"My master blood-sacrificed my four senior brothers and me, and my grandmaster intends to blood-sacrifice the Five Central Plains Dynasties! Millions of commoners have died in vain for your selfish desires. People say the Heavenly Dao is just and clear, but as I see it, Heaven is blind!"
"Hahaha! Heaven and Earth are not benevolent; they treat the myriad things like straw dogs. The sages are not benevolent; they treat the common people like straw dogs. You have lived too short a life. When have the Heavenly Dao or emperors ever pitied the people? I have transcended the mortal world and seek only to ascend and prove the Dao. What do worldly ties and karma matter?"
"Our paths are different, so there's no need to say more. Today, I shall defy my master and destroy my ancestry."
"Hahaha! Since you have strayed onto a path from which there is no return, I have no choice but to purge the sect."
In the first year of Tianyou under Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (904), the Li Tang dynasty was nearing its end. The regional warlords held sway, and the realm had nearly become a living hell. Fortunately, the Longevity Temple on Mount Tiantai lay secluded from the world. Qingxuan and his four senior fellow disciples lived in peaceful seclusion with their master, the Daoist of Longevity, unaware that a conspiracy thirty years in the making was about to unfold. To cultivate the Five Elements Qi Refining Art, the Daoist of Longevity planned to use his five disciples as sacrificial offerings to refine his Dao foundation with their blood. As the ritual began, the youngest disciple's copy of the Records of Demons and Ghosts suddenly stirred, ultimately causing the ritual to fail. In the backlash, Qingxuan forged a Five Elements Dao foundation between life and death, but his body and soul were grievously wounded beyond recovery. As the Daoist of Longevity lay dying, he revealed that Qingxuan's parents were still alive. To find them, prolong his life, and bring peace to his senior brothers and sisters who had died horribly, Qingxuan decided to travel alone to Chang'an. But he had no idea that an even more shocking Five Elements Blood Sacrifice was about to begin, one that would use the Five Dynasties' fourteen emperors and millions of commoners as offerings.
The master sacrifices his disciples, the grandmaster sacrifices dynasties, and Heaven sacrifices all living things. With the road ahead shrouded in uncertainty, what fate awaits Qingxuan? And what fate awaits all living things?
This interesting chapter-style novel not only narrates the history of the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, but also tells the strange stories encountered on the road to immortality. But the storyline still needs polishing, and the pace is a bit slow. . . .