Chapter 1123: Refusing Reincarnation
"At the moment I first gave birth to spiritual intelligence, I stood alone, trapped within the Hanging Garden Palace, enduring boundless solitude. Later, when I dwelled in Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea, I did encounter and care for some demons, but I did so only on a whim, always from a lofty height.
"I had never truly understood ‘emotion.’
"Even after I obtained a human body and was reborn, I still believed myself to be a spirit nurtured by heaven and earth. I discarded that fragment of mortal consciousness as if it were worn-out shoes. I did not know how to deal with that worldly tie and merely hoped time would smooth it away.
"At Yinshan Stronghold, through your introduction, Brother, I witnessed the brotherly bond between the Tan Brothers.
"One was willing to risk his life and cultivate a devilish art to shield his elder brother from calamity. The other, though his cultivation was meager, persisted for decades without fail, doing everything in his power to preserve that faint spark of life within his brother.
"In that moment, I finally comprehended what emotion was, and what it meant to be human.
"When our souls fused, I had to bear his karma and his emotions as well!
"He had always carried attachments. He worried about Qingyang Temple and about his disciple, whom he treated like family. That longing had already become an obsession, buried deep in his heart, yet I had never perceived it.
"Injuries of the soul could be healed with spiritual herbs. But if one failed to recognize this truth, one could never break free from the shackles.
"You brought Yufu to me. I accepted him as my successor and devoted myself fully to aiding his cultivation. I ordered him that once his cultivation bore fruit, he must restore Qingyang Temple to glory. Only then did the obsession dissolve.
"Within the demon fire, we truly became one." As he spoke, Wandering Man’s expression shifted several times.
He began with indifference and aloof pride, passed through confusion, and finally, when he mentioned Qingyang Temple and Yufu, revealed a tenderness as deep as a father’s love.
Just as he himself had said, he had grasped the meaning of emotion and had become a true human. Only now did Qin Sang fully understand.
Why, after entering Taiyi Core Sect and achieving success in cultivation, Wandering Man had never returned to Great Sui, never once gone back to Cuiming Mountain to see Qingyang Temple, nor visited Daoist Jixin.
At the time, Qin Sang had assumed that Wandering Man had single-mindedly pursued the Dao and severed all worldly ties.
Yet later, he had treated Li Yufu, separated from him by several generations, as his own child. He had devoted himself wholeheartedly to reviving Qingyang Temple and had placed extraordinary importance on its Dao Lineage.
So this had been the hidden truth.
In the world of immortal cultivation, there existed the art of possession, but it could not be carried out recklessly.
In a cultivator’s lifetime, it could only be performed once. Perhaps there were Dao Techniques or devilish arts even more formidable than possessions that could break this iron law, but such methods were rare beyond imagination.
Moreover, a cultivator could not seize the body of a mortal. A mortal would collapse under the strain.
Wandering Man’s experience clearly differed from ordinary possessions.
Perhaps, just as he had said, he had been an anomaly born beneath heavenly tribulations.
Qin Sang could not help recalling his own circumstances.
Even now, he did not fully understand whether what had happened to him counted as a possession. When he had arrived in this world, he too had been a mortal, yet he had occupied Qin Sanwa’s body.
Regardless of whether it was a possession or not, Qin Sang did not dare test the taboo again.
There was also a fundamental difference between him and Wandering Man. Wandering Man had fused with a remnant soul. Qin Sang had possessed a complete soul.
What he had inherited were only Qin Sanwa’s memories and fleshly body.
When his cultivation had been shallow and his Dao Heart unsteady, he had once returned to Wang Village and had wavered under the influence of the original owner’s memories. Yet he had quickly recognized himself and erased all lingering influence.
He had no doubt that he was Qin Sang. His cultivation had never been hindered because of it.
Wandering Man’s path had been far more arduous. He had searched everywhere for spiritual herbs and, after immense hardship, had obtained the Night Lily, yet it had only slightly eased his condition. Only after comprehending the obsession within his heart and casting himself into the demon fire had he resolved the hidden danger.
"Earlier, when I presented you with the Soul-Nourishing Wood, you said your soul was intact and that no hidden danger remained. Why then did you encounter dual tribulations while crossing the Spiritual Infant Tribulation?" Qin Sang asked in a low voice.
"So it was the two tribulations arriving together!" Wandering Man exclaimed.
After listening carefully to Qin Sang’s account of the scene, Wandering Man let out a long sigh. "The Spiritual Infant Tribulation and the tribulation of the Transformation Realm came simultaneously. The fused might of the two surpassed even my expectations.
"Though I was reborn through fire, I remained an anomaly formed from the fusion of human and demon remnant souls. Such an aberration was not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao. The heavenly tribulations were bound to change.
"Before the tribulation, I sensed something faintly through the resonance between heaven and man. In recent years, I traveled everywhere, settling various karmic ties. I prepared for this day in advance.
"The Great Dao is ruthless! If I had crossed this tribulation, the Heavenly Dao would have acknowledged me, and the road ahead would have been open and smooth.
"If I failed, I would perish, and my Dao would dissipate. Dust would return to dust, earth to earth."
Qin Sang felt shaken to his core. For the first time, he truly sensed how small he remained, even as a cultivator.
The Great Dao was ruthless!
Those who are not knowledgeable cannot know more than those who are; those who live shorter cannot have seen much more than those who live longer.
Cultivators pursued immortality and the Dao like moths rushing toward flame, yet still they pressed forward without hesitation.
"The karmic ties between Yufu and Taiyi Core Sect have already been severed. After I die, let him follow you. In Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea, there are also some weaker demons who once shared ties with me. I have already made arrangements. The cultivation world is turbulent now. Once you form your Spiritual Infant, I hope you will visit Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea. You asked several times about Demon King Qianji. You must have had some matter in mind. It is a pity I cannot accompany you. Qianji attained the Dao late, and I know little of him. But as the master of Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea, you should find it easy to investigate..." Wandering Man quietly arranged his final affairs.
His figure grew increasingly indistinct, his voice ethereal, on the verge of dispersing from the world.
Qin Sang suppressed his grief and listened until the end. Then he said solemnly, "Rest assured, Senior. I will help Yufu restore Qingyang Temple and will protect Thousand-Mountain Bamboo Sea!"
Wandering Man smiled and nodded. Then his expression sharpened. "There is one final matter that only you can accomplish."
"Senior, please speak!" Qin Sang said with a solemn expression.
"Having failed the tribulation, I should have dispersed my consciousness and released my soul, returning to the cycle of reincarnation.
"But that is not my wish. I do not cultivate for the next life. I contend only for this life!
"The Great Dao consists of fifty laws and the heavens gave rise to forty-nine of them.[1]
"I would rather this body never enter reincarnation and, in this lifetime, contend once more with the Heavenly Dao!" His gaze blazed with clarity, his words ringing like struck stone.
Though his body was illusory, his bearing seemed vast enough to uphold heaven and earth!
He looked at Qin Sang. "That charred wood was once my true spiritual bamboo body. Beneath the heavenly tribulations, it turned to charcoal. What remained was further ruined by tribulation lightning and became this scorched fragment.
"Yet it was still formed from my original body. With a secret art, I infused a thread of my origin true spirit into it.
"If you refine it into a top grade astra, it should preserve my true origin spirit from dissipation. The astra will also have a great chance of giving birth to spiritual intelligence, perhaps even an artifact spirit!
"I only hope that one day you achieve immortality and attain the Dao. Then perhaps I may be reborn through the body of that artifact spirit!"
***
Crack! The jade slip shattered.
Qin Sang’s spiritual consciousness withdrew from it. He stood in silence.
He lowered his head and looked at the charred wood which felt extremely heavy in his hand!
Wandering Man remained as he had always been in Qin Sang’s memory: the white-bearded Daoist devoted wholly to the Dao.
Faced with an unparalleled heavenly tribulation, he bore not the slightest resentment. He possessed only a heart that never abandoned the pursuit of the Dao.
Within despair, he fought for a single chance of survival.
1. This is a line from the Book of Changes, or I Ching, a Chinese classic. The Great Dao here refers to the laws that govern the universe. The heavens decided forty-nine of them, representing how much in this world is decided by the heavens, or Heavenly Dao. ☜
