Chapter 165 — The Threefold Establishment

"Afterward he roamed the world, and over several hundred years he passed on to others the truths the sage had imparted. The truths the sage had imparted, once he passed them to others, became his own truths. A mouth speaks into your ear; your mouth speaks into another's — this is wisdom. Thus the Founding Patriarch illumined wisdom."

"As for illumining teaching, the Founding Patriarch founded a sect. In gratitude to the woodcutter who had pointed him to the way, he named it the Heavenly Sacred Cult and established its doctrine. The Way of the sage is nothing other than what the common people use day to day; whatever differs from it is heresy! To act according to one's nature, purely following what is natural — this is called the Way. Such is the root of our cult's doctrine."

They had thought that the Cult Master's enthronement would require some earth-shaking ceremony, yet instead the Young Patriarch told the history of the cult's founding.

As for the legends of this Founding Patriarch, they had occasionally seen some records in the cult's texts, but those were glimpses of a dragon — nothing so detailed and moving as what the Young Patriarch told.

"Illumining teaching — the 'teaching' here means to impart, to educate. The Founding Patriarch founded the cult in order to pass the sage's teachings to all under heaven. He became the teacher of ten thousand through three illuminations — illumining principle, illumining wisdom, illumining teaching — and he established virtue and established words, but he could not establish merit, and so he did not become a sage.①"

The Young Patriarch said, "In his later years he pondered this over and over, never knowing where his merit lay. Though the Founding Patriarch never became a sage, he established words for the sage, founded the cult himself, and brought his virtue to fulfillment — three illuminations and two establishments, two immortalities — surpassing the mediocre rabble beyond counting. Shen Mu, are you willing to inherit the Founding Patriarch's virtue and words, his principle and wisdom?"

Shen Mu bowed, cupping his fists and extending them before him. "Your disciple is willing."

The Young Patriarch smiled. "Then the teaching is yours. You must bear it."

Shen Mu said gravely, "Your disciple will bear it."

The Young Patriarch smiled faintly. "Sit upon the stone."

Shen Mu stepped forward and sat on the stone beneath the pine and cypress.

The Young Patriarch looked down and said gravely, "This stone is the Sage's Stone, the Sage's Seat. The woodcutter who instructed the Founding Patriarch was a sage descended from heaven. He had no blood ties to the Patriarch, no bond of interest — only that the Patriarch sought the Way, and so he acted as his teacher and passed on to the Founding Patriarch his craft and learning. He who sits upon this Sage's Stone is the Cult Master, but he is also the Holy Teacher of our cult."

"Your disciple greets the Holy Sect Master!"

Voices spoke in unison, resounding through Sacred Advent Mountain.

The Young Patriarch looked toward Granny Zhu. "Fan Xuanshu, the new Cult Master has ascended the throne. Will you still not appear? Will you still not pass on our cult's arts? Do you mean to carry our cult's sacred arts into your coffin and bury them forever?"

Granny Zhu's body trembled slightly, and from her mouth came an aged voice: "Your disciple... obeys the Master's decree."

She was plainly a woman, yet now she spoke like an old man, her voice exceedingly coarse, and bearing a most domineering majesty — only before the Young Patriarch did she not dare to be unruly.

Granny Zhu came before Shen Mu. He was about to rise, but Granny Zhu's palm had already pressed against his forehead. Threads of golden light wove through Granny Zhu's brow, and within the golden light all manner of voices arose, boring into Shen Mu's brow, into his mind.

"Cult Master Li..." someone below said in a low voice.

At this moment, the one occupying Granny Zhu's body was none other than the previous Cult Master, Fan Xuanshu. Though he had been ambushed by Granny Zhu, he had also implanted himself in her heart of the Way, becoming her inner demon, waiting for the moment to take her place and become the woman he had loved most.

In Shen Mu's mind the voices were chaotic and complex, as though a god were preaching the dharma beyond the nine heavens, a demon whispering at his ear, a Buddha chanting sutras in his heart — indescribably strange.

"The voice of a sage?"

His heart quivered, and a possibility suddenly came to him: this voice was the voice of that woodcutter who chopped firewood. What Cult Master Li was passing on to him were the scriptures the woodcutter had spoken when he preached the Way to the Founding Patriarch!