Chapter 39 - 5 Stages of Lotus Heart Sutra
Just like before, as the two walked, the scenery remained unchanged. All around, there were just jagged rocks, twisted dead trees, and a thick fog that wrapped around everything like a suffocating shroud.
The wind howled through the darkness, cold and hollow, carrying with it the scent of ash and decay.
Their boots crunched against the gravel and stone, each step ringing out with a quiet clink in the heavy silence.
And yet... this time, Langtian didn’t feel as afraid, nor did he feel as stifled or lost as before.
Perhaps he had simply grown used to this desolate atmosphere.
Or maybe... it was thanks to the Lotus Heart Sutra of the Tranquil Dao. Ever since he began practicing it, his mind had become clearer, steadier, less easily influenced by the demonic energy that saturated the very air of this valley.
Instead, a sense of quiet peace followed him now.
He even found himself imagining it: that he and his senior sister were two lotus blossoms drifting calmly through an endless swamp of shadows and rot.
He glanced up at the cliff walls that flanked the path. Strange crystal veins pulsed faintly along the stone, their glow muted beneath the fog. In his eyes, they looked like the spine of some ancient dragon slumbering beneath a veil of clouds.
The result of his own wild imagination made him smile.
’Strange,’ he thought, ’how much our hearts can shape what we see.’
Indeed, the way one felt deeply changed how the world appeared. To someone lost in despair, this valley might seem like the very edge of hell. But with clarity, with purpose... even a cursed land could seem gentle. Beautiful, even.