Lotus has always been represented by life, rebirth, and creation. It is said that when the universe was first formed the lower extremity was the endless ocean whose depth couldn’t be measured, also known as the yin world. And the upper extremity was the yang world, a world of endless light. When yin and yang combined it gave birth to the first life which was the primordial lotus also known as the lotus of creation as all the endless life of the universe was derived from the lotus. Thus for eras, Lotus has been synonym with the supreme creator, one of the holy trinity; the father.
“So you have arrived”, the priest said and turned around but he paused a little when he saw his precious granddaughter holding hands with someone other than him. Maybe his maternal instinct kicked in, making his eyes a little puffy and red, and he yelled “let go of my daughter, you beast”.
Li Yan thought ‘like father like daughter’ does he have to react like that just because I am holding her hands. Then again it wasn’t him holding her hand but she was the one holding his hand, but Li Yan knew better than to explain himself in front of a jealous parent. Thankfully Li Yan was experienced in dealing with jealous grandparents as almost all his friends were old and paranoid.
So he praised his granddaughter as no grandparent will let the chance go to flex their kin in front of others and sure enough it worked.
“So Li Yan” the priest began who was all happy that someone other than him praised his granddaughter “Granny Ming has asked me to give you some task in the temple but things aren’t as simple as it seems, for you to work in the temple you have to become a member of the temple and to become a member you have to satisfy certain conditions and obligation”.
“What are the requirements priest, could you explain it to me properly”, Li Yan said with an eager look on his face.
“Well, the most important condition is that you need to be a practitioner. To become a practitioner you must have a spiritual root, you can awaken your spiritual root by undergoing baptism in this temple of 10,000 gods, and if you are lucky you may even resonate with one of the spirits in the temple and obtain a mutated root enabling you to be a spirit cultivator. There are many types of spirits…” and so the priest began explaining about different gods and deities and their spiritual powers. For instance, if you were selected by a snake deity then your power will be more concentrated towards poison and lethality or maybe even beauty, or if you were to get chosen by water pantheons then the spirit will be mutated towards healing and so it went.
“Priest I have gained a certain understanding of the condition but what are the obligations required of me”, Li Yan said with a calm voice.
“The obligations are rather simple and straightforward, you have to devote your mind to the truth and your heart to the creator; the bringer of endless light”, said the priest with a serious and devout expression on his face.
The way Li Yan saw this it was utter nonsense. As a man from the modern era, how could he confine himself to a life of a fanatic devotee? He understood the significance of religion as every era has its own religion and religion has always been an effective tool to control the masses. If used properly it can bring order to the world, bringing peace and prosperity for generations. But that has never been the truth; corrupt men claim to hear the voice of gods, claiming their voice as god's voice, their actions as gods actions and in the end, they believe them to be god himself.
History has proven this to be true; innocent children and women have been burned and tortured, claiming them as devil advocates. Brothers once; now can’t even see eye to eye and reach out to each other throats all in the name of religion. Li Yan has never truly understood as to how heaven and hell could have so much power over earth. Men should have lived as brothers, women respected and children cared for but the so-called gods have condemned us bringing far more darkness than light itself.
“Priest I am grateful for this opportunity but I want to follow my own way. I want to create my own path and experience the world as it is without being influenced by any external entity. My heart has always belonged to me and I have my own belief. You may say I have no principle but I am me, always have, always will be.” Li Yan said with a determined voice his gaze locking with the priest such that it may convey his will and determination. Of course, Li Yan has left out many things such as his perception of gods as it is never a good idea to confront a fanatic about his god.
“Bahh, one look at you and I can say you have no reverence towards gods. All our effort to take you as a disciple has gone to waste; it’s like powering water to the sand, no matter how much water you put the sand can never to molded. Go get lost, just leave this old man alone” the priest said while being deeply aggravated.
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Li Yan could only smile wryly as he knew that his words has deeply offended the priest and all the hopes the elders had for him. But Li Yan couldn’t lie to himself and more so to the elders who had raised him. So he just turned around and started walking towards the exit.
“Wait Li-Li let me talk to my grandpa” saying so the little loli stepped forward.
“No use saying anything to me I’ve already made up my mind and the rules and customs of the ancestors can’t be changed arbitrarily. Go take him out of the temple and come back for your lesson”, said the angry old priest. It seemed even his granddaughter couldn’t change his views but a priest that could be easily convinced wouldn’t be a good priest.
“No grandfather I am not trying to convince you. I know the customs cannot be changed easily. That’s why I would like to initiate my sacred right as an apostle of light, so in accordance with the sacred article, I hereby declare Li Yan as a divine attendant that shall serve and protect me” Said the little girl with a pretty dramatic expression. Looking at her reminded Li Yan of those petty soap operas he had to attend for maintaining his social status. Oh! How tiring were those times, but seeing Mue’r acting gave a whole new flavor to this drama.
“Mue'r, invoking divine rights is not something you can do as a joke. It involves many complications and many of your followers will be affected by your decision. There are multitudes of powerhouses willing to be your attendant, are you sure you want to give this position to a powerless mortal like him. You’d do well to remember that becoming a divine attendant comes with its own responsibility. The boy as he is-is not capable of serving and protecting you” said the old priest deeply. There was an edge to his voice making the listener unconditionally submit to him.
Listening to his speech Li Yan was sure that he was a man that held great authority once. His current appearance was that of a feeble old man but that was just a disguise to hide his state, in ancient terms this transformation was known as returning to the roots, and only the truly powerful grandmaster could master such a state. Even Li Yan took a couple of decades of training to master such a state, and on earth, there was no more than a handful of people who reached such a state of spirit. No matter who is it, any powerhouses who reached this state deserved his respect.
"No, I have made up my mind. nothing you say can change my decision", Mue'r said with a dignified expression, looking at her the earlier mischievous girl was nowhere to be found.
"Sigh! why do you need to be so bull-headed? you are just like your mother was, are you really not going to listen to me" the priest said in a helpless tone.
Mu Lan: No, I will not change my mind.
“Mue’r you’ve got to listen to your grandfather. Though I don’t know what divine attendant is; what I know is that your grandfather will never say anything that will harm you” now it was Li Yan turn to coax the little girl to accept her grandfather's proposal. Li Yan has his own way in life, he was never someone who runs after opportunities or power, well maybe the only thing that could interest him will be knowledge.
“No Li-Li if you join me I can provide you with tons of resources, power and money”, Mue’r said. Her attempt to bribe him brought some joy to Li Yan, but ultimately he said no.
“No Li-Li you are mine. How about this, just follow me and you can choose to do whatever you want and I won’t ever order you. I can even help you woo my big sister, she is one of the most beautiful girls in the human kingdom, and she is strong too so it will definitely be a great catch for you. So what do you think?” so now the only thing missing was two pairs of horns in her head and a little tail to wag behind her butt. To think that she would be selling her older sister with such a straight face, even Li Yan felt appalled by her will to recruit him.
Seeing her approach even Li Yan was left exasperated so the only way he could dodge this bullet was by using a human shield, so he pointed to the nearest meat bag. Seeing Mue’r turn around to face her grandpa Li Yan finally let out a sigh of relief.
The pair of grandfather and granddaughter began to discuss loudly. Li Yan could only pinpoint certain words from their conversation which gave him a certain outlook of this new world he was living in. the conversation between the two started to get a little heated and in the end Mue’r left the temple crying loudly leaving the old man exasperated and baffled, seeing the look in old man eyes made Li Yan felt a little schadenfreude.
“So we are here”, said the old priest helplessly.
“So we are” replied Li Yan with a sigh.
Both of them started staring at each other creating an uncomfortable silence.
The priest broke the silence and started speaking. “Mu Lan isn’t like that usually. She is a good girl with a strong heart. When she was born she was born with the heart of light, gifting her with unparalleled potential and talent but with power comes loneliness, every talented prodigies and heroes are lonely; though everyone's reason may be different, their gist is the same, normal people won’t be able to follow them even if they want, they live in a completely different world”.
“Why are you saying this to me old man”, Li Yan remarked feeling a little irked. Li Yan wasn’t a child unlike his appearance so how could he not know how the world worked; there are always distinctions and classes among people, the light suppresses the dark, the upper caste suppresses the lower caste, and the powerful suppress the weak. There wasn’t anything new in the information provided by the priest and more than anything he wasn’t the type of guy who would cozy up to the strong and bully the weak.
Let me finish explaining said the priest as he continue “The heart of light is a sacred physique of light, anyone who possesses it can be considered an apostle of light. The body which awakens the scared physique produces several phenomena; one of them is the body of light blessing, any being that comes in come in contact with the bearer of the heart of light gets affected by it; The evil will have an overwhelming urge of obsession while the righteous will have reverence toward the light. Usually, it takes years of cultivation and dedication to acquire the divine heart, but she was born with it, possessing the divine heart became both a boon and a curse for her. So from childhood, she doesn’t have many who she can call her friend. Except for her parents and seniors she did not have much contact with people of her own age. So I hope that you will fulfill your responsibility as a divine attendant and accompany her for life.”