“Don’t be afraid.” I start with the classic
Which does nothing to reassure the normal people’s fear. Though they try to hide it. The old man and the young lady with pink hair come forward.
“I am Lao Meng, thank you senior!”
“I am Ruolan, thank you senior!”
Both said at the same time and bowed. The old man looked back and the rest followed.
“Alright.” I wave at them, “Just call me Danxing. Now, you said you are heading towards Jin?”
“That is correct, we came from the west, from the mortal Huǒyàn dynasty (火焰|Flame). I hired this escort agency to transport mortal supplies to Jin.” The young lady answers
“Escort agency?” I scan the entire group, “Where’s the women?” But then it clicks
“Oh, escort as in guards. My mistake.” But the situation turned awkward already. All because my head is in the dump.
“Alright, so… how are you going to transport these now?” There’s a dozen wagons and the horses are all dead.
“I am ashamed to ask, but I implore senior Danxing for help.” The young lady bowed again. The rest hastily followed.
“Ah well, we are already going to the same destination. Why not.” I agree to help, then point at some of them men, “Now you, you and you. Get digging. The rest start unloading the wagon’s contents.”
“Wh-what are we digging for?” One of the men asked hesitantly
“To bury these dead bodies? What? You gonna skip and leave the responsibility to the next group that passes by?”
The men start nodding and immediately run to work. Those that dig, dig a big ditch and start putting the bodies down in one mass grave. Is that how it’s done here? I was expecting them to dig one ditch for each body but I guess this is how it's done here. Or maybe for convenience. Then those that unload the wagon, neatly arrange the supplies in an orderly manner. Mostly are sacks of grains, crates of fruits, and some condiments as I check with my divine sense. However, is it just me or the supplies are so little? I think all can fit in one container. Oh, its only my fucked sense of scale again. Then I measure the width of the road. Looks wide enough for two to three of me lying down horizontally.
“Does the road maintain this width all the way?” I ask just to be sure
“Yes, this is the main trade road of the five mortal kingdoms surrounding the Tianhe sect. But these parts are abandoned because of what’s happening in Jin.” The old man answers this time
“Good then.”
Then with a snap of my fingers, a truck appears. Covering a bit over half of the road width. This time, the truck carries a container at the back.
“Alright, load the supplies in.” I said after opening the container door
The men snap out of their daze from seeing a truck suddenly appear quite quickly this time. One pushing a wagon near the container door so they have the way to put the supplies. While the men were passing by, I began counting how many of the men were. There’s 21 of them. Quite a few for defending a dozen wagons. Guess some died before I arrived. Don’t think I can fit all of them in the berth behind the driver. So I went to the car, turning the passenger seat fit to my size to six smaller ones. Also turning the berth behind it for twelve more passenger seats. Will be quite tight but should be doable.
“The supplies are loaded.” The old man reports
“Alright, three must stay in the container. It will be quite stuffy but there’s not enough space at the front.” Fortunately there’s some space for three men in the container, “The rest, follow me.”
Entering the driver seat, I open the passenger door. Gesturing them to enter from there. Extending smaller steps when one of them struggles to enter from the sheer size difference. Ruolan, Lao Meng, along with one of the younger escort guards sat at the front seat while the rest shuffled at the back.
“Put your seat belts on.” I helped the young man sitting beside me to put it on. The rest caught on what to do quite quickly. Except that one guy that struggles even after some help.
I did not wait for that one and started driving. Since there’s no gas, this might also be a good attempt in trying to see how much Qi expenditure for projecting and driving an entire vehicle. If only I have driven other vehicles other than trucks then maybe I can project them too. Pity I only ever ride a bike and a truck.
“Whoa… I never thought I would get to ride an immortal’s vehicle like this.” The young man said in awe, “Driving without a horse, cold air flowing against the heat, comfortable seating. This is amazing.”
“Back home, not this world, normal mortal people can drive things like this.” I said with a chuckle
“Really? And you are not from this world? Did you pass the World Gate?” He continued to ask in excitement. Then I noticed that the young man is barely eighteen. Is there no high school here? Guess I can entertain his excitement for a while.
“Why yes. When I am normal, I drive this truck, carrying cargo across the American Continent. And no, unfortunately I did not pass this World Gate. I just randomly appear on some mountain one moment.”
“That’s amazing. Your people must be giants then.” He came to an unintended conclusion
“Well, yes.” Let’s just roll with it. Explaining that I was smaller over and over will be quite tedious. “How about you? Shouldn’t you be in school or something?”
“You mean university? Well, I want to. But I never get to school.” He said somewhat dejectedly, making me feel guilty for asking. “But I can read!” he declares as he bounces back with joy
“That’s nice.”
What the fuck! Is reading considered good here? So the technology here is closer to the early Roman Restoration era? It was quite a bleak and interesting time. But I never thought I would find myself in a place with similar circumstances. There’s Qi and cultivators right? The old man has a flying ship and he has noted that spaceships, voidships in his words, existed. However, based on the boy’s answer, it seems like this kind of thing is inaccessible to normal people. Guess there’s always some kind of gatekeeping like this. I still remember clearly when I am told I can never go to space. I push back the memory aside. No need to dwell on that yet.
“Anything interesting going on? Other than the entire province disappearing of course.” I switch the topic
“Senior, last I heard, there are already three Foundation Establishment cultivators helping to defend Jīnchuān, the capital of Jin. (金川|Golden River)” Ruolan answers, “Its part of the reason we are confident to deliver these supplies.” To this, the boy and the rest of the men at the back nodded in assurance
‘However,’ She adds using telepathy, ‘I also heard there are other rogue cultivators seeking opportunities. Once we deliver the supplies, we will immediately leave and circle back home through the north.’
I nod at her. The morale of the escorts are already good. No need to dampen it with this kind of news.
“Oh, I remember!” The young boy exclaims, “The three Immortal Masters are staying because they lost the demonic deer that killed the West General! If I remember, the demonic deer only have a skull—”
Another older escort from the back put his hand on the boy’s mouth to stop him from speaking further. The atmosphere turned tense anyway.
“My apologies, Immortal Master. The boy is excitable and needs discipline.” He tries to make an excuse, face already sweating. “Of course, the Immortal Master is righteous, how could you be the demonic deer? Haha.”
“Hmmm. I am quite certain I am that demonic deer.” A fearful gasp erupts from another escort at the back, his mouth immediately gagged by the others beside him
“Don’t be afraid. It's not like I will eat you. I am still here to help Jin against this calamity or whatever. But also to find out what exactly happened. I don’t exactly remember killing any general.” I try to reassure them. Which doesn’t do much. Even Ruolan and Lao Meng started speaking to each other using telepathy.
The driving is smooth and calm after that. Well the somewhat positive vibe from talking with the boy is immediately killed. So there’s no helping that. The men whisper with their lowest possible voice. Ruolan and Lao Meng meditating or something along the line. Though I can see through my divine sense that they are trying to recover their spent Qi quickly. I have yet to come into the situation where I spent my entire Qi, but taking notes on how they do it is useless. They use some kind of breathing cultivation technique, something that I cannot do. After triple checking, and seeing that we are the only one using the road, I try to put the truck on self drive. Like how I am able to recreate the A.T. field, I can add function and feature to my projection. How they behave and such. Immediately five percent of my Qi is spent.
I let go of the steering wheel and it stays stable. Following the road and can do some slight turns on its own. But then I realized that I am an idiot. I can just make the bicycle move on its own like this. No need to cycle for an entire day and night like an idiot. Just make a faux motorcycle or whatever then add the sound effect. Fuck, well at least I got to know that my stamina has drastically improved.
Then I pulled out the Summary of the Arhat Path, it is a bounded but coverless book, and began reading. I need some clue as soon as possible on what I should be doing. The books however are quite thin.
‘The core pillars of the Cultivation of the Arhat Path are as follows: The Arhat Body Refinement, Merit Accumulation, Detachment, and Karma Purification. To forge an indestructible body, purify the soul, and ultimately the liberation from Samsara.’
‘Now I will preface that what you will read is a summary. Not guidance. You will learn why in the next pages. What’s important is that once you have decided your Arhat path, no matter the belief, no matter how twisted, your progress depends on how tightly you hold these values.’
I nod at the first two parts. Looks simple enough.
‘What I call Arhat Body is what the Buddhist cultivators will call the Golden Body. It is a body refined and tempered through enduring physical and spiritual trials. Meditation and chants and purifying the body using Samadhi flames. The refinement of the Arhat Body however is extremely slow. Decades into centuries. Only the most Orthodox of Buddhist sects use this method. Pure physical methods like Body Tempering also count. Many have used the latter for practicality and because it is faster while consuming more resources. There are even twisted methods used by demonic buddhist sects, using the blood and resentment of their slain enemies or even innocents they have compassionately slaughtered. There are other fringe and eccentric methods but I will omit them for the purpose of brevity. In return, you will acquire an indestructible body depending on how far you have progressed.’
Ok, self flagellation. Check.
‘Merit accumulation works by doing whatever is considered Virtue to your belief. Healing the sick, protecting the weak, teaching, saving lives, and those sort of acts. However, how these acts are practiced rarely matters. Healing the sick by killing them to free them from suffering, protecting the weak from themselves, saving lives in the future by slaughtering the people present. This is how the demonic buddhist sect exists. These acquired merits then become a spiritual energy called Merit Essence to the practitioner, parallel to their own Qi. This Merit Essence specializes in healing, defense, accelerating the refinement of the Arhat Body. But most importantly can be spent to resist Heavenly Tribulation to bypass it entirely.’
I look up to the road from my reading. Rereading on how the acts practiced rarely matters. These people are nuts! However, the benefits of this Merit Essence are quite good.
‘Detachment is… can be described as the act of doing and feeling nothing. Not on the basis of laziness. But the understanding of impermanence, emptiness, and the illusion of self. Then the severing of all worldly attachments. The method is to try to cut all their emotional ties, desires, and even affection. Of course, this can also be practiced selectively. While the Orthodox might sever everything, including ties to their loved ones, those from the demonic sect, can still keep their ‘righteous wrath’ or hatred towards their enemies. Detachment from physical fear and pain and also purely intellectual detachment also counts. Depending on how much you detach from yourself, it will further refine your Dao Heart.’
This one fucked up, not gonna lie. I don’t know if I can practice this one fully. But selective detachment? Boy, I am your man! Selective detachment is the hallmark of every American who has given up caring on things in exchange to being entertained.
‘Karma Purification is like a balancing act on the scale against a very duplicitous merchant. Every negative karma can be purified with good acts. Hence those that do virtuous acts can accumulate a good amount of Merit Essence while also purifying their karma at the same time. Of course, not all good acts can resolve negative karma and one can unwittingly generate new negative karma in their acts. Enduring suffering and atonement is also one way to purify one’s karma. Confessions of one’s sins, acts of repentance, and burning Merit to pay ‘Karmic Debts’. Attempts to not generate new karma is also viable though of course, it will hinder Merit accumulation.’
Alright, this one is very familiar. Confessions and repentance prayers and such. Then I continue to the last page.
‘In summary, the Arhat Path is the path to attain the goal of their belief. To become the virtuous of the virtuous, unshakable and firm in heart, and a paragon of their belief.’
Hmmm. So, basically I just need to be doing what I have been doing so far? I am just a normal Christian. Not exactly virtuous but not exactly evil either. I spent the last five years as a shut-in so my negative karma shouldn’t be too much. But this also means that I did not have any of these Merits either. However, can this summary be used as a guidance of me being a Christian? Being that it is a belief foreign to this world and all. One way to find out I guess. If not then, I am fucked. But then, how did I advance from the first level to the second level of Foundation Establishment though? It was after I attune to the World Spirit. Does it count as a virtuous act or something else entirely?
“HELP! HELP!”
DUARRR!
I press the brake and the tires screech from the sheer inertia. The passengers all bent forward and slammed back to their seats. Oh no! Oh fuck! I just hit someone! I know roadkill with Ye Guxuan is funny but I did not expect a fucking second one! Expanding my divine sense, the three escorts sitting in the container all have fresh bruises. Then my attention went to the one sprawled beside the road. Bleeding profusely with plenty of broken bones. My eyes wide, the escorts, even Ruolan and Lao Meng are caught in surprise at how fast it happens. Lao Meng recovers first, unbuckles his seat belt. I pull down the window on his side from the control panel beside me and he peek outside to check.
“Senior, I think we can leave him. He’s part of the bandit group that regularly uses this scheme.” He said confidently
“You sure?” But I already detect more people arriving from the forest before he can pull his upper body back in and nods
Without further ado, I press the gas again. Selective detachment, I did not see him coming so he’s not my problem. Karma Purification? It is the self driving truck, not my fault. My hands are clean on this. Lao Meng buckles his seat belt again. Ruolan sends telepathy to the three men in the container. Fuck! I need to apologize to them.
Then dozens of bandits in ragtag outfits emerged from the forest to the side of the road. One of the bigger ones grabs the barely alive bandit.
“Second Brother! NOOOO!” His loud shout echoes through the forest and to the hills
“How long until we arrive in this Jinchuan city again?” I divert the attention elsewhere
“By our previous caravan? It should be around ten days. But with this… carriage?” He hums as he tries to see how fast we are moving, “I think we will arrive in three days.”
I check my speedometer, it is 60 KM/H. Within safety regulation. Though I see it with suspicion. My sense of scale is fucked, so this thing might be too.
“You say this road is practically abandoned?” I try to confirm again, he nods
I press the gas further. Moving the speed above 80.
“Do tell me if there’s a sharp turn, yea?” I ask Lao Meng and he nods again
“Immortal Master, we are moving faster than before. Will we hit someone again?” The boy beside me asks with concern
“No. Surely not.”
God please not another one, I pray as I am determined to get to the destination as quickly as possible