The master comes down the mountain: I don’t want to be a son-in-law

Inside the Lingyan Pavilion, the elderly emperor paced slowly alone.

He heard his footsteps echoing in this silent space, as if they were lonely echoes in the long river of time.

Portraits of twenty Western heroes hang on the wall, still lifelike.

The setting sun shines in through the carved window lattices, casting mottled light and shadows on the portraits, as if these former heroes were wearing golden battle robes.

But these people are long gone.

No one can escape the punishment of fate.

They once strangled fate by the throat, but ultimately had to bow to it, turning into dust over the years, leaving behind only their portraits and their legends.

The emperor walked past each portrait and then came to the mechanism that hid the Heavenly Soul Wall.

There are three mechanisms in total, one of which has been opened and the Heavenly Soul Bi there has been taken away.

He knew where it was, but he wasn't going to go get it.

He opened the other two mechanisms and took out the broken pieces.

Then he walked to the gate of Lingyan Pavilion.

His personal guard was waiting outside the door.

The emperor looked at the guard's weathered face and said with emotion, "You have followed me in battle for many years. You should have been made a marquis and a general long ago!"

The guard said in panic: "It is an honor for me to serve Your Majesty. How can the vanity of kings, princes and generals be comparable to it!"

For some reason, the sky darkened even though it was noon.

The guard frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the weather has changed. Please move!"

The emperor looked up at the sky, as if he had expected it, and said calmly, "No problem!" Then he asked a strange question, "Jiao Qing, I remember your ancestral home is Xuanzhou?"

"Yes." The guard was puzzled. "Why do you ask this, Your Majesty?"

"Do you have any relatives in Xuanzhou?"

"We are only distant relatives, and we have no contact."

"You should not leave your ancestors' place without permission. Even if you have no close relatives, you should still establish a family business. You have followed me for many years, and it is time for you to go back and enjoy a peaceful life."

The guard was so frightened that he knelt down hurriedly: "Your Majesty, I don't know what mistake I made?"

"Haha, you are not wrong." The emperor took out a broken jade disk and said, "Jiao Qing, I have an important task for you. You must return to Xuanzhou immediately. I will ask the Taifu Temple to allocate a sum of money for you to set up a family business. But after you return, you cannot reveal your identity, and you cannot say that you were once my personal guard. This jade disk is very important. You must keep it and pass it down from generation to generation. Someone from the Li family will come to take it in the future."

"Yes!" The guard took the broken jade solemnly, as if he was holding Mount Tai.

But he was still concerned about the emperor's safety, and looking at the increasingly dark sky, he said, "Your Majesty, a storm is coming, please return to the palace."

The emperor seemed not to have heard his words. He just looked deeply at the eaves and the auspicious beasts on the eaves in the darkness above his head, and murmured, "This is a good palace!"

"Your Majesty, please move!" The guard was very anxious and ignored the etiquette between the emperor and his subjects. He stepped forward to support the emperor and left the Lingyan Pavilion.

Just as they left, there was a loud cracking sound.

A bolt of lightning fell from behind them, exploded on the roof, and turned into countless electric lights, which coiled around the attic like a group of snakes.

In an instant, the fire engulfed the entire Lingyan Pavilion.

……

Li Muchen looked back and saw the fire. The fire engulfed Lingyan Pavilion and also engulfed his consciousness.

His consciousness drifted freely in endless time and space, transforming into countless mortals, experiencing their own lives in this red dust.

Sometimes he was a busy peddler in the market, working hard to make a living. He would get up before dawn, carrying a heavy load, and walk through the streets, just to sell a few more goods to feed his family. He dealt with all kinds of people every day, and the sounds of bargaining and shouting filled his life. However, no matter how hard he tried, the pressure of life was always with him. Diseases, natural disasters, and heavy taxes could easily drag his life into the abyss. Finally, on a cold winter night, he took his last breath in a dilapidated hut, feeling guilty about his family and unwilling to accept his fate.

Sometimes he became a student who studied hard, hoping to get a place on the imperial examination and bring honor to his family. Under the dim candlelight, he studied hard day and night, writing countless poems and articles. He entered the examination room with great anticipation, looking forward to a turning point in his fate. However, the darkness of the officialdom and the oppression of the powerful made his career full of ups and downs. He repeatedly hit a wall, and his ambitions could not be realized. In the end, he died alone in a foreign inn in poverty and illness. The unfinished poem became his lifelong regret.

Sometimes, he was also a general galloping on the battlefield, wearing armor and fighting bloody battles for the peace of the country. On the battlefield, he fought bravely, watching his comrades fall one by one, his heart was full of grief and helplessness. Behind the glory of victory are countless sacrifices and pains.

He is a peddler walking in the dark night, he is a singing girl in the alley, he is a young man walking his bird cage outside the mansion, he is a death row prisoner beheaded outside the Meridian Gate...

Every life has completely different experiences, which may be dull, wonderful, hopeful, or despairing. But no matter what the starting point is or what the process is, there is always the same ending - death.

Death itself is not terrible.

What is scary is fate.

Everyone in life is bound by fate, no matter whether you are a king or a beggar.

And everything is in reincarnation.

He suddenly remembered what the monks of Xiantong Temple in Wutai Mountain said at Chengtianmen Square: "A thousand years of reincarnation is but a dream."

In an instant, a flash of inspiration flashed through his mind.

Then he saw the sparkling lake.

There are green mountains in the distance and many small boats floating on the lake.

Three white stone towers are located in the shape of a triangle on the lake not far from the shore.

The weeping willows by the lake sway in the wind, their slender branches dancing like the dancing spirits of nature. The air is filled with the faint fragrance of flowers and soil, making people feel extremely peaceful and tranquil.

He saw Master Zhiren, holding a rare and beautiful flower in his hand.

"Where does the master come from?" he asked.

"From among all living beings." Zhiren said.

At this moment, Li Muchen's mind suddenly became clear.

He finally understood that all living beings are him, and he is all living beings. All reincarnations, though seemingly different, are actually the same, a cycle of fate and a test of the soul. In these countless reincarnations, he experienced the suffering and struggle of all living beings, and in these suffering and struggles, he also sought the true meaning of life.

"All living beings are me, and I am for all living beings." Zhiren looked at him and smiled, then his body slowly disappeared along with the lake light.

Those thousands and thousands of broken scenes that I have experienced before, those thousands and thousands of broken thoughts that have arisen in the cycle of reincarnation, quickly gathered together like birds returning to their nests.

They intertwined and merged with each other, and finally turned back into a complete Li Muchen.

He opened his eyes again and saw Gong Yuerong looking at him in surprise.