After the gates of Xuanqing Mountain's Daoist Arena opened, cushions had already been laid in neat rows between the halls and pillars within, stretching from the main hall at the mountaintop all the way to the edge of the plaza at the foot of the mountain, like a blank score awaiting its notes. After the guests who had come to offer congratulations took their seats in the guest section outside the Daoist Arena, their gazes turned in unison toward the gray-white figure atop the mountain, waiting for his next move.
Xuanqing sat cross-legged atop the raised platform before the main hall of the Dao Palace. There was no lotus throne or cushion beneath him; only a slowly revolving pattern of the Law of Reincarnation supported his form. His gaze swept across all the figures seated throughout the Daoist Arena, spreading like a tide to its edges. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"Poor Daoist has only just attained Hunyuan and should not have been so eager to expound the Dao. But since you have all come here, I shall share with my fellow Daoists a little of the introductory meaning of the Great Dao of Reincarnation." Xuanqing's voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it naturally spread through the space before the Dao Palace like a clear mountain spring, covering the entire Daoist Arena. "The Great Dao of Reincarnation may seem complex, but its foundation lies in the two words 'cycle and return.' The living must perish, and the perished are reborn. Between departure and return lies the essence of reincarnation."
His voice continued to echo over the Daoist Arena, like an unrolled scroll slowly revealing the fundamental framework of the Great Dao of Reincarnation in the clearest possible order to the listeners' senses. The cultivators seated in the