Chương 55: Immortality, Society and Last Question
"I also have a question... Since you understand impermanence, what is your view on immortality? It is, after all, the primary goal for cultivators worldwide..."
The old man who raised his hand looked at Mo Yangling with a tired gaze.
It was clear that he had likely spent quite some time trying to understand a way to seemingly link those concepts.
Unfortunately for him, it was a fool's errand. And he knew it. They were simply clashing concepts.
An immortal stood against all norms, it was outside the boundaries of a universal law like impermanence. Or at least that was what their Scholarly Community had ended up concluding after centuries of research.
But the Monk saw things quite differently.
His eyes turned cold at the mention of an 'immortal'. To him, there was no such thing.
"Amitabha, to that I can only say: Do not cling in fondness and weakness to this life. Even if you cling, you have no power to remain."
Even he, who could regenerate from almost anything, didn't have the gall to call himself immortal.
Even now, in a world full of cultivation and mystery, the Monk was still convinced of that fact. There was no such thing as true immortality.
If something didn't age, then it could still be killed. If something couldn't be killed through normal means then there was likely some way to fully erase their existence as well.
The world always had some way of balancing things out like that.
Cai Qing's eyes narrowed a bit as he finally noticed something rather crucial whilst looking around at all of the scholars that he had brought with him.
They were all talking amongst each other, trying to break down and analyze Sage's profound words and the meaning behind them fully.
'... We came here to judge him, yet instead, we are learning so much just from a short exchange...'
Still, Cai Qing was left with a rather important question after understanding the Sage's words at face value.
"Does that mean you do not believe that Immortality can be achieved in this world?"
His question seemed to shock many of the slower Scholars there, as their comprehension of the Monk's words was a bit less thorough.
But Mo Yangling's response was thankfully about to give them all of the information they needed.
"To call oneself immortal is to claim that you stand above the very laws of the universe that have enabled you to become 'immortal' in the first place.
It is simply a dichotomy, a foolish notion, likely born of fear and desperation. All things in the world end or die, it is only a matter of time, circumstance, and fate."
Shocked gasps broke through the crowd, as even the King to the side couldn't help but scowl.
It wasn't that the point Mo Yangling was making didn't make sense... It was simply going against the thoughts and aspirations of almost any cultivator in existence.
After all, a majority of cultivators strived to reach the zenith. To reach actual immortality.
"In that case, how can you claim yourself to be a cultivator? External or otherwise, something must drive you.
And the very nature of Cultivation is to go against the laws of the universe, to go against the heavens..." This time, it was surprisingly the King that had spoken.
He was the most experienced cultivator among the people present, he could easily see the 'flaws' in the Monk's statement.
After all, no cultivator could claim to follow Universal Laws. That was the main reason why almost no one became a Sage. It was simply improbable.
Mortals didn't live enough to gain the knowledge to understand the universe, cultivators were predisposed to not following its laws, so they failed to grasp certain aspects of the laws they studied.
It was almost as if the heavens themselves were hampering their growth and understanding, shrouding its laws even further from them.
It was why the position of 'Sage' was such a big deal, on par with that of a King. This was even more true if the person in question was also a cultivator...
But how could one be a cultivator if they didn't even follow the very nature of cultivation itself?
"Oh, but I am no cultivator..." The monk shook his head, causing the King to raise an eyebrow, as his fractured bones still ached.
"At least, I can't say I think like one. Say, King Guo, how would you classify the mindset of a righteous cultivator?" The monk smiled as he turned his attention to the one that had caused the whole mess with his title.
"Hum... If I were to put it into perspective like you scholars tend to do. Then the mind of a cultivator is like that of a flowing river, like their Internal Energy. It must be free of impurity and filled with stubbornness and ambition, always heading in one direction, unstoppable."
The King's response reflected his beliefs clearly, his children looked at him shocked as well when hearing the honesty in his tone.
They had all been caught off guard at the ease with which Mo Yangling was manoeuvring the Scholars and their enquiries.
Guo Cuifen was especially impressed by how he had seemingly turned the haughty and stubborn old men who had been pestering their Royal Family into students with just a few insightful answers.
But now, she was unsure what the Monk was getting at, and why her father was engaging as well. She didn't really know much about her father and why he had decided to call Mo Yangling a Sage either...
"A flowing river, good analogy, King Guo!" Some of the scholars present nodded in appreciation at the King's words, any of the disrespect they held towards the man vanished in the wind thanks to Mo Yangling.
"Good comparison indeed. But I do have one addition... The mind of a cultivator is like a river that is trying to flow up the mountain."
Guo Zhu opened his mouth for a moment, his brows creasing as he wanted to refute the Monk for a moment, but it wasn't like he was wrong. His addition in fact described the state of cultivators world-wide. Both Talented and not.
The scholars present all seemed to agree with the monk as well, nodding amongst themselves as murmurs continued to spread.
"Now, onto my point... If the mind of a cultivator must be a river, then mine is that of a stagnant lake of water.
Unmoving, living within the boundaries of the universe's laws. Calm on the surface but also also curious, for one may never know what lies beyond within the murky depths."
Many scowled at the Monk's words at first, they almost thought that he was insulting himself for a moment.
The second part of his statement only seemed to deepen their confusion.
"Does this mean Sage Mo is truly not a cultivator?"
"Is this the type of mindset one must have in order to understand more about the world? It feels... Wrong?"
"It also sounds quite strange... Stagnant water often symbolises poison, does it not?"
The Scholars immediately started debating the Sage's answer, and Mo Yangling couldn't help but smile when hearing them.
Especially the last one, which came from none other than Cai Qing.
"Stagnant Water is used as a symbol for many things. One of which is certainly poisonous. Some use it as an insult, having a 'poisoned' mindset.
But in nature, Stagnant Water is an ecosystem that helps develop and support the lives of countless micro-organisms, too small to see even with the trained eye of a Cultivator."
The monk smiled as he remembered learning about that comparison in the past randomly within a book.
It has stuck with him ever since. It was a way to look at something which had been seen as a negative thing in a positive light. It was something that was reflected beautifully in nature.
"Micro-organisms? I don't think I've heard of that before?"
"Something akin to living dust particles? Would something like that really escape the sight of cultivators from around the world?"
"Would such a being be classified as a demonic beast then? I wonder..."
The scholars didn't even stop to question whether or not the Monk was telling the truth, they had been fully enraptured by the mere concept of a micro-organism.
They had advanced tools, but a lot of them were mainly made for and used cultivation as a crutch of some sort.
They had advanced furnaces and pill creation methods, but their technology was still far from reaching the heights of the Monk's original world.
'An older civilization does not necessarily mean a more developed one...' The monk was also well aware of that, and there was only one factor that he could think of which may have altered humanity's progression... And that was cultivation.
Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, that was debatable, but one look at the slums of a regular city would be enough to make most understand that the quality of life could be improved by leaps and bounds just through some basic discoveries made easily accessible.
'To function properly, a society is only supposed to move as fast as its slowest member, yet Cultivation acted like a raging river, propelling only a chosen few that were talented enough to run whilst others crawled.'
"You propose a rather interesting thought process, young Sage. We shall look into and study this further in our own time.
We now know that your time is indeed precious, so we won't bore you for much longer. You've given us plenty to think about as it is.
For now, however, I do have to ask one last thing..."
Cai Qing stepped forward once more, a brilliant smile stretching on his face as his eyes were brimming with respect.
He didn't really care about Mo Yangling's age anymore. He only cared about what more he could learn...
"Can you tell us of any other Universal Laws you've observed through your eyes?"
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Hello there! Sorry if this took a while, had a busy day. Anyhow, gtg to sleep now
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