The Headmaster loved to eat and was good at it. As long as he was present, it was not up to others to order the dishes. As the saying goes, hot and cold meat and vegetables, the monarch, the minister, and the assistant, the combination was extremely refreshing. Just looking at the menu was enough to make people drool.
Those dishes looked simple, but the ingredients were actually very exquisite and needed to be made on the spot. There was still some time before the dishes would be served, but the Headmaster had already made the arrangements. A basin of iced mashed taro was placed on the table.
"Desserts are supposed to be sweet. What I despise the most are those gourmets who want their desserts to be light. If you want it to be light, you can just drink water. Why would you eat sweets?"
The Headmaster scooped a bowl of iced sweet mashed yam for Sangsang and motioned for her to eat more. Then he scooped a bowl for himself and looked at Ning Que. "It's fun to fight with Heaven, but why?"
Ning Que, who was serving himself mashed taro, could not help but be startled when he heard this. He thought that just a moment ago they were talking about the knowledge of ordering dishes and the principles of eating and drinking, and the next moment they were talking about the grand topic of fighting with the Heavens. It was really too sudden.
The Headmaster said, "Did the little monk Qishan tell you about these things in the Lanke Temple?"
Ning Que recalled the conversation he had with Master Qishan in front of the Buddha Hall in the autumn rain.
In that conversation, Master Qishan mentioned the legends above the Five States and the top few states in the human world, such as the immortality of the Devil's Doctrine, the Nirvana of Buddhism, the ascension of Taoism, and the Transcendence of the Academy.
At that time, Master Qishan had said that in tens of thousands of years, there would always be people who could reach the end of the long path of cultivation, or reach the other side, or become immortal. At that time, they would return to the embrace of Haotian.
Ning Que was most concerned about whether returning to the embrace of Haotian meant death or immortality. Master Qishan could not answer this question. In the past countless years, the Buddha and the Taoist predecessors who had reached that step could not answer this question either. This was the greatest temptation and the greatest fear of cultivation.
At the end of the conversation, Ning Que asked if there were any cultivators who could not ascend to heaven even if they reached that stage. Master Qishan's answer was that no one could escape the cycle of Heaven.
That day, the Buddhist temple was very desolate in the autumn rain, and the sky was very bleak. Ning Que felt very cold because he once again discovered that Heaven's Way was indeed a very ruthless existence.
…
…
Master Qishan had already passed away. Even if he had any thoughts now, he could not tell Ning Que. Ning Que recalled the conversation and vaguely guessed what the Headmaster wanted to say. His body stiffened.
It was noisy downstairs of the restaurant, but the people upstairs were discussing the affairs of the mortal world. This strong contrast made him feel very strange and absurd, until he was at a loss.
The Headmaster said, "Why do we have to fight against Heaven? First, we need to know what heaven is. "
Ning Que recalled the conversation he had with his teacher under the starry night after reading the "Ming" Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane in the back of the mountain of the Academy. At the end of the conversation, the Headmaster of the Academy pointed to the night sky and said four sentences.
"We don't know whether Haotian is alive or not. We don't know whether he has a specific form or not. We still don't know where Haotian is. However, whether he has consciousness or not, Junior Brother confirmed it with his death."
"If Heaven's Way really exists, it will look down on the world. Those people who struggle to survive on the earth, and even those cultivators who seem to be able to summon wind and rain, are just like ants."
"If the Heavenly Axiom does exist, it won't show the slightest mercy or attention to ants at all. When some of the ants suddenly raise their heads to look at it and even begin to grow wings that are as thin as feathers and fly to the sky, trying to challenge it, how can its consciousness and will allow that to happen?"
"If Heaven's Way really exists, it will be invisible and even more ruthless."
…
…
These four sentences were Ning Que's initial understanding of Haotian or the so-called Heaven's Way.
Now, he had been fleeing with Sangsang for a long time. He had seen clouds and crows, half of it was light, and the other half was darkness. He had also seen the Giant Golden Dragon stretching its head out and the Divine Lord of Light coming to the world. Now, he had a deeper understanding of Heaven's Way, but so did the fear in his heart.
Ning Que looked at the cloudless blue sky outside the window of the restaurant and remained silent.
The Headmaster held a spoon and slowly scooped the mashed taro into his mouth. He leaned against the railing and looked rather relaxed. Then, he pointed the spoon at the sky outside the window and said, "Haotian is not the sky."
Ning Que asked, "Then what is Haotian?"
…
…
Heaven was a very special word. It appeared many times in the language of the human world, and it often represented extremely strong emotions, such as fear, awe, or anger.
For example, Heaven has eyes, Heaven has tears, or if Heaven has feelings, Heaven will grow old. There were also titles such as God's Evil Heaven, God's God, and so on. Even the most commonly used exclamations were related to Heaven: Heaven!
Heaven represented supremacy, omnipresence, irresistibility, benevolence and universal love, indifference and ruthlessness, and everything.
"Heaven's Way is the rule. A straight line between two points is the shortest, a triangle is more stable than a quadrilateral, light travels the fastest, water always flows downwards, and burning requires air. These are the rules of the world and are Heaven's Way. "
The Headmaster ate the mashed taro and said casually. Then, he threw the spoon in his hand out of the window. A moment later, there was a cry of pain from the street. A pedestrian must have been hit in the head.
"Just like water, everything has to fall downwards. This is also a rule."
There was a quarrel below the restaurant. It was probably the pedestrian who had been hit in the head by the spoon and wanted to enter the restaurant to find the culprit. The Headmaster pretended that nothing had happened. He looked at Ning Que and continued, "Water will gather in the lowest part of the sea and will not flow downwards. When the spoon falls on the ground … or on the pedestrian's head, it will not continue to fall. This does not mean that the rule has been broken. It is just that another rule has begun to take effect."
"If it is not affected by external forces and there are no other rules, what would the situation be like? The spoon will continue to fall downwards until it falls into the abyss. Perhaps it will appear on Yama's dining table. Of course, I am more and more certain now that there is no Underworld, and naturally there is no Yama. "
The Headmaster put the empty bowl on the table and pushed it to Sangsang. Sangsang took the bowl and continued to scoop the mashed taro.
The Headmaster pointed at the bowl in Sangsang's hand and said, "If this table is big and smooth enough, if the bottom of the bowl is smooth enough, if there is no girl named Sangsang in the world who will pick up this bowl, then what will happen? Just like the spoon that keeps falling, this bowl will keep sliding forward. "
Ning Que scratched his head and said, "Isn't this inertia?"
"Inertia? That's a good word, but I like to call it: the natural tendency of things or rules. "
The Headmaster said, "This is also what I think of as life."
"Life?" Ning Que did not understand at all. He repeated in confusion, "Inertia is life?"
The Headmaster said, "When people are alive, they can walk, jump, think, eat, blink, and defecate. When they die, they become rotting corpses and bones, and they can't do any of these things. Their shape, composition, and characteristics are completely changed."
"When we are alive, we must ensure that we can continue to walk, jump, think, eat, blink, and defecate. We must ensure that we look like humans, which is to ensure that our shape, composition, and characteristics can continue to exist."
"This kind of existence is life."
Ning Que was very confused and said, "But animals can also walk, jump, eat, blink, and defecate."
The Headmaster said, "But they can't think."
Ning Que said, "The big yellow bull and Youngest Uncle's donkey can definitely think."
The Headmaster said, "But their shape is not like humans."
Ning Que said, "What if we can make them look like humans?"
The Headmaster said, "If you have this ability, then they are humans."
Ning Que shook his head and said, "How does this make sense?"
The Headmaster said, "Why doesn't it make sense?"
Ning Que was stunned for a moment, and then he finally figured it out. A life that looked exactly like a human, could walk, jump, eat, blink, defecate, and think. Wouldn't that be a human?
"Everyone wants to live. They want to maintain their shape and internal existence. This is life. Looking at it more broadly, human society also wants to maintain its shape and internal existence. For example, words, paintings, and organizations. So this is also a kind of life. "
The Headmaster said, "Stone also has life. It also wants to maintain its shape. Its means are hard. If you want to destroy its life, you have to overcome its hardness. Water also has life. It can be clear or muddy, vast or silent. If you want to change its shape and characteristics and destroy its life, you have to boil it and dry it. "
"Life is the continuation of its own form. Since Heaven's Way is the rule itself, then if it also has life, its life is to ensure that these rules will always be effective and not be destroyed. "
Ning Que did not know what to say at this time. Fortunately, the dishes were served.
The three of them ate eighteen dishes. It was a very sumptuous meal.
The Headmaster kept putting food into Sangsang's bowl and then kept introducing and persuading her, "You have to try this dish. Poor child, you have not lived a good life with Ning Que all these years. You have to know how many delicious and fun things there are in the world. You should follow me and enjoy these days."
Ning Que and Sangsang were a little full after eating the roasted lamb leg and tasting the dishes of the Kingdom of Song. Fortunately, the Headmaster was indeed a thousand-year-old foodie. He finished all eighteen dishes like a whirlwind.
The Headmaster drank a cup of double-sprouted vegetables to clear his stomach. He seemed to be enjoying it.
Ning Que burped. Thinking of what the Headmaster had said, his mood was as heavy as his stomach. He rubbed his numb face and was ready to ask for clarification.
The Headmaster put down the teacup and said, "Haotian has two sides. One is the objectivity of rules, and the other is that it needs to maintain the objectivity of rules. Thus, it will show life like a living creature."
Ning Que asked, "So?"
The Headmaster pointed at the messy table and said, "People need to eat when they are alive, and it needs to eat when it is alive."
Ning Que looked at the dishes dripping with soup and suddenly felt very scared and disgusted.
…
…
(I really want to curse and break down. This is the only chapter for today, and I will try to write more tomorrow. In fact, this is completely self-inflicted. The painful part is that there are still some plots in this area. The happy part is that this plot will be finished soon, and then Jiang Ye's book will never touch this kind of thing again. There is another very important thing to report to everyone. It is said that many friends think that Jiang Ye's book will be finished soon. This … is still a long way from the end. The story of Ning Que as the male lead and Sangsang as the female lead has just begun. I am a little nervous. Does everyone want to end the book earlier?) (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com to vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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