High Martial World: I Gain Passive Skills Daily-Chapter 42 - 41: A Gamble Against Heaven—Will You Bet?
"Saints do not enter reincarnation?"
Chen Kuang blinked. He indeed hadn’t heard of this saying.
Judging by Huo Hengxuan’s tone, it seemed like common knowledge to everyone.
However, his original self was either practicing the zither or working every day, leaving little time to pay attention to these peculiar stories of cultivators, naturally knowing very little about them.
Nevertheless, he was more concerned at this moment about why Huo Hengxuan was here in front of him.
Was this Huo Hengxuan really the real Huo Hengxuan?
Huo Hengxuan patted the muddy ground beside him and smiled:
"Come here, let me tell you in detail. This matter is of great importance; if you misunderstand even half a sentence, you will suffer eternal damnation."
Chen Kuang stood where he was and didn’t move, staring at him and asked:
"How important?"
It’s not surprising he was suspicious. The Huo Hengxuan in front of him was completely different from the one when they last parted, without any wounds, and though his face was aged, there was no hint of despondency—he seemed energetic.
In addition, dressed in a mighty golden armor, sitting casually there, emanating an air of authority without anger, like a hero of old, a pillar of the kingdom.
Completely unlike the somewhat rogue old rascal he knew in prison, almost a world apart and extremely unfamiliar.
Huo Hengxuan noticed his wariness, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared.
After a while, he sighed.
"Ah, I’m old. Indeed, I can’t fool a sly fox like you."
Chen Kuang’s expression was a sarcastic smile: "With such clumsy acting, who would you fool?"
Honestly, he thought Huo Hengxuan might be doing it on purpose.
Suddenly asking him to come closer looked immediately suspicious.
After all, with the cunning that the old fox had displayed before, it didn’t make sense for his acting skills to be so poor, as if deliberately wanting him to see through it.
But it’s also possible, the one in front of him wasn’t Huo Hengxuan at all...
He was unreservedly skeptical, while Huo Hengxuan wasn’t bothered by his sarcasm.
The old man looked at him and suddenly said in a low voice: "All things in this world are in reincarnation: grass grows to flourish and dies to wither, but its essence soul never dissolves into the heaven and earth."
"It rises to the sky or sinks to the earth. After reincarnation, it enters the grand furnace of yin and yang, the grindstone of heaven and earth, dying to be reborn, retransformed in the wisdom of all beings."
"As with grass, so it is with humans."
Chen Kuang pondered and squinted his eyes:
"The essence soul does not disperse but reincarnates in various forms as part of all things—is this reincarnation?"
This was understandable, the conservation of matter.
The human soul, rather than being judged as in myths of his former life, and then reborn, disintegrates at the moment of death.
Then what about himself? Chen Kuang thought.
Having come from another world and merged with his original self, what exactly was his situation?
Chen Kuang had a premonition that this question was one he himself needed to find the answer to... and it might take a very long time.
But given that, the meaning of saints not entering reincarnation should be that...
"This is the common man’s reincarnation, the so-called ’endless sea of suffering,’ while a saint is one who has crossed this sea of suffering."
"The essence soul does not disperse, the primordial spirit does not extinguish."
Huo Hengxuan said: "Once you become a saint, you do not enter reincarnation and do not suffer from it. You can descend to the world once more as a complete ’self.’
Upon hearing this, Chen Kuang felt a chill down his spine.
He took a deep breath, "So it means..."
"The Ancestor of Liang Kingdom, Donghuang, they haven’t truly died?"
Chen Kuang looked at Huo Hengxuan: "Just like you now?"
Huo Hengxuan shook his head: "I can only be considered a half-baked saint. To say I don’t enter reincarnation is just glorifying myself. What stands before you is merely a lingering wisp of my divine mind."
He glanced at Chen Kuang with a chuckle: "At best, it can only scare you a bit."
Chen Kuang twitched the corners of his mouth.
The feeling of having fists clenched returned.
So you put on that act earlier, just to scare me?
Yet he opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a sarcastic word.
Without needing to be told, Chen Kuang had noticed something amiss—the gold armor on the old man was already starting to rust.
The golden armor wouldn’t rust; it’s his primordial spirit that’s weakening.
Huo Hengxuan’s smile faded as he said, "If none of us three have died, that would be good news."
"But unfortunately, both Elder Su and I forcibly enhanced our cultivation. The elder risked his life in one battle, accepting the annihilation of his soul, falling with the stars."
"As for me, though lucky to have a wisp of divine mind remaining, I too shall soon re-enter reincarnation."
"Only True Saint Donghuang transcends reincarnation and may return to the human world after several years to reach the other side of Dao once more."
Chen Kuang tugged at the corners of his mouth: "Several years? How many years exactly?"
Huo Hengxuan replied: "Sooner rather than later, precisely depending on how long it takes Ji Chengtian to find Donghuang’s reincarnated person. If using all of Zhou Kingdom’s resources to nurture, it takes at most five years."
He looked at the expressive Chen Kuang, with a half-serious smile: "What, scared?"
Chen Kuang maintained a blank expression: "I’m scared he’ll return too late for the Three Tribulations Sect not to kill me first, leaving him no one to find."
Huo Hengxuan laughed heartily, his gaze teasing:
"I thought you were fearless. How come you don’t dare to bet five years to become a saint yourself this time?"
Chen Kuang was speechless: "A bet needs some basic probability."
This old fox daydreams more daring than he does...
Becoming a saint in five years?
Even Xiao Yan wouldn’t dare say that!
Huo Hengxuan watched him for a long time, until Chen Kuang was uncomfortable, and then he said softly:
"What if... I can give you this probability?"
"Would you bet?"
Chen Kuang froze in place, suspiciously asking: "Old coot, could you be losing your mind along with your dispersing soul?"
He lacked experience but wasn’t foolish.
If such a thing were possible, it would truly be defying the heavens!
But Huo Hengxuan’s gaze and demeanor were serious, even solemn and respectful.
The old man met Chen Kuang’s eyes and said in a firm voice: "A gamble against the heavens, will you bet?"
After a moment, Chen Kuang’s expression stiffened.
A minute later, cold sweat dotted his forehead, struggling to hold himself together.
His "I am the miracle" lie detection passive skill gave no reaction.
He was silent for a while, then asked: "Are you serious?"
Huo Hengxuan grinned widely:
"The ’Mud Golden Sculpting Technique’ I taught you is the Supreme Method of the Pure Land’s repository, practiced to mastery of the Eight Phases Combined, you may become Buddha on the spot, and cannot be taught to non-Buddhist disciples."
Damn, this old fox indeed trapped me from the start.
Chen Kuang had a bad feeling from Huo Hengxuan’s first word.
"It cannot be taught to non-Buddhist disciples," meaning it is the Buddhist Sect’s untransmittable secret. He has essentially stolen the teachings!
If this gets out, wouldn’t he be hunted down by the Buddhist Sect...
Huo Hengxuan continued:
"The Buddhist reincarnation differs from the ordinary. By the Slaughter Tower and Sitting Meditation Method, the memory of past lives can be stored in the relic and inherited by later young disciples, known as intrinsic wisdom."
"A person with intrinsic wisdom might be completely different from the relic owner, but the Pure Land people will give them the position of the relic owner."
"Aren’t you curious where I got the ’Mud Golden Sculpting Technique?’"
Chen Kuang asked: "Are you a Buddhist disciple?"
Huo Hengxuan nodded: "I was once a Zhengzhu Disciple at the Pure Land Jie Lan Temple. Later I was expelled for breaking precepts; Heng Xuan was my Dharma name."
"However, this cultivation technique was not inherited from Jie Lan Temple but from when I was a soldier in Liang Kingdom, where I met a wandering monk treating the sick and distributing medicine to the impoverished."
"This unknown monk saw that relying on Witchcraft and Gu Technique caused injuries to remain untreated, innocents dying tragically, so he voluntarily taught them how to identify herbs and save themselves."
"The villagers, simple-minded, still traded food with him, which he gladly accepted."
"Initially, the villagers revered him as a savior with great affection, but soon after, someone claimed that the herbs grew everywhere and were worthless, that trading food for them was profitable a hundredfold, accusing the monk of conscripting riches without investment."
"Not long after, someone died on the spot after using his medicine, ignorant villagers mistook poisoning symptoms as the monk’s misconduct."
Chen Kuang couldn’t help but ask: "What then?"
"He died."
Huo Hengxuan said: "In the end, he died under the villagers’ axes and forks, stripped bare with no possessions found."
"Even the food given by the villagers was untouched."
