I Seek Only One Thing, and Its Name Is the Way...

"Here should do. No one outside will see us." A soldier suddenly drew his sword. "Don't blame us!"

The dozen or so ragged men and women panicked. They screamed and ran, but all fell in the end. Once the three soldiers had finished killing them, they wiped the blood from their blades. Two took out small knives to cut off ears, while the third bowed to the Clay Idol.

"What are you bowing to it for?" another soldier scoffed. "If the gods of the Jin People were any use, or even cared about them, would they have come to this? Let's go."

The three hurried away, leaving bodies strewn across the ground. Blood flowed, slowly reaching the depths of the temple.

The Clay Idol was stained with it and trembled faintly.

Chen Cuo took a deep breath and unclenched his fists. He knew the Illusory Realm before him was history buried long ago.

"That was when I gained awareness," the indistinct figure suddenly said. "I was originally a statue of the Dragon King. After the Dragon King entered reincarnation, I received incense offerings and gained a trace of True Spirit. Then, through this..." He pointed at the blood covering the ground. "I gained a true self."

Chen Cuo fell silent.

The indistinct figure waved a hand, and the many Images began to spin.

Time flowed on. Though the Temple Dragon King had gained awareness, few people worshipped him and little incense was offered. He had few divine powers and could only watch the Images within the temple, day after day.

Over the long years, many ordinary people came. Most bowed while they were there. Strange things happened, too: demons, ghosts, fox spirits, scholars, and generals lingered in the Dragon King Temple, playing out one tale of joy or sorrow after another.

Their thoughts and deeds left their marks within the temple.

"After hearing these people speak so often, I learned that something exists between heaven and earth called the Way."

The indistinct figure spoke again, his voice ethereal. "The Way is the Gate of Myriad Wonders. Surely it could answer the questions in my heart."

Chen Cuo remained silent. He already had a faint suspicion.

Before long, some mountain villagers came to worship and brought a live sacrifice, a rarity in recent decades: a Little Pig.

The Little Pig stayed from then on. It was rather clever and could faintly hear the Clay Idol speak. It even answered him, bringing a little life to the lonely temple.

Then the Images inside the temple changed again!

Without warning, heaven and earth dimmed. A shadow blotted out the sky and shrouded the temple. A Great Demon with enormous wings descended and entered. After looking around, it left.

But the demon was vicious. Though it did not stay, a single glance, without so much as a blow, drained most of the Little Pig's life.

Seeing the Little Pig at death's door, the Temple Dragon King divided off a wisp of incense power and passed on the Incense Method he had worked out for himself. A divine spirit took shape within the Little Pig, allowing it to survive.

Before long, the Great Demon returned. It sent demonic winds seeping into every corner and made the temple its lair. For a time, it ran rampant, dragging in prey to imprison and slaughter. The place became foul and chaotic.

From then on, no one came to worship.

Only the Little Pig kept going in and out, concealing itself with a little incense smoke. It crossed mountains and rivers to find towns and villages, then carefully slipped into people's dreams and tricked them into making offerings there. It stole the thoughts offered with the incense and secretly brought them back for the Temple Dragon King to absorb. That was how he held on.

But as the years passed, the Temple Dragon King still grew weaker. Cracks appeared in the Clay Idol.

Watching the scene, the indistinct figure said, "My Daoist Friend risked his life day after day and gave so much for me. But my virtue was too shallow..."

Chen Cuo wanted to offer comfort, but all he could manage was a sigh.

It was all in the past. Nothing could be changed now.

Then the Images changed again. A Daoist arrived.

His face was indistinct, his long hair loose over Dark Robes. As soon as he arrived, he reached out, forced the Great Demon into its true form, and swept it straight into his sleeve.

But the Daoist did not leave. Instead, he cupped his hands toward the Clay Idol. He had somehow recognized that it was extraordinary, and he even sat down to discuss the Way with it.

"Daoist Friend, you were born of the decree governing all Images..." As the Daoist spoke, his entire body suddenly blurred until not even his outline could be made out.

Chen Cuo was puzzled.

The indistinct figure smiled. "A flawless true immortal has united the real and the unreal and cast off falsehood to preserve truth. Even in another's memories, no false image of him remains. That is why you cannot see him clearly."

Good heavens! He could affect someone else's memories of him? What level of cultivation was that?

Chen Cuo was astonished, and a little longing rose within him.

The Daoist and the Clay Idol discussed the Way. Chen Cuo could see them but could not hear their voices.

At last, the Daoist beckoned a little turtle out of the river, left something on its shell, and turned to leave.

By then, Chen Cuo understood where the Little Pig and the Little Turtle had come from and how they were connected.

The Images shifted once more.

The Daoist had taken the Great Demon and drifted away, but the people nearby had grown afraid of the place. Even mountain villagers rarely came, and the Dragon King Temple fell deeper into ruin.

The Little Pig and the Little Turtle stole incense offerings from dreams, but it was a drop in the bucket. More and more Rifts spread across the Clay Idol.

At last, one day, the Dragon King Clay Idol's head abruptly broke off and rolled to the ground. The mountain temple collapsed completely.

The last thing Chen Cuo saw was the Little Pig and the Little Turtle weeping over the ruins.

Then everything went dark. Only the indistinct figure glowing Golden Light remained before Chen Cuo.

"Even at the end, I never truly attained the Way." He seemed to shake his head. "If that is so, what meaning was there in my birth from blood, only to perish unnoticed in these mountains?"

Chen Cuo was silent for a moment.

The indistinct figure's eyes gradually came into focus. Looking at Chen Cuo, he said, "From my birth to my passing, I was confined to one corner of a temple and never saw the wider world. Had I attained the Way, perhaps I would have known why I was born, and what meaning there was in living."

Thinking of his own experiences, Chen Cuo felt a stir of understanding. "A temple within the heart can shelter the mind. Beyond that inner temple lie countless worlds. But beyond those worlds, there may be still more mysteries. Some can cross over in body, others travel in spirit. How can we know that the world outside the temple isn't itself another vast temple containing an entire world? What is real and what is illusion? Who can say?"

The indistinct figure froze, then burst into laughter!

"So that's it! That was what the Daoist meant all those years ago! Now I can be at peace!"

His laughter echoed all around, throwing Chen Cuo's thoughts into disarray. Chen Cuo was about to ask another question.

But the indistinct figure spoke first. "I could not attain the Way. I hope you can look upon the path I took and learn from it, Daoist Friend. If it helps you go farther, then some part of me will live on!" As he finished speaking, his indistinct form suddenly scattered. The Golden Light that had been held within broke free and surged toward Chen Cuo, winding around him before finally sinking into his body.

A sigh came from the darkness on every side.

"Great waves sift through sand, through countless grains. I seek only one thing, and its name is the Way..."

Wrapped in Golden Light, with that sigh in his ears, Chen Cuo watched light and shadow shift. His gaze grew unfocused. It was as though he had lived through more than a century again, witnessing the temple's entire rise and fall.

At the same time, a flood of information rushed toward him, on the verge of merging into his mind.

But Chen Cuo had been through this before. Naturally, he would not let it happen again. He had yet to fully sort through Chen Fangqing's many memories. How could he take in all this now?

Yet he knew exactly how valuable that information was. The insights within it could serve as a guiding light for anyone setting foot on the Incense Path.

With a thought, Chen Cuo silently recited the true-self formula and steadied his mind. He let the Golden Light flicker across his thoughts without allowing it into the depths of his Mindfield. Knowing he could not delay, he slowly withdrew his awareness and fell asleep.