Jin Se

Chapter 65

Shi Wuduan followed behind the old man at a wary distance. He hadn't actually interacted with the Dasheng Sect before, all of their clandestine communications were handled by Xia Duanfang and his underlings. He guessed that if this person wasn't one of the Dasheng Sect's three elders, then he was the sect leader, Great Master Zhiye.

All kinds of thoughts whirled around in his head. The rabbit corpse in his arms seemed to... become heavier and heavier.

The old man didn't prattle at him. Once they got on the road, he practically ignored him. Every once in a while, he'd kowtow in obeisance, as if he really did respect the mountains, waters, and deities. When they passed a mountain, he'd kowtow to the mountain. When they came across water, he'd kowtow to the water. Even when they passed by some particularly protruding rocks, he'd properly kneel, arrange the pebbles at his feet into a triangle, and start prostrating.

Along the way, he kneeled three times and kowtowed nine times, but he paid obeisance to the valleys and trees, not to the mortal emperor.

Their pace was exceedingly slow. The old man didn't seem at all afraid that Shi Wuduan would leave him in the dust. Shi Wuduan himself didn't know what he was doing. Every time the old man stopped, he'd silently curse, yet he never went ahead alone. He'd always wait by the side.

While he waited, he'd sometimes stare at the prostrating old man's back. Sometimes he'd stare at his toes, lost in thought.

After who knew how many miles and kowtows - now, Shi Wuduan realized why the old man's robes were so florid - they finally stopped at the base of a large tree.

The tree looked to be hundreds or thousands of years old. Its species was unclear. Though it was winter, its wild, tangled branches were green with astonishingly lush leaves. Contrasted by the snowy expanse around it, it was especially eye-catching. It stood there alone, alone from the world, as if it was the only tree in all the heavens and earth.

After the old man kowtowed piously, he told Shi Wuduan, "This is the great bodhi tree. It's seed came from beyond this world. The gods and deities nurtured it with spiritual wine; it took an entire three thousand three hundred years before it broke through the soil, three thousand three hundred years before it sprouted, three thousand three hundred years before it grew branches and grew in height, and another three thousand three hundred years before its leaves grew full; one leaf can reach the heavens."

He cupped a fallen leaf in both hands, curled it into a tube, and put it by Shi Wuduan's ear, "When rolled into a tube, one can hear heavenly music."

Shi Wuduan eyed him expressively, and actually listened for a while. Afterward, he said, "I didn't hear anything."

The old man sighed, "That's right. Who else, born in the dust of the mortal realm, faithless in the existence of deities, could stand before the great bodhi tree and not hear a sound, but the master of the Ghoulish Astrolabe himself?"

Shi Wuduan raised his head slightly to look at him. He saw the old man bend down and return the leaf to the earth and say, "The astrolabe is the most spiritual object in the world. It can descry heaven's machinations, peer into the fates of man.

Twenty years ago, an astrolabe capable of devouring a malevolent ghost the moment it came into use arrived into this world. It was recorded in my sect's holy book, 'Dasheng's Book of Revelation,' five thousand years ago. Named the 'Ghoulish Astrolabe,' its appearance heralds the beginning of the end."