txolops Chapter 86 A Stubborn Stone Views History, 1 Dream of Autumn
Chapter 86 A Stubborn Stone Views History, 1 Dream of Autumn
Chapter 86 A Stone Views History, A Dream of a Thousand Autumns
Inside the Demon Suppression Division's headquarters.
Gu Yan sat in the armchair, leaning over the desk.
He neither processed official documents nor cultivated his spiritual power.
Yes, he's asleep.
To be precise, it was under the immense power of incense and prayers that one fell into a profound state called "sitting in oblivion."
The City God's seal in his arms was no longer hot; instead, it transformed into a warm, golden light that merged into his dantian.
That is not merely the recognition of a magical artifact by its master, but a resonance with the Great Dao.
In a daze, Gu Yan realized that his body was sinking.
It passed through the hard bluestone floor, through the thick, damp soil, and sank deep into the earth's crust, into that eternal, unchanging silence.
His five senses were stripped away.
The sound of rain can no longer be heard, the scent of sandalwood can no longer be smelled, and even human emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness are fading away rapidly.
When he opened his eyes again, he found that he had changed. He was no longer Gu Qingtian, who held immense power in the county, nor was he the cunning disciple of the Liuyun Sect.
He turned into a stone.
A stubborn rock standing atop a desolate mountain, weathered by wind and rain, enduring thousands of years.
In the beginning, there was only wind between heaven and earth.
The wind was sometimes gentle, like a lover's hand caressing his rough skin; at other times it was violent, like countless steel knives trying to cut him to pieces.
Gu Yan was unable to move or shout.
He has no eyes, yet he can see the shape of the wind; he has no ears, yet he can hear the footsteps of time.
The sun rises and sets, the stars shift and the constellations move.
Countless years have passed by in a flash, so fast that time itself has been stretched into a line.
-
He saw a mayfly emerge from the water at sunrise and die of exhaustion at sunset.
Born in the morning and dying at dusk, for a mayfly, this day is its magnificent life.
For the stone, it was just a blink of an eye during a long period of daze.
The sapling beside the stone struggled to break through the soil, sprout branches, and grow into a towering tree in the wind and rain, blocking out the sunlight. Then, on a stormy night, it was struck by a celestial fire, turned into charcoal, and eventually rotted into the mud.
Formation, dwelling, decay, emptiness.
Everything is in a cycle of reincarnation, and only the stone silently witnesses it all.
Many years later, a lost wild monkey climbed to the top of the mountain.
It peed on his head, then squeaked and hopped away.
If it were the old Gu Yan, he might have been angry, felt humiliated, and wanted to teach that monkey a lesson.
But stones don't get angry.
Urine flowed down the stone's texture, nourishing a patch of moss at his feet.
The moss blossomed, attracting butterflies; the butterflies attracted birds; and the birds brought seeds.
The area around the once bare stones has come back to life.
The so-called Tao follows nature, and there is no distinction between purity and impurity.
In Shi Tou's eyes, that pee and that flower were not different in terms of high or low status; they were merely fleeting visitors in the long course of time, a link in the cycle of life that sustains this world.
Later, the people arrived.
They were a group of early people who wore animal skins and carried bone clubs.
In their panic to escape the pursuit of wild beasts, they fled to the top of this mountain.
When they saw this towering, strangely shaped boulder, their eyes were filled with awe.
They knelt at Gu Yan's feet, kowtowing, praying, and offering up their still-bleeding prey.
"Stone God, please protect us from being eaten by tigers."
Gu Yan heard their thoughts.
But the stone could neither speak nor possess any magical power to drive away the beasts.
He could only remain silent.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was some kind of destiny.
That night, a sudden thunderstorm struck the dry forest at the foot of the mountain, causing a fire that formed a wall of fire and scared away wild beasts.
The early inhabitants survived.
They cheered and danced clumsily around the boulder, unanimously believing that the Stone God had appeared to them.
So, a simple altar was built, and more offerings were brought.
As Gu Yan watched all this, a sudden realization dawned on him.
God should not exist.
It is because of human weakness, human fear, and human awe of the unknown that gods were created in people's hearts.
They weren't worshipping the stone, but rather the intense desire within themselves to live.
The stone was merely a vessel, a container for them to place their faith.
Time flies, and the world changes.
The tribes of our ancestors became villages, and the villages became cities.
That simple altar was also transformed into a magnificent temple.
Gu Yan was covered in gold paint and draped in red silk.
He saw the hunter dressed in animal skins become a soldier clad in armor, and the stone axe in his hand become a gleaming iron sword.
He heard the first cry of a baby, the joy of life; he also heard the last sigh of an old man before his death, the helplessness of death.
Some people sought shelter from the rain at his feet, some wrote poems on his body, and some made wishes before him, praying for favorable weather, for success in examinations, and for the return of their beloved.
More and more people came to kneel and worship, and their requests became increasingly complex.
Those countless wishes transformed into countless threads, wrapping around the stone.
The more the incense burned, the thicker the golden statue became, and the heavier Gu Yan felt.
The blood splattered on him, the tears that fell on him, and the power of prayer emanating from people did not dissipate with the wind and rain, but seeped into his heart of stone.
Those emotions of greed, desire, pain, and despair, like a black tide, tried to assimilate him into a god who truly possessed joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, yet was also swept up by desire.
If he had a change of heart at this moment, if he really thought he could control the fate of mortals, then this stone would shatter and turn into dust.
The Buddha said: All forms are illusory.
The Dao says: Heaven and Earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs.
Amidst the billowing smoke of incense, Gu Yan held onto the last vestiges of Qingming.
He watched coldly from the sidelines.
He saw those who sought official positions beheaded for corruption; those who sought wealth squandered their fortunes through gambling; and those who sought children suffered a desolate old age due to their unfilial offspring.
He saw the old farmer praying for rain, how he diligently dug a well in the parched land, and finally found sweet spring water;
Seeing how that scholar, who studied diligently and even tied his thigh with an awl to stay awake, finally achieved success in the imperial examination.
Afterwards, he saw a young couple pledging their lives to each other in front of the stone, swearing to the heavens that their love would never change even if the sea dried up and the rocks crumbled.
However, just three years later, the man, dressed in fine clothes and riding a spirited horse, passed by with his new bride, completely ignoring the stone that had witnessed his vow.
The woman came alone on a rainy night, cried in front of the stone all night, and finally smashed the jade pendant that had been her token of love on the corner of the stone.
"Foolish child."
Gu Yan sighed inwardly, but could not utter a word.
He finally understood that the so-called miracles were nothing more than the flow of cause and effect.
Those who help others will always be helped by others; those who help themselves will always be helped by Heaven.
In the long years that followed, the stone witnessed the vicissitudes of life and the rise and fall of dynasties.
Some people reign supreme before it, full of vigor and pride; others become outcasts before it, destitute and wretched.
A stone is always just a stone; it neither grieves nor rejoices, it does not ferry people across; people must ferry themselves across.
These mortals, whose lives are as fleeting as morning dew and as fragile as ants, still love, hate, and live with all their might in this mortal world.
Their desires and their prayers are the most real and fervent flame of life in this world.
As a stone, Gu Yan cannot bear the fire, but he can remember its temperature.
Many years have passed, and eventually, all the prosperity will fade away.
War broke out.
The mutinous soldiers stormed into the city, looted the temple's incense money, and scraped off the gold dust from the stone.
The enraged soldiers toppled the statue and used their spears to carve deep marks into Gu Yan's body.
Blood stained the temple, and fire destroyed the beams.
The once-thriving temple was reduced to ruins overnight.
Gu Yan lay among the rubble, his body covered in scorch marks and knife wounds. He looked up at the ever-cold moon above him, filled with emotion.
When the splendor faded and the golden body crumbled, he returned to being that ugly, stubborn rock.
No one came to kneel and worship anymore; only a few stray dogs scavenged for food in the ruins.
Is it desolate?
No.
Gu Yan felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
Only after the disguise of being a god was broken did he touch his truest self.
The mortal world is a fleeting dream, like a bubble or a dream.
Whether it's a golden statue revered by thousands or a stubborn rock ignored by everyone, there is essentially no difference between them.
I am who I am.
I am neither a god, nor a demon, nor a human.
I am a stone that has been through the ups and downs of life, yet has never changed its true nature.
This is the practice of using the false to cultivate the true.
Even if the incense is fake, and the golden statue is fake, the ray of spiritual light that has stood the test of time and seen through the fading of worldly splendor is real.
"I see."
Amidst the ruins, the stubborn rock let out a sigh.
The sigh was initially very soft, like the murmur of a mosquito, like a whisper; but in a moment, it turned into a high-pitched cry, like the roar of a dragon, like the wailing of a phoenix.
A dazzling golden light shot into the sky from the rubble, transforming into a majestic yet compassionate Buddha statue wearing a flat crown and a dragon robe, standing between heaven and earth.
This Dharma form is no longer an illusory shadow, but has flesh and blood, a soul, and a true image that reigns supreme for eternity.
That was Gu Yan's Dao foundation, and also the embodiment of his divine soul.
Deep in the darkness of the underground, Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes and returned to reality.
The Qi Sea within his body has undergone earth-shattering changes.
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The vortex of spiritual energy, which was originally as thick as mist, stopped spinning.
At the very center of the vortex, a towering structure, its entire body gleaming like a piece of white jade, rises from the ground.
This pagoda is no ordinary object; every brick and tile of it is formed by the compression and condensation of the purest incense offerings and vows.
The mountain and river landscape of Changning County is carved on it; the joys and sorrows of all living beings are carved on it; the vicissitudes of Gu Yan's dream of that stubborn stone are carved on it.
There are the bonfires of our ancestors, the prosperity of a golden age, the ruins of war, and above all, Gu Yan's unwavering Daoist heart.
Within his sea of consciousness, Gu Yan, formed from his thoughts, stepped onto the towering structure.
As he walked, the Tower of Babel transformed from an illusion into reality, from abstract to concrete.
The first layer is the gratitude of the survivors of Guanyao Town, whose gratitude, carrying the fragrance of the soil and the joy of new life, has become the solid foundation of the tower.
The second layer depicts the cheers of impoverished people in Changning County as they received life-saving grain; that simple, heartfelt satisfaction is embodied in the imposing structure of the tower.
The third layer is the joy of those who had been wronged by Wu Decai for many years finally being vindicated, and that boldness of daring to be the first in the world is transformed into flying eaves and brackets.
This is his Dao foundation. It does not require the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nor does it rely on foundation-building pills. Instead, it is a tower that has been forged from the joys and sorrows of 300,000 people in Changning County, on Gu Yan's Dao heart that sees through the illusions.
"Tick-tock".
As the Tower of Babel took shape, the long-accumulated golden liquid magic above the Qi Sea finally released its first drop of rain.
The raindrop fell on the tower, producing a clear and melodious sound.
Immediately afterwards, a torrential downpour began.
Countless drops of golden true essence fell like pearls onto a jade plate, enveloping the Tower of Babel in a golden rain.
Gu Yan's body was undergoing a complete transformation, and his meridians were being expanded several times over by this domineering golden true essence.
A layer of black grime is expelled from the skin's surface, leaving the skin smooth and lustrous like jade.
Between the opening and closing of the eyes, one can see the movement of the sun, moon, and stars, and the passing of time.
Divine foundation established, complete!
This is a path that no one has ever walked before, an extraordinary path to foundation building, forged with the mortal world as a furnace and the human heart as fire, a divine path to foundation building!
Gu Yan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. This breath lingered three feet from his mouth, transforming into a small white sword that circled around him three times before gradually disappearing.
He stood up, and the world seemed very different to him.
In a hazy state, his consciousness detached from his body and drifted in the sky above Changning County.
He "saw" it.
He saw Granny Wang in the east of the city mending new clothes for her grandson, murmuring praises of Lord Gu; he saw the blacksmith shop in the west of the city, the furnace burning brightly, the men sweating profusely, their eyes shining; he heard the sound of grass and trees sprouting deep in the soil.
At this moment, he was no longer Gu Yan; he was the will of Changning County, the guardian of this land.