On the Avenue.

Chapter 637 Benevolence, the Way of Humanity

Jiang Guo, Qiao Gu, and others also witnessed Chen Shi's duel with the sword marks on the cliff, but their feelings were different from Chen Shi's.

“When I got here, I was already badly injured and could hardly go on. My junior brother has not been injured to this day.”

Qiao Gu praised, "His foundation is too solid, and his understanding of the Hunyuan Sword Scripture far surpasses mine."

Jingmei said, "Back then, my injuries were even more severe, and I could hardly walk. It was only because my senior brothers and sisters encouraged me from outside that I was able to continue."

She felt this deeply.

Uncle Jiao suddenly shook his head and said, "That's not right."

The group was puzzled. Jiang Guo asked, "Uncle-Master, what's wrong?"

Uncle Jiao said, "His moves are perfectly natural, without any flaws, yet he still gets hit by the sword. Something's not right here."

Qiao Gu said, "Uncle-Master, isn't that right? His moves have no flaws; he has already grasped the true essence of the Hunyuan Sword Scripture. Even I can't do that now. Even if you were to use the Hunyuan Sword Scripture, you wouldn't reach his level!"

Uncle Jiao said, "I really can't do it. But there is definitely something wrong with his swordsmanship."

As they were talking, Chen Shi had already arrived at the eighth move of the Sandao Cliff, facing the Heavenly Net Smash on the cliff face.

By the time he met the fifth move, "Clouds Part and Mist Disperse," he had already sustained some injuries. The sixth and seventh moves aggravated his injuries, but they did not yet affect his movements.

Having reached this point, very few disciples of Jin'ao Island are capable of doing it.

Despite being in an extremely narrow space between cliffs, Chen Shi and the supernatural powers on the cliff face displayed a terrifying scene of the sky collapsing and the sun turning blood red, even more dangerous, as if two collapsing worlds were hidden between the cliffs, colliding with a deafening roar!

Before Chen Shi's eyes, the red sun darted about wildly, the setting sun was like blood, a scene of apocalyptic desolation where heaven and earth were reduced to ashes.

His technique was flawless, fully embodying the grand principles of the apocalypse. The power of this move shone brilliantly under his sword. However, the moment he collided with the Heavenly Net Smash erupting from the cliff face, his swordsmanship was inexplicably broken. The next moment, countless sword energies attacked, some piercing his throat, some his heart, some penetrating his Dao field, some entering his sea of ​​consciousness, and some already reaching his primordial spirit.

Chen Shi retreated rapidly, urging the Xuanhuang Sword Qi to invade his Daoist sea of ​​consciousness and even his Dao realm, doing everything he could to resist the invading sword qi.

After he blocked the sword energy, he retreated to the entrance of the Path of the Gods.

Chen Shi's face darkened, and he was about to re-enter the Cliff of Ascension when Jiao Shibo's voice came from behind him: "Chen Shi, come with me."

Chen Shi did not continue to force his way through the cliff, but turned around and followed him.

Uncle Jiao, leaning on his cane, walked ahead with a limp. Suddenly, a cloud of auspiciousness appeared beneath his feet, rose up, and carried the two away, leaving Qiao Gu, Jing Mei, and the others looking at each other in bewilderment.

“Junior Brother Chen’s swordsmanship does seem to have a problem,” Qiao Gu said, scratching his head.

Chen Shi stood on the cloud and saw that the auspicious cloud was moving very fast. Before long, it flew over thousands of mountains and rivers and arrived at the western border of Penglai.

Although this place is also part of the Immortal Realm, it is extremely desolate. Its spiritual energy has been polluted by heretics and rendered unusable. The upheavals of the past have made this place uninhabitable. Yet, humans still thrive here. Chen Shi saw villages scattered like chess pieces of all sizes across the shattered landscape.

As the auspicious clouds slowly descended, Chen Shi stood firmly on the ground and looked around. He saw that it was freezing cold here, with snow still covering the ground. In the distant fields, the green wheat seedlings looked as if they were frozen by ice and snow.

"Your swordsmanship is flawed; it doesn't sound like your own."

Master Jiao said earnestly, “You seem to understand those principles naturally, but those principles don’t resonate with you at all, you have no feelings about them.”

Chen Shi frowned slightly and said, "Uncle-Master, what do you mean?"

"You have not yet grasped the meaning of benevolence."

Master Jiao said, “Ren is the relationship between man and heaven and earth, and the relationship between man and man. This is the key to the Master’s philosophy. It is called Ren in name, but in reality it is the way of humanity. One can know life and death by feeling the changes of heaven and earth, know rise and fall by feeling the changes of the world, and know oneself by feeling human relationships. Your understanding of swordsmanship is unparalleled, but your swordsmanship is just an empty shell. It is devoid of the way of humanity, your own understanding and perception.”

He limped across the snow-covered ground and said, “Look at this snow. It may seem like the world is freezing cold, but spring is actually approaching. It’s not so cold for people anymore. Don’t float on the ground. Land on the ground and feel it.”

Chen Shi landed on the ground, relaxed his body, and walked slowly.

The soil on the ground was softer than he had expected. Although there was still ice and snow on the ground, it was only in the shade, and the soil was not frozen. The weather was also beginning to warm up.

He looked back and saw his own footprints on the ground.

Master Jiao led him forward and said, “You have mastered the Earthly Qi Coldness very well, and I cannot find any fault with it. But why were you struck by the sword? I think you have never truly witnessed the Earthly Qi Coldness, the heavens turning upside down and killing. Only when you have truly witnessed it can you understand the benevolence and humanity that the Master spoke of.”

Chen Shi followed him, thinking to himself, "Benevolence? Humanity? Could it really be the reason I was struck by the sword?"

The two arrived at a nearby village. The villagers seemed to recognize Master Jiao and greeted him, saying, "Master Jiao, you've come to teach your disciple again?"

Uncle Jiao smiled and replied, "Jiang Guo was a resident of this village. However, that was more than 500 years ago."

Chen Shi looked around the village and saw many villagers sitting in the sun, wearing thick clothes, squinting, and their cheeks reddened by the sun.

Five hundred years is but a fleeting moment for those who are already immortals, but for mortals, it is enough time for them to go through several cycles of life and death, and all their past lives will turn to ashes.

“I was the one who brought Jiang Guo into the Jin'ao Island sect. He was a genius, and he learned everything very quickly. Even in Penglai West, a place where cultivation was almost impossible, his cultivation speed was still astonishing. Before he entered the sect, I taught him the Hunyuan Dao Scripture and the Sword Scripture, and made a promise with him that after he cultivated to the Heavenly Immortal Realm, he would come to Jin'ao Island to find me. Later, I forgot about this matter.”

Master Jiao gathered some bamboo and, while whittling it, began to recount Jiang Guo's origins, saying, "When I finally remembered him, several decades had passed. When I went to find him again, I discovered he had already become a celestial being. He didn't look for me, but instead stayed at home, caring for his parents until their passing. I didn't force him to come with me, and left. After his parents passed away, he came to Jin'ao Island as promised, and I led him into the mountain gate. He had a jade pendant on his waist, of poor quality, but he always wore it; it was a keepsake from his parents."

As he spoke, he shaved twelve bamboo stalks of varying lengths, the longest being nine inches and the shortest four inches and seven-tenths of an inch, and inserted them into the soil, with the same length protruding above the ground.

Uncle Jiao then took some inner membranes from the reeds, burned them to ashes, and carefully sprinkled them into the bamboo.

Chen Shi squatted down next to him, watching him work.

Master Jiao said, "If you stay here and keep an eye on these bamboos, you will naturally comprehend the human way hidden within the earth's energy."

Chen Shi then guarded the twelve bamboo stalks, while Uncle Jiao, leaning on his crutch, left.

As dusk approached, the villagers had all gone home, and soon wisps of smoke rose from each house, filling the air with the aroma of food.

Chen Shi continued to stare intently at the twelve bamboo stalks. After a short while, he heard rustling footsteps behind him. A child carefully carried a bowl of food with two mixed grain buns to his side.

"My mother told me to give this to you, eat it, eat it." The child's face was filled with an innocent smile.

Chen Shi hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse. He thanked him solemnly, picked up the bowl of food, squatted down like a villager, took a bite of bread and a bite of vegetables, and quickly finished the meal.

He wanted to return the bowl, but worried about missing something, so he simply placed it beside him. A short while later, the child returned and took the bowl away.

The moon rises, its light enchanting. Under its glow, shadows and snow intertwine, making the air grow ever colder.

It was extremely quiet here, with only the occasional bark of a dog and the creaking sound of the wooden gate opening.

Chen Shi kept his eyes fixed on the twelve bamboo poles. Before he knew it, dawn broke, and the village gradually came back to life. People got up early, greeted each other, and soon smoke began to rise from the chimneys of every household.

The child brought him breakfast again, and Chen Shi still didn't refuse.

After breakfast, the villagers were very curious about this outsider. Many people secretly observed him from a distance, gossiping about him, but dared not approach him.

The children were bolder; they would run up to Chen Shi, squat down beside him, and scrutinize him. The even bolder ones would reach out and touch his purple-gold crown.

They were soon summoned by their parents and given a scolding.

Chen Shi simply kept his eyes on the twelve bamboo stalks, displaying remarkable patience. Within a few days, the villagers had grown accustomed to his arrival, and their curiosity about him diminished considerably.

Chen Shi was completely absorbed in the moment, as if he had become one with the village.

After six or seven days, the weather warmed up, the ice and snow in the shadows gradually melted, and the ground became softer. Some tender green grass sprouts had already emerged from the corner of the wall.

That morning, Chen Shi was still sitting there like a wooden or clay sculpture. An early riser stretched, yawned, and passed by him, muttering, "It's the Spring Equinox today."

At this moment, Chen Shi sensed that there was yang energy flowing deep in the earth. It was indeed the yang energy of the earth, the melting of ice and snow deep in the soil, the roots breathing in and out of the soil, and the creatures in the cave opening their eyes in a daze, accelerating their metabolism.

In short, the earth seemed to have awakened.

He was astonished by his own perception when a sudden gust of air from deep within the earth blew upwards from the base of the bamboo in front of him, causing the reed membrane at the base of the bamboo to rise up.

The incredibly light ashes flew out from the end of the bamboo that emerged from the ground, dancing in the air, accompanied by a low sound coming from within the bamboo.

The voice was very low, so low that it would be easily missed if one did not listen carefully.

But it is indeed a sound from the depths of the earth.

It is the Huangzhong pitch in the twelve-tone system.

Ashes also rose from other bamboo stalks. From bamboo stalks of different heights, the earth's energy stirred, producing twelve different musical notes, including Da Lü, Tai Cu, Jia Zhong, Gu Xi, and Zhong Lü.

This sound is like the earth itself speaking, announcing to the whole world that spring has arrived.

This sound seemed to awaken life in the world, filling the originally desolate Penglai West with the breath of countless lives awakening!

This is the earth's energy exchange, this is the heavens' reversal of life and death!

Behind Chen Shi, the village seemed to come alive from the deathly silence of the night. People were busy with their own things, children were playing, hens came out of the coop to forage for food, and yellow dogs ran around, urinating to mark their territory.

The child who often brought him food came over again, carrying a bowl of food.

Although Chen Shi had already grasped the secrets of this move through the Heavenly Secret Strategy, he still couldn't help but burst into tears when he personally felt the earth revive and all things turn from death to life.

He figured it out.

He realized that the benevolence Confucius spoke of was not about splitting a person in two, but rather about the relationship between a person and heaven and earth, and between people themselves.

He grasped the profound human wisdom hidden in the earth's subtle greetings!

He realized why he had been struck by a sword on the cliff.

"Stop crying."

The child who delivered the food said, "Are you hungry? I have some more at home, I'll give you some more."

"Thank you."

Chen Shi thanked him, stood up and said with a smile, "I've been eating your food for so long and have been taken care of by you for so long, how could I not repay you?"

With a slight thought, he created a Yin-Yang Daoist altar, which enveloped the small village.

Chen Shi activated the Yin-Yang Daoist Temple to absorb and refine the heretical forces in the area. Before long, he had completely purified the heretical forces in the village. He then said to the child who had brought him food, "If Grandpa Lame comes looking for me, tell him that I am going to enter the mortal world for a while. When I have achieved perfection, I will return." After saying this, he drifted away.

From then on, the village became filled with spiritual energy and righteousness, the villagers lived longer, and the crops grew better.

Not long after Chen Shi left, Uncle Jiao and Jiang Guo arrived at the place. When the villagers saw Jiang Guo, they all rushed forward and called him "Ancestor." — Jiang Guo looked like a young man, but he was already nearly six hundred years old, so it was only natural that the villagers called him "Ancestor."

The two men looked around the village, each showing surprise.

With their profound cultivation, they could naturally see that the reason for the earth-shaking changes in the small village was that Chen Shi had altered the laws of heaven and earth in this place!

But how did they manage to do that?
"Where did that boy who was watching the bamboo go?" Uncle Jiao asked hurriedly.

The boy who delivered the food repeated Chen Shi's words, and both Uncle Jiao and Jiang Guo frowned.

“Comprehending the Primordial Sword Scripture takes too long. Who knows when he will return?” Uncle Jiao said in a low voice.

Unbeknownst to Chen Shi, he left Penglai West and observed and sensed the great Dao of heaven and earth, saw the local customs and people, understood the variations in wind and weather, comprehended the ethereal blue flames, and went to that chaotic world to witness the rise and fall of the nation and the change of dynasties.

Or go to the depths of the desert, blow away the yellow sand, or experience the autumn wind and rain, and understand the frost and snow.

He traveled far and wide, covering countless miles and spending countless days.

Uncle Jiao, Jiang Guo, Hei Guo, and others waited on Jin'ao Island for several months, but he never returned. They waited for another two years, but Chen Shi still did not come back.

One day, the gourd was lying in front of the mountain gate when suddenly its ears twitched. It looked up and saw a disheveled man rushing in from outside, smiling at it, and then walking up the mountain.

"Uncle Jiao, I'm back."

The man smiled at Master Jiao and said, "I want to try the Path to Immortality Cliff again."

(End of this chapter)