At disparate times, across the gulfs of space, amidst the ephemeral veil between dream and reality, Wang Lin found himself anchored to a single, unchanging point. A confluence so rare, he could scarcely imagine another had ever trod this path. Yet, here he stood, the truth undeniable.

He stood as he had once stood in a dream-realm on Suzaku, a sensation of profound ascension washing over him, a nascent enlightenment. Though his eyes were closed beneath the weeping heavens, the world unfolded within his heart, each object imbued with a divine spark.

He was as a weary traveler, returned after decades of wandering, glimpsing a vista achingly familiar yet shrouded in the mists of forgotten memory. He strained to recall its origin, the wellspring of this aching recognition.

Now, with his eyes veiled, Wang Lin wove the threads of this familiarity with the tapestry of the Cave World, drawing upon his very being as a conduit. As a thread, invisible yet taut, linked the Cave World to the boundless expanse of the Immortal Astral Continent.

“The falling rain… it feels familiar. The sound of its drumming on the flagstones… also familiar…” Wang Lin murmured, his voice a hushed prayer. Finally, he opened his eyes, gazing upon the small mountain, the towering hall, the wide plaza, and the ancient cauldron standing sentinel at its heart. This tableau sparked a glimmer of understanding.

“Life is like a dream, a dream like life… I first grasped this within the dream-realm of Suzaku. I know that this perception is not the final truth…” Wang Lin’s face remained serene, untouched by turmoil. He stood there, within the rain’s embrace, unmarred by worldly grime.

Liu Jinbiao stood behind Wang Lin, his expression laced with confusion. Wang Lin did not merely muse within his heart; he spoke aloud his burgeoning understanding. Liu Jinbiao, hearing these words, seemed to grasp a sliver of the truth.

“I once lived by the left hand, and scorned the right… I once defined cause as an open palm, consequence as a closed fist… I once saw truth in open eyes, falsehood in those closed. With these three forms, I sought to weave a world that was mine alone… a celestial cage of life’s illusory dream…”

“I have seen this rain before, in the same place, within a dream. And now, in this true world, standing here, I see it again…”

“The world is seen through my eyes… because I can see, I exist…” The misty exhalations of the rain veiled the surroundings in an ethereal shroud. Some disciples hurried past from below, seemingly oblivious to Wang Lin and Liu Jinbiao. As if they did not exist, they passed right by them.

“I use my eyes to see this world, each blade of grass, each ancient tree within my gaze. Once, I believed that with open eyes, the world was real, but when I closed them, all was illusion… This truth and falsehood are merely reflections of the heart. I believed it was false, that each blade of grass would vanish when I closed my eyes… But, does it truly disappear?”

“What is existence? What is non-existence? I use my eyes to see the world, and the world, in turn, sees me… I close my eyes, and all is naught. If the heavens were to close their eyes… would I cease to be?” Wang Lin tilted his head back, gazing upwards, following the paths of the descending rain.

“I do not understand all that Master speaks, but I feel that my reincarnation has unlocked the second step of Deception, the so-called deceiving of oneself. It is not simply believing your own lie that brings it to fruition. It is through a path of enlightenment, that in believing it, you make the Heavens, the cycle of reincarnation, and the very river of time believe it as well!”

“To deceive oneself is, in truth, to deceive reincarnation! I deceive reincarnation, thus I am free! The Heavens cannot defy my will, and reincarnation cannot hinder my spirit. Deceiving Heaven, deceiving Earth, deceiving an age, a lifetime…”

“I did not understand before, but now, awakened from reincarnation, I have come to comprehend…” Liu Jinbiao muttered from behind Wang Lin.

“Who defines the three thousand Grand Daos? Who judges the worth of all things under Heaven? The Dao of Deception is scorned by all, deemed disgraceful, yet it is driven by the heart! Among the three thousand Grand Daos, the Dao of Deception must take its place!” Liu Jinbiao’s dream, his relentless pursuit from a past life, was not to be trampled upon. He would see the Dao of Deception enshrined among the Grand Daos!

His different life, remains the same!

“Heaven and Earth possess an origin, and we cultivate that origin. Master once said that when the origin is achieved, one can step into the third step of cultivation! In my view, the Dao of Deception also has three steps. First, to deceive others. Second, to deceive oneself. Then, reaching the third step, having passed the mountains that are not mountains and the waters that are not waters, one returns to simplicity, and with a single heart, deceives others once more!”

“But this ‘other’ is merely a collective term. It encompasses Heaven, Earth, the cycle of time, and all things! To deceive Heaven, to deceive Earth, to deceive the cycle of time, to deceive the Grand Daos!”

“If even the Dao can be deceived, then I shall become an Immortal!”

“All Daos share a common ancestor. My third step, the return to simplicity, is aligned with Master’s words: If you close your eyes, you cannot know if all things vanish. But if the Heavens were to close their eyes, we cannot know if we would continue to exist. They are but two sides of the same coin!” Liu Jinbiao murmured, the confusion of his awakening in this life gradually clearing, until, at last, like a lightning bolt cleaving the void, his eyes shone with newfound clarity.

His words, falling upon Wang Lin’s ears, sent a tremor through his spirit, bringing him closer to understanding.

Both he and Liu Jinbiao were those striving, struggling, comprehending their unique Daos beneath the heavens. The path of Dao was solitary. To glimpse the Dao of another not only brought solace in solitude, but also allowed one to prove their own.

“You take Deception as your Dao, to deceive Heaven and Earth. I take life as my Dao, to invert this world, to correct my own distorted reflection… In truth, we both cultivate the heart…” Wang Lin closed his eyes.

“The world within my eyes is the reflection of Heaven and Earth… If I close my eyes, Heaven and Earth cease to be… If Heaven and Earth close their eyes, then I remain! If I can achieve that when I open my eyes, the Heavens close theirs; that my immortality is the slumber of Heaven and Earth… then I shall become an Immortal!” Wang Lin took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

“I have traversed life and death, walked through cause and effect, sought the self lost in the sea of suffering amidst truth and falsehood, within reincarnation… If the Origin of Illusion possesses a fourth aspect, it is Reincarnation…”
The Wheel of Rebirth, this was no mere cycle of life and death I had once pondered, but a grand, cosmic Wheel encompassing Heaven and Earth! It was not the Yellow Springs claiming souls, but the very fabric of the Great Dao, the essence of the universe itself, driving “The Rebirth of All Beings!” Wang Lin inhaled deeply, and with newfound purpose in his stride, he ventured forth beneath the weeping sky.

“Bound by the Way of a Sealed Heaven, each life must endure countless tribulations. Forsake the obsession of the Deep Prison, and dedicate oneself to the Path of Cultivation!” echoed in his mind.

“Countless eons past, the masses, entangled in the illusions of this world, yearn to be free from the prison of Heaven’s thoughts, to seize the path of the next life and dedicate oneself to the Path of Cultivation!”

“Locked is the fortune of the Dying Heaven, marked by the Underworld Court. Those who cannot attain the True Dao will forever drown in the Sea of Bitterness, forever lost to Truth! Dedicate oneself to the Path of Cultivation!” As Wang Lin journeyed, the peculiar verses of the ancient Dao scripture he had heard within the Realm of the Caves resonated within his ears, stirring in his very soul.

He understood.

Though the scripture was complex and its meaning once obscure, here, amidst the Immortal Astral Continent, upon the small mountain of the Eastern Serenity Sect, beneath the veil of rain, he grasped its significance.

“Those who cannot attain the True Dao will forever drown in the Sea of Bitterness, forever lost to Truth…”

“The masses must endure countless tribulations, forsake the obsession of the Deep Prison…”

“I comprehended Life and Death, and found them a tether, a rope with Life at one end and Death at the other, connected to form a circle.”

“I comprehended Cause and Effect, a web woven from the countless lives of past and present, creating a vast net from which the masses struggle to escape.”

“I comprehended Truth and Illusion, like a dream-barrier. Within each heart lies a dream, and when you believe you have awakened, you are unaware that your world is but a dream’s fragment. All that surrounds you is but a passage within that dream… The masses are trapped within their own dreams, unable to truly awaken, like a circle upon circle constricting their very being. When you think you have broken free, you are merely within yet another layer of the circle.”

The three questions posed by Li Qianmei, he now possessed the answers…

“I weave together Life and Death, forming a grand net of Cause and Effect. Through Truth and Illusion, I open my eyes within this dream-barrier. I cast the net within the Wheel of Rebirth crafted from the dream-barriers of the masses, and snare a single fish… that fish is I!” Wang Lin’s eyes blazed with clarity as he strode onward.

He understood that this matter was also intertwined with Liu Jinbiao. Had he not tested the charlatan’s lies, Wang Lin would still be lost in the fog, unable to truly see and comprehend his own three Sources of Illusion.

Liu Jinbiao followed behind, seemingly enlightened. His gaze was fixed upon Wang Lin’s back, a subtle shift, a difference he could not quite define.

It was as if before, Wang Lin had been cloaked in a mist, unseen and intangible, like a phantom in a dream.

But now, it was as if Wang Lin had truly awakened, everything was clear and distinct.

“This Eastern Serenity Sect, before, seemed profoundly mysterious. Its disciples rarely venture forth, remaining within the sect for cultivation… I thought it merely sect rules and customs…”

“But upon entering this place, I felt a strange familiarity, an awakening of my understanding of the Dao. This is tied to my own heart, but even more so, it is tied to this place!”

Standing upon the small mountain plaza, Wang Lin shimmered, appearing atop the distant palace. He stood there, the mountain winds whipping through his white hair and robes. He looked down upon the lands below, encompassing the greater part of the Eastern Serenity Sect.

Before him lay the vastness of the sect. He saw many disciples hurrying through the rain, and even more cultivators meditating within their abodes.

He witnessed the beauty of the mountains amidst the storm, the burgeoning life of the verdant trees…

As he gazed, sorrow washed over Wang Lin’s face.

“Su Dao… I know not if the sect was like this when you walked here. But now, the Eastern Serenity Sect… it is a dead sect!”

“All this is but a dream-barrier… No wonder the Eastern Serenity Sect is so mysterious, no wonder its disciples are rarely seen outside…” Wang Lin sighed, closing his eyes and then slowly opening them.

He saw the truth, a sight hidden to all others, of the Eastern Serenity Sect!