Chapter 1830 — The World-Opening Great Bell
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
" Zhu Santong's heart went cold. He was already one of the rare masters among the younger generation in all the world: he had mastered the four great Heaven Gates of the Ancestral Court Dao-realm system, the Jade Pool and the Jade Terrace, the God-Slaying Terrace, the Heaven Sea, the Nine Hells Terrace, and every realm besides, and of the five great lodes of the Five Tai realms he had cultivated as far as the Taichu realm; his Dao realm grew ever deeper and loftier, otherwise he would not have stirred the Dao realm of the path of reincarnation the moment he met Shang Jun and awakened a portion of his former life's memories. His cultivation and strength could now stand comparison with the Heavenly Venerables of old, and even at such a level, to enter the Ancestral Court was a road to certain death. How terrible, then, must the fighting in the Ancestral Court be? Shang Jun walked on, and his voice came back from the distance: "On this return of mine, Lord Tu will lead a body of those who stand near to attaining the Dao to the Ancestral Court, to fill the gaps.
Cultivate in peace, and if you can, come and hear me lecture. " "Lord Tu will lead a group of Heavenly Venerables to the Ancestral Court?
" Zhu Santong's eyes rolled this way and that. Dong Yang said, muffled and low, "Santong, do not make mischief. " Zhu Santong answered meekly, but gave it no mind, thinking to himself, "Among the five of us, I awakened first and I am the strongest; none of the others have awakened their former memories yet.
Since I have the arts of a past life, why not go along with Lord Tu and take a look?
" His spirits high, he left Dong Yang and the rest behind, roused his divine powers, opened the Gate of Inheriting Heaven, and entered Youdu.
Youdu. The vast Six Paths of Reincarnation turned of themselves; the Tianyin Realm and Youdu were joined, and countless souls came and went between the Six Paths of Reincarnation and the Tianyin Realm; beneath the Six Paths the karmic fire seethed, and numberless souls struggled within it. Within the Six Paths of Reincarnation, in Lord Tu's mansion, Zhu Santong slipped quietly in and peered about him, craning his neck this way and that.
He saw Heavenly Venerable You, Shen Fengqing, Lady Tianyin, Di Yiyue, Li Zheng, the Blind Elder, Granny Zhu, and the rest seated each in their own place, and the Lord of Heaven, transformed into an elder with white brows, seated among them; they were in council.
"Youdu has Heavenly Venerable You to preside over it, and can be kept safe.
But Xuandu, if the Lord of Heaven departs, who can bear the operation of the heavenly dao? " Shen Fengqing asked, "And the Tianyin Realm, if the Lady goes to the Ancestral Court, who will refine the starveling ghosts? Who will use the black sand of souls to create new souls and oversee the running of the great dao of the Tianyin Realm?
" The Lord of Heaven laid out the fifty supreme treasures of the heavenly dao and said, "Half of the operation of the heavenly dao rests upon these supreme treasures. Di Yiyue is of my line; she can hold the operation of the heavenly dao on my behalf. " Di Yiyue frowned. "I mean to go to the Ancestral Court and temper myself as well.
For one thing, my cultivation has reached its limit, and to advance another step by merely receiving the fruits of Jingping's reforms has grown difficult. For another, I wish to see Kaihuang Shen Ye.
He was a fellow Daoist of old, and besides. .
. " She glanced at the Lord of Heaven and said no more.
Back then the Lord of Heaven and her father had made the decision between them and given her to Kaihuang Shen Ye as a child bride; her relations with Kaihuang Shen Ye were exceedingly delicate, at once teacher and friend. In her early years she had loved Kaihuang Shen Ye unrequited, but he had someone in his heart and refused her; only afterwards was the door of her heart forced by the Yin Sovereign, Yin Chaojin. Yet that first love still lay hidden at the bottom of her heart.