A Pool of Water Bears All Beings

The moment the cracking sound rang out, the Great Dao was seen rising and sinking within the well. Inside, a droplet of water transformed from Dao principles shattered, becoming a lotus flower. Mysterious yellow and tranquil, it floated upon the water's surface.

"Eh, where did this lotus come from?" Zhen Yuanzi slightly opened his eyes and looked into the well.

The lotus seemed to have come alive, vivid and graceful, its strange fragrance wafting into his nostrils. Zhen Yuanzi looked into the well again and saw the Great Dao rising and sinking, only to discover that the Dao principles formed from his own Earthly Dao had vanished. Looking carefully at the lotus, he realized that while his Earthly Dao had risen and sunk within it, it had gained many insights and thus transformed into an Earthly Dao Golden Lotus, bearing his Dao.

Unlike a Dao Fruit, this golden lotus seemed to truly exist. It swayed with exquisite grace; with every movement, clear ripples rose and spread, stirring countless Great Daos that drifted without cease.

He stretched out a hand and lightly touched the golden lotus. The lotus was exceedingly affectionate, rubbing itself against Zhen Yuanzi's hand.

He had originally created this well merely for Nailin and Qingfeng's cultivation. Who would have thought it would bring such an unexpected delight, forming an Earthly Dao Golden Lotus? Its grade was unknown for now, but it was surely no ordinary thing.

He had never heard of anyone's Dao transforming into a golden lotus. Even Zhunti and Jieyin, the two great venerables of the Western Teaching, merely relied on their twelve-grade golden lotus to cultivate several lotus platforms.

Looking at the well again, he found it filled with fortune. Within it was the Dao of all beings, while above it, traces of fortune from countless living creatures had transformed into a sea of fortune, appearing as a hazy mist over the well.

Cultivating with the fortune of all beings made it easier to comprehend the Great Dao and commune with it. With the fortune of all beings protecting one during cultivation, there would be no danger of falling into demonic hindrances. It was truly extraordinary.

Yet as Zhen Yuanzi gazed at this small sea of fortune, he had no desire to possess it. To secretly seize the fortune of all beings for cultivation was to bear countless karmic ties, tangled beyond all clarification. Should the day of reckoning come, karmic flames would likely engulf him and burn away all his cultivation.

Besides, all beings suffered greatly and rarely glimpsed the Great Dao. Did he still need to contend with them over such trifling benefits?

At that thought, Zhen Yuanzi understood. His Dao was the Earthly Dao. The terrain was Kun; great virtue bore all things. The Earthly Dao was compassionate, carrying all beings upon its back. Thus, his Dao was to carry all beings forward step by step, kindly shielding them amid their suffering and clearly showing them the way to turn back as soon as possible. He would bear the Dao of all beings, achieve his Earthly Dao, and use his compassion to protect the goodness within all beings.

Thus, with a sweep of his sleeve, he scattered that small sea of fortune. He would return this fortune to all beings!

He released the restrictions around Five Villages Temple, then waved his hand and sent the scattered fortune back to all beings. Countless invisible strands of fortune flew toward their original owners.

When Zhen Yuanzi had traveled the world in years past, he had observed countless beings. At this moment, they all felt that something within them had become much more complete, though they did not know what it was.

At that moment, the golden lotus floated up into the air and hovered over the well's mouth, beginning to temper and forge the well. Originally, the well possessed no supernatural quality; it was merely a small well Zhen Yuanzi had formed by drawing upon the lay of the land. Yet after he returned the fortune of all beings, the Earthly Dao Golden Lotus began reforging it.

Though the golden lotus merely appeared to rise and fall above it, the unceasing sound of metal striking metal came from within—clang—clang—

As the forging continued, Zhen Yuanzi sat cross-legged beneath the Ginseng Fruit Tree and quietly observed. Nailin and Qingfeng had already been watching from the side. Seeing their posture, Zhen Yuanzi had them sit openly below him and carefully comprehend what they saw.

Zhen Yuanzi slowly calmed his mind and placed his awareness upon the golden lotus. After all, it was his own Dao; surely it should be able to sense him.

Gradually, Zhen Yuanzi discovered that he seemed to have become the golden lotus, forging the well himself. What shape to forge it into and how to forge it all seemed to be his own doing.

What kind of shape would be best?

Zhen Yuanzi could not help recalling the Eight-Treasure Merit Pool of the Western Teaching in later generations. It could cleanse one's innate foundation and elevate one's aptitude, and possessed the profound mystery of achieving a merit golden body.

Why not forge it into a pool, so that it could bear the Dao of all beings in the future?

Thus, Zhen Yuanzi began hammering and forging.

To Nailin and Qingfeng, their teacher Zhen Yuanzi had fallen into meditation while contemplating the Dao within, while only that strange golden lotus continued forging the well.

As year followed year, time became no more than a unit. How could it possibly leave traces upon Zhen Yuanzi?

He forged it for a full ninety thousand years.

Throughout those ninety thousand years, Zhen Yuanzi repeatedly overturned what he had made and began anew. No matter what form it took, he could not be satisfied. He held no fixed shape in mind, only hammering away, slowly drawing closer to perfection through unceasing attempts.

At last, Zhen Yuanzi decided to infuse it with merit, allowing merit to create and transform the pool, adding a measure of wonder and completing its imperfections.

He drew over another measure of merit and poured it within. The pool continuously flashed with radiance, and its origin source began to grow.

Finally, the pool water formed from the Dao that received all beings was poured into the pool. The pool seemed bottomless; no matter how much water entered it, it remained but a single pool, unfathomably deep. Then the golden lotus slowly descended and floated upon the pool water.

Zhen Yuanzi's mind followed it into the pool, drifting amid countless Great Daos.

At this moment, the pool transformed into a mid-grade postnatal merit spiritual treasure. Restrictions faintly formed within it, and its fortune was extraordinary.

At this moment, Zhen Yuanzi no longer knew what was happening outside. He merely drifted and drifted, swam and swam within the pool.

He drifted for ten thousand years.

He swam for ten thousand years.

Then he drifted again, swam again, and another ten thousand years passed.