Trinity Traitor: From One Person to the Other

Chapter 767 I will rebuild your temple and recast your golden statue, making it even larger than Wang Chongyang's.

Confrontation.

He Songling set up the cannon and aimed it at Zhang Boduan; the two looked ready to fight.

"Alright, drop that thing of yours." Finally, Zhang Boduan spoke first. "Brother, if you really want to kill me, my core is in your hands. You can crush me with one squeeze. Why would you need to use this thing? This thing is powerful, even more powerful than a god, but it's not easy to completely collapse a mountain."

"Bu'er, are you that strong?"

He Songling was only putting on an act. He could sense that Zhang Boduan truly meant no harm. If he really wanted to seize his body or do something else, he wouldn't have told him about something that allowed him to spy on his thoughts. Besides, his innate soul was indeed strong, and Zhang Boduan couldn't seize it.

"I always thought I was half a god, especially with my cannon. My actual combat power should be no less than that of a real god. Over the years, people in the underworld have called me the Old God, and I've accepted it. So, I'm just a frog in a well who doesn't know my own limitations and is shamelessly pretending to be a god?"

He Songling felt a little uncomfortable. He could be shameless on purpose, but he couldn't unintentionally act ignorant and pretend to be ignorant when he wasn't forced to.

"No, if we fight, even if I were alive, I still couldn't beat you. That thing you have is truly terrifying."

Zhang Boduan first reassured He Songling, then said, "However, you have too many flaws. My very existence is for the purpose of inheritance. I have the ability to read the cultivation system and interests of the inheritor. And you have been holding my core all along, so it's hard for me not to notice."

"If you are not as skilled as others, you have nothing to say."

He Songling's eyes were twitching.

He understood Zhang Boduan's meaning. He was now like the Heaven-Slaying Sword and the Dragon-Slaying Saber, clashing against each other. Under normal circumstances, two weapons that could cut through iron like mud would naturally be unable to defeat each other when they collided. However, each of them had an obvious flaw: a small section of each was made of ordinary wrought iron.

In this case, as long as you use the part of the precious weapon to cut this piece of ordinary wrought iron, it will be easy to cut through it, causing the entire weapon to break together.

To make matters worse, he possessed the Heaven-Slaying Sword, while his opponent did not have the Dragon-Slaying Saber. He had a section of "ordinary soft iron" on his body, a condition where his spirit and flesh were incompatible, but Zhang Boduan did not.

He is a true immortal.

So He Songling never expected that he would make a mess of things. He had taken Lu Huizhong halfway around the world to avoid the gods smelling the scent and looking at the Qi and chasing after them, so as to confuse them. He didn't expect that they had gone too far. He was still reviewing the plan in his mind, and his thinking was too superficial. He also had Zhang Boduan's core in his grasp, so that he had to read it whether he wanted to or not.

It's like making a loud phone call in a quiet library. No one was planning to eavesdrop on you, but you insisted on letting them hear everything.

Fortunately, He Songling wasn't just sitting there chatting and joking with Zhang Boduan for nothing. That's how it is among immortals—shameless indeed. Zhang Boduan was observing and reading He Songling, and He Songling was also observing and interpreting Zhang Boduan.

Every action was meaningful, and every word was meaningful. After chatting for so long, and even having a bottle of endlessly refillable cola generated in his memory's Daoist aura, He Songling had enough to make a general judgment about Zhang Boduan in front of him.

What he said was true; he genuinely wanted to help the younger generation because it was his underlying code. He was also truly immobile, lacking independent consciousness, relying entirely on his own "divine" power to activate him. If he left, this Zhang Boduan would soon revert to the Daoist aura left on the stone wall, losing his current anthropomorphic state. This way, at least he wouldn't have to worry about Lu Huizhong being in danger. Therefore, He Songling seemed quite nonchalant; let him be mind-read, as he said, he was simply inferior and had nothing to say.

"So, to reiterate, Brother Ziyang, how can you teach me?"

He Songling stood up and bowed.

"I don't know." Just as He Songling had discovered, Zhang Boduan was stronger than him, but he didn't have that much ability.

"Since you've met a deity before, he must have told you that no one can teach you how to walk the path beyond the innate realm, and you can't follow anyone's direction. I can only say that I will do my best to help you. I will let you comprehend all my Daoist principles, but what you can comprehend depends on yourself."

"You're giving me all your Daoist wisdom?" He Songling was taken aback. "And what about you?"

"I'm done for," Zhang Boduan said as casually as if he had just finished a bowl of rice.

"Ah, this..." Although He Songling was shameless, he still couldn't bring himself to sacrifice others' lives for his own enlightenment. "Then I..."

"No need to be polite. I'm not a living person, much less Zhang Boduan himself. I'm just a memory. If you hadn't barged in, I wouldn't have become the person I am now. Zhang Boduan left these Daoist principles behind to educate all living beings."

Zhang Boduan laughed heartily, appearing remarkably carefree. This makes sense, considering he lived during the Northern Song Dynasty and, according to records, lived to be ninety-eight years old. In that era, he must have been accustomed to life and death.

"There's no need to feel sorry for me. Besides, even if the real Zhang Boduan were here, he would help you if he could. That's just the kind of person he is. Moreover, he has already died once."

That's absolutely true.

After attaining enlightenment in the Qinling Mountains, Zhang Boduan first entrusted his life's work to his superior and close friend Ma Chuhou. He then returned to his hometown of Tiantai County, Taizhou, where he built a hermitage and taught many disciples. He eventually died there.

It's clear the old man truly had a passionate heart; having achieved it himself, he hoped others would too; having succeeded, he wanted to help others succeed as well. He aimed to first achieve immortality himself and then guide others to do the same, ultimately leading to everyone becoming an immortal.

He Songling believed that such a person was truly admirable. Even now, the world of extraordinary individuals has only barely broken free from the phenomenon of hoarding their knowledge, let alone in Zhang Boduan's time, which was during the Northern Song Dynasty. Although aristocratic families had largely disappeared by then, knowledge remained the most precious asset.

"Alright then. Is that all? Is there anything else? I'll find some more, just in case I don't have enough for my breakthrough later." He Songling picked up the core that Zhang Boduan had given him, looked at it from left to right, and then circled the Nine-Bend Cave, examining it closely, afraid of missing even a speck of dust.

"No, you..." Zhang Boduan was so angry he laughed. He had never seen such a shameless person in his life. Even among the immortals, this kind of person was considered very thick-skinned.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean'? Don't hide it from me. We're like brothers now, you have to give me this." He Songling patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, if I succeed in breaking through this time, I'll rebuild your temple and recast your golden statue, I guarantee it'll be bigger than Wang Chongyang's!"

(End of this chapter)