Chapter 1818: Abandoning Enlightenment for Attachment
The judge’s consciousness awakened, but he found himself in a place entirely unfamiliar to him.
He looked up, meeting a pair of eyes filled with grief and despair.
In that moment, memories of his past life surged forth.
A scene that One Soul had never remembered now resurfaced in the judge’s mind. After his beheading, his soul body left his corpse, a Sanskrit chant arose, and lotus flowers bloomed beneath his feet.
The lotus flowers ascended to the heavens like a staircase, forming a path of lotus to paradise.
By stepping onto the staircase, one could reach Nirvana.
To sever ties with the mundane world and become a Buddha.
He was a disciple of refuge for ten lifetimes, an official for ten lifetimes, an honest and upright official, inspiring the people.
But in all ten lifetimes, he died an unnatural death, enduring suffering to become a Buddha.
This was the tenth lifetime of accomplishment, though ultimately dying an unnatural death, suffering the pain of beheading, yet through this lifetime he could become a Buddha, and reach Nirvana.
But he did not step onto that path.
His youngest son was still alive, he had to protect his youngest son.
He couldn’t let go.
Eventually, he separated from his obsession, One Soul was the obsession, sealed in the painting. If his youngest son missed him and worshiped him, the seal in the painting would break, and One Soul would awaken.
Two Souls Seven Spirits chose to reincarnate, continue as an official to protect the people.
He just didn’t expect to reunite in this manner.
Seeing One Soul gradually fading away, then looking at the woman in red ancient costume swinging the whip, watching him warily, he sighed: "Back then, I couldn’t resolve the obsession of One Soul, I could only choose to divide. Now the obsession still exists, please help me."
Feng Qi frowned: "Aren’t you here to save your One Soul? Instead, you want me to awaken your One Soul with a whip?"
Such a request was truly unheard of throughout the ages.
Wasn’t he afraid of losing One Soul entirely with a single mistake?
"Everything is divine will, your arrival is predestined by fate."
The current image of Two Souls Seven Spirits is that of a middle-aged man wearing judge’s robes, with a face quite similar to One Soul, but many years older.
"Alright, since you’re not afraid, I’ll give it a try."
Feng Qi’s whip fell once again.
One Soul howled in sorrow, looking towards his descendants, discovering that there was barely any left.
Those vengeful spirits were like executioners of the past, exterminating all without leaving anyone!
"No!"
He roared in anger.
He bellowed in fury.
He seemed to return to that day, watching helplessly as his nine clans died because of him.
Intense guilt and grief transformed into an obsession, overwhelmingly powerful.
Even the chance to become a Buddha could be abandoned, all for the protection of the last trace of his bloodline, as if by preserving this bloodline, he could atone.
The whip struck once more, but this time it didn’t hit him, as if it whipped the air, yet not quite. The sound of breaking air arose, and he saw the memories of all the resentful souls present.
He seemed to be in their place, feeling their grief and pain.
Those innocent people merely passed through the village, yet could never leave again.
Those pitiful women, sold into the village, were not treated kindly but tormented instead.
All these cruel acts were perpetrated by his descendants.
He had been protecting a group of demons all along.
In fact, he wasn’t completely unaware in the ancestral hall, but whenever he thought about the past, he would indulge them. Gradually, he stopped paying attention, only thinking that no matter what they did, he had to protect them.
Such an obsession had become an accomplice, helping them continue to harm the innocent.
He was an upright official, wholeheartedly for the people, yet unexpectedly, after ten lifetimes of goodness, he became an accomplice to sin.
He laughed at himself, a strange kind of laughter, filled with confusion amidst its strangeness.
He looked up at the bodies of his descendants, from those bodies floated spiritual bodies, their faces changing, some from this life and some from past lives.