20,000 Years of Sainthood

Chapter 612: Twenty Thousand Years of Sainthood

The woodcutter sage accepted his greeting calmly and said, "I don't have many disciples. I used to teach the princes and the crown princes. The princes and the crown princes don't have to worship me as their master, so my official disciples are currently only you and your eldest brother. Compared with your eldest brother, you seem a little green. You really need to learn well. I am not teaching you to be bad, I am just teaching you not to suffer losses."

Qin Mu blinked his eyes. He didn't look like a saint master, but more like the old people in the disabled village.

"Saint Master, what is a saint?" Qin Mu asked.

“Sainthood is a state of mind.”

They came to the foot of the God-Slaying Platform. The Woodcutter Saint looked at the sacred mountain and said slowly, "I once told you, elder brother, that there are three things to become a saint: to establish words, to establish teachings, and to make merit. If you can do these three things, your state of mind will reach a lofty state. From a purely mental state perspective, no one can match you. A saint has words, and only with words can he establish teachings, educate all living beings, teach and resolve doubts, break through thorns, and open up a smooth path."

Qin Mu was stunned for a moment, then he said in a lost voice: "Establish a religion? Didn't he establish the Tiansheng Religion to preach?"

The woodcutter saint shook his head and said, "It's not about establishing a religion, it's about establishing a teaching. Establishing a religion means creating a sect, which is too shallow. When you create a sect, there will be disputes among sects. When there are disputes among sects, there will be disputes over words, and establishing words will no longer exist. Isn't that destroying your own foundation? So, when you said you were the leader of the Tiansheng Sect, I knew that your eldest brother's path was probably wrong."

Qin Mu's head was buzzing, and he suddenly thought of the successive Heavenly Saints who had stayed in Fengdu, and imagined them with tears streaming down their faces.

They were proud of their status as the Heavenly Saint Leader, little knowing that they were all wrong in the eyes of the woodcutter.

The Woodcutter Sage walked along the sacred mountain, grabbing huge rocks from time to time. The rocks were directly melted by his magic power and transformed into stone pillars covered with raised patterns, which were inserted at the foot of the sacred mountain in a wonderful formation.

"To establish a religion is to establish enlightenment. How to establish enlightenment? To open up education, to establish academies, to expand talents, to do practical things, to study the Dao, the law and the supernatural powers, and to apply them to the daily life of the people."

He spoke softly, refining the teleportation stone pillar while saying to Qin Mu: "If the country is weak, then reform and strengthen it to make it stronger."

His refining technique was not better than the mute's, but it was also extremely fast. He used the talismans of the teleporting power as marks and imprinted them on each stone pillar.

“When the people are weak, then preach the truth to benefit them, so as to strengthen them.”

"If the army is weak, then reform its weapons to strengthen it."

"If the king is stupid, I will advise him once, explain the seriousness of the matter, and urge him to change. If he does not change, I will advise him again. If he still does not change, I will appoint a new king."

"If Heaven has no justice, then change the law, change Heaven's law to make the world follow it. If Heaven does not change, then change the law to seek a new way. If Heaven still does not change, then destroy Heaven and establish its own way."

…

He spoke slowly, and before he knew it he had walked most of the way along the foot of the mountain.

Qin Mu listened attentively and memorized it. When the Woodcutter Sage finished speaking about his philosophy, Qin Mu suddenly said, "Master, this sage's requirements are too high. I think carefully about all the people I have met and heard, and no one can meet the sage's requirements. Can you do these yourself?"

The Woodcutter Sage stopped and the rocks in mid-air began to melt and form stone pillars.

The Woodcutter Sage remained motionless, and the patterns on the stone pillar stopped evolving.

Qin Mu was feeling uneasy, somewhat blaming himself for being too talkative. He quietly looked up, only to see the middle-aged man in woodcutter's attire bursting into tears.

“I thought I could do it.”

The woodcutter sage's voice was a little hoarse, and he was sad: "I thought I could be a sage, and others also called me a sage. I thought I could establish education, reform the law, strengthen the country, change the current situation of the people's weakness, let the people have great magical powers, change the weakness of the army, let the army have the power to establish four borders and deter the barbarians. I also thought I could make the king not stupid, make the sky not unjust, and I also thought I could make achievements and defeat corruption... In the last three points, I failed..."

Boom.

The unfinished stone pillar fell to the ground and stuck in the soil. The Woodcutter Saint rested his right arm on the pillar, buried his head in his elbow, tears streaming down his face, and did not let Qin Mu see his loss of composure.

"I failed. I failed to stop Kaihuang from going to Wuyou Township. I made Jun stupid. I failed. I thought I could change the way of heaven by changing the law. However, heaven destroyed Kaihuang and ruined the Kaihuang era. I failed. I failed to achieve any merit in the last battle..."

"I lost... Qin Mu, I am not the saint you are looking for. I can't teach you. I am just a loser..."

…

Qin Mu looked at him in a daze, with a feeling of empathy brewing in his heart.

When the woodcutter's reforms were at their most intense and vigorous, Kaihuang suddenly retreated and established Wuyou Township without a last-ditch effort, so the woodcutter became depressed.

He watched Kaihuang retreat, watched the Kaihuang era that he had worked so hard to build turn to ashes, watched his comrades fight and die for the same ideal, watched their heads being chopped off and their blood sprayed on the familiar land, watched those comrades who were looking forward to Kaihuang's return to lead them in battle again grow old and die one by one, watched the common people of that era die off generation after generation and new people replace the familiar faces.

The frustration and pain in his heart are unimaginable to others.

Qin Mu suddenly shouted, "Saint Master, can you pass on your saintly way to me?"

The woodcutter sage wiped away his tears with his sleeve and turned to look at him. Qin Mu said excitedly: "I want to inherit your legacy, keep going, keep changing things. If the king is stupid, I will punish him. If the heaven is unjust, I will punish the heaven!"

The woodcutter sage looked indifferent and shook his head, saying, "You can't."

Qin Mu's enthusiasm was completely dampened. He clenched his fists and said angrily, "Why can't I do it? Senior Brother's ability to understand and comprehend is a bit poor. He comprehended the Lijiao into the Litian Shengjiao. I am not that stupid!"

The woodcutter saint shook his head and said, "Your elder brother is a little dumb, a little stupid, but you are not much better. You are easily excited and work recklessly. Although you are cunning at times, you lack concentration. You are erratic and find everything new and want to study. Although you are cunning, your cunning is not deep enough. Although you have faith, your faith is not stable enough, and your Tao heart is not strong enough to change mountains and rivers without changing your heart. You are not the material to be a saint. At the very least, you are not enough now."

Qin Mu said loudly: "I can change, I can learn!"

"I can't wait."

The woodcutter smiled warmly and said in a soft voice, "My dear disciple, I really can't wait that long."

Qin Mu was in a daze.

The Woodcutter Saint continued to refine the stone pillar and walked forward.

Qin Mu followed him silently, watching him refine the teleportation pillars one by one.

After a long time, the Woodcutter Sage finally finished the arrangement. He glanced at the somewhat depressed Qin Mu and said with a smile, "Don't be sad. If I didn't know you well, I would really think that your Taoism is so bad like Black Tiger. Let's go up the mountain."

The frustration on Qin Mu’s face disappeared, and he followed him back to the top of the God-Slaying Platform.

The Woodcutter Saint activated the teleportation formation, and the stone pillars shone brightly. The runes engraved in the stone pillars glowed, illuminating the rune marks in the air and transforming them into strange and magnificent text patterns and symbols.

These symbols were connected in mid-air, whirling and spinning faster and faster!

Even if a being like the woodcutter wanted to move this God-Slaying Platform, he would first need to transform his teleportation ability into a formation, and then use the power of the formation to teleport the God-Slaying Platform!

Amid the roar of the light bursting out, the God-Slaying Platform roared up and flew away along with the light!

Qin Mu stood on this sacred mountain and looked back, only to see that the alien star was getting farther and farther away and soon disappeared from his sight.

All around is the endless dark starry sky, desolate and silent, with only tiny stars occasionally visible.

Qin Mu suddenly said, "Saint Master, I think there is someone who has better talent and understanding than me, and who meets your requirements. I would like to introduce him to you."

The woodcutter saint was slightly startled, then smiled and said, "Okay. But you don't have to call me Saint Master anymore, just call me Teacher."

"teacher."

A torrent of light burst down from the sky above Luofu Heaven, illuminating the ground in front of an altar in Luofu Heaven.

Under the illumination of the light, numerous intricate rune marks suddenly appeared on the ground, which kept changing. Then the light disappeared, and a huge and magnificent God-Slaying Platform suddenly appeared!

The woodcutter walked down the God-Slaying Platform, and the axe behind him flew up, splitting a door that led directly to the Great Emperor Heaven: "Bring him to see me."

Qin Mu bowed: "Yes, teacher."

Taihuangtian, leave the city.

Imperial Master Yankang and a group of scholars from various academies in Yankang were designing spiritual weapons for sieges and large-scale battles. Qin Mu came over and said to Imperial Master Yankang: "Imperial Master, the Woodcutter Saint wants to see you."

Imperial Master Yankang's body was shaken, he looked up at him, surprised and delighted.

The two men arrived at Luofu Heaven. Imperial Master Yankang raised his head and looked at the tall and majestic altar. On the altar, a middle-aged man dressed as a woodcutter was standing there.

Yankang's Imperial Master was very excited. He straightened his clothes and was about to go up to the altar to ask for an audience. Suddenly, the loud and clear voice of the Woodcutter Saint came from the altar: "Yankang's Imperial Master, I have three questions. Answer these three questions and you can come up to the altar to see me! Go up to the altar!"

Master Yankang walked up the stone steps. When he was about a third of the way there, the voice of the woodcutter sage suddenly came down: "The first question is about your original intention! Answer it!"

Imperial Master Yankang stopped and said in a loud voice: "To establish a mind for the world, to establish a destiny for the people, to inherit the lost knowledge of the past sages, to bring peace to the world for all eternity, this is my original intention!"

On top of the altar, the woodcutter sage was silent for a moment and said, "Ascend the altar."

Master Yankang continued to climb up. When he reached two-thirds of the way up, the voice of the woodcutter saint came again: "The second question is about your Tao heart! Answer it!"

Master Yankang stopped, looking elegant and full of energy: "My original aspiration remains unchanged, and my heart of Taoism will remain forever!"

"Go up to the altar!"

Master Yankang continued to climb, and when he was about to reach the top of the altar, the woodcutter sage asked, "Third question, do you know that you will die because of this, and your reputation will be ruined because of this, and that people in the future will forget you or even hate you because of this? This career, this path, may not only destroy your life, but also your reputation, and make you nameless in the future."

"Know."

Imperial Master Yankang bowed: "I am willing to do it, I have no regrets and no regrets."

The woodcutter sage smiled and said, "I have taught countless people, but I only accepted two disciples. However, neither of them has ever inherited my teachings, but has become a flower outside the door. You come up."

Imperial Master Yankang climbed the last step and came to the top of the altar, facing the Woodcutter Saint.

when--

The axe behind the woodcutter sage fell to the ground and stuck in the ground. The woodcutter sat on the back of the axe, with his hands on his knees, and said, "You can become my disciple now."

Imperial Master Yankang lifted his blue shirt, knelt down, and said in a deep voice: "Jiangling scholar, hello to the teacher!"

Qin Mu looked up at the top of the altar, tears wet his cheeks. He witnessed this saintly inheritance spanning the Kaihuang and Yankang eras.

The burden of saints is passed on to the shoulders of people from one era to the next.

There were no thrilling scenes, no moving speeches, but he was moved to tears.

I recommend the author Changfeng’s new book, Behind the Scenes. Changfeng is good at writing about history, military affairs, and military strategists!