Techniques and Dao

Chapter 230 True Reality is Without Form
Upon hearing Ruokong's words, Huasheng was utterly astonished.

“Mole worm…”

Hua Sheng repeated the word. In an instant, he suddenly became alert, and then felt dizzy, almost losing his balance.

"The story is finished, let's set off." Master Ruokong slowly stood up, wanting to continue on his way.

But Koko realized that Hanamoto neither seemed to want to speak nor intended to leave.

The man before him, Hana, had his head bowed, his expression one of extreme struggle, as if he had found a crucial answer, an answer he could not accept.

He suddenly looked up at Ruokong and said, "Abbot, do you know? We are similar people."

Ruo Kong paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Yes, we are all ants. We were all once mortals, all once orphans, and all were rescued and brought here."

Hua Sheng couldn't laugh; instead, her face was filled with pain as she said, "Similar experiences will leave similar marks on two people. It's not just memories and feelings; we have something else in common."

Ruokong, puzzled, asked, "What does the benefactor wish to say?"

“This thing is called Qi Pattern. Perhaps this is the first time you’ve heard of it, Master.” Hua Sheng seemed very sad, but her tone left no room for argument. “You should know that this will leave this thing called Qi Pattern in the same place as you and me.”

Ruokong seemed to have seen through something, and slowly said, "What is it that you want to say, benefactor?"

"That place, the place where you tried to erase all traces!"

A golden light shone on the four walls, and Hua Sheng, facing Ruo Kong, had already grasped the golden cudgel in his hand.

"It's precisely because you don't know about Qi patterns that you overlooked the presence of your aura in the Klin Magic Academy's treasury!"

Master Ruokong clasped his hands together and smiled, “Benefactor, perhaps you are just another person similar to you and me. After all, in the past thirty years, too many orphans have entered Shengpingning.”

If Kong's words made some sense, Hua Sheng still shook his head and said, "No! It's definitely not a coincidence! Because this precisely explains why the loose thread on my training academy uniform ended up at Klin Magic School! When I first came to the Zen Temple, Bu Xu told me that the abbot happened to see me fall into the Zen Temple, and it was the abbot who personally carried me into the meditation room!"

Hua Sheng pointed at Ruo Kong's brocade kasaya and said, "My Taoist robe was damaged during the Qiankun Guardian War, and a loose thread happened to stick to your kasaya! That was right when the temple gates were open, and you then used the Xingguang Spell to go to the Demon School and steal the Jupiter Silk! This coincides perfectly with the time the Demon School provided information about when the Jupiter Silk was stolen!"

Ruokong remained expressionless and replied calmly, "What does this humble monk need that Jupiter thread for?"

"You want to make a Jupiter-themed veil!"

"But why should this humble monk want the Starry Night Silk? I have stayed in the Zen temple for so many years, and I do not want anything."

Hua Sheng was stumped by the question. Master Ruokong had helped him many times these past few days, asking for nothing in return. Moreover, this time, when he asked Ruokong to guard Jinling, Ruokong almost lost his life. He didn't even care about his own life, so how could he care about worldly gains? For someone who had long been accustomed to Daqian Temple, what use would he have for making the Year Star Silk?

He pondered the question repeatedly in his mind, but couldn't find a way to answer. Instead, he said, "But you are too suspicious. To prove your innocence, we must verify your aura!"

Ruokong sighed and said, "Have you ever thought that the Suixing Silk was meant for..."

Ruokong then uttered a name, but his voice was so soft that Huasheng couldn't hear it.

"What did you say? For whom!" Hua Sheng thought of that name, but wasn't sure. He leaned forward and asked, "For whom?"

"Give...cough cough!" Ruokong said, then suddenly started coughing up blood, looking like he was about to collapse.

Seeing this, Hua Sheng instinctively went to help Ruo Kong. Just then, Master Ruo Kong chanted a sutra, and the iron hoop chain on Hua Sheng's chest suddenly lengthened, becoming a serpentine chain that tightly bound Hua Sheng's arms. Not only that, the hoop chain took root in his flesh, growing barbs that pierced into Hua Sheng's skin!
Hua Sheng tried to break free, but it was too late. He roared, "What magic? This iron golden hoop is mine! Why should it listen to you!"

“The golden headband,” Master Ruokong said slowly. “This humble monk recognizes this golden headband at a glance. Since it is a golden headband, it is a contract you cannot escape.”

Seeing that he could not escape, Hua Sheng chanted the Cloud Ascension Mantra in an attempt to fly up and crash into the pavilion. But just as he left the ground, Master Ruokong's eyes flashed with golden light and he flew to him with lightning speed, inserting two fingers into his heart!
Hua Sheng felt a sharp pain in his heart, and as Master Ruokong pulled his finger out of his heart, a red line of blood flew out from his chest.

"you!!!"

Hua Sheng was terrified, feeling as if his soul had left his body. His golden cudgel clattered to the ground, and he himself crashed heavily to the ground. On the other side, Master Ruokong also seemed to have exhausted much of his strength. He wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve, clasped his hands together, and said, "This humble monk takes your lifeblood. Rest in peace, benefactor."

"Why...why!!!" Hua Sheng coughed up a mouthful of blood, his consciousness already blurred.

Ruokong raised his head with a wry smile and muttered something nonsensical to himself.

"Not here! Not here! For heaven and earth are incomplete, but this scripture was originally complete. Now that it is torn, it is a manifestation of the profound mystery of incompleteness, which is beyond human power to achieve!"

Hua Sheng glared angrily at Ruo Kong.

Ruokong turned to look at the blooming flowers on the ground, his words revealing a hint of sadness, and said, "That's the sentence. Back then, when the final tribulation of the eighty-one tribulations caused the true scriptures to fall into the river, after Sun Wukong damaged the scriptures on the drying stone, he used this casual sentence to comfort Tang Sanzang."

At this moment, Master Ruokong clutched his chest and coughed violently. After finally catching his breath, he continued, "These words... are so easily dismissed. Do you know, benefactor, that the Western Paradise Scripture is missing the most important content? It is not an ordinary verse; it is the answer to the mystery of everything."

Ruokong gestured a small width in the air with his thumb and forefinger, saying, "That's the equation that constructs this universe. It's just a little bit short, a short equation. All the suffering in the world, all the separations and deaths, are because mortals cannot know this secret."

Hua Sheng struggled to say, "Even if the scriptures are incomplete, isn't the human world doing just fine now?!"

"Should we be grateful for darkness just because there is a beautiful flower in the darkness?" Ruokong squinted.

Hua Shengdao said, "So that's why you wanted to make the Jupiter Silk!"

Upon hearing this, Ruokong's face suddenly turned angry, and he shouted, "Shut up! Of course, this humble monk does not want a half-finished product like the Year Star Gauze. What this humble monk wants to make is a Year Star Robe that can travel through infinite time!"

"Why do you think that having Jupiter silk means you can make a Jupiter garment?"

Ruo Kong asked, "Do you remember that you, Taishang Xiaojun, and Weiyu once came here?"

"When will we..." Hua Shenggang was about to deny it, but then he remembered that the Panxian Cave, where he had previously retrieved the Time Bodhi, was near the Daqian Zen Temple.

"When I saw that Jupiter gauze, I realized that it was made of Jupiter silk and energy strings!"

Hua Sheng still shook his head and said, "You will definitely fail! No one can do it! Even if you have the materials to make Jupiter Silk, Jupiter Silk and Energy String can never be combined! The universe will be destroyed if these two things meet! The fallen angel told me that there is nothing in this world that can fuse the two together, whether in the past, present or future!"

"Hahaha!"

Ruokong suddenly burst into laughter, then said, "No? You think there isn't? Of course there is! Huasheng, this is what you gave to this humble monk."

Hanamori could hardly believe his ears.

"Me? What do I have that doesn't exist in this world! And when did I give it to you?!"

Master Ruokong walked to the pavilion, pulled back the curtain, and the cold wind, mixed with ice and snow, immediately blew in. He turned around and said:
"This is no longer important to you. What is important is that the world will henceforth have the Jupiter Robe! This humble monk will go to help Tang Sanzang retrieve the complete scriptures from the Western Paradise! All living beings in the world will be free from suffering. For all of this, even if I create karma and bear the consequences, I will cross this river of time to make amends for the mistakes made by the years."

Hua Sheng tried with all his might to rush forward, but his energy was depleted, and everything went black before his eyes.

In the instant he fell to the ground, he picked up the golden cudgel from the ground and hurled it upwards! The golden cudgel pierced through the Phoenix Fall Pavilion and flew into the air, shattering the clouds above.

At the same time, Hanamoto collapsed in a pool of blood and her heart stopped beating.

Ruo Kong quietly looked at Hua Sheng, who had stopped breathing, and sighed softly, saying, "With your lifeblood drained, not even a god could save you, let alone the Nine-Turn Rejuvenating Pill."

Master Ruokong walked into the snowstorm without looking back.

"I'm sorry. What is a mere life compared to the lives of all living beings? I feel the same way, and so do you."

(End of this chapter)