681 Peering into the Heavens through Plates (1/2)

The Headmaster loved eating and ate well. As long as he was present, no one else would be in charge of ordering food. As the saying went, hot and cold dishes, meat and vegetarian dishes, they each have their own uses. When put together, the meal was refreshing and looking at the menu alone would make one salivate.

The dishes looked simple, but much attention had been paid to the ingredients used. The dishes had to be cooked on the spot and there was some time before they could be served. The Headmaster had long made preparations for this. He placed a basin of iced mashed taro on the table.

”Desserts are supposed to be sweet. I despise gourmets who want light deserts the most. If they want it to be light, then they might as well drink clean water. Why eat sweet food?”

The Headmaster doled out a bowl of iced mashed taro for Sangsang and indicated for her to enjoy herself before serving himself. He looked at Ning Que and said, ”It is a great joy to fight with Heaven, but why should we do that?”

Ning Que was serving himself mashed taro. When he heard that, he paused and thought that the Headmaster changed the subject really suddenly. He had been talking about the art of choosing dishes and drinks and had switched to an expansive topic like battling with Heaven the next moment.

The Headmaster said, ”Did the little monk Qishan tell you about this, back in the Lanke Temple?”

Ning Que thought about the scene before the Buddhist temple in the rain and what Master Qishan had said to him then.

Master Qishan mentioned the legends of what was above the Five States in that conversation. He mentioned the few uppermost states in the human realm like the never dying Devil's Doctrine State, Nirvana of the Buddhism Sect, the ascension to heaven and immortality of Haotian Taoism and the Beyond Mortality State of the Academy.

Master Qishan had said then, that there might be one person in the past millennium who could slowly walk to the end of the cultivation path. There might have been one person who could reach the shore astride, and one who could achieve living forever. Then, they would return to Haotian's embrace.

Ning Que was most concerned about Haotian's embrace and whether it meant death or immortality. Master Qishan could not answer the question. In the past, the Buddhas who had gotten to this step and Taoists who had managed to ascend to heaven and become immortals could not answer the question either. This was the greatest temptation and fear one would have in cultivation.

At the end of the conversation, Ning Que asked if there were any cultivators who did not ascend to the Heaven even if they got to that stage. Master Qishan's answer was that no one could escape the rules of Heaven.

The Buddhist temple in the autumn rain was cool and cheerless, and the sky in the autumn rain was very desolate. Ning Que felt really cold because he had once again discovered that Heaven's Way was ruthless.

Master Qishan had already entered Parinirvana, and even if he had any thoughts now, he would not be able to tell Ning Que. Ning Que recalled the conversation and vaguely guessed what the Headmaster wanted to say. His body stiffened.

It was noisy below the restaurant while they were discussing matters beyond the mortal realm upstairs. The stark comparison made him feel odd and absurd and he felt helplessly lost.

The Headmaster said, ”Why do we fight with Heaven? First, we have to understand what Heaven is.”

Ning Que thought of the conversation he had with his teacher under the starry night sky after he had read the ”Ming” Handscroll of the Tomes of the Arcane at the back of the mountain of the Academy. At the end of that conversation, the Headmaster had pointed at the sky and made four statements.

”We do not know whether Haotian is alive or not, whether it is tangible or not and where it could be. But we do know it is conscious. Younger Brother proved it, at the expense of his life.”

”If the Heaven's Way really exists, when it oversees the world, those mortals striving for life on earth or the cultivators capable of controlling wind or rain, are all ants in its eyes.”

”If the Heaven's Way really exists, it would never pity or care about ants. But if there are some ants beginning to notice its existence, approaching it in the sky and even trying to challenge it, how could its consciousness and will ignore that?”

”If the Heaven's Way really exists, it would be intangible and ruthless.”

These four statements were what made up Ning Que's initial understanding of Haotian or the so-called Heaven's Way.

After spending a long time fleeing with Sangsang, he had seen the gathering dark clouds and crows, and the sky bright on one side and enshrouded in darkness on the other; he had seen the peering Giant Golden Dragon and the arrival of the Divine Guard of Light. Matching it with the four statements, his understanding of Heaven's Way naturally deepened, and the fear in his heart grew as well.

Ning Que looked at the cloudless blue sky outside the restaurant and was silent.

The Headmaster held a spoon, scooping mashed taro into his mouth. He leaned against the railing, looking relaxed. Suddenly, he pointed the ladle to the sky outside the window and said, ”Haotian is not Heaven.”

Ning Que asked, ”Then what is it?”

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Heaven is a very special word that appears in the human language many times and often represents extremely intense emotions of either fear, awe or anger.

For example, in old Chinese sayings, ”heaven has eyes and tears”, or ”should heaven have feelings, it would age”. There are also terms like ”damned heavens”, ”dratted heavens” and ”good heavens etcetera”. Even the most commonly used Chinese exclamation has the word in it— ”heavens”!

Heaven represents supremacy, omnipresence, endurance, compassion and love, indifference and ruthlessness. It represented everything.

”Heaven's Way is a rule. A straight line would always be the shortest between two points. Three-sides would definitely be more stable than four. Light is the fastest, water always flows downwards, you need air for a fire to burn. These are the rules of the world and is called Heaven's Way.”

The Headmaster ate his mashed taro and said casually. Then, he threw the spoon in his hand out of the window. There was a shout of pain below as the spoon seemed to have hit a pedestrian.

”Like water, everything has to fall downwards. This is also a rule.”