612: Twenty Thousand Years of Imparting Sainthood

Twenty Thousand Years of Imparting Sainthood

Saint Woodcutter accepted his bow and said, "I don't take in many disciples. I only taught princes in the past and they don't need to pay respects to me as their master. That's why my official disciples are only you and your big senior brother. Compared to your big senior brother, you are much younger and inexperienced, so you really need to learn well. I'm not teaching you to learn something bad, I'm just teaching you so you will not be at a disadvantage."

Qin Mu blinked his eyes. He didn't seem like a sacred teacher, but instead, he was like the elders of Disabled Elderly Village.

"Sacred Teacher, what is a saint?" Qin Mu asked.

"Saint is a kind of frame of mind."

They came to the bottom of God Execution Stage. Saint Woodcutter examined this divine mountain while saying calmly, "I had once told your big senior brother that one needs to establish three things to become a saint: Establish your ideas in writing, establish a cult, and establish your merit. Once these three are established, your frame of mind will reach a realm so high that no one could be a match for you. A saint needs to have ideas in writings. Only then can he establish a cult indoctrination by teaching all lives and solve their questions, getting rid of the thistles and thorns, and opening up a path for them by imparting one's teachings."

Qin Mu was stunned and cried out, "Establish cult indoctrination? Isn't it establishing Heavenly Saint Cult and imparting the teachings?"

Saint Woodcutter shook his head and said, "It's not establishing a cult, it's establishing a cult doctrine. Establishing a cult is too shallow. When you create a sect, there will be struggles between sects, and those struggles involve ideas in writings. In that case, ideas in writing will cease to exist.

Qin Mu's mind was blown. He suddenly remembered those previous cult masters that were staying in Fengdu, and he couldn't help imagining tears streaming down their faces.

They were proud of their identity as Heavenly Saint Cult Master, but they didn't know that everything was wrong when it came to Saint Woodcutter's standards.

Saint Woodcutter walked down the divine mountain. While walking, he would grab chunks of rocks from time to time. The huge rocks were then melted with his magic power. After this, they transformed into stone pillars that were covered with fancy markings. Finally, they were placed at the bottom of the divine mountain with a strange formation.

"Establishing a cult is establishing cult indoctrination. How do you establish cult indoctrination? To make education available by building schools, spreading talent, doing actual work, and researching paths, skills, and divine arts. All of these are for the everyday use of common people."

Saint Woodcutter said softly as he refined the teleportation stone pillars, "When a country is weak, they try to reform to become strong, and this strengthens them and the whole country."

His refining method wasn't as superior as Mute, but it was extremely fast. He quickly imprinted the runes for the teleportation divine art in the stone pillars.

"If the people are weak, impart teachings to benefit people. This strengthens the people."

"If the soldiers are weak, reform and improve the weapons. This strengthens the people."

"If there's a muddle-headed ruler, make a serious statement and a complaint, advising the ruler to change. If the ruler doesn't change, make a second complaint. If there's still no improvement, then elect a new ruler."

"If there's no path to heaven, carry out a reform and change the heavenly laws to suit the world. If heaven doesn't change, make a second reform to seek change. If it still doesn't change, cut down the heaven to establish the path."

Qin Mu listened attentively. When Saint Woodcutter finished saying and explaining his ideology, they had already walked halfway around the mountain.

Qin Mu suddenly said, "Sacred Teacher, the requirements for being a saint is too high. I remembered all the people I have met and heard before, but no one could meet the requirements of a saint. Are you able to do all these?"

Saint Woodcutter stopped walking as the mountain rocks in midair melted to form stone pillars.

Once he stopped moving, the markings on the stone pillars also stopped transforming.

Qin Mu felt uneasy as he cursed himself for being too talkative. He sneaked a glance and saw tears on this middle-aged man's face.

"I had once thought I could do it."

Saint Woodcutter's voice was a little hoarse as he said sorrowfully, "I once thought I could become a saint. I thought I could establish cult indoctrination and strengthen ourselves through reform. I thought I could strengthen Founding Emperor Empire. I thought I could strengthen the weak people, make people develop remarkable abilities, change the weak military, and let them have power which could awe our enemies. I thought I could ensure the ruler wouldn't be muddle-headed, ensure a path into heaven, and even ensure I could establish merit and defeat degeneration... I failed the last three points."

Thump—

The stone pillar that wasn't refined yet fell to the ground and got partially buried into the mud. Saint Woodcutter leaned on the pillar with his right arm while his head was buried in his elbow. He didn't let Qin Mu see him losing his composure as tears streamed down his face.

"I've lost. I didn't manage to stop Founding Emperor from going to Carefree Village. I have let the ruler become muddle-headed. I thought I could change the laws and the paths, to change the path of heaven, but the celestial heaven wiped out Founding Emperor Empire and sent off Founding Emperor Era. I didn't manage to establish merit in that final battle..."

"I've lost... Qin Mu, I'm not the saint you are looking for. I also can't teach you anything. I'm only a failure..."

Qin Mu stared at him blankly, and the same emotion was brewing inside of his chest.

When Saint Woodcutter's reform was at its most flourishing state, Founding Emperor suddenly retreated, and built Carefree Village without fighting a life-and-death battle. Therefore, Woodcutter's fighting spirit became dormant.

He saw Founding Emperor retreating and looked at the Founding Emperor Empire, which they painstakingly built, turn into ashes. He had to look at his comrades fighting and dying for the same ideals. He looked at them getting beheaded, spraying their warm blood on the once familiar ground. He looked at those comrades who anticipated Founding Emperor to descend again, and lead them back into battle dying from old age. He looked at the people of that era, dying generations after generations, with new faces replacing the old ones.

The setback and pain in his heart was something other people couldn't imagine.

Qin Mu suddenly raised his voice. "Sacred Teacher, can you impart the path of the saint to me?"

Saint Woodcutter used his sleeves to wipe his tears. He turned around to look at him. Qin Mu said excitedly, "I want to inherit your teachings and continue walking down this path. I want to continue the reform. I want to cut down the ruler if they are muddle-headed, and cut down the heaven if there's no path!"

Saint Woodcutter's face was bleak as he shook his head. "You can't."

The blazing fire within Qin Mu's heart was quenched at once. He clenched his fists in anger. "Why can't I? Big senior brother's comprehension is slightly bad. He thought that establishing a cult is the same as establishing Heavenly Saint Cult, but I'm not that stupid!"

Saint Woodcutter shook his head. "Your big senior brother is a little stupid, but you are no better. Your blood easily rushes to your head and you bury yourself in work. Even though you are crafty sometimes, you still lack focus. Your temper is jumpy, and you feel that everything is fresh to you, so you want to study more about them. Even though you have your thinking, your thinking isn't deep enough. Even though you have beliefs, your beliefs aren't stable enough. Your Dao heart still isn't as strong as mountains and rivers. It still hasn't reached the step where it's impervious to change. You aren't cut out for becoming a saint at the moment. The you right now still isn't enough."

Qin Mu said loudly, "I can change. I can learn!"

"I can't wait anymore."

Saint Woodcutter revealed a warm smile and his voice became gentle. "Good disciple, I really can't wait that long anymore."

Qin Mu went into a daze.

Saint Woodcutter continued to refine this stone pillar properly before walking forward.

Meanwhile, Qin Mu followed him silently. He looked at him finish refining the teleportation pillars one by one.

After some time, Saint Woodcutter finally finished the layout. He took a glance at the dejected Qin Mu and said with a smile, "Don't pull a long face. If I didn't know much about you, I would really think that your Dao heart is really that weak, like that black tiger's. Let's go up the mountain."

The dejection on Qin Mu's face vanished as he followed him back up to the peak of this God Execution Stage.

Once they arrived at the peak, Saint Woodcutter executed the teleportation divine art. The stone pillars shone brightly as the runes imprinted on them gave off light. After a moment, the runes floated into the air, and they transformed into strange beautiful writings.

These runes connected in midair, and they swirled faster and faster!

In order to move this entire God Execution Stage, even an existence like Saint Woodcutter needed to first transform his teleportation divine art into a formation. Only then was he able to teleport it away!

Light burst forth as God Execution Stage rose up with a rumble, swirling and flying away along with the light.

While Qin Mu was standing on this divine mountain, he turned back to look at the abnormal star. It moved further and further away, and quickly vanished from his line of sight.

He saw that their current surroundings were boundless dark space, which was empty and desolate. Sometimes, he saw fine stars.

Qin Mu broke the silence and said, "Sacred Teacher, I feel there's a person whose aptitude and comprehension are better than me. He's suitable and he can meet your criteria. I want to recommend him to you."

Saint Woodcutter was slightly stunned. He broke into a smile. "Alright. However, you don't have to call me sacred teacher anymore, just call me teacher."

"Teacher."

…

In Luofu Heaven, a torrent of light shone down from the sky. It shone down on a piece of land in front of a sacrificial altar.

Countless complicated runes appeared on the illuminated ground, changing continuously. When the light vanished, a huge and majestic God Execution Stage suddenly appeared!

Saint Woodcutter walked down from God Execution Stage, and the huge ax behind him flew up to slash open a door that connects to Supreme Emperor Heaven. "Bring him to meet me."

Qin Mu bowed. "Yes, Teacher."

…

Supreme Emperor Heaven, Li City.0

When Qin Mu saw Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor, he and several scholars from all the academies were designing spirit weapons for invading cities and large-scale battles. Qin Mu approached him and said, "Imperial Preceptor, Saint Woodcutter wants to see you."

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor's body trembled as he looked at him in surprise and delight.

When the two of them arrived at Luofu Heaven, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor raised his head to look at the majestic and tall sacrificial altar. On the altar, a middle-aged man wearing a woodcutter's garb was currently standing on the top.

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor's mind shook, and he tidied up his appearance. He wanted to seek an audience when Saint Woodcutter's booming voice rang out from the top of the altar like a bell. "Imperial Preceptor of Eternal Peace, I have three questions. Once you've answered all of them, you can come up to the altar and meet me! Step up now!"

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor walked up and came to one-third of the steps. Saint Woodcutter's voice boomed down and asked, "First question, what is your original aspiration? Answer!"

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor stopped walking and said loudly, "To ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to recover and continue the lost teachings from past ages, and to establish peace for all future generations. Those are my original aspirations!"

Saint Woodcutter was silent for a moment before saying, "Step up."

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor continued walking up to the two-thirds level of the altar, and Saint Woodcutter's voice came down again. "Second question, how is your Dao heart? Answer!"

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor stopped once again, and he sincerely answered with high spirits, "I'm never changing my original aspiration. My Dao heart will remain forever strong!"

"Step up!"

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor continued to ascend the altar. When he was almost at the top, Saint Woodcutter asked the final question. "Third question, do you know that you will die because of this? That you will lose your reputation, and the later generations will forget you or even hate you? Not only could this path destroy your life, it will also destroy your reputation, making you a nobody from today onwards."

"I know."

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor bowed. "I'm willing to do it. I have a clear conscience, and I won't have any grievances or regrets."

Saint Woodcutter revealed a smile. "I have taught countless of people, but I've only taken in two disciples. However, these two disciples have never received my inheritance and true teaching. Instead, it's the flower outside the door that had bloomed. Come up."

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor ascended the last steps, and came to the peak of this sacrificial altar to face Saint Woodcutter.

Dong—

The huge ax behind Saint Woodcutter fell and stabbed into the ground. This woodcutter then sat with his legs wide open on the back of the ax, and placed his hands on his knees. "You can now formally pay your respects as an apprentice."

Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor held up his green robe and kneeled down. He said solemnly, "River Tomb Scholar pays his respects to Teacher!"

Qin Mu looked up at the sacrificial altar. Tears unknowingly streamed down his face as he witnessed this passing of inheritance.

The responsibility of a saint had now been passed from one era to the shoulders of a person from the next era.

It didn't have a shocking sight or words that stirred people's hearts, yet he was still moved as tears welled up in his eyes.

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