Hearing Master Hui Shan say "do not cultivate Longevity," Pan Long froze. "Didn't you just say Buddha created the Way of Merit to save others? If it can save others, why can't it grant its practitioners Longevity?"
Master Hui Shan smiled. "Let me explain in detail."
He raised a hand. Light shimmered in his palm, forming clusters of phantoms, some bright and some dim.
"Living beings spend their lives doing good and accumulating Merit, or doing evil and amassing karma. Good or evil, every life must come to an accounting in the end."
The phantoms slowly sank, as though descending beneath water.
"Those who commit great evil fall into Hell. Those who do great good are reborn in Paradise. Those who fall between may dissolve into heaven and earth, or pass through the turns of reincarnation."
The phantoms began to change. Some sank out of sight, some flew into a mass of clear light, and others changed color before rising and sinking once more.
"Merit is the ticket to Paradise, or the armor that keeps a soul from dissolving."
Pan Long frowned slightly. "By that reasoning, couldn't even the most treacherous and wicked people benefit?"
Master Hui Shan smiled and shook his head. "Paradise did not arise on its own. Holy Monks of great virtue in the Buddhist School forged it from Merit and the power of their vows, allowing it to shelter souls in peace. Hell, on the other hand, is an endless abyss wrought by heaven and earth. Evil souls suffer there; an instant is an eternity, and they have not a moment's rest until they are torn to pieces."
He paused, then continued, "When we of the Merit School speak of 'saving others,' we mean the work of generations of monks accumulating Merit to expand and perfect