In Zhu Xian, people start to rise from plundering entries

Chapter 797 Lu Xueqi and Biyao

The young disciple nodded as if he understood, then asked, "So what kind of person is a good person?"

Su Han took off the bodhi seed and slipped it onto the young disciple's slender wrist. It was a size too big and dangled around. The young disciple curiously held up his hand and turned it around to look at it. The bead gleamed with an amber light in the sunlight.

Su Han turned his gaze to the window. The peach blossoms on the back hill were in bloom, a sea of ​​pink and white, petals falling to the ground with every gust of wind. In the distance, wisps of smoke rose from chimneys; the villagers below were cooking. He smelled the aroma of food, mingled with the sweetness of peach blossoms and the damp scent of earth. "Life is good," he thought. There were people cooking, flowers blooming, children laughing, and light shining in everyone's heart.

"Be a person with light in your heart," Su Han said to his young disciple. "No matter what happens, always keep something warm in your heart. That's enough."

The young disciple tilted his head, looking at the bodhi seed dangling from his wrist, and suddenly grinned: "Then I have light in my heart too!"

…………

Three months have passed.

The evil spirits vanished, the cracks healed, and the lingering filth was repeatedly dispersed by the spring breeze. The cultivators withdrew from their respective defensive lines, and red silk was hung in front of the Lingxiao Immortal Sect's mountain gate. The sect leader announced that a grand victory banquet would be held on Grain Rain Day to reward all the disciples who had participated in the battle. Su Han neither objected nor showed particular enthusiasm; he simply nodded in agreement and returned to his daily life on the back mountain.

But some things are different now.

For example, his cultivation level. For the past three months, Su Han hadn't deliberately meditated or cultivated, but the Qi Sea in his dantian had been expanding on its own every day, like an underground river finding a new spring, slowly filling up. The several distinct forces within him—the Heavenly Gang Righteous Qi of the Lingxiao Immortal Sect, the remnants of Zen from the Buddhist realm, and that trace of chaotic foundation from who-knows-where—were now showing faint signs of merging. They were no longer independent entities, but rather like three tributaries flowing into the same lake, the surface calm, but with undercurrents slowly stirring beneath.

Take his eyes, for example. On the third day after returning from the human realm, Su Han discovered that he could "see" things he couldn't see before. At first, it was a thin layer of golden mist floating above every blade of grass and tree, like morning dew reflecting sunlight. Later, the mist gradually cleared, turning into a kind of flowing luster—a warm green light shone on the top of the pine tree, and tiny silver lights danced on the surface of the stream. Even the bluestone he was standing on was covered with a very faint yellowish-brown halo.

He initially thought it was the lingering effect of the Pure Land Buddha's light, so he consulted the sect leader. The sect leader intently examined his meridians, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly. Finally, he released his wrist and sighed deeply: "Han'er, I have never seen you in your current condition in my three hundred years of life."

Is it good or bad?

The sect leader remained silent for a long time, then pointed out the window: "Do you see that old locust tree outside?"

Su Han nodded.

What's on it?

There was a layer of...green light. Faint.

The sect leader stared at him for a long time, then suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with an indescribable complexity: "That's vitality. Every living thing possesses it; cultivators call it 'life force.' Ordinary mortals can't see it, but cultivators who have reached the Nascent Soul stage or higher can occasionally sense a trace. But you—you saw it clearly. Han'er, your eyes have now reached the 'Heavenly Eye' level."

It took Su Han three days to process this news. The Heavenly Eye Realm—the initial stage of wisdom described in Buddhist scriptures as "seeing the emptiness of the five aggregates"—was said to be unlocked only by those who had achieved great enlightenment. He had merely traveled to the Buddhist realm, bringing back a string of Bodhi seeds and a principle; how could he have achieved enlightenment? But the sect leader was right. He had indeed seen it. He saw the points of light dancing on every leaf on the back mountain, the pale white vortex still gathering above the heads of the new disciples, and the specks of golden dust splashing from the soil when the old farmer's hoe fell. The entire world, in his eyes, transformed into a vast tapestry of light, everything radiating light, only differing in brightness and color.

He asked the sect leader, "Can everyone see it?"

The sect leader shook his head: "Those who open their Heavenly Eye are a once-in-ten-thousand-years occurrence. Don't make a fuss."

Su Han stopped asking. He kept this secret to himself, like a warm pebble in his pocket, occasionally touching it to make sure it was still there, and that was enough.

He sat by the stream, his toes slightly curled in the water, his gaze fixed on a clump of wild rhododendrons on the opposite bank. The flowers were in full bloom, each petal enveloped in a soft pink glow, like countless tiny lanterns hanging from the branches. The halo of light swayed gently in the breeze, and occasionally a petal or two would fall into the stream, carrying the pink glow downstream, past boulders, shallows, and bends, finally disappearing around the corner of the mountain path.

Su Han wondered, where would that drifting light go? Downstream, there were villages, children playing by the stream, and women washing clothes. If the light fell on a child's hand, would the child feel especially happy that day? If the light seeped into a garment, would that garment feel especially warm?

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw the young disciple with a grain of rice stuck to his lip from last time, named A Yuan, scrambling down the stone steps behind the mountain, shouting, "Uncle-Master Su! Uncle-Master Su! Something terrible has happened!"

Su Han pulled her feet out of the stream and let them dry on the bluestone, waiting for him to run up to her: "What's wrong? Tell me slowly."

A-Yuan, panting heavily, bent over and supported herself on her knees, her face flushed red: "So many people have come down the mountain! The sect leader sent me to call you, saying you need to go to the main hall quickly!"

"Who goes there?"

“Cultivators from all over! And many I don’t recognize, wearing all sorts of clothes! They said… they said…” A-Yuan swallowed, her eyes sparkling, “They said they want to see you! They want to see Su Han, the one who ‘annihilates evil with a single palm’!”

Su Han was stunned for a moment.

For more than three months, he had stayed in the back mountain, rarely going to the front hall or receiving any visitors. He knew he had probably become famous after that battle, but "fame" was always shrouded in mystery for him, like looking at flowers through water—vague and unreal. He didn't think about hiding, nor did he think about welcoming it; he simply retreated naturally into the small courtyard in the back mountain, like a blade of grass bent by the wind, which straightened up when the wind stopped and continued to grow its leaves.

But what's meant to happen will happen eventually.

He bent down, picked up his shoes, and walked barefoot up the stone steps. A-Yuan trotted behind him, chattering about the cultivators down the mountain—who came from the northern snow plains and rode an ice dragon; who wore a bright red robe and said he was an elder from the Fire Cloud Valley in the southern border; and several bald monks who stood in front of the mountain gate with their hands clasped together, chanting sutras for a long time before entering.

Listening to this, Su Han asked while putting on her shoes, "How long did they wait?" (End of Chapter)