Ling Hun had been quite irritable lately. He had a younger sister named Ling Xuehong, who married Bai Guyi, one of the elders from Song Mountain.

That old boy, Ling Hun had never really liked him from the start!

In the old days, Ling Hun and his wife took their sister to Mangcang Mountain for spiritual cultivation. Bai Guyi passed by and started a swordfight with Ling Xuehong after a few words. Bai Guyi's swordsmanship was clearly superior to Ling Xuehong's, but, intentionally not using his full strength, he fought her for three days and nights without a winner.

Ling Hun felt that something was off and was about to step in to handle that old boy himself when Master Changmei from the Emei Sect, happened to pass by and, meddling, forcibly matched them and even conducted their wedding.

Ling Hun was utterly displeased. Reluctantly, he had to let her have her way since his sister was willing; traditionally, a brother has no say over his grown sister's decisions.

After Ling Xuehong had married, Ling Hun became Bai Guyi's brother-in-law. Even though they met more often, they never saw eye to eye, frequently arguing and quarreling. The last time they almost came to blows, fortunately, his wife, White-haired Dragon Girl Cui Wugu, and Ling Xuehong desperately intervened to mediate, preventing a catastrophic fight. Since then, Ling Hun never saw Bai Guyi again.

He hadn't seen his sister in many years, yet he still worried about her, knowing her fiery temperament often led to conflicts with dubious characters. He foresaw a disaster that would put her life in danger.

Though his sister had said many hurtful things in the past because of Bai Guyi and had even declared that their families should henceforth be strangers in life and death, she was still the sister he had raised from childhood. Ling Hun decided to go and rescue her anyway. On his way, he met Zen Master You Tan from the Buddhist community, who mentioned that her master, Great Arhat Fen Tuo, had already predicted this karma and suggested that she should use her enemies at Kaiyuan Temple for a 'Soldier Disintegration', to experience one more tribulation before reaching enlightenment.

Ling Hun turned back, knowing that cultivators could transform and change bodies as easily as changing clothes; however, the original body was always best. Buddhism regards everything as void, even treating the body as a mere sack of flesh and eventually, mastering the void even in divine consciousness, eliminating the concept of "self."

This breaking of "self-attachment" isn't about abandoning attachment altogether but rather stems from the human belief that there exists a "self" within the universe. This "self" is the root of reincarnation, an incarnation of Yama, and the place where karma attaches. Only by breaking this attachment and gradually wearing down this belief through various cultivations can one ultimately realize the doctrine of non-self—the absence of a "self" in the world.

Once non-self is achieved, no new causes are created; having resolved past karma, one is liberated from the cycle of reincarnation and enters Nirvana.

From a Daoist perspective, this means even dispersing one's own Primordial Spirit, disappearing completely from all of humanity's consciousness.

Although Ling Xuehong was far from reaching the level of a Great Arhat, she needed to break her body attachment first, to realize that her body was not her own. This disintegration during the enemy's Demon Fire would enhance her spiritual progression.

Ling Hun highly disapproved of this...

But he was also helpless; his sister had always appeared gentle but was actually very independent. She refused to worship the Iron-shoulder Ancestor, her own master, instead choosing to follow Buddhism under Divine Nun Fen Tuo, and later even adamantly marrying Bai Guyi, joining him in condemning her own brother...

This sister was simply a lost cause!

Ling Hun steeled his heart and decided to completely let go. His wife, Cui Wugu, had already rushed to assist her sister, providing her the last rites—it was already the utmost sibling duty he could perform. In her next life, blood ties would be severed, and he would no longer have her as a sister!

He was already very irritated, and being toyed with by Shi Feiyang in Chengdu only added to his frustrations!

At this moment he had not yet obtained the upper volume of Guang Chengzi's Heavenly Book. Although his magical abilities had reached an extremely high realm, fundamentally, he was still practicing and walking the path of orthodox Daoist techniques. With impending calamity looming and his mind unsettled, he had lost his composure and was oblivious to his own condition.

Returning to his cave on Great Snow Mountain, he remembered the words of the young umbrella seller in the bustling market and became alert. He tried to divine his future fortunes, but the Gua Xiang were tangled like hemp and he could not unravel the outcome.

"This… seems indeed not good." Ling Hun pondered that in his lifetime he hadn't offended any formidable figures. Those who bore grudges against him were no match for him, and this was not a Heavenly Tribulation, so who could harm even a hair on his head? He tried to interpret the Gua Xiang and, harboring doubts, it seemed more and more like the umbrella-holding youth he had just encountered, "Could it be him? It really is him! What grievance or enmity do I have with you that you would come to harm me? Fine, I'll just wait for you to come; this time, you won't escape so easily! I must capture you and force you to submit!"

From the snow slope outside the cave, he laid three Prohibition Techniques in succession as ambushes and set up a Five Elements Banner Formation in his own cave, linking the formation to the earth's veins and activating it early. He figured that no matter how formidable the youth was this time, escape was impossible.

After all the arrangements, he meditated inside the cave, waiting a long while without any signs of disturbance.

Suddenly, he thought he heard his sister's crying.

He was startled awake, realizing it was an illusion. Calculating the time, his sister should now be in Kunming's Kaiyuan Temple, surrounded and attacked by demons, her body burning in Demon Fire… a pang of sorrow arose in his heart.

Ling Hun and his sister were born in the Northern Song Dynasty. Their parents died early, and he raised his sister from a little girl, like a snowball, into a graceful young woman.

In the beginning, he had made a lot of money, hired many martial arts masters, and bought many secret techniques, practicing martial arts with his sister before setting out to ride and lash out in the spirited martial world, righting wrongs.

Later, by chance, they met the Iron Shoulder Ancestor, and under his wing, because the Iron Shoulder Ancestor commented that Ling Xuehong was not from the Daoist path, Ling Xuehong was very unhappy, refusing to do as he said, earnestly kneeling and begging, asking for his master's grace and swearing that she would rather die than pledge herself to his sect…

But he ultimately pitied his sister and secretly taught her the spells, which naturally did not escape the master's eyes, though the master never mentioned it, turning a blind eye.

Recalling the interactions with his sister over hundreds of years, Ling Hun became increasingly uncontrollable, finally deciding to disregard everything and go to Kaiyuan Temple to find his sister, even if Master You Tan tried to stop him. He wanted to see his sister one last time, to bring closure to their sibling affection.

He thought to just steal a glance from afar, go and return quickly. Neither using the Flying Escape nor Sword Control was fast or stealthy enough, so he sent his Primordial Spirit out of his body, using the form of the Primordial Spirit to fly to Kaiyuan Temple in Kunming.

He believed that his Primordial Spirit had cultivated to a very high realm, able to manifest during the day, almost indistinguishable from living beings, also capable of casting various divine skills. Facing enemies in battle wouldn't be much different from having his physical body, this trip was definitely not dangerous. Furthermore, the speed of his Flying Escape was lightning-fast, and he would return momentarily, surely facing no mishaps. Even if the daytime umbrella seller came, breaking through his triple Prohibition Techniques and Five Elements Banner Formation might take some time, and by then, he would certainly have returned, just in time to trap and confront him.

No sooner had he left than an unexpected guest arrived at the entrance of the cave, bearing a face of somber anger—it was Bai Guyi, who had just lost his partner, Chasing Clouds!

At this very moment, Ling Xuehong was in Kaiyuan Temple performing Soldier Disintegration. At that time, demons from various sects attacked—the Wutai Sect, Huashan Sect, Western Demon Cult, and Eastern Demon Cult… Kaiyuan Temple was Zen Master Yuanjue's Daoist site from the Emei Sect, guarded by a few Emei Sect Sword Immortals including him and White-haired Dragon Girl Cui Wugu. Yet they still could not withstand the numerous evil demons surrounding them, and he watched helplessly as his long-accompanying wife was burned to ashes in the Sea of Demon Fire!

Subsequently, Master You Tan appeared, casting spells to repel the Western Demon Cult's Sect Hierarch Poison Dragon Venerable and drive away the Eastern Demon Cult's Five Ghosts Heavenly King Shang Heyang. Everyone together dispersed the crowd of demons, and Master You Tan stated that arrangements for Ling Xuehong after his death were already made by Master Fen Tuo, then collected Ling Xuehong's Primordial Spirit to send for reincarnation.

Bai Guyi understood the rationale, but was still filled with indignation. A surge of anger rose from his dantian to his heart, ruminating that the Buddhist sect had their reasons, and the Daoist sect had theirs. If the nuns didn't care about life or death, so be it, but as Ling Hun being her own brother, even if there had been past grievances, having not seen each other for a hundred years, they were still blood siblings. How could he disregard the bond and let his own sister die? He felt that with Ling Hun's Daoist power, had he been at Kaiyuan Temple, Ling Xuehong would not have needed to perform Soldier Disintegration!

In the view of the Daoist Sect, whether to reincarnate holds no special meaning. What can be done in the next life can be done in this life; the matters of this lifetime, why wait for the next? Ling Xuehong, unlike Zhu Mei, did not have a partner from several lifetimes before with a deeply entangled causality to transcend. Although husband and wife, they always respected each other, entered the Dao as virgins, and there was absolutely no need for Soldier Disintegration and reincarnation.

Feeling dissatisfied, he came to take revenge on Ling Hun.

The various prohibitions Ling Hun had laid, including the Five Elements Banner Formation, while they could defend against others, they could not defend against him. First, his Daoist skills were profound, already strong to a certain level, and secondly, they were related, both parties being extremely familiar with each other's swordsmanship, spell casting, and styles of Daoist sects. So, he easily bypassed the external prohibitions and broke into the cave.

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