136: Chapter 136 All Laws Share the Same Origin
Inside Zixiao Palace, those lights were still shining.
Lu Mingyuan stood on the stage, feeling the changes in the tree within his Dantian.
It was no longer a tree.
It was a forest.
A forest composed of countless trees.
Each tree was a technique.
The talismans of the Daoist Sect, the emptiness of the Buddhist Sect, the heart of Confucianism, the sword of the Martial Dao, the carefree nature of the Loose Immortal, the Heavenly Dao of the Chan Sect, the vitality of the Jie Sect, and the Wuwei of the Ren Sect.
They grew individually, bloomed individually, and bore fruit individually.
But their roots were intertwined.
Intertwined so tightly they could not be separated.
Lu Mingyuan looked at that forest and suddenly understood one thing—
This was the concept of "All Techniques Share the Same Source."
Where was the source?
The source was in the heart.
The heart is the soil, allowing these trees to take root. The heart is the water, allowing these trees to grow. The heart is the light, allowing these trees to bloom.
Without the heart, there would be no forest.
He opened his eyes.
Below the stage, those people were still looking at him.
But this time, those gazes were different.
It wasn't waiting.
It was listening.
It was the kind of listening that was truly hearing, truly absorbing, and truly thinking.
Lu Mingyuan looked at them and suddenly smiled.
"Seniors, Fellow Daoists."
He spoke.
"Just now I said, 'All Techniques Share the Same Source, each manifesting its own wonder.' Those were not empty words."
He paused.
"In these five rounds of discussing the Dao, I answered questions from five sects. But while answering, I discovered one thing—"
He looked at the people below the stage.
"What you asked were not questions. They were your own Daos."
Guangchengzi was slightly startled.
Lu Mingyuan looked at him.
"Senior Guangchengzi, you asked about the Heavenly Dao. But when you asked, what appeared in my heart was not an answer, but the snow on Zhongnan Mountain."
Guangchengzi frowned.
"Snow?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Yes. Snow. The snow on Zhongnan Mountain falls to the ground, turns into water, flows into the rivers, joins the Yangtze, and finally returns to the great sea. Snow is snow, water is water, rivers are rivers, and the sea is the sea. But they are one."
He looked at Guangchengzi.
"The Heavenly Dao is that sea. All techniques are that snow, that water, those rivers. They look different, but the source is one. The destination is one."
Guangchengzi fell silent.
Lu Mingyuan then looked toward Duobao.
"Senior Duobao, you asked about vitality. But when you asked, what appeared in my heart was not an answer, but the blood beside The Rift."
Duobao's eyes turned red.
Lu Mingyuan said:
"That blood flows onto the ground, seeps into the soil, nourishes the grass, feeds the insects, and finally becomes part of the earth. Blood is blood, grass is grass, insects are insects, and soil is soil. But they are one."
He looked at Duobao.
"Vitality is that oneness. The dead nourish the living. The living remember the dead. Life and death are one."
Lu Mingyuan looked toward Jieyin.
"Senior Jieyin, you asked about emptiness and existence. But when you asked, what appeared in my heart was not an answer, but the tolling of the bell at Shaolin Temple."
Jieyin pressed his palms together.
Lu Mingyuan said:
"When the bell tolls, there is sound. When the sound fades, there is no sound. But when there is sound, that sound is born from silence. When there is no sound, that silence contains the sound from just now."
He looked at Jieyin.
"Emptiness and existence are one. Just like the tolling of the bell and the silence."
Jieyin nodded slightly.
Lu Mingyuan looked toward Xuandu.
"Senior Xuandu, you asked about Wuwei. But when you asked, what appeared in my heart was not an answer, but the mountain paths of Zhongnan Mountain."
Xuandu looked at him.
Lu Mingyuan said:
"The mountain path is there. If you walk, it lets you walk. If you don't walk, it is still there. If you walk fast, it does not urge you. If you walk slowly, it does not wait for you. If you walk until you are tired, it lets you rest."
He paused.
"The mountain path is Wuwei. But it allows all those who are acting to walk their own paths. Wuwei and action are one."
Lu Mingyuan looked toward Zhenyuanzi.
"Senior Zhenyuanzi, you asked about being carefree. But when you asked, what appeared in my heart was not an answer, but the Ginseng Fruit Tree of Wuzhuang Temple."
Zhenyuanzi smiled.
Lu Mingyuan said:
"The Ginseng Fruit Tree has grown there for billions of years. When the wind blows, it does not move. When the rain hits, it does not shake. When people come to pick the fruit, it is not stingy. When people leave, it does not see them off."
He paused.
"Is it carefree? It is. Because it does not move. But its stillness gives all those who move a place to rest. Stillness and movement are one."
Zhenyuanzi nodded deeply.
Lu Mingyuan looked at everyone below the stage.
"Therefore, All Techniques Share the Same Source. The source is in the heart. When the heart sees snow, it realizes the Heavenly Dao. When the heart sees blood, it realizes vitality. When the heart hears the tolling of the bell, it realizes emptiness and existence. When the heart walks the mountain path, it realizes Wuwei. When the heart looks at the fruit tree, it realizes being carefree."
He took a step forward.
"But these things the heart sees are not created by the heart. They were already there. The heart simply discovers them. The heart simply lets them in. The heart simply carries them along as it walks."
Inside Zixiao Palace, there was a deathly silence.
Then, someone spoke.
It was Yuanshi Tianzun.
He stood below the stage, looking at Lu Mingyuan.
"You say All Techniques Share the Same Source. But what comes after sharing the same source?"
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"After the same source, there is divergence."
Yuanshi Tianzun raised an eyebrow.
"Divergence?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"The source is one. But after it flows out, it divides into thousands of streams. Some flow east, some flow west. Some are fast, some are slow. Some are wide, some are narrow."
He looked at Yuanshi Tianzun.
"But no matter where they flow, no matter how fast, slow, wide, or narrow they are, they all flow from the same source."
He paused.
"Therefore, the Dao has no high or low. Techniques have no superior or inferior. It is only that the directions of the flow are different, and the methods of the flow are different."
Yuanshi Tianzun was silent for a while.
Then, he asked:
"Then what about the heart? Where is the heart?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"The heart is in the source."
He looked at Yuanshi Tianzun.
"The heart is that source. All techniques flow out from the heart and flow back into it. When they flow out, it is the Dao. When they flow back, it is realization."
He paused.
"But the heart itself does not flow. The heart is there, unmoving. Just like Zixiao Palace; ten thousand immortals come and go, but Zixiao Palace does not move."
Yuanshi Tianzun looked at him for a very long time.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
That smile was different from his previous coldness.
There was something in that smile.
Recognition.
Gratification.
The kind of feeling that said, 'You have finally arrived.'
"A fine 'when the heart is still, all techniques return naturally'."
He said.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, listening to those words.
When the heart is still, all techniques return naturally.
This was the core philosophy of Volume Six.
It was the principle he had realized after a hundred days of secluded meditation.
Now, hearing it from the mouth of Yuanshi Tianzun, he suddenly felt—
This path was the right one.
He looked at the people below the stage.
Those people were also looking at him.
In Guangchengzi's eyes, there was light.
In Duobao's eyes, there were tears.
In Jieyin's eyes, there was compassion.
In Xuandu's eyes, there was tranquility.
In Zhenyuanzi's eyes, there was freedom.
In Zhu Xi's eyes, there was gratification.
And those Loose Cultivators, those martial generals, those people he did not know.
There was something in all of their eyes.
The kind of peace that comes after finally seeing the source.
Suddenly, he felt the forest in his Dantian move.
It wasn't the trees moving.
It was the roots moving.
Those intertwined roots suddenly plunged downward.
Down, down, deeper and deeper.
They pierced through the Dantian.
They pierced through Zixiao Palace.
They pierced through Chaos.
They reached that invisible place.
In that place, there was nothing.
Yet there was everything.
No time, no space, no Karma, no life or death.
There was only the One.
Only that 'One' where All Techniques Share the Same Source.
He stood within that One.
That One was also in his heart.
Then, he heard a voice.
It was the voice of Hongjun.
"Taiyi Golden Immortal."
Only four words.
But those words landed in his heart like four mountains.
Four mountains that propped up heaven and earth.
He opened his eyes.
Inside Zixiao Palace, those lights suddenly became blindingly bright.
Everyone was looking at him.
Looking at the light on his body.
That light turned from gold to purple.
A faint purple.
A noble purple.
The purple of the Dao.
Taiyi Golden Immortal.
He had achieved a Breakthrough.
He stood there, watched by those lights.
Those lights were not shining in from the outside.
They were shining out from his heart.
He suddenly remembered a sentence.
It was something Xuanweizi had said long ago, back when they were at Zhongnan Mountain—
"Heart as the Mysterious Pivot. The pivot is the center. It does not lean or tilt, it is neither left nor right. Yet the center is the great foundation of the world."
At that time, he did not understand.
Now he understood.
The heart is the pivot.
When the pivot is still, all techniques return naturally.
When all techniques return naturally, then All Techniques Share the Same Source.
When All Techniques Share the Same Source, then—
He looked at the people below the stage.
Those people were also looking at him.
He smiled.
"Who else wishes to ask?"
Inside Zixiao Palace, no one answered.
Only those lights were quietly shining.
Shining was the answer.