Urban Divine Doctor Descends the Mountain

Chapter 1542: Chapter 1541: Seal Demon

Lin Dong ascended from the fourth floor toward the fifth.

The Fifth Floor of the Pagoda!

Since the construction of this treasure pagoda by the venerable Yangxin, only two individuals had ever reached the fifth floor up to this day.

One was Lin Dong himself, and the other was the former head of the Martial Arbiters.

Having climbed up, Lin Dong discovered that the fifth floor of the pagoda was even smaller than the fourth.

In the center, an ever-burning lamp shone steadily.

The light from the lamp cast a glow on the murals painted on the walls, all of which depicted sword techniques!

With his back to Lin Dong, sat a long-haired man.

This man must have lived for hundreds of years, but his appearance resembled that of a man just over forty years old.

His demeanor was extraordinary, and even after guarding the fifth floor of the pagoda for hundreds of years, there was no sign of filth or disorder; he seemed refined, graceful, and spotless.

”It has been over two hundred years since someone has reached the fifth floor. I did not expect the next person to come would actually be a young man in his early twenties.”

The man held a book in his hand, which he was reading; at that moment, he slowly turned and looked at Lin Dong.

Lin Dong bowed with his hands clasped and said, ”Senior, hello. May I ask, how does one pass this level?”

The man did not immediately answer Lin Dong, instead he said, ”It has been over two hundred years since I last had a chat with someone.”

”Shall we have a chat first?”

Lin Dong nodded and responded, ”It would be my pleasure.”

Lin Dong found that he simply could not see through the man, and this inability to perceive him was entirely different from when he faced the elder monk on the third floor.

The reason Lin Dong could not perceive the elder monk on the third floor was because he used ’Dragon Breath’ to conceal his aura.

However, this was not the case with the man before him.

The reason Lin Dong could not perceive him was because his strength was even greater than Lin Dong’s.

”Please, take a seat,” the refined man gestured with an inviting hand toward Lin Dong.

In front of him was a cushion.

Lin Dong naturally took a seat.

He then picked up a bottle of wine from the side.

”This is Daughter’s Red aged for three hundred years. I usually cannot bear to drink it, but today, since we have a guest, let us have a small drink,” he said, pouring a cup of the wine for Lin Dong.

Lin Dong took it and, after clinking cups with the man, took a sip.

”Excellent wine!” Lin Dong couldn’t help but exclaim; the three-hundred-year Daughter’s Red was truly exceptional.

The man gave a slight smile and then introduced himself, ”My name is Seal Demon! I am the senior disciple of the honorable Yangxin, who constructed this National Art Pagoda in his lifetime with the aim of eternally preserving our national art.”

”And I, I have voluntarily become the guardian of the fifth floor, safeguarding this place.”

A sense of profound respect arose within Lin Dong’s heart!

”Seal Demon Senior is truly noble!” Lin Dong couldn’t help but say.

Seal Demon laughed slightly and said, ”If you speak of nobility, my mentor Yangxin himself was the true embodiment of such virtue!”

”He had neither sons nor daughters and devoted his entire life to the Martial Way, all for the sake of inheriting and glorifying our national art!”

”In his lifetime, he founded the greatest national art museum, accepted a multitude of disciples to ensure the art’s continuous passage. He also recorded all of his knowledge of national art, improving upon it.”

”Even in death, he still thought of this matter. Using immense energy before his demise, he constructed this Martial Arts Tower, enshrining all the national art he had mastered upon these walls.”

”After the physical body falls, the spirit and soul are even divided into several soul remnants, left in this National Art Pagoda...”

”As for righteousness, my master, a person like him, is truly righteous. As for me, I am nothing considerable.”

Lin Dong had a profound respect for that Elder Monk of the Heart-Nurturing Way.

And the Seal Demon continued to say, ”The reason I stay in the fifth floor of the Martial Arts Tower, willing to not go out for hundreds of years, guarding the Pagoda, is not only because I truly have a heart that yearns to promote the national art, but more so because of another matter.”

”That matter, is also my Heart Devil!”

Curious, Lin Dong subconsciously asked, ”Senior, what is your Heart Devil?”

The Seal Demon said indifferently, ”I once had a lover whom I loved very much, but I suffered her betrayal.”

”Since then, I have lost all hope in this world. I always feel that the world is too dark. Between people, there is no trust whatsoever.”

”There was even a time when I harbored the thought of destroying the entire world. But the ethics and morals I learned from a young age kept telling me I could not do that.”

”I was troubled by the Heart Devil, every moment existing in a state of nothingness. I began to doubt, what was I cultivating martial arts for? What was I living for?”

”I felt that whatever I did, it was meaningless. Even the Martial Arts Realm that I desperately wanted to pursue seemed pointless in my eyes. Even eating and sleeping, I felt, were meaningless...”

At this point, his face became twisted.

It seemed that even after hundreds of years, his Heart Devil still lingered.

Could the Seal Demon truly seal away his Heart Devil?

Could a hundred years of guarding the Pagoda truly suppress the obsession in his heart?

”Senior, you are delusional,” Lin Dong’s voice suddenly rang out.

”Yes, I am delusional. So, please tell me, what can I do to find meaning? What am I living for?”

The Seal Demon shouted out loud, the scholarly aura he had before disappeared, replaced by a surging, violent negative emotion.

The fifth floor of the Pagoda, with swords embedded all around the walls.

There were wooden swords, copper swords, iron swords, silver swords...

Long swords, short swords, heavy swords, flexible swords, rigid swords...

There were nearly ninety swords. Each sword, at that moment, was infused with a violent, bloodthirsty aura.

As if they were ready to unsheathe at any time!

Lin Dong spoke in a deep voice, ”Senior, I once knew a Taoist. He clearly had the ability of a martial artist to move mountains and fill seas, but he stayed in the mountains every day, planting flowers, cultivating vegetables, raising chickens and ducks... I once asked him, does such a life have meaning?”

”I also knew an ascetic who had come from far far in the North and lived on alms, crawling step by step, heading to the Western Regions on a pilgrimage. I once asked him, does such a life have meaning?”

”I also knew an ordinary doctor. She went to work at seven in the morning, worked late into the night before returning home, performing the same tasks every day, treating patients, prescribing medicine. Day in, day out, I also asked her, does such a life have meaning?”

”I knew a wanderer as well. He rode a bicycle, roaming the world, sleeping in the wild every day, exposed to the sun and rain. I once asked him, does such a life have meaning?”

As Lin Dong spoke, the violent, bloodthirsty aura around the Seal Demon weakened significantly, and he asked curiously, ”How did these people respond to you?”

Lin Dong laughingly said, ”Their responses were all different.”

”The Taoist smiled without a word, continuing his life of planting and raising poultry, living free as a cloud or a wild crane.”

”The pilgrim did not heed me; he continued his trek and his pilgrimage!”

”The doctor laughed in response to me, saying she did not know if seeing patients and treating illnesses every day had meaning for her. However, for those patients, it was very meaningful.”

”As for that wanderer, he replied to me. He said he never wondered whether the life he was living had meaning; he just wanted to do so, so he did!”

At that moment, the Seal Demon was stunned in place.

He muttered to himself, ”Why agonize over whether living has meaning... If I want to live that way, then, I’ll just live that way...”