the runes within the plank door. That door had surely been forged from the Dao Tree of some Dao-attainer; only, that one had been too mighty, and his Dao Tree had grown indestructible.
Yet as Shen Mu studied the runes upon it, he soon glimpsed the truth. The Eldest Young Master of Miluo Palace must be a direct disciple of the Master of Miluo Palace; his divine powers and Dao arts walked the Master's own road, and his Primordial Runes were of the purest kind.
The rune-brands upon this plank door made that plain.
For every rune-brand upon it came down, in the end, to a single rune: the Primordial Rune!
The Primordial Rune was one and unique; differing arrangements and sequences gave it differing uses. The base runes of the Miluo Palace's Second, Third, and Fourth Young Masters, however, were built of other runes besides the Primordial Rune, which proved that they were not disciples of the Master of Miluo Palace, but followers.
Of them all, the Second Young Master was the clearest case.
The Guixu Goddess walked a road utterly opposed to the Master of Miluo Palace: she cultivated no Dao Tree, no Dao Flower, no Dao Fruit, and she did not much approve of what the Master of Miluo Palace had done.
"The Eldest Young Master most likely received the mantle of the Master of Miluo Palace; his inheritance is the purest. But to fathom his arts from this plank door alone — that is still beyond reach.
" Shen Mu sank into thought. The Second Young Master of Miluo Palace had been suppressed; the Third and Fourth Young Masters held power in the Jade Capital City of the Ancestral Court, and the Dao-attainers of Miluo Palace followed at their heels.
Where, then, was the Eldest Young Master?
By rights, the Eldest Young Master should have been the heir of Miluo Palace.
How, then, had the Third and Fourth Young Masters seized its authority? To study this plank door was of great benefit to him.
He was cultivating Primordial Qi now, and his own cultivation in Qi had not yet recovered; the door held many of the Eldest Young Master's insights, and these would help him comprehend more.
Shen Mu cultivated in peace, and his two frail little legs slowly grew — though at a crawling pace. Then one day, of a sudden, the earth shook and the mountains swayed, and the skies of the Yuan Realm were thrown into upheaval; star upon star shattered.
The stars of the Yuan Realm were transformations wrought by the Heavenly Duke with his supreme treasures of the Heavenly Dao; that they shattered meant, plainly, that the Ancestral God King had struck! For two years past, the Ancestral God King had come to harry the Yuan Realm from time to time, but each time the Heavenly Duke had fended him off with the supreme treasures of the Heavenly Dao; and with the Moon Heavenly Venerable present, the Ancestral God King could win no advantage.
So he would strike once and withdraw, doing little damage. This time, however, his assault was ferocious beyond measure; he battered the fifty supreme treasures of the Heavenly Dao until they quaked without cease, and before long the sky was rent apart, and a vast face filled the whole of the heavens!
Shen Mu rose to his feet and gazed up, his expression grave.
The Ancestral God King had torn open the canopy of the Yuan Realm; below, the Heavenly Duke rose slowly — white brows, white beard, white robe — his body growing ever larger, making ready to do battle with the Ancestral God King beyond the heavens.
On the other side, the Moon Heavenly Venerable at once soared aloft and flew beyond the heavens, meaning to join hands with the Heavenly Duke against the Ancestral God King.