Chapter 397 Li Qianmei’s Three Questions

Li Qianmei stepped forward, looking at Lin Che before her, her exquisite face showing a hint of confusion.

"Qianmei is a little curious, Senior's cultivation is merely at the Celestial Human Realm's Four Declines stage, why would it attract the attention of the Heavenly Dao? Could it be that Senior is not a powerhouse from the Four Great Immortal Realms?"

Lin Che stood with one hand behind his back, looking at Li Qianmei, and nodded, saying, "This Venerable is just an unknown person, not what you imagine."

"Since Senior doesn't wish to speak, Qianmei will not ask further. However, Qianmei is curious, with Senior's heaven-defying abilities, why choose to stay in an ordinary sect like Guiyuan Sect?"

To Po Tian Sect, the Guiyuan Sect before them was still too weak. In the entire sect, the strongest was merely a Pure Nirvana cultivator. Even the Purple Dao Sect could annihilate it.

Therefore, with Lin Che's Celestial Realm cultivation, he could completely go to other star domains instead of coming to Guiyuan Sect.

Lin Che shrugged, and answered calmly, "Perhaps it's due to fate."

Hearing Lin Che's explanation, Li Qianmei merely smiled faintly, then slightly raised her slender, jade-like hand, making a gesture of invitation, saying, "Senior, I wonder if you would be willing to chat with Qianmei?"

Seeing that the time was ripe, Li Qianmei no longer concealed her intentions, planning to get straight to the point and ask the conjectures and questions in her heart, thereby resolving all the issues accumulated over a hundred years.

Lin Che glanced at Li Qianmei, seemingly knowing what she wanted to ask, and then replied with an unperturbed expression, "Since that's the case, then follow me."

"Thank you, Senior."

…At the back mountain of Guiyuan Sect, the vibrant Huai River Bamboo Pavilion.

All around, countless green bamboos stood, their new shoots a vibrant green, rustling softly as the wind passed through the leaves, as if whispering.

Beneath their feet, the bluestone path was covered with a thin layer of moss, beside which a stream gurgled, the clear Huai River flowing around the pavilion, reflecting the sky's light, shattering into a myriad of stars in the stream.

The pavilion itself was built from ancient wood, with a few green vines climbing its dark tiles, and copper bells hanging from the eaves occasionally swayed in the wind, their sound crisp like clashing jade.

Inside the pavilion, the stone table and stone stools gleamed with a warm patina. A half-finished cup of tea leaned against a table corner, its steam swirling, blending the pavilion's vitality and tranquility into an even more enduring atmosphere.

Li Qianmei sat gracefully on a chair, personally pouring a cup of tea for Lin Che, and with a slight pursing of her lips, said, "Senior, Qianmei has three questions in her heart, and I wonder if you could answer them for Qianmei?"

These were the things Li Qianmei most wanted to know, as due to these matters, she had not made any breakthroughs in her cultivation for a hundred years.

From this, it was not difficult to see that if a cultivator was preoccupied with an unresolved matter, it could very likely lead to damage to their Dao Heart, ultimately causing them to stop at that point.

If one wished to achieve a breakthrough in cultivation, the best way was to resolve the doubts in their heart. Only in this way could they truly reach a level incomprehensible to ordinary people.

This was also the main reason Li Qianmei came here to ask Lin Che about the meaning of 'Heaven'.

Lin Che took a sip of tea, looked at Li Qianmei, and nodded, saying, "Speak."

Li Qianmei adjusted her breathing, then slowly raised her head, looked at Lin Che before her, and asked, "Qianmei's first question is, what is Heaven?"

Lin Che lightly tapped the stone table with his fingertip, his gaze sweeping over the swaying bamboo shadows outside the pavilion, then returning to the tea leaves floating in his cup, his voice as faint as the thin mist in the mountains.

"Is the Heaven in your eyes the dome covering the Immortal Realms, the laws that bring down lightning tribulations, or the standard that divides cultivation realms?"

Li Qianmei paused slightly, subconsciously nodding, "Cultivators defy Heaven and act against it, which means contending with the rules of this world. Naturally, Heaven is defined by its laws."

"But laws can also crumble, and the dome can have cracks."

Lin Che raised his hand, and a wisp of faint light condensed on his fingertip. Within the light, reflections of revolving galaxies and the birth and destruction of immortal domains actually appeared.

"A hundred years ago, I saw a star perish. It had followed the trajectory of the Heavenly Dao for ten thousand years, but ultimately disintegrated due to the exhaustion of its own spiritual energy. Tell me, could that Heaven protect it?"

The illusion dissipated, and subtle ripples appeared in the tea in the cup.

Li Qianmei lowered her eyes in thought, the confusion on her exquisite face fading slightly, replaced by a hint of imperceptible bewilderment: "Senior, are you saying that Heaven is not unshakeable?"

"Heaven is never a single entity, nor is it the Great Dao."

Lin Che picked up his teacup, the steam blurring the expression in his eyes.

"It is the thoughts of billions of living beings, the Dao of countless cultivators, and every moment of you and I sitting here, the wind rustling the bamboos, the tea warming the tranquil pavilion."

"You ask what Heaven is; it's better to first ask, what does the Heaven in your heart protect, and what does it contend for?"

Li Qianmei's long eyelashes trembled slightly, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the rim of the teacup. The sound of the bamboos outside the pavilion seemed to slow down at this moment.

When she slowly raised her eyes, the confusion in Li Qianmei's gaze was gone, replaced by a bright eagerness for answers.

"Senior, are you saying that Heaven is not in the high heavens, but within oneself and among all things? But if so, why must cultivators still undergo the Heavenly Dao's lightning tribulations when breaking through realms? Are those tribulations not Heaven's punishment?"

Lin Che set down his teacup, his gaze directed towards the Huai River flowing outside the pavilion, its current splashing tiny droplets as it hit the bluestones.

"Lightning tribulations are never punishment."

At this moment, Lin Che's voice was calm, yet carried a power that penetrated the heart. "Just as a fledgling bird learning to fly must experience falls, and a seedling breaking through the soil is reborn.

Lin Che set down his teacup, his gaze directed towards the Huai River flowing outside the pavilion, its current splashing tiny droplets as it hit the bluestones.

"Lightning tribulations are never punishment."

At this moment, Lin Che's voice was calm, yet carried a power that penetrated the heart.

"Just as a fledgling bird learning to fly must experience falls, and a seedling breaking through the soil must push aside stubborn rocks, lightning tribulations are the Heavenly Dao's touchstone for cultivators, testing whether your Dao Heart is firm, whether your spiritual energy is pure, and whether you can find life in desperation."

Lin Che raised his hand and gestured, a wisp of clear breeze swept past the bamboo tips outside the pavilion, bringing down a newly sprouted, tender green bamboo leaf. The leaf spun as it fell, landing gently on the stone table in front of Li Qianmei.

Sunlight streamed through a gap in the pavilion's roof, casting intricate veins onto the leaf's surface, much like the spiritual meridians flowing within a cultivator's body.

"Look at this bamboo leaf: it sprouts in spring, grows in summer, withers in autumn, and falls in winter. It seems to completely follow the Heavenly Dao's seasonal order, yet when it sprouts, it must break free from the constraints of the bamboo sheath, and as it grows, it must desperately absorb morning dew and sunlight."

"Even when its time to wither comes, it transforms into nutrients that seep into the soil, nourishing the new shoots for the coming year. It has never passively accepted the Heavenly Dao's arrangements, but rather, within the rules, it strives with all its might to live authentically. This is the true distinction between following Heaven and defying Heaven."

Lin Che's fingertip gently tapped the bamboo leaf on the stone table, and the leaf actually trembled slightly, as if a faint trace of vitality had been infused into it.

"Cultivators often speak of defying Heaven and changing fate, but many misunderstand the meaning of 'defy'."

"True defiance is never about being an enemy to the laws of heaven and earth, but rather about not letting those laws imprison one's true heart. Just like that rogue cultivator I saw a hundred years ago, he was an orphan in the mortal realm, with mediocre talent, yet he insisted on embarking on the immortal path."