Chapter 1828 — Everything Arranged Flawlessly
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shen Mu stepped forward to help Dong Yang and the others heal their Dao wounds. The old man Dong Yang hesitated a moment, then said, "Ling asked me to come and look after the Lord of Tian Du..."
Tai Yi cut him off. "You no longer dare to enter the world."
The old man Dong Yang fell silent. After a moment, he said in a strained voice, "I truly no longer dare. In my day, I was one of the most gifted beings across the past seven cosmic epochs, and one of the most powerful. And now, I..."
He shook his head and said in a strained voice, "I no longer dare to enter the world."
The old woman, the matron, the girl and Zhu Santong and the others hesitated. What they had dreamed of day and night was to be freed from suppression and return to the world. Yet hearing the old man Dong Yang's words, they too wavered.
The Dao arts and divine abilities of today were vastly different from those of their time. The development of the Dao arts had advanced beyond what these old monsters could comprehend. In their day, they had been rare geniuses of their respective eras, but now they were likely long outdated.
"We can still throw our weight around in the obelisk forest, brag a little, talk about our deeds of old. But to enter the world..."
Zhu Santong scratched the bristles on the back of his head and shook it. "Heh heh! Who would even recognize us? Most likely, before we could finish bragging, we would be cut down."
Shen Mu's gaze flickered. Suddenly he said, "Dao brother Dong Yang, all of you, if you trust me, I can give you a chance."
Everyone looked over. In their eyes were anticipation, but also hesitation and fear, the dread of what was to come.
Suppressed here, they looked fierce and malevolent, but having witnessed the destruction and creation of one cosmic epoch after another, they had long since lost all grand ambition. They had become a pitiful lot.
Shen Mu cleared his throat and said, "Lord Shang was once suppressed here as well. Later, he came with me. You know what little Shang is like, honest and simple, plain to the core. But when he wanted to enter the Seventeenth Epoch Cosmos, he still had to follow my rules. He had committed many evils in the past, but I gave him the chance to turn over a new leaf and start again. I, Jing Ping, possess the Six Paths Heavenly Wheel, which can send men through reincarnation. So I sent little Shang to be reborn..."
Tai Yi raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.
Shen Mu cleared his throat again and said cautiously, "Before Lord Shang reincarnated, he dissolved his own great Dao. The Great Luo Heaven, the Dao tree, Dao flower and Dao fruit, the Dao of Slaughter, all of it dissolved, returned to heaven and earth, to nourish the Seventeenth Epoch Cosmos. Little Shang reincarnated as a blank sheet of paper, starting over from the beginning."
Tai Yi glanced at him again. Shen Mu cleared his throat once more and said, "Now my Seventeenth Epoch Cosmos is in the midst of the Jing Ping Reform, in full swing, talents emerging in throngs. Little Shang is already a youth of about twenty, and among my Jing Ping he stands out from the rest."
Tai Yi was about to glance at him again. Shen Mu glared ferociously at him, then turned back with a kindly countenance and said to the crowd with a smile, "If little Shang could do it, so can all of you. His heart of Dao remained unchanged. He had faith that in reincarnation he could start over, that he would still be a talent of the first order under heaven, that he could still keep pace with the Jing Ping Reform, and even become its future leader! If any of you think you can compare with him, then by all means, like him, reincarnate into my Jing Ping. But if any of you think you are not his equal, then never mind. You may remain here."
The old man Dong Yang hesitated. Though he found Shen Mu's words not entirely trustworthy, they were indeed tempting.