MTLNOVEL Chapter 327: Letting Go Brings Peace
Mount Shushan fell thirty years ago.
For Zhongzhou, the era of Mount Shushan had already become history.
After Mount Shushan's destruction, auspicious signs appeared in the heavens.
For a full decade, Zhongzhou experienced no natural disasters!
Some said Mount Shushan had defied the Heavenly Dao, angering the heavens.
That was why it was destroyed.
But before people could rejoice, Zhongzhou soon entered its most chaotic era.
Famine spread everywhere, with people resorting to exchanging children to eat.
Droughts, locust plagues, demons and monsters roaming freely.
With Mount Shushan's fall, the original Five Great Immortal Alliances—
The remaining Xuantian Sword Sect, Profound Sword Sect, Tiandao Alliance, and Qingyun Sect—
Thought they could establish new rules across Zhongzhou.
To divide the spoils once swallowed by Mount Shushan.
But soon they realized their mistake.
The spoils Mount Shushan left behind were too vast!!
Or perhaps the spoils of all Zhongzhou were too great!
Their strength couldn't possibly handle such circumstances.
With Mount Shushan gone, all manner of hidden demons emerged.
Notorious fiends who once feared Mount Shushan reappeared before the world, acting without restraint.
And the remnants who escaped from the Demon Subduing Pagoda also overwhelmed the four major alliances.
Though they formed coalitions, each harbored ulterior motives.
They simply couldn't bring all of Zhongzhou under their control.
The human dynasties suffered devastating impacts too.
One kingdom after another collapsed.......
The world descended into chaos.
Zhongzhou's disorder didn't stem from Zhongzhou itself, but from the fragmentation of human hearts.
Demons didn't wreak havoc from the netherworld, but fed on humanity's greed and delusions.
People named this new era the "Chaotic Epoch."
...........
31st Year of Chaotic Epoch, December.
Heavy snow.
Riverbeds lay exposed as waters dried up.
Pots bubbled with pale human flesh.
A woman's corpse in the snow was torn apart by wild dogs and eagles.
Farmers mixed charred human bones into scorched earth, preparing to plant drought-resistant ghost wheat.
The snow fell thick and fast.
At the road's end appeared a thin young man.
He casually sat on a snow-covered rock, his silver hair whipping wildly in the wind.
Li Xuanxiao stared blankly into the distance, eyes filled with confusion.
Soon his body was covered in snow.
Spotting a village ahead, he staggered to his feet and trudged toward it.
"Hyah! Hyah!"
Urgent hoofbeats approached through the blizzard.
The riders quickly closed the distance.
Their leader tugged the reins, eyeing Li Xuanxiao up and down.
"Where'd you come from?"
"Fleeing disaster," Li Xuanxiao replied weakly.
"Refugee?"
Someone beside the leader said, "Boss, we're still short a few."
Behind their horses trailed a line of people tied together by ropes, dragged through the snow.
Bloodstains marked their path, quickly buried by fresh snowfall.
The leader studied Li Xuanxiao again.
That silver hair—could an ordinary person have such a thing?
Yet the man staggered weakly, his frail frame barely withstanding the storm.
"Where you headed?" the leader asked.
"Wherever the road takes a refugee."
"Then let me take you somewhere good—food and shelter await."
Li Xuanxiao lifted his head.
".........."
Cold Mountain Temple, the grandest monastery within a hundred miles, stood outside the city like a solemn palace.
Majestic and imposing.
From afar, the temple contrasted sharply with the abandoned ruins beyond.
Li Xuanxiao followed the group to the temple gates.
"Venerable One, we've brought more people!"
At the leader's shout, men untied the ropes from the horses.
The bound people hadn't died.
The thick snow actually cushioned their dragging, conserving their strength.
Now they wobbled to their feet.
The crumbling city walls spoke of bygone years, while Cold Mountain Temple displayed endless splendor with its gilded magnificence.
Glazed tiles roofed the temple halls.
Inside, lush trees and blooming flowers thrived.
Li Xuanxiao entered with the refugees.
Monks distributed porridge and steaming white buns.
The refugees devoured the food ravenously.
"Amitabha."
"Abbot."
An elderly monk in kasaya robes approached.
The refugees kowtowed repeatedly.
They'd thought they were being taken as food.
Never expected to receive meals instead.
Tears streamed down their faces as they praised the Bodhisattva and Buddha's mercy.
"Hey! Cold Mountain Temple saves you, and you don't even greet our abbot? You mute or something?"
A monk scowled at the dazed Li Xuanxiao.
The abbot waved for silence.
Smiling, he approached Li Xuanxiao crouching in the corner.
"Benefactor, this old monk senses burdens in your heart."
Li Xuanxiao nodded.
"Come with me."
...........
The abbot walked through the courtyard.
Li Xuanxiao followed.
"What pains you, benefactor?"
"Hatred," Li Xuanxiao answered bluntly.
"Vengeance begets vengeance without end."
"Such platitudes won't extinguish my hatred."
"Your attachments, thoughts, love and hatred—all are illusions.
Clinging to illusions brings endless suffering.
Nothing in this world torments more than human obsession.
A thought arises, a thought perishes.
A thought makes immortals, a thought creates demons.
A thought brings life, a thought brings death.
Let go of thoughts, and find peace."
The abbot opened a door.
Li Xuanxiao entered.
A golden Buddha statue dominated the chamber.
Li Xuanxiao gazed upward.
His restless heart suddenly calmed, his spirit purified.
The abbot gestured to a cushion.
Li Xuanxiao sat.
"Why help me?" Li Xuanxiao asked.
"Too many demonic thoughts cloud your mind."
The abbot pointed.
Li Xuanxiao saw shelves packed with sutras.
The abbot's hand brushed the texts. "Can these resolve your doubts, benefactor?"
Without another word, the abbot left, closing the door behind him.