Chapter 1696 — The Eighth Ancient Tree
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
"The World Tree and Guixu — their places in the cosmos never change, not through all eternity."
The old man said, "Once the positions of the World Tree and Guixu are fixed, we have a point of reference, and the distribution map of the Dao trees of the sixteenth epoch can be matched one to one against the ultimate void of the seventeenth epoch. With that in hand, finding where Taiyi lies should not be difficult."
Shen Mu nodded, his heart light and easy, and laughed. "Once we find Taiyi, he should have a way to wake the Paralytic. And once I deal with this forest of obelisks, I can set the Paralytic free."
He made it sound simple enough, but both the old man and the old woman knew the difficulty in it.
Taiyi was not imprisoned here; he must be imprisoned somewhere else. Here, Taiyi had broken through the seals — but there, no one had. So Shen Mu would have to break them himself.
"There may be peril on this journey. Take Little Shang with you."
The old man said, "Though Shang Jun attained the Dao through killing, he is no wanton slaughterer. With him beside you, young master, the road will be far less dangerous. And he knows the distribution of the Dao trees well; he can help you find Taiyi the sooner."
Shen Mu nodded. Taking Shang Jun away from this place should not be too hard.
"Then..."
He looked around the circle and smiled. "Gentlemen, will you tell me now whose Dao tree the eighth one is?"
Counting the pig and the Paralytic, there were only seven people in the village — yet there were eight Dao trees. Clearly, besides these seven, there was an eighth.
The woman laughed. "The young master jests again. There is only us here. Where would an eighth person be?"
Shen Mu was startled and looked at the others. The girl with the horn braids said, "There truly is no eighth person here."
The pig head on the platter said, "We would not deceive the young master. There truly is no eighth person such as you describe. And not only is there no eighth person — there is no eighth Dao tree either."
The old woman's heart stirred, and she said quickly, "Young master, you have been speaking all along of eight Dao trees. Surely you were not merely testing us?"
Shen Mu laughed despite himself. "I told you long ago — I am kind, charitable, a good man brimming with compassion. Would I test you? ... Wait. You do not know that there are eight trees in your village?"
The old woman's face turned grave, and she nodded.
The others nodded as well, one after another. The air grew heavy.
The old man said, "All this time we thought the young master was testing us, and that was why he spoke of eight trees. But in our eyes there are only seven trees here, and only we seven are imprisoned here."
A faint sense of foreboding rose in Shen Mu's heart. He asked in a low voice, "You cannot see the eighth tree?"
They all shook their heads.
The air grew heavier still.
Shen Mu could see that Dao tree because the vertical eye in the center of his brow was truly powerful — it could see through even chaos itself. But they had no such holy pupil.
Suddenly the girl laughed. "Young master, you are joking, aren't you? Don't frighten Yaya..."
The pig head on the platter gave a sudden shudder; its two ears pressed down over its eyes, yet left a crack open, and it stole glances all around.
Shen Mu's thoughts stirred, and he withdrew his sword Dao. The pig god at once felt the sword wound that had blocked the restoration of its flesh vanish, and hastily pieced its body back together.
Shen Mu smiled. "Most likely my divination arts were taught by the Celestial Master of Martial Combat, Zhuo Cha, and I have reckoned wrongly. I can take one person out of here. To take all of you out, I would have to break the obelisk forest, and I do not yet have the strength for that. I can only trouble you all to remain here a while longer, until I have strength enough, and then I will return to break the obelisk forest and rescue you."