Simon's tall body was gradually squeezed by shackles, turning into a speck of dust, then gently spun in the cycle of reincarnation. For a moment, his memory was blank, and before he could think much, he was thrown out, returning to the mortal world on the surface of superior affinity.
The fourteen accompanying souls also left with him.
"Little monk, I will wait for you in the mortal world..." Xiangxu murmured from the realm of no-interval.
...
Since the collapse of the imperial court, people have adopted a new calendar, called the Pure Land Calendar, with the Buddha's ascension to heaven as its first year. Exactly one hundred years have passed since then.
On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month, the autumn equinox, the Pure Land experienced a massive tremor.
The billions of people in the Divine Land had grown accustomed to the peace and reliability of the Pure Land, which seemed like a world separate from crisis. But now, this tremor left them at a loss. Many people's first reaction was not fear, but rather wondering if they were experiencing a hallucination, or thinking it was some kind of event. In any case, it wasn't fear.
Before people could truly become afraid, all tremors ceased. People were only surprised to find a white sun illuminating the deer antlers of the Bodhisattva statue, which leaned against Sumeru.
This meant that the Pure Land finally had day and night cycles, and everything began to flow spontaneously. Rocks no longer maintained their original form, and plants began to wither and flourish.
The reincarnation of all things had finally begun.
Everyone realized this was a monumental change, but they couldn't quite articulate what had happened. These changes, occurring right beside them, seemed to have brought no alteration to their lives, so people gradually forgot about the matter.
...
It was also the autumn equinox when Li Piguang, the Sect Leader of the Lion Appearance Sect on Lotus Mountain in Guangdong, joyfully welcomed his son.
That night, a banquet was held at the martial arts arena on the mountainside. The Deputy Sect Leader, along with the heads of the three major halls within the sect, attended with their disciples and trusted aides.
They feasted heartily and drank deeply. In the midst of their merriment, Deputy Sect Leader Shi Minghua stood up, raised her cup, and asked, "Sect Leader, what name do you plan to give your son?" She was a heroic woman, her star-like eyes shining with a cold light in the moonlight, like a patrolling wild lion, unforgettable to behold.
Upon hearing this, Li Piguang first drained the jar of fine wine, then slammed the table and stood up. Using the momentum of his drunkenness and wild excitement, he tried to stir his limited vocabulary to piece together a resonant and pleasant-sounding name.
So he stammered, his body swaying like a reed in the wind. His palm, like a cattail fan, slapped his chest and forehead, making a booming sound like a clanging bell or striking iron. This posture was similar to slapping an old black-and-white television, but unfortunately, literary talent wasn't a signal. Li Piguang couldn't come up with a good name even if he mashed his messy hair to bits.
Shi Minghua then took the initiative to speak, "Brother Li, we are sworn siblings, like true brothers and sisters. Your child is like my own. How about letting your little sister choose the name?"
"Good, good, good! Minghua still knows how to take care of her old brother. All of you, you only know how to make fun of me!" Li Piguang glared at the sect members around him, his gaze burning like cold lightning in the night, overshadowing the surrounding torches, candles, and even the starlight and moonlight.
Shi Minghua praised, "Brother Li's external martial arts are superb, evident to all. For such a great hero, a great stalwart, his son's name must naturally be upright and honorable."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"A good man's word is his bond, and he should achieve extraordinary feats. How about Li Dingxun?"
"Excellent!"
"Truly mighty!"
On the peak of Lotus Mountain, Li Dingxun, still in swaddling clothes, had just been fed and was peacefully asleep. He only heard waves of joyous laughter rolling up from the mountain like thunder, shaking the house. The windows rattled against their frames, and a shower of dust fell from the ceiling.
His mother, Li Meizheng, was accustomed to it, but she worried the child might be frightened. She quickly sat up and scooped up the swaddled baby to check.
The little cub was sleeping soundly, showing no signs of waking.
The loving mother chuckled, feeling immensely satisfied. Then, the wild laughter roared in her ears again, and her gentle face immediately darkened.
She put down the swaddling clothes.
The woman, having just given birth, got out of bed, wrapped in a tiger-skin robe bought from the Pure Land, pushed open the door, and took a deep breath of the crisp night air on the mountain slope.
"Inhale—hiss!"
She looked up.
The next second, her iron lungs expelled a gale, sweeping through the sky like a blade, and the aftermath even lifted the blue tiles of the house.
A furious roar!
What a furious roar!
"All of you—BE! QUIET!"
With that command, birds flew in fright for a thousand miles, and beasts in the mountains lost their courage.
A large number of people at the banquet dropped their wine bowls, and porcelain shattered everywhere. Those who were more embarrassed simply cowered on the ground.
Li Piguang picked at the earwax that had been dislodged by the tremor and laughed heartily, "Everyone, bear with me! There's a heroine at home, so I have to listen to her!"
Everyone chuckled softly, but in the end, no one dared to speak loudly again.
The banquet continued, joy resumed, and it didn't disperse until dawn.
The news of Sect Leader Li having an heir was not yet intended to be announced to the world, for fear that the Lion Appearance Sect's rivals, the Evil Taoists of Ran Mountain, would cast curses to harm him.
...
September twenty-fifth.
Li Dingxun's first month.
The Sect Leader brought in a fortune teller to read his son's destiny.
The fortune teller held the little child up, peered at his shadow on the ground in the sparse moonlight, then looked up at the starry sky, muttering to himself. He put the child down and fiddled with an abacus.
"Oh my! This boy!"
"What about my son?"
"This... a good fate! A heavenly star has descended to the mortal world!"
Li Piguang grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, his crimson gums like a predator's signal of slaughter.
The old Taoist trembled slightly, but maintained his ethereal, immortal smile.
"This child is the descent of the Po Jun star from heaven. In the future, he will surely make a name for himself in the martial world, causing all heroes to bow down..." He showered them with compliments, one after another, finally making Sect Leader Li beam with joy. He immediately decided not to kill the old Taoist, but merely threw him out the door.
The old Taoist cried out in pain as he fell at the cold mountainside in the dead of night.
Then he scrambled to his feet and quickly fled, his panicked silhouette resembling a grey rat being chased by a goose.
After running for a distance, the Taoist stopped, spat on the ground, and turned to curse Lotus Peak, "Bah! What Lion Appearance Sect, this Taoist says it's a den of thieves! Ha, what heavenly star descended, clearly it's a shallow blessing, a short life, and a sparse soul—a sign of early death! Bah! I wish you ill on your parents! Ill on your family! A lone star of calamity! May you all just die! Bah!" His face was sullen, and after muttering a few more words, he turned and disappeared into the wilderness.
...
Li Dingxun was an honest child.
However, an infant less than a year old wouldn't display a somewhat mature personality like honesty. He was deemed a dullard.
Fortunately, he wasn't foolish, just a beat slower in his reactions than ordinary children.
This left Li Piguang somewhat disappointed; his eldest son didn't seem suited for high expectations. He had once thought of finding that fortune teller to teach him a lesson about accounting, but the slippery rat had long since vanished into the vast sea of humanity.
The couple, in their prime, immediately decided to have several more children, to prevent the position of Sect Leader from falling into other hands.
The members of the Lion Appearance Sect were a group of lions; they only obeyed the strongest lion king. If a cub like Li Dingxun couldn't grow strong, in this savage sect, he would be a complete tragedy.
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