92: Sacrificing oneself to feed demons
She once thought her Buddha Heart was indestructible,
As clear inside and out as glazed glass,
But Jiang Yuan's few words,
Were like the sharpest vajra pestle,
Cracking her glazed Buddha Heart with countless fissures.
"We've arrived."
Jiang Yuan stopped, turned around, a half-smile on his face.
The hot spring water of the Acacia Pavilion was filled with mist,
Unknown petals floated on the surface, emitting a sweet, cloying fragrance.
This was no place for discussing the Dao,
It was clearly a land of tender embrace, a hero's tomb.
Wonderful Sound stopped at the entrance of the pavilion, her white robes gently fluttering in the wind.
Her Pure Buddha-land had already collapsed,
At this moment, Wonderful Sound was merely a lost devotee.
Jiang Yuan did not urge her, slowly stepping into the hot spring.
The warm water enveloped his body,
He leaned back comfortably against the pool wall, closing his eyes.
He knew,
For a seeker whose Dao Heart was shattered,
Nothing was more tempting than personally witnessing a world that could crush one's own Great Dao.
Time passed minute by minute.
In the courtyard, there was only the rustling of wind through leaves,
And the gentle lapping of water.
Wonderful Sound, barefoot, stepped down the stairs, one step at a time.
She lowered her head, looking at Jiang Yuan, who was resting with his eyes closed.
Under the moonlight, he was as handsome as a deity,
Exuding an aura of creation.
"Sit in front of me."
Jiang Yuan's voice sounded, calm without a ripple.
Wonderful Sound hesitated for a moment, but finally obeyed, slowly moving her body to sit opposite Jiang Yuan.
"Don't you want to witness the true Land of Ultimate Bliss?"
Jiang Yuan opened his eyes, his deep gaze seemingly able to reflect the stars of the heavens,
"Now, open your mind, This Imperial Son will show you what creation is."
Jiang Yuan waved his hand,
And brought Wonderful Sound into a special palace.
There were no luxurious decorations here; in the center of the hall was a massive mirror made of unknown crystal,
The mirror surface was smooth as water, yet deep as an abyss, seemingly able to swallow all light.
"This is the Heart-Questioning Mirror, it can reflect what the Dao Heart desires and evolve the ultimate Great Dao."
Jiang Yuan said indifferently.
He raised a finger, and the mirror surface rippled with light, instantly revealing a scene.
It was a gray, silent, boundless void.
No sound, no light, no life,
Not even the flow of time could be felt.
In the center of the void,
There was a huge golden statue, solemn and majestic, precisely in Wonderful Sound's own likeness.
She sat there quietly, ancient and unchanging, eternally immortal.
This was the emptiness she pursued,
The end of nirvana.
"This is your Land of Ultimate Bliss."
Jiang Yuan's voice echoed in the hall,
"No suffering, no joy. No birth, no death. Everything returns to silence, to eternal void. Do you think this has meaning?"
Wonderful Sound looked at herself in the mirror,
Her face devoid of any expression, like a perfect work of art.
She once thought this was her ultimate destination, the other shore beyond the sea of suffering.
But at this moment, an unprecedented sense of loneliness and fear spread from the deepest part of her heart.
Eternal loneliness, was this truly liberation?
Jiang Yuan did not wait for her reply, pointing his finger at the mirror surface again.
The scene changed. The void shattered, colors surged in. Mountains and rivers, sun, moon, and stars, bustling markets, the smoke of war... countless images flashed rapidly in the mirror.
The void shattered, colors surged in. Mountains and rivers, sun, moon, and stars, bustling markets, the smoke of war... countless images flashed rapidly in the mirror.
She saw a baby crying at birth, its family weeping with joy.
A pair of lovers under the flowers and moon, making vows of eternal love.
A general, his body wrapped in horsehide, blood staining the battlefield.
That was the sea of suffering she spoke of, filled with birth, old age, sickness, death, love, hate, and resentment.
But the expressions on each of those faces, whether joy, anger, sorrow, or despair, were so vivid, so... real.
"Your Dao sits at the end of the river, quietly watching the river dry up, and all things wither."
Jiang Yuan's voice, like the sound of the Great Dao, struck her heart word by word.
"And my Dao is that endlessly flowing river. In the river are fish and shrimp, water plants, whirlpools, and waves. It nourishes all things, and it devours life.
You tell me, is the dryness at the end more real, or is the flowing process more real?"
Wonderful Sound's delicate body trembled violently, unable to speak further.
Just as her mind lost its composure,
Jiang Yuan's figure appeared before her at some unknown point.
He did not use any crude methods, merely extended a finger and gently tapped her glabella.
A wisp of Primordial Purple Qi, refined to the extreme,
Flowed from his fingertip into Wonderful Sound's Sea of Consciousness.
This Qi was not aggressive,
It was gentle yet domineering,
Like a spring breeze turning into rain, silently permeating her shattered Buddha-land world.
Wherever the violet Qi passed,
Those withered golden lotuses actually regained their Life Qi,
Only, within the gold, there was an added touch of an alluring purple.
A brand new seed,
Began to sprout on the ruins of her Dao Heart.
It was a seed condensed from desire, from longing,
And from an yearning for the Origin of life.
It was her Heart Demon,
And also her new life.
Wonderful Sound's Buddha Heart Glazed Body,
For the first time, did not reject this external power.
She finally looked up,
In her clear eyes,
There was no longer the dead silence of the four great elements being empty,
But an undeniable curiosity and anticipation... [Task complete! Rating: Perfect!]
[Settling rewards, critical reward triggered, reward increased by 5000%!]
[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the ultimate rewards:]
[One, Cultivation: 9th Realm Law Realm Peak!]
[Two, Half-Immortal Artifact: Bodhi Prayer Beads]
[Three, Two Spirit Ascension Pills! Two saint spirit pills!]
[Four, One portion of Supreme Sacred Body Origin (Specified)!]
[Five, Nine Marvelous Undying Medicine! (Can allow a Great Emperor to live another lifetime)]
[Six, Child Bloodline Strength晉級Probability increased by 20%!]