Lotus, Early Ending and Piling Work

In that instant, Mo Yangling unleashed all of his repressed Origin Energy outwards. 

The King was forced to back off, as his eyes grew wide. He had not prepared himself in the slightest, and the power of the monk's aura immediately exploded towards him violently.

Its strength would have been sufficient to eliminate most of the people in that hall, except for the king, of course.

"I may not be completely sure of my victory against you. But one thing I do know for certain... This Grand Palace and everyone within it, as well as most of this City, wouldn't survive to see the results."

The Monk didn't feel the need to shy away just because his opponent's cultivation was deeper than his. At the end of the day, battles against the strong were more enjoyable. 

Still, from the sweat on the King's brow, the Monk knew that there would be no fight. So he quickly retracted his wild Energy before it was felt by or harmed anyone else. 

"I-I apologize... I wasn't actually considering kidnapping you, just so you know.

A sage is a highly respected person no matter where they go, there hasn't been one since forever, hell no one's been able to impart their wisdom like this either... My excitement simply got the better of me." 

The previous grand figure of the king seemed to become smaller as he immediately bowed and gave the monk a proper martial salute. 

As demeaning as it felt, the King had to bow his head to someone much younger than him. Even if he was stronger, he also knew he was in the wrong. 

And most of all, a man always knew when he was in the wrong. 

'I should take the idea that I am speaking with a member of the younger generation out of my mind... A man that has achieved actual enlightenment like in the books cannot be measured by age.' 

"It is fine, King Guo. I bear no ill will toward you, in the first place, I also see value in all life..." The Monk kept his praying position, but a warm smile appeared on his face as he spoke.

His words seemed to also shake the King slightly. 

"Thank you, Sage Mo... But I must admit I am a bit confused... You preach the Universal Truth of impermanence, yet also see value in the life of others. Are those ideals not at odds?

I am only asking to gain perspective, from one that has already achieved enlightenment." 

The King raised his bow and started speaking to the monk with a smile on his face, his azure hair flowing in the wind. 

"Amitabha, the value of life cannot be calculated by meanings we assign to them or the universal truth of impermanence.

Each living being sees value in its survival, that is a value one must also respect in turn.

Always remember this, King. The jewel is in the lotus." 

The Monk finished his speech with a mantra that he felt fitting for that moment, it was likely one of the broadest Mantras to exist, it was almost all-encompassing and it could hold a lot of meanings. 

It placed a mirror on the listener's soul and allowed them to build an image of the meaning itself. 

And the king himself seemed to be sent into deep thought, which meant that the Mantra had worked. 

Whilst he pondered, the monk quickly dashed over to the table and started stuffing his face with food and even more wine.

'Amitabha, it has been a long time since I've eaten anything! This stuff's high quality!'

Guo Zhu turned towards him and looked on with a bit of concern.

'Are... Are sages normally like this?' 

The King was truly confused, on one hand, he had received and acknowledged the Sage's profound words, on the other, the monk himself seemed to not be fully abiding by his principles. 

He had just preached to cultivators about the impermanence of material or immaterial objects, yet he was now indulging vices that would've normally only been held by mortals.

'No, I shouldn't judge a Sage by the standards of a cultivator. The stories say that they are supposed to live outside of our norms and common sense. 

Judging from the amount of Origin Energy within him, it's safe to assume that he also isn't in any danger of dying any soon. Hell, he'll likely outlive most of us...' 

The King looked all around the venue, and everyone was still cultivating, including his two sons and his daughter.

How much each one of them would benefit would strongly depend on their comprehension and open-mindedness. 

Those who wouldn't have been talented enough to comprehend much were still unconscious from the king's previous display of power anyway, so not much was lost in Guo Zhu's eyes. 

'Still, how much would our nation benefit if Sage Mo preaches his Dhrama more often to the Noble Families?' 

It didn't even need to be said, that Mo Yangling would become the most important person in the kingdom overnight. Hell, cultivators would look up to him more so than the King!

Though Guo Zhu didn't quite like that thought, there was also not much he could do about it. The Monk was already strong enough to stand up to him, he had made that clear. Thankfully Mo Yangling didn't seem that keen on being so high-profile.

'Best approach would be to befriend him in this case...' The King nodded to himself as he then walked over to Mo Yangling, who was currently devouring an entire chicken. 

"So... How long exactly has it been since you've eaten something?" The king asked as he watched an entire half of that table vanish in a few minutes.

"Amitabha, it must have been weeks at this point! I may no longer need food to survive, but an empty stomach is never a good feeling." Mo Yangling nodded as he continued eating meat, yet another thing that Monks would've regularly not agreed with. 

Then again, they barely agreed with most of the stuff he did. Thankfully enlightenment and the forms it came in depended a lot on each individual who sought it.

The Monk didn't need to adhere to any rules that outsiders imposed on him if he didn't feel like it or respected them enough. 

"I can sympathise, I usually consume pills to keep that feeling away. Of course, I also indulge in more exotic and treasured food items." The King nodded as he also grabbed a glass of wine and joined the Monk in drinking. 

"Oh yeah! I did hear you cultivators make pills out of just about anything..." The monk's expression soured slightly as he thought back to his Brother Ren's words. 

"Indeed, would you be interested in some? I can supply you with just about anything, within reason of course." 

The King placed a rather generous offer on the table, one that even the Clan Heads would've been jumping up and down for. But to his surprise, the monk's face just twisted in visible disgust.

"Nah... I'm good." That disgust then turned to intrigue, as he scratched his chin. "They may also not be beneficial to me anyway, I absorb Origin Energy directly, if it's refined within a pill then it's bound to have more impurities." 

The Monk already knew that the refinement process for pills was not a simple one, but he doubted the results would be just as good as him sucking up Origin Energy like a powered Vacuum. 

'I may test it out in the future, but I'll have to look into what ingredients are used in the pill I end up choosing. The last thing I need is to learn I consumed the venerated beast intestine and full bladder pill...'

"Maybe you are right... Your situation is unique at the end of the day. The offer remains on the table, you can always gift pills to those you wish to become your disciples." The King didn't seem at all offended by his refusal, though he found his disgust to be odd. 

"Amitabha, I do not plan to take in any disciples for the moment. I am still in the arduous process of mastering my martial arts, before that happens I am not confident in properly teaching it to others..."

The Monk also had another issue. Now that he knew how different he was from others, he needed to also try and test if his Martial Arts could even be used with Internal Energy refined by others.

In short, he had a lot of work to do. Taking in some young man or woman and killing them through experimentation did not seem like a good idea to him.

"By the way, King... How long do you think these chumps will cultivate on the ground? Won't their asses hurt afterwards?" 

"Eh, might take them a few days honestly. Each is experiencing their own image and interpretation of your words, they're all closed off from the outside world. This Grand Family Assembly is pretty much over." 

The King spoke in a casual tone, yet his authoritative voice still made it somehow sound regal, which the monk found quite impressive.

"Amitabha, then I shall take my leave first." The Monk bowed slightly to the king, bringing his palms together in a praying motion as he turned to leave.

"That soon? Do you not wish to share another glass with me, Sage Mo?" The King sounded a bit saddened when seeing the Monk leave, but he didn't move to stop him. 

He likely wanted to hear more about Mo Yangling's insights and enlightenment. An in-depth conversation with a Sage was said to benefit anyone, no matter their level of cultivation. 

"King Guo, do not fret... We'll meet again soon enough~ But for now, I have a lot of work ahead of me, I must also travel to the Chen Lu Forest in search of materials, this monk needs new praying instruments..." 

The monk smiled at the thought of meeting The Dragon of the Valley again. They hadn't spoken in a few days, but the Monk wanted to bring him a few barrels of wine as thanks for greeting him warmly and inadvertently protecting him when he arrived in that world. 

"Praying instruments? Oh, similar to the beads around your neck? I can see those you wear now are of low quality..." 

"Amitabha, I carved them myself." 

"W-well, I can see signs of them having quite good craftsmanship..."

"Truly? King Guo, I think you ought to get your eyes checked.

These took me like, 30 minutes to craft with a kitchen knife I sharpened in between my teeth, I think my arthritis-ridden grandmother could've done better..." 

"I... I see..." 

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Hello! Here's today's chapter!

Still busy season for me, planning to relax next week and write more tho, taking a break from one of my jobs.

Anyhow, have a great day all of you! Thanks for all the support, seriously...

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