Merit Descends, the Heaven Book Appears

Taiyi held a fly whisk in his arms, his gaze complicated as he looked at his former junior brother.

He saw enemy blood and Shen Gongbao's own blood staining his Daoist robe. He also saw that the Jade Void Palace token at Shen Gongbao's waist had, at some point, shattered into two halves.

"Junior Brother, you..." Taiyi started, then stopped.

Though Taiyi was simple and straightforward, he understood what Shen Gongbao was thinking.

He also knew that even if Shen Gongbao had won, he could never return to the Chan Teaching.

After all, though Shen Gongbao was a member of the Chan Teaching, he had joined the Shang Dynasty and become its Imperial Tutor. Many of his Chan Teaching brothers had died under his orders.

Taiyi knew that all this had been his master's instruction.

It was also Shen Gongbao's ordained fate.

After all, the two men bearing the Flying Bear physiognomy could never both join the same side.

But the other brothers likely would not see it that way.

Thus, even if Shen Gongbao returned, his circumstances would likely not be much better.

Therefore, Taiyi ultimately could not bring himself to speak.

He merely nodded gently at him.

Seeing this, Shen Gongbao pulled his lips into the faintest curve, half a smile and half a sigh. Then he slowly turned around and staggered toward the Shang army's camp.

Every step landed amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and every step took him farther from the Dao lineage he had once belonged to.

With each step, the last trace of vulnerability on his face vanished completely, replaced by the solemnity and coldness expected of the Imperial Tutor who held Yin Shang's national destiny in his hands.

And it was at that moment.

"Buzz—"

A profound sound of the