Chapter 370: The Eight Sufferings
The trial concluded as Bodhisattva Xiangxiang collected both the hawk demons and the pigeon. Two hawk demons wept particularly bitterly, denouncing humanity’s cunning nature to the Bodhisattva, claiming they could never be trusted.
Bodhisattva Xiangxiang had no choice but to comfort the hawk demons, explaining they’d encountered exceptional cases—those two individuals’ thought processes differed entirely from ordinary people, and they shouldn’t generalize such outliers to the entire human race.
Jiang Li felt he’d sufficiently demonstrated his wisdom in the first two trials, certain he would earn Manjushri Bodhisattva’s legacy approval.
Bai Hongtu believed he’d proven his talent for understanding human nature in the initial trials, confident the Mind Reading legacy would favor him.
“Merely an inheritance—already within our grasp,” the two declared triumphantly.
“Now begins the third trial,” announced the Bodhisattva. “Life contains eight sufferings: birth, aging, sickness, death, separation from loved ones, resentment of enemies, unfulfilled desires, and the suffering of existence itself.”
“You shall forget everything and experience these eight sufferings through dreams.”
A cultivator asked: “How will our performance be judged?”
Bodhisattva Xiangxiang clasped her prayer beads, closing her eyes with a serene smile. “There is no right or wrong when facing life’s sufferings. This trial merely observes how you respond to them.”
She bowed toward the sky. “I invoke the Sleeping Arhat’s legacy to cast the spell.”
Responding to her call, the Beings’ Secret Realm manifested an emaciated Arhat phantom in the sky—bare-chested, lying sideways in slumber, his features indistinct. As the phantom’s chest rose and fell, the cultivators gradually grew drowsy, sinking into dreams.
……
Yuan Wuxing awoke slowly, his mind foggy, sensing he’d forgotten something critically important.
“Where am I?”
He found himself unable to stretch his limbs, as if trapped in a cocoon. Yet the cocoon felt comfortable, bathed in warm energy nourishing his body.
“Innate Qi?” The term surfaced in his mind despite not knowing its meaning. “I think it’s the energy generated when a woman nurtures life…”
Thinking exhausted Yuan Wuxing, and he drifted back to sleep until awakening once more.
“Waaah—”
Yuan Wuxing wailed as he was born. With his birth, the Innate Qi vanished without trace. His tiny hands grasped futilely at the disappearing energy.
Turbid Postnatal Qi enveloped him, making his body ache with discomfort as he cried inconsolably. Gradually growing accustomed to this inferior energy, he forgot the wondrous experiences of his fetal existence.
This world strictly separated immortals from mortals—celestial beings dwelled aloof, forever beyond mortal reach.
Born into a wealthy family, Yuan Wuxing lacked for nothing materially, yet remained unsatisfied.
“They say immortal cultivators exist beyond worldly concerns. I wish to cultivate.”
For reasons unclear, Yuan Wuxing desperately yearned for immortality—whether from privilege breeding ambition, a desire for strength, or other motives.
When immortal disciples tested his spiritual roots, they coldly rejected him: “Five Element Roots—the trash among spiritual roots. Wasting spiritual energy on you would be criminal. Begone!”
They threw him down the mountain and shut their gates permanently.
Undeterred, Yuan Wuxing approached other sects, only to receive identical responses: Five Element Roots were unworthy of cultivation.
Some cultivators even mocked behind his back: “No wonder your parents named you Yuan Wuxing (Five Elements). They probably knew you’d be trash from birth.”
Enraged, Yuan Wuxing attacked the cultivator, who merely flicked his sleeve, leaving Yuan Wuxing grievously injured to die.
His elderly parents braved stormy mountains to carry him down overnight, hiring the best physicians to save his life. The ordeal gave them fatal chills, and they perished soon after. Yuan Wuxing wept bitterly, regretting his immortal obsession that left little time for filial devotion.
Inheriting the vast family fortune, Yuan Wuxing proved a business prodigy. Within decades, he multiplied their wealth, becoming the nation’s most prominent merchant.
An immortal sect approached him then: “If you renounce all worldly possessions to accumulate merit, we can guide your Qi absorption, making you a cultivator.”
“How far could my talent take me?”
“Five Element Roots are the lowest grade. Even after Qi absorption, you’d struggle to reach the third level of Qi Refining in your lifetime, let alone advance further.”
Torn between abandoning his empire or becoming cultivation’s lowest dreg, Yuan Wuxing ultimately chose wealth over immortality.
He couldn’t relinquish worldly riches.
Decades later, terminal illness struck Yuan Wuxing—incurable even by immortal means. For ten agonizing years, the disease ravaged him until he survived, albeit blind and numb, existing without living.
Aged and feeble, his once-sharp mind now fragmented, he made disastrous business decisions that nearly ruined his empire. Yuan Wuxing recognized this as senility—he could no longer match his youthful brilliance.
The Yuan Empire’s survival depended entirely on his past wisdom. But now, old and crippled, he couldn’t deter vultures eyeing his assets.
His own family, fearing outsiders would plunder their wealth, preemptively stripped Yuan Wuxing of power and divided the empire among themselves.
Left penniless, blind, and homeless, Yuan Wuxing wandered streets awaiting death.
“I entered this world with nothing, and shall leave with nothing. Fitting.” He laughed bitterly at himself.
As death neared, his consciousness blurred further—destitute, numb, and confused, Yuan Wuxing curled into himself, mirroring his fetal position.
Five Element Roots—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—cultivation… Concepts that haunted his life swirled through his mind as enlightenment dawned.
Five Elements, Five Colors, Five Elements, Five Colors…
Faint Five-Colored Divine Light shimmered at Yuan Wuxing’s fingertips. With one weak gesture, nearby matter vanished. This final act seemingly exhausted his life force, and he perished at last.
Bystanders gasped as the beggar’s corpse dissolved into five-colored rainbow light, vanishing without trace. Witnesses prostrated in awe.
……
Bodhisattva Xiangxiang looked up, sensing the Peacock Great Bright King’s legacy stirring—apparently selecting a candidate.
Following the legacy’s inclination toward Yuan Wuxing, the Bodhisattva marveled: “Among the eight sufferings, Disciple Yuan Wuxing showed mediocrity through seven, yet faced death without pain. Instead, he achieved enlightenment, comprehending the embryonic form of Five-Colored Divine Light before rainbow dissolution. Excellent, truly excellent.”