Chapter 1518 — That One Crossed the River and Was Gone
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
Sovereign Hao, for instance, chose to rely on Tai Su; the Empress and her sister chose to devour each other; Divine Emperor Langxuan attempted to break through by refining the Dao fruits of others. As for the Ancestral God King, he simply murdered his own father, the Heavenly Lord, in an attempt to force his own breakthrough. Shen Mu did not have such a vast span of time to grope and ponder step by step — in the later stages of cultivation, progress would surely slow.
But now, he needed only to take the World Tree as his foundation, unifying the various Great Daos and arts, and it would no longer be so difficult.
More important still were the five Primordial Daos! He stood there in quiet contemplation, and before long, his twentieth heavenly palace gradually took form.
This was the Tai Shi Heavenly Palace.
The Dao of Tai Shi he understood most thoroughly through the World Tree.
Originally, the Tai Shi within the egg had resided in his God Treasury mineral veins, constantly refining divine stones and raw stones, comprehending the Dao of Tai Shi.
The Tai Shi within the egg did not conceal from him the Dao of Tai Shi it had comprehended — whatever Tai Shi comprehended, Shen Mu gained.
Though he was not as uniquely favored as that ancient god, Shen Mu's harvest was still immense.
And this time, the World Tree had directly devoured the mineral veins and the Tai Shi divine stones and raw stones, making the Dao of Tai Shi the most thoroughly understood.
Gradually the sky grew late. As Shen Mu contemplated and shaped the Tai Shi Heavenly Palace, he also rose into the air, arriving at the crown of the newly grown World Tree.
Beyond the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains, terrifying tremors still emanated — an apocalyptic scene. Yet at the crown of this new World Tree, all was serene.
The sky suddenly began to brighten gradually, illuminating layer upon layer of the void, and dimly he saw a Dao Tree standing in the ultimate void.
That Dao Tree was hazy and indistinct, its branches and leaves vaguely resembling those of the World Tree. However, whether it was the World Tree in Shen Mu's God Treasury or the new World Tree in the Hundred Thousand Holy Mountains, both were still in their infancy — while the Dao Tree in the ultimate void was lush and verdant, its canopy shrouding an immense expanse!
That must be the Dao Tree of Tai Yi. On Tai Yi's Dao Tree there was only a single Dao fruit, no Dao flower, yet its branches were thick and its leaves abundant.
Suddenly, a drop of Dao dew, radiating Dao light, dripped from one of the leaves. The iron bucket Tai Yi had given Shen Mu had also been dissolved away, so he took out the iron bucket he had refined himself and strolled leisurely among the leaves, catching the Dao dew dripping down from the ultimate void.
The ultimate void was silent and enchanting, appearing before him just like that, as though within reach.
Tai Yi's Dao Tree was there too, seemingly close enough to touch with a raised hand. Yet Shen Mu knew that place was immeasurably distant — not somewhere he could reach.
He was still a seeker on the path of the Dao realm, and had not yet touched that state.
This night was busy and fulfilling.
By the time of sunrise, the last drop of Dao dew fell, and the ultimate void and Tai Yi's Dao Tree vanished from sight. The iron bucket in Shen Mu's hand had caught a full bucket of Dao dew. And his Tai Shi Heavenly Palace had been refined to completion at precisely this moment.
Shen Mu descended from the World Tree and, carrying the iron bucket, headed into the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains to search for the black mountains that had been shattered by the tremors the night before.
When people in the mountains saw him, they could not help but exclaim in astonishment: "Tai Yi has come out in the form of Emperor Shi Jingping's Imperial Preceptor!