in the edge

Chapter 517 Birth, Old Age, Sickness and Death

Because of Old Man Yang's funeral, Du Chengfeng stayed in Wangyou Township for a few more days.

Strictly speaking, this was not Du Chengfeng's first experience of death. After all, he had killed many people under his command - of course, these were all enemies, so strictly speaking it cannot be counted. However, even if they were close friends, Carpenter Li had been killed once.

But that time, relying on the wishes of everyone and his obsession with not acknowledging reality, he finally managed to resurrect Carpenter Li.

But this time...

In the end, he did not use a similar method to resurrect Old Man Yang.

It's not that he hadn't thought about doing it again, but after thinking it over, he always felt that it was not necessary. Carpenter Li's death was purely accidental, but Old Man Yang's death could be considered a natural death - so Du Chengfeng didn't do it again, but arranged for Old Man Yang to rest in peace in a normal way.

If we must pull this old man back from death, things may become even more troublesome. After all, Carpenter Li's current state of existence is already outrageous.

Is Carpenter Li dead or alive? Du Chengfeng is not sure. Maybe Carpenter Li is indeed dead, and now Carpenter Li is just an empty wooden shell that carries his thoughts. But Carpenter Li may still be alive. After all, the love he felt is not fake.

So what is death, and what is life?

If it were the Du Chengfeng of the past, he would take it for granted that dead is dead, and alive is not dead. After all, in a materialistic worldview, death and life are easy to distinguish.

However, as Du Chengfeng understood this world more and more, and increasingly realized the idealistic nature of this world, the boundary between death and life became increasingly blurred.

"What is life and what is death?"

Even after handling Old Man Yang's funeral and returning to the fishing old man's cave, Du Chengfeng was still puzzled when he looked at the pool in front of him.

If the death of old man Yang is death, then will Carpenter Li, who has turned into a wooden man, also have a day of death? If there is such a thing as death in this idealistic world where ghosts are seen, then why did the Southern Chen Taizu live so long?

And how do those many monsters and the so-called "star gods" in the sky break through the shackles of lifespan?

Or in other words, in this idealistic world where ghosts are seen, can something like life span really be considered a shackle?
"I still know too little about this world!"

By the pond, Du Chengfeng couldn't help but sigh.

He thought he had enough understanding of the world, but who would have thought that the more he knew, the more he felt that he knew too little.

He seems to be still the frog in the well.

This kind of meditation lasted for two full months. During this process, Du Chengfeng did not sleep, eat or drink, and even forgot the passage of time. His attention was all focused on life and death. His mind was filled with all the death cases he had seen. However, the more he wanted to explore the essence of these deaths, the more confused he became.

He was not the only one confused. Even the coyote who came to visit him had a bewildered look on his face.

"Didn't you say you didn't like this environment?"

Du Chengfeng, who was awakened, raised his head.

"Why are you here again? Is there something wrong?"

"It's a small matter, but your situation..."

The coyote circled around Du Chengfeng and his expression became serious.

"What's going on? How could you be so unstable? Didn't you go down to Quechenyuan a long time ago? How come you... didn't bring anyone up with you? What happened?"

"I...ah."

Du Chengfeng sighed, and then recounted his experience in brief.

"It's not a big deal that I didn't bring anyone here. Everyone has their own aspirations and lives to live... It's mainly because I saw someone I knew die, and I felt something in my heart, so, you know what I mean, right?"

"I think so."

The coyote nodded.

"So it's a life and death test. I thought it was something else. You can't even pass this test. This is simply... But it makes sense. After all, your path is not very normal."

"Life and death?"

Du Chengfeng keenly captured this special word.

"what is this?"

"This... is more troublesome if you just talk about it."

The coyote thought about it and simply extended an invitation.

"Why don't you come to my cave and I'll show you how to do it."

"Alright."

Du Chengfeng also felt that it was not a good idea to keep thinking about it like this, so he simply followed the coyote and flew back.

But this time, the coyote did not take him to stay in the jungle for too long, but took him all the way forward until they walked out of the jungle.

After pushing aside the grass and trees in front of him, what appeared before Du Chengfeng was a big city that looked quite unfamiliar.

"This……"

After searching his mind, Du Chengfeng couldn't remember anything that matched the number.

But the coyote next to him gave the answer.

"This is the capital of Dajing. It's also the city where I lived when I was young... Look, that's me."

"Which one?"

Du Chengfeng looked carefully and saw a figure with strong limbs and dark skin in the crowd.

However, unlike what Du Chengfeng expected, this figure was not wearing armor, but an old cloth garment.

"This was when I had just met the old man, but before I flew to the sky. At that time, I was actually still hesitating whether to go to the sky or not. After all, although the sky is good, there are still many familiar people on the ground. Even if I could fly up, I would still feel reluctant to leave... But at this time, something happened."

Having said this, the young strong man not far away walked towards the direction of the palace.

"The emperor is dead."

"Um……"

Du Chengfeng looked at the scene in the distance and nodded slightly.

But he still remembered what the coyote said, that although Emperor Dajing had tried to assassinate the coyote several times, he was also the coyote's most trusted friend.

It was obvious that no matter how hard the Emperor Dajing tried to kill him, the coyote still remembered his friendship.

"It's not that I'm being lenient, it's mainly because he can't kill me."

After hearing Du Chengfeng's sigh, Coyote felt quite embarrassed.

"If he could beat me, I would definitely go all out, but the gap is too big, I don't even want to get angry with him... Never mind, let's get on with it."

The coyote waved its claws, and the scene in front of them was quickly pulled to the palace.

The young general in plain clothes had already walked to the front of the luxurious coffin, and the soldiers guarding the palace would of course rush up to block him - but the young general just slapped his hand, and all the soldiers flew away.

This is an absolute gap in strength. The young general is the strongest in the Dajing Dynasty. He is an army by himself. No one can do anything to him right now.

He can do whatever he wants.

"So you called me here specifically just to show me this?"

Du Chengfeng's expression began to become subtle.

"If you really want to show your talent, you don't have to go through so much trouble. I think it's meaningless to just look at your glorious achievements when you were young. How about we have a competition?" "That's not what I mean."

The coyote was also a little embarrassed.

Obviously, the ability to sweep away thousands of enemies that he thought was handsome when he was young has long been considered a dark history for him now.

"Just keep reading. The following is the main point."

"Down there... huh?"

Du Chengfeng frowned as he continued reading.

It was because after defeating everyone, the young general had no intention of sitting on the throne, and did not even destroy the coffin in front of him. Instead, he carefully pushed the coffin open and lifted up the corpse inside.

"I'm here to save him."

The young general said this to everyone.

As soon as these words were spoken, all the civil and military officials present, and even many military generals, no longer dared to stop him.

Even Du Chengfeng was dumbfounded.

"save him?"

Du Chengfeng turned his head and looked at the coyote beside him.

"You can also resurrect the dead!"

"What is death? What is life?"

The coyote raised his head and asked directly back.

"What do you think death is? What is life?"

"Death means that the body's functions stop working."

Du Chengfeng chooses his words carefully.

"If you're alive, it means that all your body functions are still functioning normally."

"You... I've never heard of this before."

The coyote looked at Du Chengfeng in confusion, and then continued asking.

"To live is to live, to die is to die. Although it is simple, it is also direct enough... But do you know a phrase, 'It is worse to die than to live'?"

"I know, but..."

Du Chengfeng hesitated for a moment.

How could he not know this word? After all, he often beat his opponents to a state worse than death. However, it was obvious that what the coyote in front of him wanted to express was different from what he was thinking in his mind.

"If you want to live, look here."

As the coyote said this, it pawed again, and the scene before their eyes changed.

"Look at this person. He used to have some wealth, but he has developed a lazy and gluttonous personality. He has no ambition and does not want to make progress. He spends his days in a daze, doing nothing but drinking and playing cards... His life can almost be predicted at a glance. From now on, decades later, he will always be half-dead and lifeless, without any change."

Having said that, Coyote turned and looked at Du Chengfeng.

"Do you think he is alive or dead?"

"This……"

Du Chengfeng fell into silence.

He originally wanted to say alive, after all, this person was not dead physically, but based on this person's living conditions... he really couldn't say that this person was really still alive.

"Some people died in their twenties, but were only buried in their seventies or eighties. This is one situation."

The coyote concluded, then pawed once more.

And another figure appeared on the screen.

Judging from his clothes, this figure looks like a teacher, but he does not seem to be in good health - but even with such an injured body, after finishing his lessons with the children every day, this teacher would still go home to study by himself, working hard to prepare for the next lesson.

Naturally, the teacher could not endure such hard work for long, so he died early, before he reached the age of 30.

But the children he brought out did not forget him.

Under the influence of this teacher, the children developed the good habit of perseverance and never gave up easily when faced with difficulties, just like their deceased teacher. So when these children grew up, they naturally achieved some achievements, and then they returned to their hometown, set up tablets for their teacher, and burned incense to worship him.

Then, a magical scene occurred.

Under the influence of the incense and vows, and the sincere will of these students, their teacher actually came back to life once again, with the tablet serving as his body.

The teacher was quite pleased to see that the children had become independent people. However, he also knew that his limited knowledge could no longer be used to guide these successful students. So he usually did not disturb their lives. Only when a student encountered problems or was in a bad mood, would he quietly enter the student's dream and bring some comfort to the student.

"Some people died at a young age, but he is still alive."

Once again, the coyote summed it up.

"Besides, you should also be able to sense from your words that the standard of life and death you mentioned before is only useful for mortals, but for us... Look at our postures. According to your standards, are we really alive?"

"Of course it counts!"

Du Chengfeng started to be stubborn.

"I'm still breathing! How can I not be considered alive?"

"But your body... Never mind. If you say it is, then it is, okay?"

Realizing that Du Chengfeng already understood what he meant but was just being stubborn and unwilling to admit it, Coyote didn't dwell on the matter too much.

"Anyway, you've already read two different cases, and you have a general understanding of what happened. Then we can come back and look at it."

As the coyote said this, its claws moved again.

The scene in front of him then shifted to the imperial palace.

In front of the gorgeous coffin, the young general lifted up the corpse, obviously wanting to bring his former best friend back to life - it was obvious that the young general with extraordinary powers was no longer an ordinary man, he had the ability and could make his former best friend open his eyes again.

"And...you really resurrected him?"

Du Chengfeng couldn't help but turn his head and look at the coyote beside him.

"How long did he live? I'm a little curious about this. You know, I have a friend..."

"No, there isn't."

Before Du Chengfeng could finish his words, the coyote smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Actually, I didn't."

And in the scene in front of them, the corpse that was almost opening its eyes closed again.

"This is what I want to tell you, the true difference between life and death."

(End of this chapter)