530 Tales from the Pas (1/2)
He knows not of the Han Dynasty, not even the Wei Dynasty and the present Jin Empire... Meng Qi thought suddenly at Immortal Yunhe's question, feeling uneasy and bemused at the same time.
An actual enactment of the Fable of the Peach Blossom Spring this must be!
The Immortal's somber expression on his face did not escape Jiang Zhiwei's notice. ”You were not informed, Master Immortal,” she related pensively. ”His Holiness, Siddhartha Gautama the Great Buddha had come forth thereafter. With his powers, he had quelled the upheaval caused by the Demonic Buddha not long after its occurrence.”
”The Great Buddha?” gasped the Immortal. His right hand convulsed suddenly, dropping the horsetail whisk from his grasp. The whisk fell to the floor, its silky strands fluttered in its descent with the grace of sinking clouds.
Shock and awe crept across the Immortal's face, his eyes filled with wonder and amazement.
The Great Buddha who has been a great legend of the ancient myths had emerged to intercede, thought the Immortal.
He lives still?
There has been indeed methods and ways to increase longevity and immortality?
Meng Qi's reservations melted into nothingness instantly. Haha! The old, sly fox who had commanded the flow and pace of the conversation with his stature and bearing had been crumbled to such helpless shock, Meng Qi quipped to himself. His knowledge of the outside world had bolstered his inflating pride!
He emitted a gentle cough, ”It is true. The Demonic Buddha had tried to eliminate the faith and creeds of Buddhism, only for the Great Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama himself to emerge out of the shadows and thwarted his malignant designs. The appearance of the Great Buddha had dispelled all doubts that immortality was but a distant and elusive illusion.”
”Thus showing that true immortality exists... To think that Siddhartha Gautama still lives...” murmured the Immortal, his gaze lost and distant as if in a trance. He looked nothing more but a doddering old man who was stricken with senility and senescence.
The unbelievable sight shocked Guo Feihu that his eyes were wide as he stared at his teacher. He had once entered the tutelage of the Immortal at the young age of ten. Countless years have passed since his admission into the sect to his ascendancy to the prestigious position as a Divine Master of the sect. Yet, never had he ever witnessed Immortal Yunhe, the most esteemed leader of their school to have such an unignorable display of frailty!
There have not been any traces of Buddhism teachings in the realm of the Grotto dimension. Access to the ancient archives of scrolls and manuscripts that chronicled the archaic history of their faraway past was reserved only for the head of the Plenitude Sect or members of the Sect who have achieved the levels of the Dharmakaya. Guo Feihu has not the slightest impression of how a monk would look like, more so for the Great Buddha and the very significance that he wielded!
The Immortal heaved a great and long sigh. ”I can see that you speak the truth,” he said, ”It was a pity that our forefathers had to destroy the Plenitude Gate, robbing us all the spectacle of the present splendor you enjoy and the answers to the great conundrum of our training and cultivation. A true regret indeed.”
All roads of training and practice lead to the very same conclusion: immortality. Be it the cultivation of Qi energies, the practitioners in the application of magical charms and talisman, or common students of martial disciplines; a great mystery laid awaiting by the end of the long journey of their training and cultivation, the enigma of Life and Death. It was a question that all have sought answers for, a painful and unavoidable hurdle that followed after long years of arduous training and grueling regimens lest they relent to the ignominious end of shadows and dust.
Many may harbor the doubts that they would never reach anywhere near the end of the long journey. Still, the absence of Hope and the absence of the End were, nevertheless, two different distinctions.
Meng Qi paused while he waited for the Immortal to regain his composure. ”Still, since the incidents of the Demonic Buddha, great changes have occurred to the Heavens and Earth. There have been variations in the laws and order of Nature and the bulk of the Vital Qi in the atmosphere has all but dwindled,” Meng Qi revealed, ”The teachings of the martial disciplines, no, the cultivation of Qi energies have also waned and withered with time.
”I see... As expected...” muttered the Immortal, nodding his head gently. ”How many are there who possesses the levels of the Dharmakaya?”
This is to measure the standing of his present level and powers, Meng Qi thought. At the Immortal's forthcoming question, Meng Qi softened his tone as he answered, ”There are about ten in number, not counting the rest who might be in hiding and are still unknown.”
Han Guang, the Evil Master has not surfaced for many a great year. None could tell if the Evil Master has passed on or that he has been subdued. His sworn brother Gao Lan has been secretly cultivating his powers to achieve the level of the Dharmakaya, away from the notice of the masses of the outside world. There will hardly be any need to mention him for the moment.
”Ten?” The Immortal replied in amazement. ”The disciplines of cultivating Qi energies have become all but spent and diminished,” he sighed with melancholy.
”Still, they have fared better than what we have here in the Grotto dimension,” he admitted weakly.
Better, you say, wondered Meng Qi, does that mean that there are not more than three here who wield powers of the Dharmakaya level?
”Can you tell me of the names of the ten who wield such powers?” the Immortal continued.
Meng Qi raked through his memory of the Celestial Rankings which have yet to experience any change despite the long years. ”The first who reigns atop the list, Gu Erduo,” said Meng Qi, ”The Great Khan of the grassland prairies of the North. He who wields the Heaven-killing Axe.”
”The Heaven-killing Axe? To think that the name of the Axe could still be heard in the Mortal Realm even after the scourge of the foul demons and the cataclysms that the Demonic Buddha had wrought,” expressed Immortal Yunhe with wonder. His astonishment has revealed his familiarity with the name of the Peerless God Weapon which had caused ripples in the ancient times!
The conversation had taken a turn more preferable to Guo Feihu's liking in contrast to their former discussion about the Great Buddha of whom he has naught any knowledge of. He had once read about the Heaven-killing Axe during his study of some historical manuscripts.
”That is indeed the invincible Heaven-killing Axe,” nodded Jiang Zhiwei approvingly.
Immortal Yunhe pressed on with a few more questions of his own on the tidings from the northern grasslands whilst comparing the names of the locations to the ancient names he had once studied on. Silence followed until he gestured to Meng Qi to continue.
”The second, Immortal Chonghe of the Pure Sun Sect, and behind him, Abbot Kong Wen of the Shaolin Temple.”
”Kong Wen? He seems to be a Buddhist monk?” The tidings of the Great Buddha Siddhartha Gautama had piqued the Immortal's interest in the powers of the Buddhist Dharmakaya.
”Indeed,” Meng Qi replied truthfully, ”He has claimed the Golden Body of the Dragon-subduing Arhat.”
The news brought a smile to the Immortal who then asked, ”There was no mention of any Shaolin Temple prior to the incidents of the Demonic Buddha. I believe the order was established thereafter. From which Buddha or Bodhisattva did their teachings and disciplines originate from?”
”It was more two thousand years ago when the Elder Patriarch Bodhidharma came upon a stroke from the disciplines of the Buddha's Palm. From it, he came to discover many techniques and martial disciplines from the teachings of Buddhism. Thus he founded the Shaolin Temple atop Mount Liantai.” Meng Qi explained in brief.
The Immortal has great interests in the affairs of the outside world, as Meng Qi surmised through their exchange thus far. With confidence, Meng Qi was sure that he had not harbored any malicious intent of murdering them to keep the outside world a secret from the folk of the Grotto dimension.
Just then, the puzzled Immortal pressed with another question, ”Elder Patriarch Bodhidharma?”
This young man is an associate disciple of the Shaolin, wondered the Immortal.
Meng Qi replied with a flustered smile, ”To be honest, Master Immortal, I was from the Shaolin Temple until my expulsion due to my violation of the tenets of the Temple. But my Teacher is still present in the Temple, thus my respects to the Elder Patriarch Bodhidharma himself.”
The news swept Guo Feihu with shock, leaving him a shred of fear for his guest, his Teacher is still present... He was formerly under the tutelage of a Dharmakaya! That would explain his invincibility despite his young age!
Instead, Immortal Yunhe answered with laughter, ”Fine tutelage produces remarkable students, indeed.”
His gaze hopped between Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei curiously, wondering if Meng Qi was expelled in violation of tenets forbidding lust.
His boring gaze left Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei abashed with embarrassment, especially Zhiwei, whose cheeks burned pink.
”Tell me where Mount Liantai is?” asked the Immortal shortly, lifting his gazes off the young pair.
He likes to ask about the geography of the outside world, comparing the sites with the ancient manuscripts he studied as he mentally mapped the outside world.
Without much knowledge prior to the upheaval of the Demonic Buddha, Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei explained the site of Mount Liantai as best they could by including details of the surroundings and landmarks nearby.