Chapter 515: An Initial Understanding of Karma (2/2)

Protect the Crow Divinity Tribe!

After that, he gave the vine seed to the Crow Divinity Tribe Greatfather. The old man looked silently at Meng Hao and thought back to all the scenes from years past, and to what Meng Hao had said about giving hope to the Tribe.

All of the things that had happened flashed through his mind, causing his vision to blur somewhat as he looked at Meng Hao.

“Starting today,” said Meng Hao softly, “the Church of the Golden Light will be part of the Crow Divinity Tribe. From now on… the Tribe will not be called Crow Divinity, but rather, the Golden Crow Clan!” The members of the Crow Divinity Tribe began to tremble. It was hard to say who did it first, but they all began to drop to their knees and kowtow to Meng Hao.

No one spoke. However, the tears in their eyes and the looks on their familiar faces made clear their deep respect, fanaticism, and gratitude for Meng Hao.

Meng Hao looked at them and smiled. It was a smile that said, “The time has come to part.”

He turned and looked at Gu La. “Gu La…. Henceforth, you are free. Before releasing you, though, I must say that I truly hope you remain as a member of the Golden Crow Clan, to be their Dragoneer.”

Gu La trembled as he dropped to his knees and stared at Meng Hao in a daze. On the long road of travel, his past grievances had long since vanished. He wore a strange expression at the moment, one filled with reluctance to part ways. After a moment, he lowered his head and voiced his agreement.

“I give you the Wild Giant,” continued Meng Hao. “Treat it well.” Meng Hao looked over at the Wild Giant. Throughout the years, it had been injured over and over again, and its body was now covered with scars. Despite that, it was mighty. It looked at Meng Hao with a blank expression, as if it didn’t quite understand everything that was going on.

“As for these 800,000 neo-demons, I will not take any of them with me. I give them to all of you, to form the backbone of the Golden Crow Clan’s battle prowess. I will personally brand all of them so that you don’t need to control them. They will be here to protect the Golden Crow Clan.” With that, he waved his right hand. Immediately, 800,000 neo-demons roared a shocking roar. Each one of them looked at Meng Hao, as if they were communicating with him….

Grievous whines could be heard from Big Hairy and the others, as if they were unwilling to separate.

Meng Hao looked at the Greenwood Wolves with a soft smile. He thought back to all the years ago when he had joined the five Crow Divinity Tribes, and had first laid eyes on the five Greenwood Wolf pups.

He could still remember their plaintive yips after going hungry for a whole night.

He thought about how he ran out into the mountain forest to find food for them.

“You’ve grown up now,” he said softly. “You don’t need to follow me any more…. Where I’m going... the five of you can’t go.”

Their mournful howls seemed to cause the surrounding members of the Golden Crow Clan to be roused from their prostration. They raised their heads to look at Meng Hao with expressions of grief.

“Exalted Sacred Ancient, please, do not leave the Golden Crow Clan….”

“Exalted Sacred Ancient, can’t you stay with us in the Black Lands?”

“Without you, exalted Sacred Ancient, we would have long since perished on the way here. Sacred Ancient, the Golden Crow Clan will forever remember your kindness!”

Hearing the all their words caused Meng Hao to stand there silently for a long moment. Finally, he shook his head and looked at them earnestly.

“There is no need for you to thank me,” he said quietly. “Everything I did was to pay a debt of gratitude to the Golden Crow and the great tree. It was also my way of making an apology. Perhaps… this is Karma.” He waved his hand, causing one of the Demon Spirits he had sealed to fly over into the hands of the Greatfather.

“Take it and enter in the Black Lands!” He gave a deep look to the Golden Crow Clan, then glanced at the Black Lands. He knew that the remaining Demon Spirit he possessed would soon lead to conflicts. Deciding not to remain behind any longer, he turned his back on the Black Lands and strode off. Taking advantage of the temporary five elements combination, he quickly shot off into the distance and disappeared.

“Beloved concubine,” said the parrot, in a fair imitation of Meng Hao, “You stay behind here to recover from your wounds. Please take care of the Church of the Golden Light for me. Lord Fifth… will come back for you.” Looking both sad and arrogant, it flapped its wings as it shot off into the distance to follow Meng Hao.

“Haha! Freedom, bitches! My beloved concubine is too protective. I can’t deal with that. Finally I’m free…. Ah, the smell of freedom! How lovely!”

“Exalted Sacred Ancient!” As Meng Hao left, all of the members of the Golden Crow Clan turned and once again prostrated themselves toward him. After a long time passed, they slowly rose to their feet. Filled with melancholy, unsure of the future, they took their 800,000 neo-demons and entered the Black Lands.

Meng Hao’s departure caused the faces of crowds on the battlement above to be filled with shock. Zhang Wenzu’s pupils constricted. He suddenly realized that his judgement of Meng Hao had been completely off.

“Where is he going…?”

Duo Lan was shocked. Zhou Dekun stared with wide eyes.

Far off in the distance, Meng Hao proceeded onward. His expression was calm, his entire bearing completely different than it had been before.

“If I hadn’t chosen to go to the five Crow Divinity Tribes that year, the Golden Crow could have lived for another thousand years. My arrival was the sowing of Karma. The reaping of that Karma was the death of the Golden Crow. However, that reaping was another sowing. Because the Golden Crow perished, the Crow Divinity Tribes declined, and narrowly escaped being exterminated. They were nearly wiped away in the Apocalypse. That was a reaping of Karma.

“Sowing contains reaping, reaping contains sowing. Everything that happened before was all sowing. Karma was reaped after I led the Crow Divinity Tribe out of the north all the way to the Black Lands.

“It is similar to repaying kindnesses. The kindness is the sowing of Karma, and the repayment is the reaping of it!

“Karma is about cause and effect. I… understand now.” As he traveled along, his eyes began to glow with enlightenment. It was as if he could see the faint Karma threads attached to all living things!

Laughing, Meng Hao slapped his bag of holding to produce the Ji Clan fishing rod. As he cast it out, within his heart floated the sense of the Karma of all living things.

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This chapter was sponsored by Brandy-Lee Dennis, Jerry Hou, LB, Aaron Stoute, Omar Hamad, Sebastian Weiß and Anonymous