Chapter 1695 — The Mystery of This Man's Origins

"The distribution map of the Dao trees?

" Shen Mu's spirits surged. The place marked on Taiyi's map of the lands had long baffled him; nowhere in the seventeenth cosmic epoch had he found any such place, and earlier he had even supposed it might be the arrangement of the obelisk forest, and so had meant to go back and search it over again. He had never imagined that this young man called Shang Jun would actually recognize this map.

"The distribution map of the Dao trees of the ultimate void of the sixteenth epoch?

" Shen Mu was at once somewhat taken aback, and doubt filled his heart: "I have not gone back to a past cosmos, so why would Taiyi give me the distribution map of the Dao trees of the sixteenth epoch?

How is that supposed to help me save him? " Shang Jun said, "In the sixteenth epoch I once wished to kill a few more of those who had attained the Dao, and so I made a special study of the Daluo Heaven distributions of these Dao lords; that is why, when you brought out this map, I recognized it.

" Shen Mu could not help sizing him up a few more times, and on a sudden something stirred in his heart. He said, "In the Jade Capital of the Ancestral Court, when I passed through the Long River of Chaos, I once saw a man attain the Dao through killing, who, before the kalpa of destruction arrived, slew those who had attained the Dao and thereby cultivated the thirty-sixth heaven of the Dao realm, branded the ultimate void, attained the fruit of the Dao, and in the end crushed the ultimate void underfoot. Was that man you?

" (See Chapter 1504. ) Shang Jun's face darkened; he nodded in silence. Shen Mu said, "You killed the sixteenth epoch of the cosmos, and all living beings were destroyed thereby; almost everyone died indirectly by your hand. No wonder your abilities are so formidable. " Shang Jun's vital breath withered away; he vomited a mouthful of blood, all life gone from him, and stood there wooden and motionless, as though he were about to dissolve into the Dao.

The old woman coughed once and said, "I have heard that when the Seventh Young Master kills a man, he slays the man's heart first.

Seeing it today, it is indeed so. Whether or not Shang Jun entered the Dao through killing, whether or not he attained the Dao, the sixteenth epoch would have been destroyed.

The cause of its destruction was not Shang Jun, but Miluo Palace. Had so many of Miluo Palace's Dao-attainers not smuggled themselves into the sixteenth epoch, how could that cosmos have been destroyed so quickly?

" Shang Jun's complexion improved somewhat, and his breath recovered a little. Shen Mu glanced at her and said, "The only difference lies in whether the sixteenth epoch was destroyed by the hand of Miluo Palace or by the hand of Shang Jun. If by the hand of Miluo Palace, then the killer is Miluo Palace. If by the hand of Shang Jun, then the killer is Shang Jun. " Shang Jun's breath withered once more, worse even than before!

"You!

" The old woman's forehead bulged with blue veins, her white hair fluttering. The old man hurried to check her, and said with a smile, "No wonder everyone says that the hardest one in all Miluo Palace to deal with is the Seventh Young Master. Seeing you today, we are convinced.

The Seventh Young Master seeks that man called Taiyi — but for what?

" "I owe him a debt of feeling, and every living being of the seventeenth epoch owes him a debt of feeling.

Therefore I must repay kindness with kindness, and save him no matter what. " Shen Mu concealed nothing. "Taiyi blocked the past Dao-attainers from smuggling through, and withstood Miluo Palace's invasion. Though he was the seventeenth epoch's first smuggler, this debt of kindness must be repaid!

He was suppressed by Miluo Palace and left behind this map; I intend to find him and rescue him. " "I never thought the Seventh Young Master would prove a man of sentiment and honor.

" The girl called Yaya showed surprise. "That is not at all like the Seventh Young Master I have heard of. The Seventh Young Master of Miluo Palace I heard of was a villain who stopped at no evil, cunning and vicious — pus on his crown and sores on his soles; he has done every wicked thing there is! " Shen Mu's face flushed crimson, and stammering he protested, "That is slander!

Absolute slander!

Who among those who know me does not know that I delight in doing good and delight in helping others. . . " The pig's head coughed once — it was still set upon the platter — and said, "The Seventh Young Master need not explain further; our present state says everything.

If the Seventh Young Master were not the man of legend, we would not have fallen so miserably. " Shen Mu snorted and said, "This is my first meeting with you all; would I go so far as to deceive you?

As for this distribution map of the Dao trees of the sixteenth epoch, I must ask Shang Jun to point me the way. " Shang Jun was silent, and looked toward the others. The old man chuckled and said, "The Seventh Young Master said just now that Taiyi was able to save that paralytic?

Might you explain the reason in this? " Shen Mu smiled faintly and said, "Then let me ask you all: when did you first feel that you could escape from the obelisks?

" Everyone was slightly startled, and each fell to pondering.

"Your escape from the obelisks must have been a matter of this cosmic epoch, no? " Shen Mu said, "That man was Taiyi.

In those years Taiyi smuggled himself into this cosmic epoch, took possession of the chaos egg by soul-theft, and became Taiyi. After he attained the Dao he came straight to this abandoned place, found this gateway, and forcibly broke open the First Young Master's seal.

" The old man and the old woman exchanged a glance, and said nothing.

The girl and the woman were at a loss.

The woman asked, "Why would this Taiyi come to save us? " Shen Mu shook his head. "He did not come to save you.

He came to save the paralytic in your village.

" This time even Shang Jun and the pig's head were astonished.

The pig's head on the platter lifted a left trotter from another platter and scratched at its bristles, puzzled.

"The paralytic? You mean the paralytic in our village? " "That very paralytic.

" Shen Mu said, "The purpose of his journey was to save him.

He was the first to smuggle himself into this cosmic epoch, and the first to attain the Dao, blocking Miluo Palace's smuggling; he alone, of the whole cosmos, and therefore he could accomplish a great deed he had never had the chance to accomplish before! That deed was of the utmost importance! So he burst in here, blasted open the gateway with matchless momentum, uprooted the obelisk, broke the First Young Master's arrangement, and let you escape from the stone monuments! " Everyone looked at the old man. The pig's head cried, "Old Monster, your cultivation is the highest and you were the first to wake; it was you who roused us and let us walk out of the stone monuments. Was your escape from the monument as he says?

" The old man sighed and nodded silently. "It was indeed a thing that happened at the very beginning of this cosmic epoch's opening. You were suppressed and slept on, while I remained awake from the first moment of suppression; I had to watch over the paralytic.

The paralytic is of the utmost importance and must not be lost at any cost. At that time I sensed a mighty being of this cosmic epoch descend. . . " Shang Jun suddenly said, "Who is the paralytic?

" Everyone looked toward the paralytic in the room.

The little village had been all but razed to the ground, and the room where the paralytic lay had been destroyed as well; yet the paralytic still lay upon his bed, basking in the sun. The clash just now had been so fierce, yet he seemed touched by none of it.