Chapter 24

Suddenly, the black bird's wings, which had been frozen in place, came to life and it continued its rapid dive towards the ground. The white light seemed to break through all obstacles, suddenly accelerating, moving hundreds or even thousands of times faster than the black bird's dive. The moment the black bird started moving, the white light had already passed through it and vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.

The black bird's descent abruptly halted as it pulled in its wings, hovering in mid-air for a moment before plummeting to the ground along with the white bird. The two birds, one black and one white, entwined and embraced, slowly spinning as they fell into a deep valley far below, leaving a strange trail in the sky.

All of this happened so quickly that Lu Zheng was still in shock. He stared in disbelief, his mind completely overwhelmed by the tragic and beautiful scene. He couldn't quite understand how everything had happened or why it had ended so suddenly. It felt as though the white light, which had carried the momentum of cleaving through heaven and earth, had not only pierced the black bird but also his heart, leaving a gaping hole that made him feel incredibly empty.

The world remained silent and pitch black, but Lu Zheng no longer felt the illusion that the world was a reflection of his inner self. Instead, he clearly saw himself standing under a dark sky, where the Two Realms Mountain was devoid of any signs of life. He couldn't help but wonder why the sky had turned so dark so quickly, especially since it had been sunset just moments ago. The intense darkness of the sky gave him a sense of melancholy and oppression. What was the cause of this strange situation?

Could it be that the small supernatural power the monk had mentioned had activated again? How could its range be so vast? If that were the case, wouldn't his vital energy be completely drained? Lu Zheng felt a wave of fear. Seeing that the monk was still standing motionless, he called out, "Great Monk, Great Monk." The monk finally responded with a hum but didn't open his eyes.

Lu Zheng let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly asked, "Great Monk, what was that? Did you see it too?"

He didn't specify what he was asking about, and the monk had been closed-eyed the entire time, but he clearly understood that Lu Zheng was referring to the white light. The monk didn't answer immediately but stood there for a while before sighing and saying, "That was compassion."

Compassion? What compassion? Lu Zheng was thoroughly confused. The monk's words only added to his bewilderment, making him feel even more depressed. The monk recited a Buddhist chant and was about to say something when a line of light suddenly appeared on the horizon, followed by a massive moon that slowly rose to the center of the sky.

The moon was so large that Lu Zheng had never seen anything like it. It hung in the sky, seemingly as big as the city temple where he lived. As the moon moved, its light instantly filled the earth, dispelling the darkness and turning the surroundings into a world of white.

Lu Zheng and the monk were standing on a steep ridge, where the black sky and white light intersected, revealing the Two Realms Mountain stretching across the land. The mountain's presence was natural and serene in the black and white landscape. Suddenly, the moon's light dimmed, and Lu Zheng looked up to see a tall, beautiful mountain peak rising in the sky, halfway between the moon and the ground. The mountain was floating in mid-air, and the moon had moved behind it. One side of the mountain was illuminated by the moon, while the other side seemed to be swallowed by darkness.

Lu Zheng's mouth dropped open in amazement, unable to comprehend how a moon and a mountain could suddenly appear in the thick darkness of the sky. He was completely stunned. At this moment, the monk finally opened his eyes, turned his back to the magnificent scene, and frowned slightly before relaxing. He said, "Young layman, this is the Bright Moon Mountain!"

Lu Zheng, startled by the monk's words, finally came to his senses. He saw the monk standing with his back to the incredible sight and asked in surprise, "Great Monk, why are you looking that way? The mountain is clearly..." He turned his head and was once again left speechless, his mouth agape. The sky on both sides had the same bright moon and floating mountain.

Lu Zheng stammered, "Great Monk, how... how can there be two moons and two mountains? How can a mountain fly in the sky?" As he spoke, the moon and mountain on his side suddenly disappeared, but they remained on the monk's side. Lu Zheng exclaimed, "Great Monk, Great Monk, I've heard that some sea monsters can create illusions with clouds and mist, called mirages. Is this moon and mountain also an illusion created by a monster? Or are the black mountain and white moon the transformations of the black and white birds that died earlier?"

Lu Zheng's wild imagination made the monk look at him and ask, "What did you see?"

Lu Zheng, looking at the floating mountain and the moon, replied, "There's a mountain in the sky, and behind it is a huge moon. The mountain is small, but the moon is very large, even bigger than the city temple where I live. I can't see the mountain clearly... no, I can see it now. There's a pavilion on the mountain, and someone is inside..."

Just as Lu Zheng was saying that the mountain was small and he wanted to see the top more clearly, perhaps his small supernatural power activated, and the mountain's peak in his field of vision suddenly magnified several times, allowing him to see every detail, including a pavilion with an octagonal roof. Inside the pavilion sat a person in white, with long hair flowing down, facing away from him, deep in thought. The figure was so solitary, sitting alone in the moonlit pavilion, exuding a profound sense of loneliness.

As Lu Zheng saw the back of the person in white, he felt a deep sense of loneliness, but at his young age, he couldn't fully understand such a feeling. He only felt a vague sense of melancholy, as if the vast world had been reduced to just this solitary figure.

The moon was now only the size of a wheel, but it illuminated everything. The moon leaned against the mountain, creating a breathtaking scene.

The monk then asked, "Hmm? What else did you see?"

Lu Zheng, regaining his composure, took a deep breath and said, "There's a person in the pavilion, sitting in white, with a sword on his back! Yes, he's saying something... 'Rising from a solitary peak, near the sky, I've seen the world's splendor with countless eyes...'"

Lu Zheng was determined to see the face of the person in white, but the person never turned around. Instead, he heard a voice surrounding the person, as if reciting a poem repeatedly. He listened carefully and repeated the poem:

Rising from a solitary peak, near the sky,

I've seen the world's splendor with countless eyes.

The monk, upon hearing this, frowned and asked, "A person in white, always facing away from you, never showing his front, right?" Lu Zheng nodded, not understanding why the monk was frowning.

The monk sighed and said, "I didn't expect you to have such a connection to see him. Could it be that..."

Lu Zheng asked, "Great Monk, who is that person in white? Is he a god? Oh, right, Great Monk, what mountain did you say this was?"

The monk's frown eased, and a smile appeared on his face. "Bright Moon Mountain! Young layman, he is not a god but a highly accomplished practitioner of the Daoist tradition. The Buddha is like a mountain, and Daoism is like the sea. He is a remarkable figure in the Daoist world... you will understand more in the future. Now, tell me, did you find it strange that when you wanted to see the top of the mountain, the things on the top became magnified, right?"

The monk's words made Lu Zheng realize something. When the moon first rose, breaking the darkness, he had been focused on the moon, which appeared incredibly large. Later, as the monk asked him questions, he looked at the top of the mountain, and everything there seemed to become closer and clearer. This was a strange phenomenon, and at first, Lu Zheng hadn't understood it, but the monk's explanation made it clear. The mountain and the moon could appear large and clear if you focused on them, or small and blurry if you didn't pay attention.

Lu Zheng, looking at the moon and the mountain, said, "No wonder it's called Bright Moon Mountain. Oh, right, Great Monk, you can see it too, so it's not just an illusion created by my small supernatural power, right?"

Just as Lu Zheng asked this, the monk hadn't answered yet. Suddenly, the moon in the sky shrank, and its light faded, making the mountain and the moon disappear. A gust of wind blew, carrying the scent of grass and trees, and the two of them were still standing in the same spot. The surroundings returned to their original state, and the sky turned back to the twilight of the evening. The sunset was already halfway down the mountain, and the scene was not much different from what Lu Zheng had seen earlier. The tranquility of the world had vanished, and the moonlit wonder seemed like a dream.

Lu Zheng exclaimed, "How did it all disappear?" He looked at the empty sky, thinking about the mountain and the moon, and the lonely figure, feeling a mix of emotions. He quietly savored the experience for a long time, still finding it incredibly mysterious.

"All phenomena are illusory, and all actions are impermanent. Since they appear, they will also disappear," the monk said, facing the evening breeze. "Young layman, you mentioned the mirage of a mirage. The Buddha says that everything is impermanent. In this world, everything is an illusion, like a mirage. The coming and going, the joys and sorrows, the creation, existence, destruction, and emptiness, are all illusions. But what you saw just now is not an illusion; it is what your eyes saw, not an illusion created by your small supernatural power."

Lu Zheng said, "But I saw the pair of lovebirds from a distance, and I've never seen such birds before. According to what the Great Monk said, how could that be an illusion? Great Monk, you said that the white light and the flying mountain and moon I saw were not illusions, so why did they suddenly disappear? Great Monk, I'm really confused."

The monk said, "Young layman, you don't know. Lovebirds rarely appear in the world. It is said that they only appear when a truly devoted person is present. If you are not a person of deep emotion, you cannot see them. They are the ones who make themselves visible, not the other way around. Therefore, it wasn't that you saw the birds, but that the birds allowed you to see them. So this wasn't due to your small clairvoyance or clairaudience."

Lu Zheng, hearing this, said, "So, Great Monk, you also saw the birds, which means you are a person of deep emotion."

The monk smiled, his face showing a gentle and compassionate expression, and he patted Lu Zheng's head. "The Buddha says that this world is a world of deep emotion, and we are all beings of deep emotion." He sighed, and a hint of sadness appeared on his face.

Lu Zheng had never seen the monk show such an expression and wondered what the monk was thinking about.

But the sadness was fleeting, and the monk continued, "However, I don't know why these birds were injured. Young layman, the white light you saw earlier was actually a sword aura."

"Sword aura?" Lu Zheng asked, "What is a sword aura?"

The monk nodded, seemingly reflecting, "A sword aura is a supernatural power of Daoist practitioners. I have already told you about the habits of lovebirds. The black bird was about to die for the white bird, and the sword aura on Bright Moon Mountain appeared to kill the black bird before it hit the ground, so I said it was compassion."

Lu Zheng, understanding, said, "So, the person on Bright Moon Mountain knew the bird would die, so he killed it to fulfill its wish, right?"

The monk said, "Exactly. 'Permitting life, permitting death, a sword of passion'—these eight words describe the sword aura. It is said that this sword aura can destroy anything, and the white light you saw was so swift and sharp that the black bird would not have felt any pain. This reduced its suffering, so isn't that compassion?"

Lu Zheng finally understood the intention behind the white light. No wonder the monk had mentioned compassion. The person on Bright Moon Mountain must have been unwilling to see the black bird die a painful death and understood the black bird's determination to die for the white bird, so he killed the black bird to end its suffering and fulfill its wish.

Thinking about this, Lu Zheng developed a good impression of the person in white. "The person on Bright Moon Mountain must be very powerful, able to make the mountain fly and emit such a powerful sword aura. I'm still a bit scared! If he were here, he could have saved Brother Jiu!" He felt a bit down at the end.

The monk, seeing that Lu Zheng was thinking about his friend and feeling a bit down, explained with a smile, "That's impossible. The Bright Moon Mountain where this senior resides is in the far west, nine thousand miles away from here! The sword aura also came from nine thousand miles away!"

Lu Zheng was shocked, "How is that possible? Didn't the mountain and the moon fly over here? Ah, now that the mountain and moon are gone, did they return nine thousand miles away? How could he see what was happening here from nine thousand miles away? Did he see the night when the monster killed Brother Jiu and me? Why didn't he save us?"

The monk sighed, "Young layman, you don't understand. The person on Bright Moon Mountain is a highly accomplished practitioner, and his abilities are beyond your comprehension. He can see and act from great distances, but his focus is not on trivial matters. He saw the lovebirds and understood their fate, so he acted to end their suffering. As for why he didn't save you and Brother Jiu, it's because his path is different from yours. He has his own responsibilities and cannot be involved in every situation."