The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror
Chapter 412 - 181: Xuantian Ascending Dragon Pill (Please Subscribe)

Chapter 412: Chapter 181: Xuantian Ascending Dragon Pill (Please Subscribe)

Xiong Chan spoke, and suddenly his body shrank and disappeared into thin air.

Within the Holy Land of the Great Zen Temple, there are two mountains: one is Shaoshi Mountain, the other is Taishi Mountain. Monks of Shaoshi Mountain mainly focus on Martial Arts, tempering their Qi-Blood and subduing demons to uphold the Dao.

Among them, Dharma Hall is known as the source of the Martial Arts in the world.

For a millennium, disciples of the Great Zen Temple, both monastic and secular, would record and share with the elders of Dharma Hall any Martial Arts they encountered while traveling the world.

After generations of diligent effort by the high monks of Dharma Hall, all the Martial Arts of the world were collected, continuously creating new Martial techniques and perfecting the Absolute Skills of the past, thus the Great Zen Temple built its profound legacy.

Especially each Absolute Skill in Martial Arts within the Great Zen Temple, forged through thousands of trials, is known as Unbreakable.

Cultivating any of these Absolute Skills can allow one to touch upon the fundamental principles of Martial Arts and peek into the higher realms of Martial Arts cultivation.

Moreover, in Dharma Hall, the cultivation insights from past Grandmasters and the experiences imparted by the elders provide Martial Monks with an unrivaled honor to pursue their studies.

On the other hand, the monks of Taishi Mountain are those who thoroughly study Buddhist Law in the Great Zen Temple and rarely interfere with worldly matters.

Each elder in the Heart Zen Institute is profound in both Buddhist Law and Martial Arts.

These individuals are the true profound foundation of the Great Zen Temple.

However, unless the temple faces existential threats, the elders of Heart Zen Institute will not take action or leave the Institute. They almost never attend even the most significant ceremonies within the temple, such as the Abbott’s passing or the succession ceremonies.

Thus, many Martial Monks may go their entire lives without ever seeing an elder from the Heart Zen Institute; such is a common occurrence.

Furthermore, the Heart Zen Institute of Taishi Mountain is also forbidden ground for the average Martial Monk within the Great Zen Temple.

Transformed into a wisp of essence smoke, Xiong Chan lightly ascended to the peak of Taishi Mountain, not far from the Sealing Platform once visited by Empress Wu Zhao.

That was also the darkest moment in the history of the Great Zen Temple.

For Wu Zhao was an extraordinary genius from the Demon Sect, ostensibly reverent of Buddhism during her reign, yet in truth utilized Buddhist teachings to cultivate her supreme demonic magic.

Essentially, Buddhism and demonism are but two sides of the same coin; it is said one thought can lead to enlightenment or to demonic paths.

When Empress dominated the world, even the Great Zen Temple had to bow and offer its scriptures to preserve the Daoist lineage in such times.

Moreover, with her singular might, the Empress nearly obliterated the Demon Sect, which once almost replaced Confucian orthodoxy since the Middle Ages. After the chaos amongst the northern tribes, many descendants of great clans were amongst the Demon Sect.

Secretly embracing the demonic while outwardly following Confucianism, their actions were ruthless.

In fact, only someone like Xiong Chan who knew many secrets of the Great Zen Temple’s lineage would be aware that the Empress herself was a peerless prodigy cultivated by the Demon Sect.

Since the Middle Ages, through the Demon Sect’s cruelly selective practices akin to raising gu poison, a figure like Empress Wu emerged.

The Demon Sect, not believing in the heavenly ascension of the daylight, but convinced that beyond this realm lies another, has always nurtured their talent like breeding gu, essentially to verify if other worlds exist outside this one.

However, in reality, even the vastness of this world itself remains unexplored to this day.

Empress Wu assimilated the essence of the Demon Sect and merged it with Buddhist Law, becoming immeasurably powerful, once unquestionably the paramount figure of her age.

Yet, she faced relentless opposition from powers all over the world. Eventually, she was lured by calculating forces such as noble families and the Taoist Sect to become a dragon and ascend to the Emperor’s throne. Under the influence of the Emperor’s True Dragon Destiny, her Divine Soul was suppressed, leading to her demise and setting the stage for future troubles.

Indeed, emperors throughout history, no matter how brilliant or ambitious, develop an obsession with the Path of Immortality as they face the decline of life in later years.

Emperors yearn for Longevity not just to live longer but fundamentally to extend their power and legacy indefinitely, aspiring to reside above all life eternally as the uncontested "Emperor."

This "Emperor" is mentioned in the Tao Te Ching as "preceding Heaven." It is a "concept" close to the Dao and touches upon the laws governing the operation of all things in the universe.

On the Sealing Platform, the palm print left by Empress Wu still exists. Despite the passage of time, it can still impose a sense of her past majesty upon those with a powerful Divine Soul.

However, ever since a certain Emperor’s grand sealing ceremony, subsequent emperors have abandoned the practice of sealing.

This is due to the fact that the Emperor with no notable exploits dared to perform the sealing, trivializing an activity of great prestige for emperors.

In a way, this also alleviated the burdens of the common people.

After all, sealing ceremonies are enormously costly and drain the resources of the populace.

Of course, emperors always have other ways to waste resources if they wish.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, the primary duty of an Earth King official was to shepherd the people.

Actually, what indeed requires shepherding?

Certainly, cattle and horses.

This indirectly implies that in the eyes of the officials, the common people are no different from cattle and horses. If officials see it this way, how much more so for an Emperor, exalted above all?

Everything in the world, mountains, rivers, all that the eye can see, belongs to the Emperor.

Especially since the Middle Ages, Imperial Power has grown increasingly formidable. All factions had no choice but to gravitate towards the central power to preserve themselves.

Xiong Chan understood this well; if the Great Zen Temple could never reach the central power, its decline would only be a matter of time.

However, the current court has utterly blocked any such possibility, especially since the old emperor favored the Dao, leaving Buddhism in an even more difficult position.

Xiong Chan, having seen the root of the problem, naturally could not help but strive with all his might.