Chapter 1772 — The Master Freed
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
In that wondrous exchange, the master of the Miluo Palace had come to understand Shen Mu's condition, and therefore told him he must return to the past and pass through one Annihilation Calamity after another before his cultivation could be made perfect. Now, beholding these sixteen rivers of Chaos, Shen Mu knew the master's words had not been idle.
"If I would attain the Dao, I must endure these sixteen rivers of Chaos.
The master must even then have seen the Chaos Palace enthroned upon sixteen rivers of Chaos, and that was why he spoke as he did.
" His primordial spirit stood before the first river, yet never lifted its foot to tread its surface.
For he had divined a truth, that should he set foot upon a river of Chaos, he would sink into it and fall into a primeval universe! He absolutely could not allow himself to enter a primeval universe now, for he must remain in Jingping!
This first river was the Annihilation Calamity of the First Universe, and to tread within it would be to fall into the First Universe, and when would he ever return? "To hell with it!
" Shen Mu surged with Hongmeng vital energy and drove the Taiyi divine axe with all his heart, thinking, "Settle what lies before my eyes first. What comes after can be faced after.
" He threw open the portal of the Chaos Palace, his cultivation soaring, his grasp of the Dao of Chaos deepening. Within Chaos there is no Great Dao, and what he would open up was a new Dao, a Dao that leapt free of both the Miluo Palace and Tiandu, which was why the master of the Miluo Palace had said he could not quite see through it.
Though Shen Mu was not yet perfected, and could give no clear account of the Chaos Palace and the Great Dao of Chaos, the rise in his cultivation and strength was real beyond doubt!
Like a giant sundering heaven and earth, he drove the great axe forward, rending asunder more than half of that wicker portal as if withering rot giving way! Yet the further he went, the heavier the pressure grew, for the six thousand four hundred Daos of the thatched hut resisted him almost as one!
Shen Mu suddenly raised his foot and stamped down hard, and beneath his feet emerged the phantom of the altar raised by the host of Tiandu when they opened the heavens!
With his own Hongmeng vital energy he evolved the Heaven-Opening Altar, his whole body steaming with purple vapor mingled with Chaos qi, his power climbing anew!
Hiss-- The two door panels flew up and spun away to either side!
Shen Mu dispersed the Taiyi divine axe, braced his hands upon his knees, and panted hard, shock and joy warring in his heart, thinking, "It is done.
.
. " He had scarcely formed the thought when every thatch upon the hut also leapt skyward and snapped in two in midair!
Shen Mu stared wide-eyed, at a loss.
Once severed, the thatch of the hut dissolved into wisps of Hongmeng purple vapor and vanished like smoke. Crack!
The roofless hut abruptly split apart on all sides, turning likewise into streaks of Hongmeng purple vapor that scattered and were gone! "Senior Brother Taishang, this is none of my doing!
" Shen Mu cried hastily in a loud voice, "Senior brother, I was only opening a door.
Your Taishang Palace was certainly not wrecked by me!
" The hut evaporated.
And behind where the hut had stood, the Dao-tree of the Eldest Young Master Taishang snapped with a sudden crack, then broke into drifting motes of light that swiftly dispersed!
Shen Mu stared, stammering, "Impossible, impossible.
.
.
My strength could never have cleft your Dao-tree, nor could it have cleft your Taishang Palace.
You are trying to frighten me!
You mean to extort me.
.
.
" The Dao-tree of the Eldest Young Master Taishang vanished utterly, leaving no trace.
The hut too was gone, leaving only a lone Dao-Burying divine coffin standing solitary in the ultimate void.