"Commands?" The Five-Eyed Merciful One trembled uncontrollably as the voice above him spoke coldly, "Such audacity..."
The Five-Eyed Merciful One frantically kowtowed and cried out in terror, "I understand! I understand! Your Excellency’s immortal merit is vast and boundless, your fate divinely ordained. I am merely a lowly cultivator, my fortune bleak and my path astray. Only by a twist of fate was I granted the chance to glimpse your visage!
"Now that I have seen Your Excellency, my life is no longer mine... I understand, it is as though all the honored ones have arrived together... to behold an immortal's face and die on the spot, such is the way. I can only offer my absolute obedience from now on!"
The Five-Eyed Merciful One continued in a sorrowful voice, "I am willing to repay all the karma I have created in the mortal realm with my body. Let me suffer the burning of countless karmic flames. I only wish to shed this impure body and enter your service, as a mere Daoist child in your grotto heaven, a humble clerk in your realm of law..."
His voice and expression were both mournful, spiritual tears brimming in his eyes. Lu Jiangxian could not help but sigh with admiration, Truly worthy of being called the Merciful One and a buddhist cultivator! What a silver to ngue he has!
His voice was soft as it echoed in the air, completely ignoring the torrent of words from the Five-Eyed Merciful One, "I left a chess piece in the mortal world, yet you meddled with unnecessary hands and feet... If you leave even a trace in the future, I will do far more than simply burn you with karmic fire..."
The Five-Eyed Merciful One realized the crucial moment had arrived. He could only wish he could rip out his own heart to prove his sincerity as he cried out, "Exalted Immortal... Exalted Immortal... I still have some tricks left! I will see to it that this matter is handled perfectly! I swear you will not need to worry in the slightest. Should anything go awry, I will accept the deepest pain and torment, and never again be reborn!"
But unexpectedly, a beam of radiant light descended from above, piercing straight into his mind. The voice of the white-robed immortal overhead echoed ethereally, "Today’s oath shall bind your very soul."
Lustrous light flowed in Lu Jiangxian’s hand, as Bright Yang essence flickered. The Five-Eyed Merciful One dissipated before him like smoke on the breeze. The pale moon-colored palace gradually faded, and the dark sky returned once more.
The memories of the Five-Eyed Merciful One flowed into him, and Lu Jiangxian examined them carefully, twice.
The Five-Eyed Merciful One’s mortal surname was Xiao. He had once been a minor cultivator in the northern Tiefo State who practiced a devil technique. Back then, the Merciful One had served the Helian Family as a retainer under the rule of Emperor Zhaowu, Fu Qiyan.
"That Fu Qiyan was quite the enlightened ruler. Under his reign, the Daoist, Devil, and Buddhist Daos coexisted in balance, each flourishing in its own right with a place to thrive," muttered Lu Jiangxian.
The Five-Eyed Merciful One had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm during Fu Qiyan’s reign. He remembered the sky dimming and the heavens running red with blood. Trees and stones wept along the roads, and the people were filled with dread. The old ancestor of the Helian family had barely shown himself before something snatched him away, leaving only a terrified and panicked scream behind.
The Merciful One hid underground for three months. When he finally emerged, he learned that Emperor Zhaowu, Fu Qiyan, had perished in Yincheng Prefecture. The crown prince, Fu Qidangle, had ascended the throne and welcomed seven sacred statues into the capital.
The Merciful One was then constantly hunted because of his identity as a devil cultivator and nearly lost his life. He quickly abandoned his Dao lineage and switched to the Dao of the buddhist cultivator. Unexpectedly, his nature suited this Dao perfectly, and he gradually rose to the position of the Merciful One.
The man valued his life above all else. Even after becoming a Master Monk with numerous reincarnation techniques, he rarely left the north, doing as he pleased within the confines of his Five-Eyed Temple. He had seven hundred years of memories, yet four hundred were spent in indulgence and pleasure.
One day, on a whim, he decided to travel south. But as soon as he reached Xu State in Jiangbei, he happened to run into Duanmu Kui, who had come to Jiangbei in search of something and had once encountered an immortal.
When he saw that Duanmu Kui was only in the late stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm while he was already the Merciful One, he laughed three times in scorn. He never expected Duanmu Kui to strike him down with a single book, reducing his body to pulp and completely destroying his Merciful One vessel. From that day on, he never dared cross the river again.
"Seven hundred years of cultivation..."
Most of the Merciful One’s memories were of buddhist cultivator methods. But having cultivated for seven centuries, he had studied both devil techniques and immortal techniques. The devil techniques needed no elaboration, while the immortal techniques were mostly ancient methods.
Lu Jiangxian skimmed through them. The boundary between devil and immortal arts was unclear during the transitions between the Liang and Zhao dynasties. Techniques of the Purple Mansion Realm and Golden Core Realm Dao often had all sorts of dual-cultivation and consumption methods appended to them.
"No wonder the Five-Eyed Merciful One classified the Purple Mansion Realm and Golden Core Realm Dao under devil cultivation as well..."
He quickly changed focus and examined things more closely. There were three other celestial phenomena in the Merciful One’s memories similar to the fall of Emperor Zhaowu, a True Monarch figure, not to mention several other suspected instances...
"The other three all occurred within the two hundred years between seven hundred and five hundred years ago..."
Lu Jiangxian took silent note of it as he began to secretly observe the phenomena unfolding within the great void using the backdoor left within the Merciful One’s soul.
The Five-Eyed Merciful One awoke in a daze from the great void, his hand seal only halfway formed. It felt as if merely a second had passed, yet he felt as though he had lived through another lifetime. Golden light sparkled and lotus flowers descended before him.
For a brief moment, he was stunned. But when he felt the faintly smoldering mana deep within his soul, he realized that everything just now hadn’t been an illusion. A deep bitterness welled up within his heart.
"What’s the matter?" The red-skinned, green-eyed Merciful One beside him asked casually, though his tone was laced with mockery, "Lord Five-Eyed suddenly awakens, so surely fate has stirred, and you've stumbled upon some great opportunity! Come now, tell us all about it?"
Though the other Merciful Ones remained perfectly still, each holding their dharma artifact, like a dense forest of statues, the Five-Eyed Merciful One knew that his brief pause had not gone unnoticed. They were all watching him.
What frightened him more was the Maha known as Zhelu, seated in the great void behind him. Though Zhelu was currently observing Xu State through a form of a thousand eyes, should anything unusual occur, the Maha would surely turn his gaze, and that would make his situation far worse.
But he remained calm in the face of danger, pretending to hurriedly stow away his small copper sword. As expected, the red-skinned, green-eyed Merciful One laughed heartily and mocked, "So it turns out your Arhat died!"
But as soon as those words were spoken, he silently praised the move. Indeed, most of the prying gazes immediately retreated in boredom.
The Five-Eyed Merciful One merely responded coldly, "Chilu, what concern is it of yours?"
The Merciful One Chilu’s dharma ground was adjacent to the Five-Eyed Temple, and the two had always been at odds. They had clashed many times in the past, and the Five-Eyed Merciful One had long resented him. But now, for the first time, he found the fellow useful and deliberately put on a tough-but-fearful expression.
Sure enough, Chilu laughed. "Your Arhat must have died in Jiangnan, eh?"
Not even waiting for a reply, he added, "Duanmu Kui has long been dead! And yet you're still cowering like this... What a disgrace to the Way of Emptiness! That Lord Zhelu would even keep a useless thing like you under his command? If I had been there, I would’ve bashed that barbarian’s skull in!"
Not good! His heart cried out in bitter alarm.
As expected, the moment Zhelu’s name was mentioned, an eye slowly turned toward them from behind. It stared at the two, and a voice like a ghostly whisper said, "Enough of this noise! A guest is arriving."
The Five-Eyed Merciful One let out a breath of relief and thought to himself, As expected, the immortal’s methods are supreme. My very fate has been handed over to Maha, and my soul has been branded, yet he remains completely unaware... This must be Golden Core Realm technique at least!
But just as he pondered, a hundred beams of golden light rose up ahead. A lotus dais floated into the air, atop which sat a child of five or six years old. The child was delicate and exquisitely carved like jade, brimming with charm. A golden temple hovered behind him, and waterfalls of incense and smoke cascaded gently, flowing with grace and beauty.
A minor cultivator below immediately cried out, "Respectfully welcoming the arrival of The Merciful Virtuous Worldly Way of the Lotus, Maha Jinlian of the Lotus Temple!"
The one from the Way of Virtuous has arrived...
The thought flashed through the minds of all the Merciful Ones. Then they heard the child’s voice echo lightly through the air as he called out, "Zhelu! Someone from the Tuoba Family has arrived!"