Martial Cultivator

After having met Feng Liu, the man known as the number one among itinerant cultivators, Chen Chao truly set foot on the road back to the Divine Capital. However, this time he was not traveling alone. At his side followed a black-robed monk.

Returning to the Divine Capital from Ying Prefecture in the northeast of the dynasty could roughly be described as heading south. Chen Chao’s pace was neither fast nor slow, as if he was not in any particular hurry to return to the Divine Capital.

The black-robed monk, meanwhile, wore an expression of complete indifference. He was not in a rush to begin with, and after leaving Deercry Monastery, the person he most wanted to see was this young Lord Warden Commander. Now that he had the chance to spend time alone with him, it was exactly what he had hoped for.

As for the present Great Liang, or rather not just the present Great Liang but the Great Liang of these past dozen or so years, beginning from the early years of Tianjian, this dynasty had been placed upon the shoulders of a single person.

Previously, it had been that Great Liang Emperor who, in anyone’s eyes, was destined to be no less than any emperor recorded in the history books. Now, it was this young powerful official, someone who had never appeared even once in the historical records.

The true fortune of the dynasty was bound to a single individual.

Setting aside the time when the Great Liang Emperor still reigned, and speaking only of the present, Chen Chao, as the person who in practice held the greatest authority in this dynasty, possessed power so vast that there had never been a second such figure in the history of the dynasty. Yet figures similar to him had appeared in every age across successive dynasties, and in the end, their fates were never good.

Either they left behind infamy in the history books, or they were despised by the people of an entire nation.

The two of them boarded a ferry and headed south. The ferry was not large, and there were not many passengers. As a result, after leaving the dock, the boatman remained constantly furrow-browed. This trip was very likely going to lose money. But if he did not set out and instead stayed moored at the dock, it would be like slicing meat with a dull knife. Silver would have to be taken out of his purse every day. He might as well gamble and see whether there would be more passengers at the next crossing to make up for the loss.

Chen Chao and the black-robed monk stood side by side at the bow of the boat, leaning against the railing and gazing out over the river. This great river, known as the Fallen Immortal River, was said in legend to have once seen an immortal appear. Clad in flowing white robes, the immortal had walked slowly across the surface of the river without relying on anything, and in the end had even split open the heavens and departed, leaving behind a legend passed down for thousands of years.

In Ying Prefecture, what was least lacking were such so-called immortal legends.

However, after having seen the vast and magnificent scenery of the sea, looking at the river now always felt like something was missing. Chen Chao rubbed his cheeks that had been brushed by the river wind and said with a smile, ”If someone were born in a small town and never left it, they would only think that the largest building in the world was probably the county office, and that the best restaurant under heaven was not much different from the one in their town.” ”As for the most beautiful woman in the world, even if she was a bit prettier than that pretty widow in the alley, how much prettier could she really be? But in the end, there are always people in a small town who have left and then returned. When they bring back news, people will half-believe it. Could there really be women in the prefectural city who are twice as beautiful as that widow? Could the restaurants there really be three or four stories tall? And those wealthy commoners there, could they really eat meat at every meal?”

The black-robed monk smiled without speaking, waiting for Chen Chao to continue.

Chen Chao spoke on his own, ”If you never heard about these things, spending your whole life just looking at that pretty widow would be fine. Counting the days until the time when your mother would stew meat would be enough. Like a frog at the bottom of a well, having never heard of the world outside the well, you would not feel restless or itchy, thinking that you ought to leave the town to take a look. At that point, would it not be better to feel that it would have been better if you had never known about these things at all?”

The black-robed monk thought for a moment and said, ”It is similar to someone who studied for many years but was never able to place highly, wasting away an entire lifetime before giving rise to the thought, ’It would have been better if I had never studied at all.’ Then in this life, how much sorrow would I have avoided, and how many times of drinking away my troubles would I have been spared?”

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes and smiled. ”Master truly is an enlightened eminent monk.”

The black-robed monk said, ”There are records of such matters in buddhist scriptures. Within Buddhism, although it cannot compare to koans such as the ’Patriarch’s intention in coming from the West’, it has nevertheless sparked intense debate within Buddhism. One faction of monks holds views quite similar to those of Lord Warden Commander. Since one may go through an entire life in vain, unable to obtain what one seeks, it would be better to have no desires and no pursuits from the very beginning. Another faction of monks holds the opposite view, saying that between knowing and obtaining, there are two more words: to do. But as for those two words, to do, if one does not do it, then naturally one will never know whether it can be done.”

Chen Chao asked curiously, ”I have actually always been curious. What monks call daily meditation and realization of the Dao is simply thinking about whether these things are right or wrong. But when it comes to right and wrong, aside from so-called public consensus, these matters where each side insists it is in the right, if there are too many doubts piling up in one’s heart, can one still cultivate in a grounded and steady way?”

The black-robed monk smiled and said, ”That is why, within Buddhism, there are different schools. In fact, the earliest divisions came from holding fast to a particular understanding of something, and from that point on, following that path all the way to the end.”

Chen Chao said, ”Then would not so-called Buddhist doctrine become a matter of taking just a single ladle from three thousand miles of weak water?”

”Buddhist cultivation seeks peace of mind and inner stillness. If one wants to understand everything clearly, that instead becomes somewhat impossible. That would be falling into greed and delusion.”

The black-robed monk looked at Chen Chao and smiled. ”There are no perfect people in the world, and principles are never entirely correct.”

Chen Chao was absorbed in thought.

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