138: Chapter 138, Second Debate
"Even if you're standing in the wrong place, you must remain standing."
These words fell into Zixiao Palace like a stone dropped into a deep pool.
Ripples spread out, circle after circle.
Duobao looked at Lu Mingyuan, something stirring in his gaze.
"Even if it's wrong, you still stand?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Yes. You still stand."
He looked at Duobao, then at those below the stage.
"At The Rift, I once stood in the wrong place."
Duobao raised an eyebrow.
"You stood in the wrong place?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"When I first arrived at The Rift, I didn't know where I should stand. Standing too close, the Devilish Qi surged over and I was nearly swallowed. Standing too far, the devil soldiers rushed past and injured the people behind me."
He paused.
"I stood in the wrong place many times. Stand wrong, and you get hurt. Stand wrong, and people die. Only by standing wrong do you know it was wrong."
Duobao asked:
"And after you are wrong?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"After being wrong, you find another place to stand."
He looked at Duobao.
"It's not that you stop standing. It's that you change places and continue to stand. The right place to stand is found step by step from the wrong places."
Duobao was silent for a moment.
Then, he asked:
"What if the person testing the wrong place dies?"
This question was very deep.
Lu Mingyuan fell silent.
He thought of Tie Niu.
He thought of those nameless Loose Cultivators.
He thought of when they stood in the wrong place, and when they fell.
He looked at Duobao.
"The ones who died tested the right place for those who live."
Duobao's eyes grew red.
Lu Mingyuan continued:
"At The Rift, one hundred and eighty people died. They stood in the wrong place. But when they stood in the wrong place, the people beside them saw it. Having seen it, they knew that place was not where they should stand. Having seen it, they changed to another place to stand."
He took a step forward.
"Therefore, even if you stand wrong, you must stand. If you don't stand, how will you know it's wrong? If you aren't wrong, how will you know what is right?"
Duobao looked at him for a very long time.
Then, he asked:
"Do you know how the Jie Sect was wrong during the Investiture of the Gods?"
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
Duobao said:
"During the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, the Jie Sect stood in the wrong place. We stood on the side of the Shang Dynasty, on the side of King Zhou, and on the opposite side of the Heavenly Dao."
He paused.
"But at that time, who knew it was wrong? Who knew the Heavenly Dao wanted to change? Who knew the Shang Dynasty was doomed? Who knew those Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters, while standing, would end up dead?"
His voice trembled slightly.
"They stood in the wrong place. But when they stood there, they didn't know it was wrong. They were just standing, standing in the place they believed was right. Standing beside the people they believed in. Standing in front of the things they wanted to protect."
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"They were wrong. But did they deserve to die?"
A heavy silence filled Zixiao Palace.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Everyone was looking at Duobao.
Looking at this Senior Brother of the Jie Sect.
This man who, during the Investiture of the Gods Calamity, had personally watched countless Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters die.
This man who was forced to convert to Buddhism, yet could never forget the Jie Sect.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, looking at Duobao.
Looking into his eyes.
In those eyes, there was the glimmer of tears.
The glimmer of nine hundred years of tears.
He spoke.
"Senior Duobao, they did not deserve to die."
Duobao looked at him.
Lu Mingyuan said:
"They stood in the wrong place. But when they stood, they used their hearts. They used the Dao they believed in. They used the things they wanted to protect."
He took another step forward.
"What was wrong was the place, not the heart. What was wrong was the stance, not the Dao. What was wrong was that calamity, not them."
He looked at Duobao.
"They died. But their hearts remain. Within you. Within those who live. Within the Dao of the Jie Sect."
Duobao's tears began to fall.
He did not wipe them away.
He just stood there, letting the tears flow.
Nine hundred years of tears.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"By what right do you say this?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"By the fact that I too have stood in the wrong place. By the fact that I too have had people stand in my place. By the fact that I know those who died do not want those who live to keep crying."
He paused.
"When Tie Niu died, there was light in his eyes. That light was not hate, not resentment; it was fearlessness. He blocked that blade for his brother, and when he died, his eyes said it was worth it."
He looked at Duobao.
"When your Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters died, there was also light in their eyes. That light was the light of standing for what they believed in. That light does not go out just because they stood in the wrong place."
Duobao stood there for a very long time.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
That smile was accompanied by tears.
But in that smile, there was something.
There was relief.
There was letting go.
There was the kind of thing that comes when one finally understands.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
"Little friend, you truly understand the Dao of the Jie Sect."
Lu Mingyuan shook his head.
"It's not understanding. It's walking. Having walked it, one knows."
Duobao asked:
"Walked through what?"
Lu Mingyuan said:
"Walked through the wrong places. Walked through the places of death. Walked through the places where people were standing, and then they fell."
He looked at Duobao.
"Only after walking through them do you realize that the wrong place is also a path. The place of death is also a path. The place where one falls is also a path."
Duobao was silent.
For a very long time.
Then, he asked:
"And the price?"
Lu Mingyuan asked:
"What price?"
Duobao said:
"The price of standing in the wrong place. The price of the dead. Those places where they fell, the blood that was shed, the people who can never return—how do you calculate those costs?"
This question struck at the very root.
Lu Mingyuan thought for a moment.
"You don't."
Duobao raised an eyebrow.
"You don't?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Yes. You don't."
He looked at Duobao.
"The price cannot be calculated. It's impossible to calculate, it would never end, and calculating it is useless. The dead will not live again. The blood shed will not return to the body. The places where they fell will not stand up again."
He paused.
"But those who live can continue to stand. They can stand in the places where others fell, standing for them. They can walk the paths others didn't finish, walking for them."
He looked at Duobao.
"Not calculating doesn't mean forgetting. It means there's no need to calculate. It's remembering without keeping a tally. It's keeping it in the heart, but not on a ledger."
Duobao looked at him for a very long time.
Then, he suddenly gave a deep bow.
"I have been enlightened."
He turned and walked toward his seat.
After a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
He did not turn around.
"Little friend, the Dao of the Jie Sect is not just about seizing a sliver of survival. It is also about seizing that tiny bit of heart left in the world by those who have died."
He continued walking forward.
"You carry it for them. I carry it for them. We all carry it for them."
He walked back to his place and sat down.
As he sat, the light on his body changed.
It was no longer that sharp sword-light.
It was a gentle, inclusive light, like moonlight.
But within that gentleness, there was something.
The bone of a sword.
The soul of the Jie Sect.
A silence filled Zixiao Palace.
Then, someone began to clap softly.
It was Zhenyuanzi.
He looked at Lu Mingyuan, a light in his eyes.
"Little friend, I have lived for a hundred million years, and I have never seen anyone debate like you."
Lu Mingyuan asked:
"How did I debate?"
Zhenyuanzi said:
"It wasn't a debate. It was a walk. You laid out the path you've walked for them to see. They saw it, and they understood. They understood, and they were convinced."
He paused.
"This is a true debate."
Lu Mingyuan smiled.
"Senior, you overpraise me."
Zhenyuanzi shook his head.
"It's not overpraise. It's the truth."
He sat down.
Yuanshi Tianzun's voice rang out.
"The second debate is concluded."
He looked at Lu Mingyuan.
In his gaze, there was something.
Something increasingly inscrutable, increasingly interesting.
"The third debate: Buddhism will question."
He looked below the stage.
"Jieyin, you come."
Jieyin stood up.
He walked to the edge of the stage and looked at Lu Mingyuan upon it.
His gaze was very mild.
As mild as a spring breeze.
But in that mildness, there was something.
The earnestness of someone about to ask a real question.
"Little friend, this monk has a debate."
Lu Mingyuan cupped his hands.
"Please speak."
Jieyin asked:
"You said just now that if the person standing dies, the way to live lies with the next person standing. This monk wishes to ask—what if the next person standing also dies?"
He paused.
"If they die one by one, where is the way to live?"
In Zixiao Palace, everyone looked at Lu Mingyuan.
Waiting for his answer.
Waiting to see how this young man would handle this debate from Buddhism.
Lu Mingyuan stood there, under those gazes.
He did not panic.
He simply thought for a moment.
Then, he spoke.
"Senior Jieyin, I will answer you."
He looked at the old monk.
"If they die one by one, the way to live lies—with the very last person standing."