Chapter 464: Temple of Unending Spring

“Do not break this one so quickly, young man,” a familiar, whimsical voice echoed in the room. Taihao. “It was dreadfully inconvenient to find the materials.”

With that final, ghostly comment, the avatars of Xingxing and Danzhu dissolved, their lecture and their debriefing finally complete.

Left alone in the quiet of his quarters, Lin Mo holstered the powerful revolver. Once again, he gained another layer of protection.

Following that, system notifications popped up confirming the incoming addition of new products introduced by the two divine beings, along with a mass-produced, weakened version of his revolver.

[New Product Line: Alchemical Solutions for Modern Cultivators]

[Items: [Five-Phase Harmonizing Tea], [Spiritual Scouring Pill], [Highland Vitality Candy], [Aether-Bane Polish], [Chitin-Breaker Enzyme].]

[New Product Line: The Stardust Series]

[Item: [Stardust Repeater (Spirit-Grade)]. A mass-produced firearm inspired by the [Starfall Judgement Revolver]. Fires condensed spiritual energy pellets. Requires regular maintenance and specialized ’energy cartridges’ sold separately. Effective against unarmored targets up to the Spirit Condensation Stage.]

[New Product Line: Xingxing’s Refinement Suite]

[Items: [Aesthetic Polishing Cloth (Spirit-Grade)], [Soul-Soothing Incense].]

Lin Mo scanned the new product lists, a satisfied smile on his face. The lecture had been a resounding success, not just for the realm, but for the store’s bottom line.

—

In an ancient, dilapidated temple, somewhere in the Western Sacred Lands.

A thin, bald monk opened his eyes. They were eyes of pure, unnerving gold, devoid of any discernible emotion. For the past few days since he returned from the Eastern Abyssal Domain, he had been in a deep meditative state as he waited for an epiphany.

He was Monk Huiyin, also known as the Towerbreaker. Having experienced the Anchor and the Conduit Tower connected to the Divine Convenience, he chose to return to the temple he belonged to, the ancient and reclusive Temple of Unending Spring, to report his findings.

His master, an ancient being who had not left the temple grounds in three hundred years, had listened to his report in silence. He spoke of the store, of the towers that could not be broken by his usual methods. He also spoke of the cooperative spirit he witnessed, and of the ’convenience’ that seemed to be reshaping the world.

After his report, he was ordered into seclusion, to meditate on what he had witnessed, to find the ’Dao’ within this new chaos he witnessed.

He had sat for days as his mind became a quiet lake, replaying his experiences. The cooperative clearing of the tower floors. The shared snacks. The Bulletin Board that connected thousands. The spirit of the store was antithetical to his path. The path of the lone ascetic, of breaking all worldly attachments, of shattering all obstacles with one’s own singular power.

And yet… it was undeniably effective. It was a different kind of power. A power of connection, of synergy. A power that built up, rather than tore down.

His golden eyes, which had for all the years he lived only reflected the cold, hard logic of his Dao, now held a flicker of something new. A question.

A young acolyte entered the meditation chamber, bowing deeply. “Master Huiyin, the Abbot requests your presence. A message has arrived from the Violethaven Temple. They speak of a great humiliation in the East and call for all allied powers to enact a joint sanction against a rising… ’heretical merchant’.”

Monk Huiyin did not move for a long moment. Sanction? Humiliation? He had seen the ’merchant’s’ power firsthand. It was not something that could be ’sanctioned’.

Opening his hand, his Viewing Jade, which he had not accessed for the past few days, sat quietly.

The acolyte tilted his head, wondering what it was.

Then, Monk Huiyin poured a wisp of his inner energy into the jade.

It sprang to life, the holographic interface became a vibrant contrast to the temple’s ancient austerity.

The front page was a torrent of announcements he had missed. The new branch. The Flash Raid. And the recently held Divine Lecture.

He navigated to the ’Community’ tab, and his eyes widened imperceptibly. The board was a living chronicle of everything he had just contemplated. He saw the thread by ’StormAxeBorok’, a barbarian chieftain using the store’s platform to recruit an army to invade the Anchor near their territory. He saw the ’Realm Guardian Leaderboard’, a system that turned the defense of the realm into a competitive pursuit of glory. He saw the threads about the Shopkeeper’s heaven-shattering tribulation. He saw the video recordings of the Divine Lecture, the profound truths of refinement and alchemy being shared openly for all to see.

“Amitabha. So, it appears Benefactor’s words are true. Divine beings backed the store, and they have truly descended to impart their wisdom.”

“Master Huiyin?” The acolyte asked, unnerved by the words he uttered.

Then, as if filled with a newfound sense of purpose, Monk Huiyin stood up and followed the acolyte to the heart of the temple, the Chamber of the Unending Spring.

There, seated before a placid, glowing pool, was his master, the Abbot, a man so ancient he seemed carved from the mountain itself. They don’t follow the path of immortal cultivation but a unique path focused solely on tempering the physical body and the will to a divine state, shattering all worldly illusions and obstacles. They were the ultimate ascetics, their goal was not ascension, but absolute self-mastery.

The Abbot’s eyes, closed for what seemed like a century, slowly opened. They were the same pure gold as Huiyin’s, but where Huiyin’s held a new question, the Abbot’s held the serene emptiness of an eternal void.

“You have seen the ripple,” The Abbot’s voice echoed directly in Huiyin’s mind. “Now, the stone has been thrown into our pond. The Violethaven Temple speaks of heresy. What do you speak of, my disciple?”

Huiyin bowed, pressing his palms together. “Master, I stand with my previous observation before my seclusion. It is a new Dao. One that is not of shattering but of connecting. The ’heretical merchant’ they speak of has created a network that unifies the divided and fights against the foreign influence.”

“He has provided tools that empower the weak. He has turned a war for survival into a shared endeavor. His path is external, relying on tools and systems, while ours is internal. But the outcome… is undeniable.”

He projected the image from his Viewing Jade, showing the thread of the Flash Raid, the chaotic but unified army of thousands. “They call this ’convenience’. It is a path of least resistance, of optimal efficiency. It is… a different kind of strength.”

The Abbot observed the projection, his expressionless face a perfect mask. “The Violethaven Temple’s path is one of domination. Our path is one of transcendence. This ’convenience’… it is a path of dependence. They rely on the merchant, on his tools, on his network. If the merchant falls, does the network not crumble? Is this not a foundation built on sand?”

“Master, I thought the same,” Huiyin admitted. “But the merchant does not seek dependence. He teaches them. He shares knowledge openly.”

He shifted the projection to the Divine Lecture recordings. “He provides them with the means to create their own solutions. He builds not a kingdom of subjects, but an ecosystem of partners. He does not shatter the obstacle but turns it into a stepping stone. A customer. A patron.”

A long silence descended upon the chamber. The Abbot’s golden eyes were fixed on the glowing pool, which now reflected the image of the Divine Lecture, of Danzhu turning a poison into a tonic.

“The Dao is a river,” The Abbot finally responded. “It finds its own path. For millennia, our path has been to become the unyielding rock that the river must break against. This… merchant… he is not the rock. He is not even the river. Perhaps, he is the one who changes the landscape, who digs new channels and builds new dams, guiding the river where he wills.”

The Abbot’s gaze returned to Huiyin. “The Violethaven Temple seeks to build a dam to stop this new river. A foolish endeavor. One cannot stop a change in the world’s Dao. One can only understand it.”

“Then, Master… our response?”

“The Temple of Unending Spring does not partake in the squabbles of the worldly. We seek only to understand the Great Dao,” the Abbot stated. “You, Huiyin, have seen this new current firsthand. Your understanding is clouded by the old ways. You must return to the source. Go back to the East. Observe this ’Shopkeeper’. Observe his ’convenience’. Understand the nature of this new Dao. When you believe you have found its core, its true essence, then you may shatter it or embrace it. That will be your enlightenment.”

Huiyin’s heart trembled. This was not the answer he had expected. He was once sent out to stomp the towers appearing across the realm, but this time he was told to observe and align…

Unconsciously, he clutched the Viewing Jade in his hand as a fleeting sense of excitement fluttered in his chest.

“This disciple understands, Master,” He bowed deeply.

The Abbot’s eyes closed once more. “Go. The Violethaven Temple will receive our answer. The Temple of Unending Spring will remain in seclusion. We will not be disturbed by their quest for hegemony.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep