125: Chapter 125 The Sound of the Great Dao
Hongjun's shadow vanished.
The Zixiao Palace became so quiet it seemed as if no one was there.
The lights were still shining.
The people were still sitting.
But none of them moved.
No one spoke either.
They simply sat there with their eyes closed.
Lu Mingyuan looked at them and suddenly understood something.
The words Hongjun had just spoken weren't meant only for him.
They were meant for everyone.
Everyone had heard them.
Everyone had heard the part they wanted to hear.
Now, they were all digesting.
They were all absorbing.
They were all letting those words become their own.
Lu Mingyuan also closed his eyes.
Hongjun's voice still echoed in his ears.
No, it wasn't an echo.
It was still there.
Those words had turned into strands of sound, flowing through his heart.
“In the Dharma-Ending Kalpa, what dies is the heart...”
“If the human heart dies, the Dharma truly perishes...”
“Resentment is deficiency...”
“You are that One...”
Those sounds weren't finished in a single sentence.
They seeped in bit by bit.
Like water seeping into parched earth.
Like light seeping into a dark room.
Like spring seeping into winter mountains.
Lu Mingyuan sat there, letting those sounds seep in.
He didn't analyze them.
He didn't try to understand.
He didn't think.
He just let them seep.
As they seeped, he suddenly discovered something—
The golden seed in his Dantian was growing.
It wasn't sprouting.
It was absorbing.
Absorbing those sounds.
Absorbing those truths.
Absorbing those things spoken from Hongjun's mouth, brought from Chaos, and born from the Dao.
The more the seed absorbed, the brighter it became.
The more it absorbed, the larger it grew.
The more it absorbed, the more it looked like—a tree.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
It could have been an instant, or ten thousand years.
Lu Mingyuan opened his eyes.
He saw that in Zixiao Palace, those people were also opening their eyes.
One by one, they opened their eyes.
In their eyes, there was light.
Different kinds of light.
The elder wearing purple Taoist robes had golden light in his eyes. That gold was purer and thicker than before, more like order itself.
The monks wearing kasayas had warm light in their eyes. That warmth was deeper and softer than before, more like compassion itself.
The scholars wearing Confucian robes had cyan light in their eyes. That cyan was clearer and straighter than before, more like righteous Qi itself.
The generals wearing armor had white light in their eyes. That white was colder and harder than before, more like protection itself.
The Loose Cultivators wearing tattered Taoist robes had faint light in their eyes. That faintness was emptier and freer than before, more like carefree wandering itself.
Everyone had changed.
Everyone had gained their own thing from Hongjun's words.
Looking at them, Lu Mingyuan suddenly remembered a sentence.
It was something Immortal Master Yu Shu had said long ago at Longhu Mountain—
“The Dao is one, but those who listen to the Dao are ten thousand. When ten thousand people listen to the Dao, there are ten thousand kinds of Dao. It is not the Dao that has changed, but the people.”
At that time, he didn't understand.
How could the Dao change?
Now he understood.
The Dao hadn't changed.
It was the listeners who, with their own hearts, turned that one Dao into their own Dao.
Just as the same water poured onto different seeds grows into different trees.
He looked at those people and suddenly smiled.
Those people were also looking at him.
Looking at this young man.
This young man from the Dharma-Ending Kalpa.
This young man personally named by the Dao Ancestor.
This young man who only had a faint golden light on him.
But the way they looked at him was different than before.
Before, it was curiosity, scrutiny, and disdain.
Now, it was equality.
The kind of equality that treated him as a fellow listener of the Dao.
Because they had all heard it.
They had all gained their own thing from Hongjun's words.
They all knew that those who could sit here did not come without reason.
Suddenly, someone spoke.
It was the elder wearing purple Taoist robes.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“Little friend, what did you hear?”
His voice was very gentle, like a senior asking a Junior.
But in that gentleness, there was something.
A probe.
An examination.
The kind of thing that wanted to know exactly how much this young man was worth.
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
“I heard—deficiency.”
The elder raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Deficiency?”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
“Teacher Hongjun said that resentment is deficiency. The deficiencies of six kalpas added together became the Gloom.”
He looked at the elder.
“But I also heard one more thing.”
The elder asked:
“What thing?”
Lu Mingyuan said:
“Deficiency can be mended.”
Zixiao Palace suddenly went quiet for a moment.
Everyone looked at him.
Looking at this sentence he had spoken.
“Deficiency can be mended.”
A monk wearing a kasaya spoke up.
“How to mend it?”
His voice was deep, like the tolling of a bell.
Lu Mingyuan looked at him.
“I don't know.”
The monk was stunned for a moment.
“You don't know?”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
“I only know it can be mended. As for how to mend it, I am still walking.”
He paused.
“From Zhongnan Mountain to The Rift, I walked for many years. From The Rift to Zixiao Palace, I walked for three days. As for how to mend it, I must continue walking.”
The monk looked at him for a long time.
Then, the monk smiled.
The smile was like sunlight shining on snow.
“A fine ‘still walking’.”
He pressed his palms together.
“This humble monk has been enlightened.”
Lu Mingyuan stood up and also pressed his palms together.
“I wouldn't dare. I am just walking.”
A scholar wearing Confucian robes stood up.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“You said just now that the heart is the Xuan Shu of all laws.”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
The scholar asked:
“What is the heart?”
The question came very suddenly.
But Lu Mingyuan wasn't dazed.
He thought for a moment.
“The heart is that which can hear the Dao.”
The scholar frowned.
“That which can hear the Dao?”
Lu Mingyuan said:
“Yes. Teacher Hongjun lectured on the Dao, and I heard it. You asked me a question, and I heard it. Those who died, the words in their hearts, I also heard them.”
He looked at the scholar.
“To be able to hear, that is the heart.”
The scholar was silent for a while.
“Then what of the myriad laws?”
Lu Mingyuan said:
“The myriad laws are the things heard.”
He pointed to himself.
“From the Daoist sect I heard talismans, from the Buddhist sect I heard emptiness, from the Confucian school I heard the heart, and from the martial path I heard the sword. These things I heard gathered together and became my law.”
He looked at the scholar.
“But no matter how much is gathered, that which can hear has never changed.”
The scholar was stunned.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan as if looking at a strange object.
Then, he smiled.
The smile was the kind a scholar has upon seeing a great piece of writing.
“I have been enlightened.”
He sat down.
A Loose Cultivator wearing tattered Taoist robes stood up.
He walked up to Lu Mingyuan and looked at him.
The man looked very old.
So old that his face was covered in wrinkles.
But those eyes were as young as a newborn child's.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
“You said just now, if you can't walk anymore, then take a rest.”
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
The Loose Cultivator asked:
“Then when resting, is the Dao still walking?”
This question was harder than the previous ones.
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
“The Dao does not walk.”
The Loose Cultivator raised an eyebrow.
“Does not walk?”
Lu Mingyuan said:
“Correct. The Dao does not walk. It is people who walk.”
He looked at the Loose Cultivator.
“People walk to get closer to the Dao. But the Dao itself is motionless. Just as a mountain is there; whether you climb it or not, the mountain is there. Just as the sea is there; whether you cross it or not, the sea is there.”
He paused.
“When resting, the person stops moving. But the Dao is still there. When you have rested enough and get up to continue walking, the Dao is still there waiting for you.”
The Loose Cultivator looked at him for a very long time.
Then, he suddenly laughed.
The smile was like a child finding a lost toy.
“Good.”
He said.
He said only one word.
Then he turned around, walked back to his corner, and sat down.
When he sat down, the light on him was brighter than before.
Those people came to ask one by one.
Some asked about talismans.
Some asked about the sword.
Some asked about emptiness.
Some asked about the heart.
Some asked about life and death.
Some asked about Reincarnation.
Some asked questions Lu Mingyuan had heard before, and some asked questions he had never thought about.
He answered them all.
Some he answered well, some not so well.
To some answers, the questioner nodded. To others, the questioner shook their head.
But he kept answering.
He kept speaking.
He kept standing there.
Standing in the center of Zixiao Palace, letting those people ask.
As they asked, he suddenly discovered something—
What those people were asking weren't questions.
It was their own Dao.
They brought their own Dao to ask him, wanting to see if his Dao and theirs could align.
Some aligned.
Some did not.
But regardless of whether they aligned or not, after they finished asking, they all smiled.
They all nodded.
They all returned to their seats and sat down.
He didn't know how long the questioning lasted.
It could have been a day, or a year.
In Zixiao Palace, there was no time.
When the last person finished asking and walked back to his seat,
Lu Mingyuan stood there, looking at those people.
Those people were also looking at him.
Suddenly, the elder wearing purple Taoist robes spoke.
“Little friend.”
Lu Mingyuan looked at him.
The elder asked:
“Are you tired?”
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
“I'm not tired.”
The elder smiled.
“Really not tired?”
Lu Mingyuan also smiled.
“Really not tired. It's just—”
He paused.
“I'm thirsty.”
A burst of laughter suddenly rang out in Zixiao Palace.
That laughter surged over like a tide.
But the tide was warm.
It was the warmth of everyone finally getting to know each other.
The warmth of turning from strangers into fellow seekers of the Dao.
The elder stood up, took a gourd from his sleeve, and threw it to Lu Mingyuan.
“Drink. It's dew collected from Chaos.”
Lu Mingyuan caught the gourd, opened the stopper, and took a sip.
The water was cool and sweet, like mountain spring water.
But after drinking it, the seed in his Dantian suddenly lit up.
It was blindingly bright.
So bright he could barely keep his eyes open.
Then, he heard a voice.
It was the voice of the elder.
“Three thousand have heard the Dao, each with their own realization. Your realization is your Dao.”
He opened his eyes.
In Zixiao Palace, the lights were still there.
The people were still there.
But the light on his body had changed.
From a faint gold, it had become a brilliant gold.
From a seed, it had become a tree.
A tree that had just sprouted, but was already rooted.
Golden Immortal Middle Stage.
He had achieved a Breakthrough.