Chapter 1329 — The Meeting of Twin Stars

In the Great Void, Kaihuang imparted his system of Dao realms to Lan Yutian, and the two talked long together, and this discourse on the Dao brought rich harvest to both the Worry-Free Village and the Creators of the Other Shore. Though Kaihuang was the teacher passing on the Dao realms he himself had founded, Lan Yutian drew inference from each point to master the whole, so that Kaihuang too gained no little benefit.

Kaihuang himself opened the doors of the three rooms at the end of the Void Bridge and sent Lan Yutian and his followers together into Jingping, saying, "Dao brother, we shall meet again when chance allows. " "Dao brother, go no farther.

" Lan Yutian took his leave with a bow. Kaihuang stood quietly before the doors, and only after a long while turned back.

His Four Heavenly Masters and Four Heavenly Kings had long waited at the head of the bridge, and the Woodcutter Sage asked, "Your Majesty, these days I too have listened to Your Majesty discourse on the Dao with Lan Yutian, and have gained much.

A fearful thought has suddenly come to your servant.

Even if we overthrow the Celestial Court in days to come, so long as Lan Yutian attains the Dao, we gods shall be the rulers of a bygone age, old gods of yesterday, destined to be overthrown by new gods. " Kaihuang nodded and smiled, "Then has the Grand Heavenly Master already lost the courage and resolve for change? " The Woodcutter Sage started slightly and bowed low, saying, "Tian Ge has grown fearful of loss and gain. I thank Your Majesty for the reminder. Lan Yutian already walks the road of the sage.

What I cannot accomplish, I should not hinder, but should hope he can accomplish it, and even help him accomplish it the sooner the better!

" "In days to come, perhaps Lan Yutian shall become the first sage. " Kaihuang gripped the hilt of the Worry-Free Sword, his thumb brushing the grain of the scabbard, and said, "The Worry-Free Sword, when this sword was forged it was to build a Worry-Free Village, yet now after this discourse with him I suddenly see that this sword is not the village itself, but bids me wield it to strive for the human race and all living beings, that the human race and all beings may be without care. " He smiled faintly, "After this discourse with him, the thirty-five tiers of my Sword Dao have grown ever clearer. Tian Ge, you need not belittle yourself.

Your three hundred and sixty postcelestial Daos were planned for the million-year road of the Great Dao in the Kaihuang Era.

You are called sage precisely because you charted a million years of road for the Kaihuang Era. Your will and talent reach far. It is my own incapacity, that I could not shelter the Kaihuang Era for a million years. " "The great trend was not with me. Kaihuang cannot be blamed.

" The Woodcutter Sage said, "The defeat of those years, we shall win back today! " Lan Yutian led five thousand disciples to Jingping, looking east and west to find the road, though the gods who followed him all knew that no matter how their teacher studied the way, he was bound to lose it. "Teacher, where do you mean to go? " a goddess asked. "I do not know. " Lan Yutian said in high spirits.

The crowd fell silent, and several gods slipped quietly away.

Lan Yutian laughed, "Just follow the feeling.

I feel someone ahead is waiting for me. " The others half believed and half doubted, and after some days of walking they saw far off the Great Tingming Temple, and the reclining Buddha above Leiyin Temple. That reclining Buddha blazed with boundless Buddhist light all about him, sunk in slumber, and the light joined the Great Mount Sumeru of the Twenty Heavens of the Buddhist Realm, reaching straight to the Great Brahma Heaven Realm atop the mountain.

Myriad Buddhas and Bodhisattvas sat within this reclining Buddha's dream, devoting themselves to contemplation, the names of Buddha heard far and wide, the Sanskrit chanting vast and mighty.

That reclining Buddha drew every eye.

His fleshly body was a black-tusked demon ape, huge beyond measure, snoring in sleep, the black hair upon his body trembling like a dark forest blown by wind, rising and falling without rest.

Yet his primal spirit was incomparably holy, divine and solemn, seeming demon and seeming man, and yet a Buddha.

The crowd gazed up at this great Buddha, and after a moment Lan Yutian shook his head, saying, "Not the one waiting for me. Let us walk on.

" They walked another dozen days, crossing mountains and fording waters, and saw far off the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge of Jingping, tower ships and great vessels ceaselessly sailing in to enter the bridge, while from within the bridge tower ships sailed out. When they came beneath the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge, they saw a crowd locked in a tussle.

A young Daoist tugged at the sleeve of a handsome god and cried, "Xu Shenghua, you cannot leave! That treasure is barely half refined, and you would walk off and leave us the bitter toil while you take your ease!

" The handsome man called Xu Shenghua tried to break free and said helplessly, "Cult Master Shen's drawings, I have already sorted them all for you. Refine by the drawings yourselves. What remains is all trifles.

How could I stay here fifty years?

I must still go to the Ancestral Court. The Cult Master told me long ago there are fine things there!

" That Daoist Lan Yutian also knew, called Lin Xuan, Dao Master of the Dao Sect, though why he quarreled with Xu Shenghua was unclear. "If you go, who knows how many years you will be gone.

Your daughter Xu Mengqing will be of marriageable age. By the time you return, you could be holding a grandchild! " The speaker Lan Yutian also knew, an immortal of Little Jade Capital called Wang Muran, known as Immortal Wang, whose abilities were also most high. Xu Shenghua said, "Immortal Wang, stop scheming after my girl.

" Immortal Wang laughed, "You should worry about Cult Master Shen! Beware lest while you are away from home he steal your girl's soul away! " "He is old and faded. I never worry.

Fellow Daoists, to the Ancestral Court I must go. The Cult Master bade me go long ago!

I have always had a feeling that there lies the key to my attainment of the Dao. " Xu Shenghua shook off Lin Xuan and bowed, saying, "Gentlemen, I understand your kindness, but would you block my attainment of the Dao?

And you cannot beat me in a fight. " The crowd could only cease to bar him, saying, "You run off to your pleasures and leave us here to eat bitterness.

So be it, so be it.

We cannot beat you anyway. Go then.

" Xu Shenghua rose, and then saw Lan Yutian, saying in surprise, "Dao brother Lan, lost again? " Lan Yutian nodded again and again, laughing, "Last time I met Brother Xu to show me the road. This time I must trouble Brother Xu again.

" Xu Shenghua thought a moment and said, "I go to the Ancestral Court. Would you go?

" "I would! " "Then come with me.

" Xu Shenghua waved his hand and said gravely, "Gentlemen, if you bar me again, then I shall truly throw punches.

" The crowd scattered in an uproar. Xu Shenghua led Lan Yutian toward the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge, glanced at the five thousand gods behind him, marveling inwardly yet asking nothing, and said, "These days I have been tripped by all manner of trifles, never able to set out for the Ancestral Court.

Now I see it was not those trifles that tripped me, but that I was waiting for you.

Your road to the Dao and mine, it seems, both lie in the Ancestral Court.

" Lan Yutian said, "I have the same feeling.

I feel you were waiting for me. This should be a most wondrous journey.

" Five thousand gods poured with them into the Spirit Energy Teleportation Bridge, and after a long while they walked out from the altar at the other end, and facing them were the seals of the Ten Celestial Venerables.