Chapter 1826 — Your Excellency Is Unwell and Must Be Treated
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Tai Yi looked around at the thirty-five of the Heaven-Opening Host, and after a moment said, "Fellow Daoists, have you all been well since we parted?"
"We have been well!"
The thirty-five of the Heaven-Opening Host were greatly delighted, and said with one voice, "Please, Lord of Heaven Capital, come with us to the Abandoned Land and return to your true body!"
Tai Yi's gaze fell upon Shen Mu in the distance, then drew back. He said in a low voice, "Very well. I shall return to my true body!"
Shen Mu frowned.
The thirty-five of the Heaven-Opening Host abruptly stirred the formation of the Heaven-Opening Altar, tearing open the sky, and together with Tai Yi they shifted out of the cage of the Ancestral Court and vanished.
Shen Mu's expression darkened. He marshaled his mana and drew back the Ruins of Return, which the thirty-five of the Heaven-Opening Host had shaken so that it flew off beyond the heavens; then, wielding the power of the Ruins of Return, he laid down layer upon layer of seals once more.
Kaihuang, Shen Ye, Lord Shang and the others hurried over, and before they could ask, Shen Mu said in a low voice, "Tai Yi and the Heaven-Opening Host have gone to the Filth-Field of the Void, to seek the true body of the Lord of Heaven Capital."
Taishi asked, "If he becomes the Lord of Heaven Capital, can he still keep the form of Tai Yi?"
Shen Mu shook his head.
He did not know the answer to that question. Heavenly Venerable Ling must have tampered with Tai Yi, so that he was no longer the Lord of Heaven Capital; and the master of Miluo Palace had sent him back to the Fourth Epoch, to examine for himself the deeds of the Lord of Heaven Capital and the Heaven-Opening Host.
The Tai Yi of today had a mind wholly different from that of the Lord of Heaven Capital.
But whether Tai Yi, once fused with the Lord of Heaven Capital, could still keep the mind of Tai Yi — that was hard to say.
"Why would Tai Yi go with them?"
Lord Shang was perplexed. Both Tai Yi and the paralytic in the Obelisk Forest he held in deep respect, but he felt they were two different people. There was no need for Tai Yi to become another person.
"The Heaven-Opening Host are far too dangerous. If it came to blows, Tai Yi was not certain he could defeat them, nor certain he could keep them within the Ancestral Court."
Shen Mu glanced about and said, "I must make a trip to the Filth-Field of the Void. You stay and guard this place. While Tai Yi and I are gone, you must beware of attacks from Jade Capital City and the World Tree. I leave the Golden Ship of Salvation behind; if you cannot hold out, board the ship and take refuge."
The others nodded.
Shen Mu drew a long breath, and with a flicker of his form he vanished from the trap of the Ancestral Court.
The Filth-Field of the Void.
The Heaven-Opening Host and Tai Yi walked within it. This filthy place was full of mysteries; countless things that even the Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation could not destroy had been cast away here.
Here too were the ruins of Heaven Capital City, the place where the Dao-achievers of Heaven Capital had opened the heavens in years past; here was the Obelisk Forest where the First Young Master of Miluo Palace, Taishang, had suppressed demons and heretics; and here were all manner of other strange and uncanny things.
Tai Yi and the Heaven-Opening Host revisited the relics of Heaven Capital City. They climbed the Heaven-Opening Altar, and the Heaven-Opening Host sighed and were overcome with emotion. The Smiling Man said, "All these years we have been searching for our leader. Ling said she had sent the leader's primordial spirit into the future, but Ling is a person of great uncertainty — she joined Heaven Capital City halfway, after all, and her heart of the Dao is not as pure as ours."
Tai Yi stood with both feet upon the two footprints at the center of the altar — footprints he himself had left. Standing here again filled him with emotion.