Xian Ni: The God of Killing Returns, Marries Li Muwan at the Beginning

"When breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, one needs to comprehend the essence of heaven and earth. After advancing to the Nirvana Realm, one needs to undergo tribulation to complete the second step. Everyone said he was doomed, but he actually managed to withstand eight lightning tribulations with the rudimentary body tempering techniques he learned in the mortal realm."

"When the ninth lightning tribulation struck, he did not resist. Instead, he opened his dantian and let the power of the lightning wash over his meridians. He said that Heaven wanted to test him, so he would let it see his way."

At this point, Lin Che's gaze became more distant, as if he were seeing that indomitable figure in the tribulation of lightning from back then.

"In the end, he did not die. Instead, his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds due to the tempering of his body by lightning. Later, someone asked him if he was not afraid of having his soul shattered by the lightning tribulation. He just smiled and said that if his Dao could not even withstand the lightning, then it would not be the true Dao."

"Look, this is how cultivators interact with the heavens. The heavens give tests, and people respond; the heavens set the rules, and people expand their territories."

Li Qianmei gazed at the bamboo leaves on the table, her fingertips gently brushing across the surface, sensing the faint, ethereal energy within them.

The Huai River outside the pavilion still flows gently, and the bamboo rustles, but it sounds different now than before.

It's as if every sound of flowing water and every rustling of leaves is a dialogue between heaven and earth and all living things.

"Senior, are you saying that Heaven and humanity are never master and servant, nor are they enemies, but rather have a symbiotic relationship of coexistence and shared destruction?"

Li Qianmei looked up at Lin Che, her eyes no longer filled with confusion, but with clear and bright eyes.

Lin Che nodded, picked up his teacup again. The tea in the cup had cooled, but it still reflected the bamboo shadows and sunlight outside the pavilion.

"When you and I cultivate between heaven and earth, we are verifying the way of heaven with our own way; while the way of heaven sends down tribulations and lays out opportunities, it is also using the power of heaven and earth to help cultivators succeed."

"Just like this bamboo pavilion on the Huai River, the bamboo is lush because of the water, and the water is lively because of the bamboo. Neither is dispensable. You ask what the sky is, but the answer is already right beside you."

"It is the spiritual power you circulated during your cultivation, the obsession you had when protecting your sect, and the desire you have for seeking the truth now."

"The sky is not a high dome, but the Tao that is in harmony with all things in every breath we take and every step we take."

As the words fell, the copper bell on the eaves was just swayed by the wind, its clear sound echoing through the bamboo forest and mingling with the sound of the flowing stream.

Looking at the vibrant scenery outside the pavilion, Li Qianmei slowly nodded, and her doubts about the sky were somewhat answered.

"Qianmei's second question is, what is heaven?"

Lin Che was not surprised when he heard the same question. He simply poured the cooled tea back into the stream outside the pavilion. The moment the water flowed into the Huai River, it startled a few small fish swimming in the shallows.

Lin Che's fingertips gently caressed the rim of the empty cup, his gaze fixed on Li Qianmei's eyes, which still held a hint of inquiry, and his voice was even calmer than before.

"I just said that the heaven is the way through which you, me, and all things are integrated, but if we only go this far, there is another direction."

Lin Che raised his right hand slightly, and a point of shimmering white light condensed on his fingertip. The light stretched in the air and transformed into a phantom image of a green bamboo that resembled the one outside the pavilion.

“Look at this bamboo. When it is a seedling, it needs to be sheltered from wind and rain, but when it grows into a forest, it can withstand frost and snow. At different stages, its perception of the sky is completely different.”

"Just like when you first entered the cultivation world, you thought that the heavens were an inviolable law. Now that you have attained Nirvana, you feel that the heavens are a partner that coexists with cultivators. But if one day you break through the Heavenly Realm and look down on billions of living beings, then when you ask what the heavens are, the answer will be different."

Li Qianmei was slightly taken aback, and subconsciously asked, "Is there no predetermined fate?"

"The constant is the variable."

With a flick of his finger, Lin Che created another illusory figure of a cultivator beside the illusory bamboo. The cultivator progressed from Qi Refining to Nascent Soul, and then to Tribulation Transcending and Ascension. With each breakthrough, the surrounding sky changed accordingly.

When practicing Qi cultivation, the sky is the sun and moon in the courtyard.

When one reaches the Nascent Soul stage, the heavens are the mountains and rivers outside the sect. After ascension, the heavens are the vast and boundless Immortal Realm.

After the cultivator perished, the phantom dissipated, turning into a wisp of spiritual energy that returned to the roots of the original green bamboo.

"This cultivator spent his entire life searching for the answer to the heavens, only to discover in the end that he had always been in the heavens."

"Just like you and I sitting in this pavilion right now, thinking we are observing the sky, but isn't this pavilion, this bamboo, this Huai River, and you and me also part of the sky?"

Lin Che withdrew his spiritual power, the illusory image dissipated, and he picked up the bamboo leaf that had fallen on the stone table earlier. With a gentle flick of his fingertips, the bamboo leaf transformed into tiny fragments of spiritual light, which merged into the air inside the pavilion.

“A hundred years ago, I met an ancient cultivator who had lived for trillions of years. He was once a prodigy of the Immortal Continent, but in the end, he died and his cultivation vanished.”

“Back then, when I asked him why he gave up the Great Way, he simply pointed to the birds flying in the forest and said, ‘I used to think that the sky was to be trampled underfoot, but later I realized that the sky is to be kept in the heart.’”

Li Qianmei's eyes flickered slightly: "Hidden in your heart?"

"Exactly."

Lin Che placed the empty cup back on the stone table and looked towards the Guiyuan Sect's mountain gate in the distance outside the pavilion, where the sounds of disciples cultivating could be faintly heard.

"In his later years, when the ancient cultivator's sect suffered a calamity and his Dao heart was damaged, he had already lost all his cultivation. However, with just a bit of spirit, he chose to come to the Luo Tian Star Region to wait for the destined person."

"There were no earth-shattering spells, nor any spiritual power to reverse the universe. It was just that the green bamboos on the mountain moved without wind, the bamboo leaves were like blades, and the stream was like a string, which actually forced the cultivators of the Purple Dao Sect to retreat."

Lin Che's voice had a touch of remoteness, and he turned around to look at Li Qianmei, his eyes reflecting the clear and bright sunlight outside the pavilion.

"So what is the second 'heaven'? The answer lies in your heart."

"What you want to protect and what you want to uphold in your heart, that is your heaven. Cultivators do not cultivate against heaven, nor do they cultivate in accordance with heaven, but rather follow their hearts."

"Where the heart leads, the heavens will follow."

"Just like that ancient cultivator, whose heart was in the entire Immortal Continent, the plants and trees on this back mountain became his heaven. Your heart is seeking the Dao, and the bamboo outside this pavilion and the tea inside are your heaven."

The copper bells on the eaves rang once again, this time the sound seemed softer, but it fell precisely during the pause in their conversation.

Li Qianmei looked down at her palm, as if she could see the sky hidden in her heart.

There is the gratitude of the sect of Potian Sect, the persistent pursuit of the Great Dao, and the clarity of mind that is conversing with Lin Che in the pavilion at this moment.

When Li Qianmei looked up, the clarity in her eyes deepened, and she nodded gently: "I think I understand now. It turns out that the heaven is not elsewhere, but in everyone's heart. If the heart does not change, the heaven will not dissipate."

"If the heart changes, the heavens will also change."

Lin Che looked at the understanding in her eyes, nodded slowly, and poured himself another cup of hot tea. The steam rose and blurred the bamboo shadows outside the pavilion.

"I hope that you can answer my question on this third question..." Li Qianmei's pretty face blushed for some reason.

"The third question is still: what is Heaven..."

Li Qianmei looked at Lin Che and said softly. (End of this chapter)