Haotian wanted to eat, but what to eat was a problem. But no matter what it ate, it did not need to pay. But humans had to pay for their food.
The Headmaster asked Ning Que to pay the bill and took them downstairs. They strolled around the capital of the Kingdom of Song and saw a branch of the Chenjinji Cosmetics Store. They went in and bought some powder for Sangsang.
Ning Que felt that the Headmaster was too nice to Sangsang. He did not seem like the Headmaster he knew. But his mind was occupied by those problems and he did not have time to think about it.
The black horse carriage left the capital of the Kingdom of Song and returned to the grassy Wilderness.
Ning Que looked at the flock of sheep and grass in the Wilderness. He thought for a while and said, "Teacher, can it be simpler?"
The Headmaster got off the horse carriage and looked at the endless meadow. He said, "Grass grows in the Wilderness and absorbs the essence of the soil. That's why it can grow. That's what it eats."
The Headmaster pointed to the sheep not far away and said, "Sheep eat grass."
He pointed to a dozen miles away and said, "Look, those wolves are eating sheep."
"Then what does Haotian eat?"
Ning Que suddenly thought of Master Lotus's angry scolding at the Front Gate of the Devil's Doctrine and Master Qishan's lament in the autumn rain in the temple. He thought of the doubts of many elders and said with a trembling voice, "It eats humans?"
"Sheep can't directly eat soil and sunlight, so they eat grass. Wolves can't directly eat grass, so they eat sheep. Humans are much more powerful in comparison. We basically eat everything, but generally speaking, the higher the level of diet, the higher the efficiency of energy utilization. In the end, the higher the level of life can only eat the life of the lower level."
The Headmaster shook his head and said, "According to my guess, Haotian's vitality comes from the Qi of Heaven and Earth. But it cannot eat Qi of Heaven and Earth directly, just like sheep cannot eat soil and sunlight directly, and wolves cannot eat grass directly. So it needs a transition, and that is humans."
Ning Que said, "That's what I said just now."
The Headmaster said, "Ordinary people do not know what the Qi of Heaven and Earth is. How can they change it? They still need cultivators to cultivate and increase the Qi of Heaven and Earth to be the nutrients that Haotian needs. "
Ning Que said, "You mean the Qi of Heaven and Earth is grass, and cultivators are the sheep that eat grass. They turn the nutrients in the grass into something that Haotian, the wolf, can absorb?"
The Headmaster said, "That's about it."
Ning Que said, "The Classics of Haotian Taoism have always said that cultivation is a gift from Haotian to human beings. According to what you said, this gift is really a bit gloomy and scary."
The Headmaster said, "Of course, Haotian is much more picky about food than the wolves in the Wilderness. After all, it is the top collection of rules in our world. Ordinary cultivators are tasteless sheep in its eyes. Those cultivators who have surpassed the Five States begin to have their own world and create their own rules. They purify the Qi of Heaven and Earth in nature into their unique essence. At this point, they become delicious in Haotian's eyes."
Ning Que looked at the Headmaster and asked, "What about you?"
"At my level, of course I'm a beautiful sheep." The Headmaster said with a smile, "But it's like the relationship between a lion and a herd of bison. If the bison is too strong or the herd is too strong, the lion will also feel threatened."
Ning Que had been very calm. When he was discussing with the Headmaster, he still had the leisure to look at the grass under his feet and the cloud-like flock of sheep. In fact, his mood was extremely shaken. One moment he was like a pot of boiling sheep soup, the next moment he was like a frozen lamb jelly. He was already on the verge of collapse. He kept telling himself that this was an academic discussion and not related to reality, so he persevered.
Academic discussions would eventually fall into the real world. After a long silence, he asked the most important question of the discussion so far, "Teacher, do you have any evidence?"
Without evidence, this was just an academic discussion. He could let his thoughts wander to the deepest, most incredible and most gloomy places without any psychological burden. If there was evidence, then this would be a cruel and sad story that he could not bear to listen to, let alone discuss.
The Headmaster was very clear about his mood at this time. He said with a smile, "This is not a sad story, nor is it gloomy or scary. For countless years, the number of cultivators who can surpass the Five States is not as many as the number of sheep that humans eat in a day. If we really talk about gloomy and scary, humans are much more terrifying than Haotian."
Ning Que could not find comfort in this sentence because he was a human, not a sheep. So he opened his eyes wide and looked at the Headmaster innocently and pitifully, still wanting to hear the answer.
"Of course there is no evidence for this."
The Headmaster said. Then he did not wait for Ning Que to take a breath and continued, "But your Youngest Uncle and I have directly proved that Haotian has consciousness. It is similar to humans and a life form that is superior to humans. So it must eat. It's hard for you to deny this inference."
Ning Que's expression was very ugly, like a pig being pushed in front of a bucket of boiling water during the New Year.
"Cultivation is indeed a very difficult thing. But for such a large number of humans, it is actually not too difficult. There will always be people who can cultivate, and there will always be people who can surpass the Five States of the human world."
The Headmaster looked at him and said, "No matter how rare it is for cultivators to surpass the Five States, it must be a very large number after tens of thousands of years. Then can you tell me, where have they gone?"
Ning Que said, "Birth, old age, sickness and death are common things. Those people might have died of old age naturally. This is not surprising."
The Headmaster said with a smile, "I have lived for more than a thousand years. If I want to, I can continue to live. Birth, old age, sickness and death are indeed very unusual things for people above the Five States."
Ning Que felt a little dry and bitter. After a moment, he said, "Nirvana of the Buddhism Sect and Taoism Sect become immortals. These are all described in myths. Have those people gone to Heaven to enjoy the happiness of immortals?"
The Headmaster said with a smile, "Heaven? Where is Heaven? Where is Haotian's Divine Kingdom? After returning to the origin of the world, do you still have yourself? If you don't even have yourself, can you still be alive? "
Ning Que and Master Qishan had discussed this question in the Lanke Temple. He knew that there was no answer to this question. If he really thought about it, the answer could only point to the cold side.
"No one has gone to Haotian's Divine Kingdom and then returned. Your Youngest Uncle might have taken a look but forgot to leave a few words. So I did not have an answer to this question before."
The Headmaster looked at the blue sky and white clouds above the Wilderness and said slowly, "I finally saw the answer when I saw the Divine General of Light on the golden chariot."
Ning Que asked, "What is the answer?"
"The answer is on his face."
The Headmaster said, "His face is too perfect. There is no perfect thing in the world, so he is not real. His perfection comes from thousands of old friends, so he is not one of my old friends."
The Headmaster was a little depressed and emotional. He seemed to be recalling many things of the past.
Then he retracted his gaze and looked at Ning Que. He said, "I saw the unified consciousness of Haotian on his face, but not the individual consciousness. I saw eternity, so I also saw death."
This was a simple world, and these were simple truths. However, before the Headmaster said it, even if Ning Que had lived two lives and seen the most bizarre things in the world, he could not think of these problems.
He was silent for a long time. Then he said, "Have other cultivators never thought of these problems?"
"When we were at the back of the mountain of the Academy, you once told me that Haotian would laugh once humans were thinking. But in fact, there were many humans who didn't care about being laughed at by Haotian. Many cultivators before and after me were thinking, and many of them had the same doubts as me."
The Headmaster walked down the meadow and said, "Why did Liu Bai not dare to take that step? Why did he hide in the Sword Garret all these years? Why did the Great Divine Priest of Light betray the West-Hill Divine Palace and come to this Wilderness to establish the Devil's Doctrine? These are all related to these doubts. "
Hearing about the Great Divine Priest of Light who established the Devil's Doctrine, Ning Que could not help but think of the West-Hill Divine Palace. He asked, "Haotian Taoism is the closest to Haotian. The sublime beings in Haotian Taoism should have a deep understanding of this. Has no one doubted Haotian other than the Great Divine Priest of Light for tens of thousands of years?"
"Haotian Taoism seeks to ascend to heaven and become an immortal. Being led to Haotian's Divine Kingdom and returning to the origin of the world is their greatest happiness. It is also the ultimate goal of their survival and struggle. This is what they yearn for. Why should they be suspected? "
The Headmaster looked at him and said, "However, for many other cultivators, to live eternally with Haotian or to die alone has always been a question."
…
…
To live or to die alone was a question. To live eternally with Haotian or to die alone was also a question. However, could there be an answer to all the questions?
Ning Que once again thought of what Master Lotus had said at the Front Gate of the Devil's Doctrine.
"Look at this dirty world. Who knows how many mediocre idiots are living in it. Don't you feel that the air you breathe is so dirty and stinky? Don't you feel that it's very difficult to breathe when you're covered by a despicable sky that has been silent for so many years? It's natural for people to eat meat in this world. They eat pigs, dogs, chickens, and heaven and earth. There's no logic to it! "
"In my opinion, the way you and I exist in this world is the combination of our understanding of the world. After that night of bitter rain in the tomb, I have been trying hard to understand the origin of the real world. In the end, I changed the way I exist in this world. Finally, I want to change this world and find the world that I can no longer return to."
"I only pursue power and find a way to change the world. I don't care about the difference between Taoism and Demonic Dao, nor do I care who wins or loses. The reason why I'm willing to come to the Devil Sect is because I want to see the lost Heavenly Book."
"I went to the Great River of the South Jin Kingdom, to the Yuelun Kingdom, and finally to the west, to the distant Unknown Place. In the Xuankong Temple, I finally heard the preaching of the chief monk, saw the Buddha's light, and heard the deafening words of Buddha. However, after a few years, I finally found that the monks in the Xuankong Temple were just some filthy things. The so-called words of Buddha were deliberately mystifying, and they were no different from the fortune-tellers on the streets of the Kingdom of Song. What was more disgusting was that the Buddhism Sect cultivated themselves so that they could only wait humbly in the face of the transfer of fate.
"I thought I had finally found the right place and had a chance to see the real world. But I didn't expect that after staying on Peach Mountain for a few days, I found that the West-Hill Divine Palace is a bunch of cowardly idiots. They were all a bunch of dogs. So what if it was that run-down monastery? In the end, he was still Haotian's dog! Haha … they were all dogs! "
In the past, Ning Que had always thought that what Master Lotus said was just some crazy talk. It was not until now that he finally understood how amazing this sublime being from the Devil's Doctrine, who was well-versed in both Buddhism and Taoism, was.
Master Lotus had always stood at the top of the cultivation world. His purpose of survival was to point to this old world and to create a new world. He was not much different from the Headmaster of the Academy and Youngest Uncle. It was just that the methods he chose and the means he used were bloodier and colder.
Ning Que knew that he might not be qualified to make this choice in his lifetime, because he might never be able to reach Master Lotus's level. But he thought about it carefully and realized that if he really had to face this choice, he might choose the same answer and method as Lotus.
Master Lotus was amazing, but his teacher was even more amazing. He already knew how Lotus would choose, and he could also guess what his teacher would choose. But he did not know what his teacher would do.
"Teacher, what would you do?" He asked.
The Headmaster of the Academy asked, "What did Lotus intend to do?"
Ning Que said, "He intended to destroy the old world, create a new world, and then fight against the Way of Heaven."
The Headmaster of the Academy shook his head and said, "After all, it's about eating and being eaten. Since the Way of Heaven doesn't eat people, why drag billions of ordinary people into this war?"
At this moment, the teacher and disciple had already walked to the bottom of the meadow. The water in the pot was already boiling, and the chopping board was filled with freshly cut lamb. Sangsang raised her arm to wipe the sweat off her forehead and said happily, "We can eat now."
The three of them began to eat the mutton hotpot.
"Mutton hotpot needs fresh meat. Frozen meat is much worse."
The Headmaster of the Academy took out some sweet garlic and chewed it crisply. He touched his stomach with satisfaction and looked at Ning Que. He said, "I am a person who likes to eat."
Ning Que thought that if he used a more concise word to describe him, he would be a foodie.
The Headmaster of the Academy picked up his chopsticks and scooped in the pot of water. He was a little disappointed to find that there was no more mutton. Then he pointed his chopsticks to the sky and said, "Since I like to eat, of course I don't like to be eaten by others."
"Why do I have to fight against the Way of Heaven? Because it wants to eat me. Then I have to think of a way not to be eaten by it. "
"How can you not be eaten by it?"
The Headmaster of the Academy put a piece of frozen tofu into Sangsang's bowl. He looked at the little girl who lowered her head to eat the meat and sighed. He said, "This is indeed a very troublesome problem."
Ning Que pushed away the Big Black Horse who was trying to snatch the meat from his bowl. He suddenly thought of a possibility. He looked at the sun above his head and said, "If Haotian needs to eat, he can just eat the sun. Why does he need to eat the Qi of Heaven and Earth?"
The Wilderness was located in the cold north. Although it was spring, the sun still could not burn brightly. It was faint like a painting.
The Headmaster of the Academy raised his chopsticks to the sky again and pointed at the sun. He said, "What if this is fake?"
…
…
(Writing this chapter, I thought back to the more than ten chapters of Being Possessed by the Devil in the second volume. I am very emotional. This kind of work may not be very effective at the time, but in the end, it will give people a sense of satisfaction. Ning Que will inherit the Headmaster of the Academy's great wish and Ke Haoran's spirit. But as Lotus said before his death, Ning Que will inherit his mantle. Lotus has a very important influence on Ning Que and Ning Que in the second half of the story. There will be more today.) (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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