Chapter 220 — Thieves' Shadows Never Cease
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
His envoy is well worth seeing. " The Daoist Sect, Kunlun Jade Void Mountain.
This place is called the Jade Void Grotto-Heaven, as if it were a world unto itself; within the mountain it is spring all year round, like a holy land of immortals, not a whit inferior to Mount Sumeru. "The cloud sealing Jingping is only a warning of no great weight, far lighter than the warning that preceded the Wasteland's destruction.
" The Old Daoist Lord said unhurriedly to the many cultivators of the Daoist Sect: "The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping pushes his reforms, and my Daoist Sect opposes him — not for private interest, but for the sake of the Dao. This reform has already broken many rules and broken many principles, and it is doomed to fail. It is a pity that the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping is too shallow in his vision; he does not know what kind of ending will come when the great terror arrives. " His gaze was deep, but his bearing was utterly calm, and he said slowly: "In those days, when the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping was young, he came to the Daoist Sect to see me. I saw that he was extraordinary, and I held great hopes for him, and so I permitted him to read the canonical scripture that guards our sect, expecting that he would one day achieve great things.
As for sectarian prejudice, I cast it to the back of my mind — such a fine talent naturally deserved to be nurtured without regard for the barriers between sects. Later he became the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, and my hopes for him turned to disappointment. Why? Because the Dao follows nature. " The many masters of the Daoist Sect listened in silence. "What is meant by 'the Dao follows nature'? It means the Dao and its methods arise from nature.
We who cultivate the Dao may summon wind and rain, yet we do not alter wind and rain — that is, we do not alter nature, and do not alter the Great Dao.
I bear no prejudice against the Dark Demon Cult; on the contrary, there are certain ways and deeds of the Dark Demon Cult that I rather admire. But our paths differ. Why? " The Daoist Lord shook his head: "The Dao arises from nature, yet the Dark Demon Cult would use the Dao to alter nature.
This is the greatest difference between my Daoist Sect and the Dark Demon Cult, and it is the very reason the Dark Demon Cult is called demonic. " The many Daoists of the sect felt a tremor in their hearts, and Danyangzi said: "I have observed the disciples of the Dark Demon Cult — some use arts of moving clouds and dispensing rain, bringing rain in times of drought and collecting money from the farming folk. Others use tunneling arts to bore wells in the earth and solve drinking-water problems.
Still others use true fire to smelt ores, extract dark gold, and make it into farming tools for sale. There are even cult disciples who have the farmers pay them to go hunting demonic beasts. The Dark Demon Cult truly violates the principle that the Dao follows nature — it is altering nature. " The Daoist Lord said: "To put the divine arts of the Dao to the daily use of common people is to alter nature, to damage nature. To alter nature and damage nature is to alter the Great Dao, to damage the Great Dao. The doctrine of the Dark Demon Cult is wrong, and could only develop into a demonic path.
Add to that the line in the general outline of their doctrine — 'act as one's nature dictates, purely follow nature' — and this becomes indulging one's own desires, doing whatever one pleases, acting without restraint. If this is not demonic, then what is demonic? " He sighed and said: "The Imperial Preceptor of Jingping has been too deeply influenced by the Dark Demon Cult, so much so that he governs the state and orders the world by its ideas. And so the disasters the Wasteland once suffered will also come to the Kingdom of Jingping. This is Heaven's punishment, a heavenly tribulation, a calamity sent down from Heaven. Even so, the common people are innocent.