Techniques and Dao

Chapter 108 Returning to the Academy
When the hundred-day mark arrived, Master Ruokong alone delivered the flowers to the front of the mountain gate.

Hua Sheng looked back at Daqian Temple and murmured, "Having gotten used to living here, I'm actually a little reluctant to leave."

Ruo Kong smiled and said, "Then you may stay another hundred..."

"No, no, no! You're too kind, Master!" Hua Sheng quickly interrupted Master Ruokong. "This disciple does indeed have urgent business to attend to."

"Next time, I can prepare in advance and perhaps even host a grand farewell ceremony for you."

Hua Sheng hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No need, no need. It would be too much trouble for the monks. Abbot, there's no need for you to go to such lengths. Otherwise, I would feel bad. I didn't want to bother everyone too much in the first place."

"Very well. When to set off or where to go is not important. What matters is that you know the way home." Ruokong clasped his hands together. "May we meet again, benefactor!"

Hua Sheng bowed, turned and walked to the mountain gate. Seeing that the heavy gate remained tightly closed, he pushed it but it wouldn't budge. He couldn't help but turn back and say, "Master, why can't this gate be opened? Could it be that it hasn't been opened in so long that the hinges have rusted?"

Ruokong walked forward with a smile, but did not push the door open. Instead, he gently piled something on the right side of the door.

"Donor, please."

With a creak, the door opened from the side.

"Huh? A revolving door... a revolving door!!!"

Hua Sheng's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. No wonder he couldn't open it no matter how much he tried pushing, pulling, moving, or lifting!

It turns out it's a revolving door!
Ruokong delivered the flowers to the outside of the mountain gate.

"Abbot, your solemn temple gate is not a department store. What kind of decorum is it to use a revolving door?"

"The mountain gate is merely a passageway. What does it matter what the gate looks like?"

Hua Sheng, still somewhat unwilling to give up, said, "Then wouldn't I have been able to leave earlier if I had pushed him to the side?"

Ruokong laughed and said, "Of course you can't leave. The Buddha's teachings are boundless, please don't try to outsmart the Buddha."

These words left Hua Sheng stunned.

Ruokong continued, “Benefactor, the mountain gate is not the gate. Your search for a way out is itself a question. The gate is the answer. What you see now may not be the most correct, but it is the best answer you can know and possess.”

If this were true, it would remind Hua Sheng of what the little novice monk had said: Sun Wukong couldn't escape the Buddha's palm, not because he was bound by ropes or because there was a lid on the Buddha's palm. He simply couldn't understand why he couldn't break through Buddhist teachings.

Thinking of this, Hua Sheng suddenly remembered: "Master Ruokong, that Ruyi Jingu Bang..."

Ruokong replied, "This humble monk has already returned it to the benefactor."

Hua Sheng lifted the iron chain around his neck and held the pendant in his palm to examine it. Indeed, a golden needle floated in the center of the crimson flame.

"When...when did you return this to me?"

“When you let go of this item in your heart and decide not to use it, I will have already returned it,” Ruokong said. “Whether it is a physical object or a sentiment in your heart, whenever you are intoxicated, confused, dependent, or reliant, you should always ask yourself if you can let go. If you can’t let go of too many things, you will be trapped, unable to go far or fly high.”

Hua Sheng bowed deeply to Ruo Kong.

He walked a few steps down the mountain. When he looked back, the temple gate was no longer a revolving door, but had long since become a solemn and dignified double gate.

Above the temple gate hangs a golden plaque with the four large, bright gold characters "Daqian Zen Temple" prominently displayed.

Everything in the world has a cause. Without cause, there is no effect, and there is neither you nor me.

If Kongzheng was standing in front of the temple gate, waving and smiling at him, he would say:

"Please take care on your journey, benefactor!"

As the flowers bloomed and I soared through the clouds, I saw the entire Daqian Temple. Perched atop a steep, solitary peak, the temple resembled a phoenix spreading its wings.

High in the air, one feels as free as a bird. Hua Sheng stretched lazily and took a deep breath. How wonderful!
"Since Daqian Zen Temple is in Hanzhou in the center, and the Shudao Academy is in Lingzhou, then we need to go east."

Hua Sheng lowered his head to identify the mountain range to the east of Daqian Temple, and suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if he had seen this mountain scenery somewhere before. Hua Sheng had not been to many places in Shengping Ning, especially the places he could look down upon using his cloud-riding technique, which were even fewer.

He initially thought he had only caught a glimpse of it during the fall, but then dismissed the idea. It wasn't the view he saw then; it must have been something much further back, much earlier.

"That's...where have I seen it before? That's right!"

A sudden realization struck him: the mountain next to Daqian Temple was the location of Panxian Cave! He had once come here with Taishang Xiaojun and Weiyu on cranes, in search of the Time Bodhi.

"So this is the forbidden zone that the Supreme Lord Xiaojun mentioned before. No wonder it looked so familiar!"

Hua Sheng pondered that the reason why Shengpingning, which was managed by Taoists, was called a forbidden area might be related to the presence of Daqian Zen Temple in this area.

No wonder Taoist disciples are forbidden from going to this place. It seems that the relationship between Buddhism and Taoism is indeed subtle in Shengpingning.

Thinking of the Time Bodhi, Hua Sheng recalled the scene she witnessed when she pierced the Veil of the Year Star. This Time Bodhi and the subsequent "Bodhi War"... it all felt like a dream.

Whether it was an illusion or something that would truly happen, Hanamori couldn't know. After all, as long as it was the present, the future could change. "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!"

With all her might, Hua Sheng flew eastward like an arrow released from a bow.

After passing through three or four large cities, more than ten small towns, and countless mountains and forests, Hua Sheng saw a familiar scene at the far end.

Isn't that the complex of buildings of the Academy of Arts and Sciences?

Xuanwu Mountain remains the same, but the Lingyan Pagoda is no longer there.

One hundred days have passed since the Battle of Qiankun, and the four pavilions at the foot of the mountain—Sixian Pavilion, Huixian Pavilion, Qixian Pavilion, and Yuxian Pavilion—have all been restored to their original state. The buildings that were destroyed during the Battle of Qiankun have also been returned to their original condition.

The immortal masters must have expended a great deal of effort.

Hua Sheng then lowered her altitude slightly and was able to see the area where the dormitory was located.

Who should I go to first? Immortal Master Yu Ran? Right, I should go find Grandmaster Tai Shang Xiao Jun first. I need to check if he's safe.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun helped him break free from the illusion of the Year Star Veil, and after returning to Sheng Ping Ning, Tai Shang Xiao Jun disappeared without a trace. The reason is unknown.

Thinking this, Hua Sheng descended another several dozen feet.

Thus, the main road leading to the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Sacred Path of Heaven, was right before their eyes, and they could already see the academy disciples walking back and forth. Just as they were about to descend to be level with the tops of the four tall pavilions, a cluster of fireballs suddenly flew in from nowhere. Because it happened so suddenly, and because the fireballs were only the size of a palm and not easily visible from a distance, Hua Sheng almost couldn't dodge in time.

The fireball, trailing a fiery tail, flew past him, almost grazing his cheek.

"This is too dangerous! Who would cast this fire-controlling spell on the sky...?"

Strangely, Hua Sheng felt a sense of unfamiliarity with the fireball he had just seen. He had never seen such a fire control technique before—a fireball with a tail, like some kind of firework. It had an inexplicable sense of unease.

Hua Sheng then realized that there were many people gathered on the Lingtian Sacred Path beneath his feet, and that the fireball had come from below and almost injured him.

Hua Sheng flew towards the densest crowd, and at the same time, she saw more disciples rushing towards the crowd. The number of people below was growing larger and larger.

"Could it be that while you've been away from the Magic Academy for a few days, everyone has learned some new magical techniques?"

Hua Sheng couldn't help but mutter to himself, but before he could think about it further, he saw something even stranger. It turned out that the disciples of the Daoist Academy were surrounding a group of men in black.

The two sides are locked in a fierce battle.

From mid-air, there were about twenty or thirty men in black, clearly not disciples of the Magic Academy. Upon closer inspection, they were all dressed in long black robes. Some carried wooden staffs almost as tall as themselves, while others held objects resembling tree branches.

Whether it was a wooden staff or a tree branch, they were all capable of emitting the same flames that Hua Sheng had just witnessed in mid-air. These black-robed figures were attacking the disciples of the Magic Academy with spells such as fireballs.

Hua Sheng couldn't stand by and watch his fellow disciple be bullied. Using the momentum from his descent, he sidestepped and grabbed a man in black. He shouted, "Where did this troublemaker come from!"

The man in black couldn't dodge in time and saw Hua Sheng's flying kick coming. He hurriedly used his arm to parry.

With a shout of "Hurry, as the law commands!", Hua Sheng sent a gust of wind rushing from his leg. A muffled thud was heard, and the man in black robes was kicked three zhang away by Hua Sheng, but he rolled over and landed steadily on the ground.

Hua Sheng realized that his opponent was no ordinary person, and that he had also used a magical technique in his kick. Although he had only used three-tenths of his strength, even a large piece of granite had already been shattered into powder, while his opponent seemed to have only been hit by the impact.

"He really does have some cultivation..." Hua Shenggao wanted to unleash another immortal technique, but he was taken aback.

To his surprise, the other person turned out to be a blond, blue-eyed foreign man.

Wait a minute! Why are there foreigners here?
Hua Sheng felt her mind go completely blank for a moment.

How come there are foreigners in Saint-Pinnes? Where did these foreigners come from?

Standing among the crowd, he suddenly noticed that the group of men in black robes were indeed speaking a foreign language!

Hanamori, who was also educated, was certain that they weren't speaking English; it sounded more like French. But he couldn't be 100% sure which language they were actually speaking.

He suddenly realized that, no matter what, the "Eight-Nation Alliance" had now come to their doorstep!
Hua Sheng shouted, "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands!"

With a grasp of the iron hoop chain on his chest, accompanied by a burst of colorful light, the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff) seemed ready to emerge.

The long-lost cool touch returned to Hua Sheng's palm, and he held the golden cudgel horizontally in his hand.

"Can anyone tell me?" Hua Sheng shouted, "Who are these people dressed like Harry Potter, here to cause trouble at the Magic Academy?!

Just as Hua Sheng was about to rush towards the foreigners in black robes, he was stopped by a girl's voice.

"Hanamori! It's you? What brings you here?"

Hearing the familiar voice call out, Hua Sheng quickly turned around.

It turned out to be Mieying behind me. Mieying had golden-brown curly hair and must be Seventh Sister.

(End of this chapter)