Chapter 1867 — Have You Been Well Since We Parted?
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 6
He sank into silence, pondering bitterly, seeking a counter, yet exhausting all his wisdom he still could find no way through.
Every Dao was wrong, and before the final Great Silent Extinction, all striving was in vain. He thought of his persistence through these sixteen cosmic epochs, and all thought turned to ash.
He felt his Dao heart beginning to dissolve and collapse, and the ideals he upheld beginning to shatter.
There was no road left.
The Master of Miluo Palace summoned all the young masters and hall masters and attainers of Miluo Palace, and Shen Mu was present too, holding little Shen Lingyun's hand, silent and wordless.
The Master told them that the future Seventeenth Epoch must perish, and bade them return to the universes that had birthed them, with no need to go to the future again. Up and down Miluo Palace they stared at one another, not knowing why their teacher would speak such words.
The Master sat withered in grief, answering none of their questions with a word, and all Miluo Palace quarreled in an uproar, until at last the Master rose and departed.
He walked across one River of Chaos after another, with Taishang following behind him, watching him return his whole body's attainment to one universe after another.
By the time he reached Miluo Palace at the time of the First Epoch, the flesh upon his body was gradually scattering away.
He climbed the steps, his flesh vanishing and dispersing bit by bit, and when he mounted the final step he had become a withered skeleton.
Taishang heard his teacher utter a long sigh, and amid that sigh he sat down, his Dao Tree emerging behind him, sixteen Dao Fruits giving off a faint light. Taishang prostrated himself and wept loudly.
After a long while, Taishang walked out of Miluo Palace, returned to the Sixteenth Epoch, and ordered all the young masters and hall masters and attainers to return to the universes that had birthed them.
The seven supreme Dao halls symbolizing the achievements of Yujing City were set around Miluo Palace of the First Epoch. The seven young masters each sank into thought.
"Return each to your own age.
" Taishang sighed in desolation.
Young Master Zixiao rose, swept his sleeve, and departed.
"Teacher may abandon hope, but I never will.
" Young Master Lingxiao's gaze flickered as he stood.
"Teacher abandons his ideals, but his disciple may inherit them, and if the disciple abandons them too, then there will never be hope.
Without teacher, I too can cross the Calamity of Destruction and the Calamity of Creation. " He too rose and left.
Young Master Wuzong and Young Master Zhanji each sighed, said little, and each departed. Young Master Wuji gave a light laugh and vanished in a flash.
Only Shen Mu and Taishang remained in Miluo Palace, and Taishang seemed about to pass into extinction himself, lifting his eyelids to glance at Shen Mu, saying weakly, "Chaos, why do you not leave?
" "I was born in the Seventeenth Epoch, and cannot yet return to the Seventeenth. " Shen Mu smiled and said leisurely, "Teacher has seen through the future, and therefore his Dao heart has died, but what he does not know is that when he returned to the Sixteenth Epoch's Calamity of Destruction, after that, matters took on a subtle change.
" Taishang lifted his eyelids again and glanced at him. Shen Mu rose and said, "We can return to the Sixteenth Epoch's Calamity of Destruction, and you will find changes different from before teacher entered the calamity.
" Taishang rose half in doubt and crossed fifteen rivers with him, arriving within the sixteenth river.
"Tai Yi!
" Taishang suddenly soared up, charging across the Calamity of Destruction to intercept the fleeing Tai Yi. "Chaos, will you not lend a hand to save me?
" Tai Yi cried aloud.