Chapter 1262: Chapter 689: Always by My Side
"The Bright Hall is where the Ming Venerable resides. It is neither brick nor tile, neither place nor location; it exists in the crevice where heartlights converge, dwelling in the abyss of inverted clarity and ignorance. If you find the Ming Venerable, you will find the Bright Hall, and if you find the Bright Hall, you will find the Ming Venerable."
"What sort of mystification are you teasing with here?"
Chen Yi sneered:
"You people from the Demon Sect are all like this, going in circles with your words as if it adds depth?"
The Purity Saintess didn’t take offense at the sarcasm but smiled and said, "There are things in this world that can only be comprehended intuitively and cannot be conveyed outright, hence they cannot be stated plainly, and can only be depicted with seemingly vague words."
Chen Yi felt disdainful of this. The people from the Ming’an Divine Sect, from start to finish, seemed to have hidden agendas, whether it was Gongsun Guan, the opposing Purity Saintess, or even Zhu E, who sometimes left people feeling in a fog.
"Less idle talk; if you don’t tell me what to do, how am I supposed to find the Bright Hall?"
"The clarity within ignorance is the Bright Hall, like me." The Purity Saintess said.
Chen Yi scrutinized the Purity Saintess for a moment. She emitted a faint white glow, incongruous amidst the frozen, dead world, yet she stood resolute. In a trance, he seemed to gain some insight.
The Purity Saintess instructed gently: "Like a chilly dark night, when all paths are exhausted, suddenly seeing a window ahead with a dim light—that is the Bright Hall."
As soon as the words fell, a wind seemed to blow past,
that gentle yet unsettling white light, like a drop of water absorbed by scorching sand, evaporated instantly without a trace.
No ripples, no lingering breath. The Purity Saintess vanished abruptly as if erased, as though she had never existed.
"Huh? That glowing... where did the person go?"
Donggong Ruoshu drifted around where the Purity Saintess had just stood, circling several times, even extending her translucent hand trying to wave but grasped only empty air.
She blinked in confusion, looking at Chen Yi, "Why did she leave halfway through talking? Even more annoying than the old women in the palace who stop their stories at critical moments."
Chen Yi ignored the stupid girl’s muttering, his gaze solemnly sweeping the surroundings.
The red silk ribbons still hung high, the edges of the gold-trimmed joy characters were sharp, the flames of the dragon and phoenix candles maintained their burning posture, the melted wax layered and solidified, the two women still holding the wedding cups, the festive air lingered—yet all was frozen in the World of Ignorance.
Even the fragrance of wine and warmth in the air were entirely fixed, leaving only boundless silence.
Chen Yi took a deep breath to calm his thoughts,
the Purity Saintess’s words seemed deeply meaningful but were not hard to grasp. Connecting them with everything seen and heard along the way made them clear in an instant.
This World of Ignorance allows people’s desires to come true, and she can also realize wishes, but it seems to be the opposite of the World of Ignorance. Superficially, the wish fulfillment of the World of Ignorance tends to lead to distortion and ruin, while the Purity Saintess’s fulfillment leads to completion.
Chen Yi’s eyes focused, his thoughts swiftly recalling.
The wish fulfillment in the World of Ignorance, whether from Qing Luo’s sudden attack long ago or from Yang Chongwei’s transformation into a walking corpse, ultimately drags people into a deeper abyss.
But the wish fulfillment brought by the Purity Saintess is completely different. Whether it is the safe resolution of a chaotic scene, the union of the two women, or Yin Weiyin’s Immortal Palace from before exposure—none posed real life threats, all were subtle quiet fulfillments of people’s hopes and wishes.
Therefore, further deducing—an Intention of the World of Ignorance is a kind of Dao, a method, a deep-seated nature, and the Purity Saintess had become the embodiment of a method. The method is True Suchness, no duality of self, hence she said she has arrived at the realm of the Buddha.
"The method..." Chen Yi muttered softly.
Her words become law, yet not by forceful opposition, with no ego or attachment, hence she can freely traverse within the Sea of Ignorance.
In Taoist terms, it could be said she is one with the Heavenly Dao, Chen Yi recalled his master Zhou Yitang’s awe-inspiring "Sword in Heaven and Earth," which elevated oneself’s Sword Intent to highest peaks, resonating with heaven and earth, borrowing its force while man remains the lord, with Sword Intent as the bridge.
Whereas the Purity Saintess’s state is even more extreme... she seems to have already reached Nirvana, no longer bound by human forms, beyond life and death, directly integrating herself into the Heavenly Dao; she is the manifestation of Dao rather than a seeker nearing Dao.
"I see, no wonder she speaks of mortals replacing gods..." Chen Yi thought apprehensively, gaining newfound apprehension toward the Purity Saintess’s enigmatic methods.
Deducing further, whether his archenemy Gongsun Guan has also touched a similar realm remains unknown, though perhaps by different paths.
He slowly exhaled a murky breath, his gaze swept over the frozen bridal chamber again.
Since the Bright Hall is the clarity within ignorance, it should also be akin to the Purity Saintess, not a living being nor a dead object, but a method.
"Let’s go, there’s no need to stay," with time pressing, Chen Yi said.
Donggong Ruoshu snapped back to attention, hurriedly saying, "What about them?"
Chen Yi looked back at the two women once more, both frozen within the World of Ignorance. If not for this, he would not have agreed to the Purity Saintess’s request. He said, "It’s precisely for them that I’m rushing."
After speaking, thoughts tumbling in his mind, Chen Yi pondered, and to ease himself, before leaving, leaned in front of the two women, giving them each a peck on the cheek.
First Min Ning, then Qin Qingluo, because Min Ning had been making so many concessions these days, Chen Yi thought whimsically, and then he smiled bitterly. These thoughts the two women would not know, even if they knew, they would not care much.
Not every woman is as meticulous as his Great Yin at home.
Yin Weiyin was the Immortal Lady, and thinking of this, Chen Yi suddenly wanted to find a glance of Zhou Yitang. He didn’t know why, but earlier he seemed to glimpse her shadow.
Yet looking around, he found no trace.
Chen Yi was puzzled at first, but warmth surged in his heart without good reason, but unable to articulate, he merely chuckled to himself:
"Ha, have you been with me all along?"
Zhou Yitang: "......"
The one-armed woman from miles away didn’t know what to say. She remained silent for a moment and eventually shook her head.
Among the three disciples, he is the only one who is so unaware of things, seeming smart but often misjudging... foolish to a fault.
As she thought this,
just then, Yin Tingxue looked over, surprised, "Master Zhou, why are you smiling? What’s so funny?"
"Nothing, let’s go, we’ve arrived."
"But I seem to... ouch," Little Fox raised her face, rubbing her head, "why did I get knocked suddenly?"
"Because you are knockable."
"... Master Zhou, you say that like he does."
"You talk too much."
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