Ch165 - Sentient Beings

Shocking flaw?

Lin Shu had just been thinking that the Great Wizard built a perfect self-consistent world by erasing all the negative emotions in people’s hearts and it could be said that it was quite perfect — But Xiao Shao was now saying that there was an obvious flaw, he couldn’t help but again consider whether his thought process was too simple in comparison to Xiao Shao.

But what could he do?

Nothing.

He could only question, “What flaw?”

“It’s a long story.” Xiao Shao’s fingertips stroked the jujube table, knocking on it gently.

Every day around the same time, the rooster in Aunt’s yard would crow loudly, and the two hens would make cooing noises.

“There were two hens in Aunt’s house, they would lay eggs every morning. Aunt originally would collect the eggs every day and bring them to her two sons living at the lane.” Xiao Shao said, “After we arrived, the daily quota of two eggs was no longer delivered there, but kept for you, to nourish your body.”

Lin Shu nodded.

Aunt’s two sons had left home to start their own families, spending their days with their own wives. However they often returned to visit, and Aunt often gave them foodstuffs and other goods— However after the two of them (Lin Shu and Xiao Shao) had arrived, Aunt’s favor had been transferred to Lin Shu, and her two sons had lost their daily egg supply.

Xiao Shao said, “During the initial few days, those two brothers were actually a little unhappy.”

Lin Shu tilted his head.

Xiao Shao continued: “Later on, they saw you through the window… You were still wearing female garb at the time, and had changed your appearance.  They probably saw how pretty you were, and were no longer jealous about losing those eggs.”

Lin Shu: “….”

Xiao Shao coughed softly: “You were, after all, very good looking, they liked to steal glances at you frequently. — Afterwards, I punished them with some little tricks,  and their respective wives also twisted their ears, so they didn’t look at you so often anymore. Eventually when you reverted to dressing in male garb, everything settled down peacefully”

Lin Shu: “…”

So during that period whilst he was blind, something like this had actually happened.

But, what was Xiao Shao’s intentions in bringing up this specific matter?

Xiao Shao seemed to understand the confusion within Lin Shu’s heart, and proceeded to explain: “Not suffering from scarcity, but suffering from inequality. The Peach Blossom Spring was already one of the rare quiet and simple places in this world, but the two of them would still feel jealousy over the chicken eggs.”

After a pause, Xiao Shao continued on, “Later, I looked at the entire village and thought to myself, the Peach Blossom Spring’s populace is sufficient, it would not be good for it to increase.”

Lin Shu wrinkled his brows in a frown, “En?”

But immediately, the next moment, he caught onto the train of thought, brows relaxing, feeling that he could understand Xiao Shao’s intentions now:  “En.”

Xiao Shao gazed at him and smiled a little.

Lin Shu felt that he was being made fun of.

The Peach Blossom Spring was surrounded by a mountain range, there were cliffs surrounding in all the four directions, there was no way to leave, one could consider it to be a sealed off world.

In other words, the area of this land was fixed.

With a fixed land area, the resources it could produce would also be restricted accordingly… However, if the village population continues to increase, from the current 200 plus people, to four hundred, to eight hundred, finally to two thousand?

If the limited land could not supply enough food, what would happen to Peach Blossom Land? Would there be competition? Would there be unrest?

——At that time, it might not be Peach Blossom Spring anymore.

Xiao Shao dipped his fingertips in water and drew a circle on the table.

He said, “This is a chicken egg.”

Lin Shu felt that Xiao Shao’s attitude towards him now was similar to how one would treat an intellectually challenged kindergarten child.

But what could he do about it?

He could only nod like a kindergarten child to Teacher Xiao.

Teacher Xiao said, “Suppose this is Zhao Jibo and Zhao Yabo’s favorite food, but there is only one.”

Lin Shu continued to nod.

Zhao Jibo and Zhao Yabo were the two sons of Aunt in Peach Blossom Spring.

Xiao Shao continued: “By giving this item to you, both Zhao Jibo and Zhao Yabo will be unhappy.”

Lin Shu: “Yeah.”

“If you were not a white garbed fairy, but was instead a plain looking boy, Zhao Jibo and Zhao Yabo would come and make trouble for you. Hence both sides would come into conflict, maybe even start fighting.”

Lin Shu nodded.

Although Xiao Shao’s argument was a little odd, it still made a lot of sense.

Xiao Shao then smiled lightly and used his fingertips to draw another line, bisecting the drawing of the egg into two pieces.

Not being satisfied with dividing the egg into two, two became four, four became eight, until finally the entire egg was too tragic to look at, turning into an undistinguishable runny mess.

He only heard Xiao Shao say indifferently: “All the world’s problems, wars and conflict, originate from this.”

Lin Shu: “So it seems.”

The territory of the world was limited, but the reproduction rate of people was unceasing. There was no country which was able to let go of the desire to expand their territory, just like Zhao Jibo and Zhao Yabo’s wish to obtain chicken eggs, the chaos of war would rise up, resulting in the suffering of the common folk.

Lin Shu said, “Therefore…”

“Hence the reason that the Peach Blossom Spring could exist in this manner, was because the villagers were self-sufficient and self-content, and as for that city… the reason that it could enjoy long-standing peace and harmony, was because they possessed an endless supply of food from outside of the city.”

Lin Shu nodded.

They had previously observed the lives of the city dwellers.

Water, food, clothing and houses could be produced from nothing, in an unlimited manner.

Since everyone’s possessions were the same, naturally there was no comparison, and hence no conflict.

Every day, there were beautiful young girls who went to draw the clear and sweet water from the river, filling their glass cups, drinking freely when thirsty, closing their eyes in enjoyment whilst drinking, upon putting down the glass cups, their faces held joyous expressions.

“Since there is excess, equitable distribution is not an issue. Since the distribution is equitable, naturally the populace can be joyful and content. The Sage said, ‘People don’t suffer from scarcity, but inequality’, in reality, when there is scarcity there will be inequality, due to the failings in the hearts of men, it would be difficult to fulfill all their desires. Due to Zhao Jibo and Zhao Yabo’s liking for chicken eggs, jealousy from losing the chicken eggs arises.” Xiao Shao said matter of factly.

Lin Shu thought of the blissful expressions of the residents in the city when they drank water.

They must like it very much, the Great Wizard did not excise this positive emotion of ‘liking’ from them.

However, what would happen if the entire city populace was extremely parched and thirsty, the river flow had dried up, and there was only one cup of water left within the city?

What would they do?

Would the crowd rush to snatch it by force?

After all… everyone liked it very much.

Since they liked it, they would want to obtain it.

And when everyone wanted to obtain it, conflicts and disputes would arise.

Once they started competing with one another, all reaching for that single glass of water, undoubtedly the city would fall into a greatly chaotic state.

Then the city at such a time, would not be the Elysium that the Great Wizard intended.

Xiao Shao finally said, “He hates the filth of the world, and the sufferings of living beings, but the people of the world… are like that. Joy, anger, sorrow and fear, love, evil thoughts and desires, these seven emotions coexist and support one another. Joy can produce desire, and love can produce evil thoughts. He believes that by erasing the filth of the world, would result in lasting peace, but he does not realize that the filth will reappear and the world cannot remain clean forever.”

Xiao Shao had explained so much to him, so Lin Shu poured him a cup of water, pushing it over, and responded: “Therefore… The Great Wizard’s Elysium, is nothing but a castle built in the air. Without an unlimited supply of resources, it is just a matter of time before it falls into disarray, with no correlation to the erasure of emotions.”

Xiao Shao stroked his hair gently: “Clever.”

Lin Shu: “However since this world is the Great Wizard’s creation, if he intends it to have unlimited supplies and resources, it would have them.”

Xiao Shao said, “I don’t believe that this world doesn’t exhaust the Great Wizard’s body.”

His words made Lin Shu quickly sober up.

The Great Wizard’s health was very poor.

According to Xiao Xuan, he would be weak and vulnerable for seven days a month.

Could it be due to the requirements of maintaining this world?

If.. if this hypothesis was true, though the supplies to this city seemed infinite, but in reality it was limited, coming from the Great Wizard’s own strength.

This type of Elysium would one day come to an end.

Supposing further that the Elysium had an endpoint, then by finding this endpoint, they would be able to return to the real world, and would not be imprisoned here till death by the Great Wizard.

So how could they reach that endpoint?

Xiao Shao suddenly poked the black cat’s head.

The cat was focused on its own shivering at the time, and had unexpectedly been poked by him, glared furiously at him, even puffing its tail up.

“Predecessor.” Xiao Shao was very polite: “Predecessor as a  Land Immortal, do you not possess any special abilities other than profound spiritual power?”

The cat’s arrogant aura suddenly dampened, and even its tail drooped downwards.

Xiao Shao was very disappointed.

Lin Shu was very disappointed.

But Xiao Shao was unwilling to give up: “Every array has its eye. There should also be a nexus here. Predecessor’s perception is much sharper than ours, could it be that this world does not have any areas with unusual auras?”

The cat burrowed into Lin Shu’s arms, refusing to look or listen.

Xiao Shao’s manner became colder and indifferent, picking up the cat by the scruff of its neck.

“I carried you the entire way, the frequency of your shivering clearly varied, at times strongly and others weakly. Xiao Shao became incredibly cold and distant. “Take us to the place that you fear most.”

The cat struggled weakly a few times, but had no other choice, and conceded with a ‘miaow’.

Xiao Shao put it onto the table.

It jumped off, and went out of the door.

Lin Shu and Xiao Shao followed along.

Although the cat was afraid, once Xiao Shao became indifferent, his entire being was suffused with an icy aura, the cat submitted to his demand.

The cat took them back to the city, passing through the streets and alleys, moving deeper and deeper into the city.

In the end, it moved haltingly, trembling at every step, stopping in front of a Buddhist temple.

Dian Country held Buddhism in great esteem, it had been known as the “Buddhist Country of Miraculous Incense” since ancient times, hence it was not unusual for Buddhist temples to appear here.

Xiao Shao’s attitude softened, picking up the cat again and stroking it in a soothing manner.

The cat with a dejected attitude buried its face against his body.

They entered the Buddhist temple.

The Buddhist temple was incredibly quiet and desolate, even the figure of a sweeping monk could not be seen. The imposing main hall was empty and echoing, with only a few thin prayer mats and mottled buddha statues

Mottled.

Lin Shu looked around at the surrounding walls, the paint of the four walls were peeling, looking old and obsolete.

Within this entire sparkling new Elysium city, this was the only place that was dilapidated.

——The cat did not bring them to the wrong place.

The Great Wizard had intended to trap them forever within this Elysium, never being able to leave, however he was not aware that they had brought a Land Immortal with them.

Cats were common, but Land Immortals were not.

Even if it was the Great Wizard, he would not have been able to think of this.

They looked at the tall and imposing Buddha statue.

Within the dim Buddhist temple, the rays of light leaked in from outside, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air. The large Buddha statue stood quietly, leaning forward slightly, gazing down at all living beings, one hand pushing forwards, palm facing outwards.

The form of the Buddha statue and the patterns on its robes were very different from those in ordinary Buddhist temples.

The most appalling aspect was that it had only one eye, located in the middle of its face, and looked downwards slightly, as if overlooking all beings.

Lin Shu: “Past Buddha?”

Xiao Shao drew out his spiritual power, using his formless energy to turn the Buddha statue slowly around, revealing the back view of the statue.

The back view, however, was not of a back, but of an almost identical Buddha statue, with a similar aura, also with only one eye. The difference was that this eye was looking upwards slightly.

This was a double faced Buddha.

The previous side symbolizes the past Buddha.

The present side was of the future Buddha.

The incense on the Buddha was spontaneously ignited without fire, and the delicate smell of agarwood incense filled the whole main hall. From somewhere drifted the sound of scriptures being chanted, and together with this slightly forward leaning Buddha statue, the air seemed to be weighed down by a strong sense of pressure.

They were looking up at the Buddha statue when they suddenly heard footsteps behind them.

It was an elderly monk, based on his clothes, he might even be the abbot of this temple.

The abbot looked kindly,  and greeted them formally, “Benefactor.”

The mental state of the denizens of Peach Blossom Springs were largely normal due to the fact that they possessed few negative emotions in their hearts.

Monks would not possess many negative emotions, and hence it could be inferred that the abbot’s mental state was also quite sober.

Xiao Shao said, “I have a question.”

The abbot smiled and bowed, “Please speak of it, Benefactor.”

What was unexpected to Lin Shu , was that Xiao Shao would ask that question again.

“Where is the Master of this country?”

The abbot said, “Omnipresent.”

Xiao Shao: “Is it a single person, or is it all people?”

Abbot: “It’s a single person.”

Xiao Shao looked directly at the abbot: “Who is this person whose presence is everywhere?”

The abbot twisted the prayer beads in his hand, and his expression and gaze were as kind as Bodhisattva’s lowered eyebrows: “It’s all sentient beings.”

————-

The author has something to say:

Cat: Heh.