Zhu Guang Worries About Ling Qing

Muzhou Prefecture—Hangzhou, that is—Qingxi County, within the Manichaeist headquarters.

Zhu Guang sat upright in a residence assigned to a Dharma Hall Master.

A Dharma Hall Master was an elder of Manichaeism, able to oversee one of the sect's halls and expound the teachings to its disciples.

Yet there were as many as three hundred and sixty such elders, placing them only one rank above ordinary disciples.

Above them were seventy-two bishops, twelve apostles, and the Holy Spirit Incarnate.

At that moment, he was comparing and verifying his own Purification and Bright Light Precious Pearl Scripture against the Life-Purifying Treasure Treasury Scripture.

"My Purification and Bright Light Precious Pearl Scripture begins by clearing the heart and purifying karmic defilements. Then one beholds the light, transforms it into precious flame, and forms a pearl elixir.

"The Life-Purifying Treasure Treasury Scripture, on the other hand, first requires one to seek the Bright Venerable and obtain a thread of light. Only then can one purify life, gather radiance, and transform it into the Fire of Light.

"I hear it also contains methods of the Spirit Condensation rank. Presumably, they follow the same path as my method of forming pearl elixirs.

"By that measure, Manichaean light is not an improper path after all.

"Yet one must first seek a god before cultivating oneself. That is no different from placing all the fruits of one's cultivation upon the altar.

"If the Fiery Bright Venerable possesses some compassion, then after one succeeds in cultivation, one may live eternally within his realm.

"But if he has no compassion to speak of, then he can simply reclaim the Fire of Light refined by his believers and absorb it into himself."

There was indeed a reason Manichaeism and the Fiery Bright Venerable had been denounced as an unorthodox path.

"One