Chapter Ninety-One: Words of the Illusion

"What on earth do you want?" The old beggar was driven almost to madness.

Liaochen was utterly shameless, and the old beggar was completely helpless. Encountering someone who could neither be touched nor struck, could not be chased away, and would not listen to scoldings, the old beggar genuinely felt he had encountered eight lifetimes of bad luck.

Liaochen said nothing, merely following behind. Wherever the old beggar went, he went.

"You are traveling in your spiritual projection; aren't you afraid of losing your physical body?" As the old beggar walked all the way with Liaochen following step by step, he finally reached his limit when they arrived at a deserted spot on the outskirts. Unable to endure Liaochen's entanglement any longer, he finally blurted it out.

Had a true master not been standing right before him, who could possibly have discerned that Liaochen was merely traveling in his spiritual body?

"Boundless longevity and fortune, Heavenly Venerate! This junior pays respects to True Lord Zhang." Finally forcing Zhang Sanfeng to break his composure, Liaochen let out a long breath of relief and immediately raised his hands in a Daoist salute.

"Spare me! Running into you, old Daoist me, is equivalent to the complete ruin of my cultivation." The old beggar—ah, no, he should no longer be called the old beggar, but True Lord Zhang—waved his hand and said with extreme irritation, "Little fellow Daoist, your affinity with the immortals is profound, and your natural talent is extraordinary. To attain the Golden Elixir through Dao in these apocalyptic times... I certainly dare not let you address me as a senior! Tell me, what business do you have with old Daoist me?"

"This poor Daoist wishes to inherit the teachings of the Heavenly Masters, propagate the wondrous methods of the Three Pure Ones, broadly open the doors of universal salvation, and educate all directions. I have compiled a new Daoist Scripture, and I earnestly hope True Lord Zhang will offer his corrections," Liaochen bowed and requested respectfully.

"The immortal path is carefree and focused on transcendence. Why must you invite trouble for yourself by seeking to establish a worldly method of entry?" True Lord Zhang sighed.

"True Lord Zhang has attained the Dao for a hundred years and has played among the red dust of the mortal world for just as long; have you ever found the method of ascension?" Liaochen retorted.

"You intend to attain the Dao through accumulated merits, perfect three thousand meritorious deeds, and achieve sudden, direct transcendence right where you stand?" True Lord Zhang widened his eyes in shock.

"Indeed! Judging by what you yourself have done, isn't it also an attempt to attain the Dao through merit? Yet three thousand good deeds—how arduous is that path? Are you not afraid that before the merits are fulfilled, your physical body will perish and your Dao will dissolve?" Without waiting for Liaochen to reply, Zhang Sanfeng continued speaking on his own.

"This junior is well aware that the path ahead is arduous. However, matters have reached this point, and seeing that further progress in cultivation has become all but impossible, I am compelled to seek another path!" With a heavy sigh from Liaochen, the two stood facing each other in silence.

The immortal path is arduous, and nowadays it is even more difficult than ascending to the heavens, leaving practically no way out. How could this not plunge two cultivators dedicated to the Dao into profound sorrow and desolation?

A hundred years of cultivation, awakening to the Dao in a single morning. Devoting one's heart to seeking the Dao, only to suddenly discover that the path ahead has been severed—how could the taste of such an experience ever be fully expressed in mere words?

"Fellow Daoist, your coming here today—could it be because of the impending conflict between Buddhism and Daoism?" True Lord Zhang's cultivation was profound; how could such a monumental matter be kept from him?

"This junior has always cultivated deep in the mountains. Over these past decades, I have rarely interacted with fellow practitioners, nor do I know the true depth of the Buddhist sect. Now that the war between the Dao and Buddhism is about to erupt, how could this junior possibly shrink back?" Liaochen stated frankly.

Just as Liaochen and True Lord Zhang were conversing, a massive caravan unexpectedly approached from afar, heading seemingly in the direction of Mobei. Liaochen and True Lord Zhang abruptly halted their conversation. Liaochen swept his divine sense across the group, and his expression immediately turned rather grim.

"You are involving yourself far too deeply in the mortal world!" True Lord Zhang observed.

Liaochen remained silent. Had True Lord Zhang not been standing beside him, Liaochen certainly would not have allowed this caravan to pass by so smoothly.

According to the laws of the Great Ming Dynasty, ironware was strictly forbidden from being taken beyond the frontier passes. Yet within this very caravan, there were no fewer than a thousand pieces of ironware. It seemed the Shanxi merchants truly possessed a long-standing tradition of smuggling and collaborating with the enemy!

Gradually, the caravan drew closer, and the travelers finally noticed the Daoist priest and the beggar standing by the roadside. Although they found it strange that a Daoist and a beggar would be chatting idly here, traveling out in the world made minding one's own business the greatest taboo. The caravan guards simply drew their swords and vigilantly escorted the carts and camels as they rumbled past Liaochen and True Lord Zhang.

For such a massive caravan to transport so much contraband beyond the border without collusion from official authorities would be a ghost story!

"The officialdom of the Great Ming has rotted to the core," Liaochen sighed, before losing interest in the departing caravan.

"Heh!" Zhang Sanfeng gave a dry chuckle, evidently having seen this so often that he was long past surprise.

"This place is hardly suitable for idle chatter. This junior happens to know a place—how about I invite the True Lord to visit it with me?" Liaochen asked.

With that, Liaochen flicked his sleeve, and a thick white fog instantly surged across the imperial highway. Laughing heartily, Liaochen and True Lord Zhang stepped into the dense mist and vanished without a trace.

The mountains and waters were serene, and clear springs gushed gently. Peach blossoms were in full bloom across ten miles, with fallen petals drifting in a riot of brilliant reds and purples. Water vapor drifted through the forest like clouds and mist.

If it was not an immortal realm, it surpassed one!

However, none of this could fool the piercing gaze of Zhang Sanfeng. With a light chuckle, True Lord Zhang sat down at a stone table amidst the forest and said, "A fine trick of shifting landscapes and transforming illusions into reality. Based solely on this illusionary art of yours, fellow Daoist, those monks would have to concede defeat."

Liaochen had never expected a mere illusion to bypass Zhang Sanfeng's discernment in the first place. Smiling slightly, he replied, "When the false is treated as true, the true also becomes false. As long as the scenery before our eyes is enjoyed, why fuss over illusion and reality? Although the landscape is an illusion, the people here are truly present. Does the senior agree?"

Zhang Sanfeng said with a touch of annoyance, "Since you know that the truth and falsehood of worldly affairs are hard to distinguish, why did you have to force old Daoist me to reveal myself? Although you and I both belong to the immortal Dao, our cultivation methods differ. You seek your own karmic rewards; why drag old Daoist me into this?"

"This junior wouldn't dare. I merely wished to inquire about the true strength and foundation of the Buddhist sect," Liaochen hastily explained. "Senior, you have cultivated both Daoism and Buddhism, and you have calmly watched the winds and clouds of the world for a hundred years. Naturally, you know far more than this junior. By knowing both oneself and the enemy, this junior can determine a countermeasure all the sooner."

"Although old Daoist me has stayed in temples, I have never practiced Buddhist methods. It's just that ever since the previous dynasty, karmic entanglement was forged between the Daoist and Buddhist teachings, leaving this poor Daoist with no choice but to pay close attention. I only fear that one day, my Wudang Mountains might somehow be transformed into a stronghold of Buddhism—and if that happened, what face would I have left to look upon our successive founding masters?" Zhang Sanfeng sighed.

"Within the Buddhist sect, there naturally exists the path of reincarnation and rebirth. The cyclic turning of Ksitigarbha is no idle boast, and ten lifetimes of practicing Buddhism is by no means impossible. However, now that the path of cultivation has been severed, even if Buddhism still possesses the means of cyclic practice, it will be difficult for them to produce another true Buddha-child," Zhang Sanfeng stated.

Hearing this, Liaochen's heart settled significantly. Although he was well-versed in divination, divination ultimately had its limits. At the very least, whenever Liaochen attempted to divine the secrets of the Buddhist sect, he always felt it shrouded in heavy fog, making it impossible to perceive clearly. If he forced the action, it would only backfire upon him. Therefore, when uncertain, Liaochen would rather miss a favorable opportunity than take reckless risks.

After all, the struggle for the Great Dao does not depend on a single morning or evening, but on the long term. The real fear was that a single wrong move would lose the entire game. The Daoist sect truly possessed no capital left to lose; the tragedies of the Mongol-Yuan era had already played out four times, and they could no longer afford another defeat.

"Yet within the Buddhist sect, even though there are no longer any true Buddha-children, three supreme treasures remain in the world. These are the three supreme Buddhist treasures left behind when the Sixth Patriarch of Zen, Huineng, entered parinirvana. With these three treasures in existence, even if Buddhism currently lacks a true master, it does not necessarily mean they will lose," Zhang Sanfeng continued.

Hearing this, Liaochen chuckled and asked, "The Buddha Treasure, the Dharma Treasure, and the Sangha Treasure?"

Zhang Sanfeng shook his head and replied, "Those are terms spoken for outsiders. How could cultivators speak in such a manner?"

Liaochen asked, "Then what are the three treasures?"

"The first is the Purple Gold Alms Bowl; the second is the Nine-Ring錫 Staff; and the third is the Sarira of the Buddha," Zhang Sanfeng answered.

"I have seen alms bowls, but I have never seen a staff. Yet I wonder whose sarira that relic actually is? Is it the embodiment sarira of Patriarch Bodhidharma, or one of the other five Zen Patriarchs?"

"It is the genuine finger-bone sarira of the Buddha, Shakyamuni," Zhang Sanfeng replied.

"It is actually real?" Even Liaochen could not help but feel a shock ripple through his heart.