bioinnovel Chapter 798 Lu Xueqi and Biyao
Chapter 798 Lu Xueqi and Biyao
"They arrived very early this morning! The sect leader had people bring out prayer mats for them to sit on while they waited, and the tea has been changed several times already!"
"Was there any trouble?"
"No, no! You're too kind! There are just too many people; the main hall can't accommodate everyone, so some have to stand in the courtyard."
When Su Han reached the plaza in front of the mountain gate, he could see a sea of heads in the distance. The main hall of the Lingxiao Immortal Sect was spacious enough to accommodate three hundred people for a meeting, but it was now packed to the brim, with several layers of people standing even outside the threshold. The sect leader sat in the main seat, calmly sipping tea. When he saw Su Han enter through the side door, he nodded slightly, his eyes conveying a sense of "you'll have to deal with it yourself."
All eyes turned to them at once.
It was a very peculiar feeling. Hundreds of eyes were fixed on one person at the same time, like hundreds of lights shining down on him simultaneously—warm, but also scorching. Su Han stood under a pillar on the side of the hall, momentarily at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say, nor what expression to wear. Having traversed three lifetimes in the illusionary realm of Buddhism, he thought he had long since seen through the ways of the world, but now, facing these real, warm gazes, he still felt his ears burning.
The first to speak was an elderly man with white hair and beard, dressed in a gray-blue Taoist robe, leaning on a dragon-patterned cane, who rose shakily from his prayer mat. He walked to Su Han and bowed deeply: "This humble Taoist is Xuanjizi, the forty-seventh generation sect leader of the Beiming Sword Sect. I have come here today with only one question for my young friend Su—was the object that destroyed evil that day truly just Buddhist light?"
Looking at the old man's gray hair and slightly hunched back, Su Han felt a surge of indescribable emotions. This old man's cultivation was at least at the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm, making him a high-ranking figure in the Northern Dark Sword Sect. Yet, he was bowing respectfully before a junior, his humble demeanor heartbreaking.
“Senior, there’s no need for such formalities.” Su Han extended a hand to help him up. “That day I used the Purifying Buddha Light, but strictly speaking…”
He paused for a moment, recalling the Buddha's words, the old woman carrying firewood walking in the snow, and the scattered lights shining in the ruins.
Strictly speaking, that wasn't my power.
"Oh?" Xuanjizi raised his head, a glint of light flashing in his cloudy old eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
Su Han thought for a moment, then stretched out his hand, palm facing up. Hundreds of eyes in the hall were staring at his hands, but they were clean and bare.
“Three months ago, I went to the Buddhist realm to seek the Pure Light of Buddha, but Buddha didn’t give me any magic treasures or impart any supernatural powers,” Su Han said slowly. “He only let me experience three illusions. The first was a battlefield, where I killed ten thousand people; the second was a novice monk, where I swept the steps of Mount Ling for ten years; the third… was an old woman carrying firewood in the snow, walking for three days and three nights, carrying the firewood home to warm her grandson.”
The main hall was quiet, with only the occasional tinkling of the wind chimes under the eaves.
“I cried in the illusion. After I finished crying, Buddha said—when you stop thinking about ‘gaining,’ the light will shine.” Su Han put his hand back into his sleeve. “Later, when I returned to the human world, I saw lights still shining in the ruins. I remembered the old woman walking in the snow, and suddenly my heart warmed. That warmth flowed to my hand, and the light shone.”
As he uttered those words, he relived that moment. The warmth in his chest remained, like a piece of eternally warm charcoal, buried deep in the ashes, neither burning nor extinguishing.
Xuanjizi remained silent for a long time. He loosened his cane, clasped his hands together, and bowed deeply again, this time with even greater respect than before: "I have cultivated the Dao for over three hundred years, refining my sword, my qi, and my heart, yet in the end, I haven't even grasped the meaning of 'a warm heart.' I am ashamed, truly ashamed."
He straightened up, looking into Su Han's eyes: "Young friend Su, if I may be so bold as to ask—can this 'warmth in the heart' thing you mentioned be taught to others?"
Su Han looked at him. There was an almost pleading light in the old man's eyes, a light he had seen before. He had seen it in the eyes of the general kneeling and weeping amidst a pile of corpses in the Buddhist illusion, in the eyes of the pilgrim prostrating himself at every step at the foot of Mount Ling, and in the eyes of the old woman trudging through the snow. It was the expression shared by all those walking on the road—wanting to know the answer, wanting to grasp something, wanting to find a light in the vast darkness.
“I can’t teach you,” Su Han said honestly, “but you can find it yourself if you want.”
Xuanjizi didn't press the matter. He nodded, retreated to his prayer mat, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes, as if deep in thought.
Once the first person spoke, others quickly gathered around. The red-robed elder from Fire Cloud Valley in Southern Xinjiang asked if Buddhist light could suppress fire poison; the green-robed fairy from Penglai Island in the East Sea asked about the method to open the third eye; and several rogue cultivators chattered about whether Su Han was willing to take on disciples, whether they could borrow the Bodhi seed to touch, and whether they could record a video of his palm-pushing posture to take back and imitate.
Surrounded by people, Su Han was both amused and exasperated. He wasn't annoyed, but these questions left him speechless—he genuinely didn't know how he had done it, much less how to "teach" others to do the same. It's like you can't teach a fish how to swim; it's born knowing how. You also can't teach a tree how to grow; it knows to grow towards the light.
The sect leader, having finally had his fill of the spectacle, cleared his throat and stood up: "Fellow Daoists, it is true that Su Han is a disciple of my Lingxiao Immortal Sect, but his cultivation period is still short, and some of his insights are still being pondered by him. If any of you wish to learn from him, you might as well stay at our sect for a few days and exchange ideas at your leisure. It is getting late today, how about we have some vegetarian food first?"
With the sect leader speaking, the crowd naturally couldn't continue surrounding Su Han. Taking advantage of the situation, Su Han squeezed out of the throng and slipped out of the main hall. He stood under the eaves and took a deep breath; the fragrance of peach blossoms from the back mountain mingled with the smell of cooking smoke, filling his lungs and finally allowing him to relax.
But to his surprise, there were people waiting for him in the courtyard when he left the main hall.
…………
A young woman stood under the sycamore tree in the courtyard.
She was dressed in plain white, with a jade-green short sword hanging at her waist. Her long hair was loosely tied up with a wooden hairpin, with a few stray strands falling beside her cheeks. She was looking up at the newly sprouted buds on the tree, sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled shadows on her face.
Su Han recognized her. During the great battle in the mortal realm, she stood at the forefront of the defensive line, her emerald green short sword creating a curtain of swords, shielding the cultivators behind her from at least three waves of venomous spray. Later, when the evil creatures collapsed, she was helped down by her companions, her left arm hanging limply, probably broken.
Hearing footsteps, she turned around, her gaze lingering on Su Han's face for a moment before she smiled, her eyes crinkling: "Senior Brother Su." (End of Chapter)