Daoist Chongling raised his wine cup. For someone of his present Profound Connection realm standing to toast a mere Pulse Movement novice was rather inconceivable; but this was cultivation. If it benefited his Dao Path, what harm was there in toasting even a mortal?
And he offered the toast with all the more sincerity.
"This first cup is to thank you for easing my worries in Fufeng City! Old Meng did kill those people, and those four rich young men deserved their fate. If I still couldn't see the crux of the matter, what use were my decades of cultivation?
"For the sake of building the dike and benefiting the people, I couldn't reveal the truth; for the sake of my conscience, I couldn't turn a blind eye either! Without your intervention, my only choice would have been to plant something in that Wang Family son before I left...
"To harm someone through secret, underhanded means would damage my virtue! But you resolved all of this for me!"
He drained the cup, poured himself another, and raised it as he continued, "This second cup is for what happened in Liupanshui! If I hadn't dealt with that matter cleanly, I would have had no hope of reaching Profound Connection. Had it truly led to the water demons slaughtering the city, I would never have overcome that hurdle in my heart!
"I had too many misgivings, but you dared to act. Leaving aside whether the process was too rash and ill-considered-was it great wisdom wearing the guise of foolishness, or reckless impulsiveness?-the result is there for all to see. You saved the entire city of Liupanshui, and I was one of those you saved!"
He drained it again and filled another cup. "This third cup is for the return journey of more than ten days. With the debt I owed you for helping me twice, if you had truly asked me, I couldn't have refused! A Daoist may not be a man of heroic mettle, but he must surpass one. To leave a kindness unpaid would be a failing in his personal virtue!
"That was why I arranged for you to spend time with Xiaosong and Jiyue every day, hoping to have them set you free, so I wouldn't have to bear the chief responsibility. I admit that during those dozen or so days, every day felt like a year!
"But you never breathed a word. You spared us, while we..."
Having drained all three cups, Chongling laughed despondently. "If only your aptitude were a little better, with your disposition, you would surely achieve something on the Dao Path. What a pity, what a pity!"
With the pent-up gloom in his chest dispersed, Daoist Chongling swept his sleeves, rose, and strode away. Only after leaving the lodge did he shake his head and sigh despite himself. Even after he had gone that far, the man still hadn't asked him for help!
Was he a fool? Had he actually misjudged him?
...Chongling hadn't misjudged him. Hou Niao understood perfectly well why the Daoist had come. In essence, he was saying that he was now an advanced Profound Connection cultivator and had a certain amount of authority to help him. As long as Hou Niao asked, there would surely be some way-at least he wouldn't have to die?
But that wasn't what he wanted! For someone who enforced the law, right was right and wrong was wrong. He needed to pay the price for killing, or he wouldn't be able to get past that hurdle in his heart.
That sounded a little too noble. The real reason was that Chongling's help now would amount to nothing more than helping him escape the death penalty, but his real problem wasn't life or death. It was a life worse than death!
What meaning was there in surviving? To remain so hopelessly without accomplishment? If he had been willing to live that ordinary sort of life, why would he have driven himself to this point? He would have arranged a way out long ago. Would he have ended up with so little control over his own fate?
This Daoist was very interesting. He had finally shown him clearly what a cultivator was, what a Daoist was! After an impassioned speech, just when you thought the Daoist was ready to take knives through both sides for you, the Daoist said: I feel better now. You can go and die!
It was a very strange feeling, impossible to put into words or explain. Was this cultivation?
He raised his cup, pouring and drinking alone. Either he would die with a full belly, or he would change this life completely!
...The next day, all the cultivators awaiting punishment in the Daoist temple were taken somewhere unfamiliar. He knew little of the Divine Capital, so he had no idea whether this was the imperial palace or a Daoist ritual ground.
In any case, it was an immensely spacious square, surrounded by layer upon layer of verdant pines. A single enormous altar stood in its center, divided into three tiers and fashioned from white jade, its design ancient and simple, solemn and orderly.
Unlike what Hou Niao had imagined, the sacrifices stood on the highest of the altar's three tiers, while the presiding Daoists stood below it.
There were nineteen sacrifices in all, including him and Old Man Baoshi, standing at different positions on the three-tiered altar. They seemed to be arranged haphazardly, but in reality, his knowledge was simply too limited to discern the intricacies.
Not long after taking his place, he felt as though a force was restraining him, preventing him from moving freely. This was hardly unexpected. After all, with life and death before them, no one could guarantee they wouldn't lose their composure at the last moment and embarrass everyone.
He turned his gaze below the platform, where dozens of Daoists stood silently and solemnly in their respective places. Daoist Chongling was among them, standing farthest away, perhaps also in the position of lowest status.
The entire square was utterly silent. Whether sacrifices or spectators, everyone in this atmosphere was, consciously or otherwise, overawed by a certain presence. It was something beyond words, a submission to some mighty power. With Hou Niao's realm, he should not have been qualified to perceive such an atmosphere, but here, in these surroundings, he felt it.
He began to truly believe that immortals existed somewhere in the unseen, looking down upon all living beings from a place he could not see.
He began to seriously consider where his Heaven-Bestowed Spiritual Opportunity would be offered. Would it truly be offered to immortals? Or returned to heaven, earth, and nature? Or would the Daoists use some trick to intercept and retain it?
Would there truly be life and death? How would he die? Would there be another life?
As a law enforcer accustomed to seeing condemned criminals meet their punishment, had he ever imagined that such a day would come for him?
Was the only difference that the execution block had become an altar, and the demon-headed executioner's blade had been replaced by the extraction of his spiritual root?
At this moment, he began to reflect on whether everything he had done had value. Whether it was worth it.
According to his plan, fulfilling his ambitions required strength; gaining strength required cultivation; and to cultivate, he couldn't remain in this state of neither living nor dead. The spiritual opportunity he sensed couldn't help him cultivate, so he needed a different spiritual root. To replace his spiritual root, he first had to have the old one extracted...
He couldn't do it himself, so he could only have the Daoist Sect do it for him!
This was an enormous gamble. Even if the chance was faint, it was better than spending his entire life muddling along.
...At noon, when yang energy was at its strongest, everyone's vision blurred, and a Daoist wearing a tall crown abruptly appeared before the altar, as though he had been standing there all along. This was probably Xiao True Person, who was presiding over this prayer ceremony?
The Daoists all saluted. Xiao True Person stood with his hands behind his back, his head raised toward the sky. Who knew what opportune moment he was waiting for?
A short while later, the auspicious hour arrived. Xiao True Person raised his hands slightly and formed a variety of intricate hand seals. With his movements, the entire altar began to hum, while a rhythmic, rising and falling chant emerged from his mouth,
"...The nameless was the beginning of all things; with the Dao, the hundred spirits first arose. In utter stillness, ride the cinnabar breath; through mysterious radiance, ascend to the Jade Void. The Three Primes follow the raised banners; the Eight Radiances pursue the returning carriage. The crimson phoenix comes bearing the seal in its beak; the blue bird enters to present a book. A ruined mechanism becomes a mechanism once more; a withered fish becomes a fish again. Rest the heart in the Hall of Bathing Suns; take pleasure and dwell in the Ruins of Clouds..."