Taoist Myth: I am the last true immortal in the world

Chapter 661 A wake-up call
In the Yunxia Cave.

Chen Yun looked at He Xiangu, waiting for her to explain the situation.

He Xiangu watched Luhua walk out of the cave, then waved her hand to close the cave door.

Immediately, she looked at Chen Yun and said, "Do you know why I sent Luhua away?"

Chen Yun speculated: "Could it be that she is the reincarnation of Yang Zi?"

"No." He Xiangu denied it directly.

Chen Yun was puzzled and asked, "Since she is not Yang Zi's reincarnation, why are you sending her away?"

"Although she is not Yang Zi's reincarnation, she has a close relationship with him."

He Xiangu slowly recounted the story, "Medicine King Li Zhenren was from the State of Ba during the Warring States Period. Later, the State of Ba was destroyed by the State of Qin. Seeing the suffering of the people, Zhenren wanted to save the world from the disaster, but unfortunately his heart was willing but his strength was insufficient. Compared with the number of people slaughtered and killed in the chaotic times, the number of people he saved was a drop in the bucket. Zhenren Li felt very helpless. He saw with his own eyes that his country was destroyed but the mountains and rivers were still there, and he was completely desperate. At that time, the Huang-Lao school was popular. In order to escape from worldly affairs, he ran away from home. When he left, he took a few bamboo slips with him. It is said that they were written by Laozi, the incarnation of Laojun, before he became an immortal. He saw through the world and practiced in a quiet cave for more than ten years. Finally, he had some magical powers. It was at that time that he accepted Yangzi as his disciple."

Chen Yun roughly understood what He Xiangu meant. What He Xiangu meant was that Yang Zi became Li Tieguai's disciple when he was completely hopeless and had nothing. The two of them might be like father and son, or they might be both teacher and friend, so Li Tieguai valued Yang Zi very much.

He Xiangu continued, "Later, Master Li was personally accepted as a disciple by the Supreme Lord Lao, and you know everything that happened after that."

Chen Yun wondered, "What does this have to do with Yang Zi's reincarnation?"

"Yes." He Xiangu said seriously, "Yangzi is a filial son. Even though he committed suicide out of shame for damaging Li Zhenren's body, his obsession was so strong that he reincarnated and returned to the territory of Ba. And, as far as I know, he has already found his wisdom from his previous life. But before he found his wisdom, he got married and had children. Luhua is Yangzi's eldest daughter. Li Zhenren asked me to accept Luhua as his last disciple."

Chen Yun was stunned. "Since Master Li knew where Yang Zi was, why didn't he go to him in person?"

"Alas." He Xiangu sighed deeply, "Master Li knows Yang Zi's temper too well. If you come to visit him, I'm afraid Yang Zi will still feel apologetic as he did in his previous life. So, if you want to find Yang Zi, it's easy to find him, but it's hard to get rid of his worries."

Hearing this, Chen Yun couldn't help but frown.

According to what He Xiangu introduced, Yang Zi was in a dead end.

If I can't resolve this issue, it won't be any use no matter who comes to me.

He felt troubled. Judging from the current situation, it seemed that it would be useless for him to go find Yang Zi.

Despite this, Chen Yun still decided to meet Yang Zi and see if he could convince him with his eloquent speech.

Thinking of this, he said directly: "Master He, let me go and meet Mr. Yangzi."

He Xiangu said, "Good, I will call Luhua in first."

As she spoke, she mobilized her spiritual thoughts to transmit a message to the outside.

After a while, the door was pushed open from the outside, and Luhua jumped in and said, "Master, have you finished talking with your uncle-master?"

"I told you to be careful about your manners in front of your elders, but you don't remember it at all." He Xiangu rolled her eyes at her apprentice, then turned her head to look at Chen Yun and explained, "Luhua started practicing Taoism with me when she was six or seven years old. She has never experienced the secular world. I hope you won't blame me."

Chen Yun smiled and said, "It's rare that Luhua can maintain such innocence. Being ignorant of worldly affairs is sometimes a good thing."

Luhua smiled like a little kid and said, "My uncle doesn't mind, so please don't criticize me, Master."

"I can't do anything about you." He Xiangu shook her head and asked, "I haven't taken you back to visit relatives this year. Do you miss home?"

Luhua nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, I miss my father, my mother, and my brother, too."

He Xiangu said, "How about your uncle and I take you back to see your family?"

Luhua was very happy, "Okay, okay, I'll ask Daddy and Mommy to buy some good wine and food to entertain Master Uncle."

Chen Yun quite liked Luhua's lively personality, as she was unlike his own disciples who were dull.

After the discussion, he used his magic power to cover Luhua and He Xiangu, and performed teleportation to Jiangzhou.

……

On the outskirts of the city, in a small courtyard.

Chen Yun, Luhua and He Xiangu had just met Yang Zi, his wife and son.

At this moment, Luhua, Yangzi's wife and son went to prepare wine and food.

There were only Chen Yun, He Xiangu and Yang Zi in the guest hall.

Chen Yun looked at Yang Zi who was sitting in the main seat.

The other party was a middle-aged man in his thirties.

Perhaps because he doesn't pay much attention to dressing up, Yang Zi looks disheveled and decadent.

If you just judge from his appearance, you will definitely think he is a laborer.

In fact, Chen Yun discovered that the other party had a high level of cultivation and had already achieved the status of a terrestrial immortal.

What surprised him was that Yang Zi's wife and son had no cultivation at all.

Chen Yun took the opportunity to find a topic and said, "Mr. Yang, I have something I don't understand. May I ask you?"

Yang Zi smiled and said, "Master Chen protects Sichuan and Shu, and is a sacred being revered by millions of people. Naturally, there is nothing that cannot be asked."

Chen Yun said: "I see that you have reached the level of Earthly Immortal, why do Madam and Young Master have no cultivation at all?"

When talking about this, Yang Zi's face, which was originally full of smiles, became a little melancholy. "I accidentally ate the magic grass and recovered my memory of my previous life. The magic grass is a treasure among treasures. It allowed me to directly become a terrestrial immortal. Unfortunately, my wife and son do not have this blessing, so we are still mortals."

Oh.

So this is ah.

Chen Yun could tell from Yang Zi's changing expression that the other party actually didn't want to become an immortal at all.

In other words, Yang Zi didn't want to recover his memories of his past life and become an earthly immortal at all.

He could roughly guess why Yang Zi was like this.

As expected, it is still related to Tieguai Li.

Since Yang Zi has recovered the memories of his past life, there must be a method of cultivation to become an immortal in his memory. However, he felt guilty for damaging Li Tieguai's body, so even though he accidentally ate the magic grass and became an immortal, he never took the initiative to practice using the method passed down by Li Tieguai.

He didn't even take the initiative to practice the cultivation method passed down by Li Tieguai, so naturally he wouldn't teach it to his wife and children.

What will happen if this continues?
Yang Zi has a lifespan of 10,800 years.

And his wife and children may die in just a few decades.

At that time, Yang Zi will have to experience the painful separation of life and death again.

Therefore, deep down in his heart, he really did not want to become an immortal.

After all, he had the ability to grant immortality to his wife and children as well.

But because of Li Tieguai's reasons, his wife and children could not gain immortality.

Chen Yun could roughly understand this kind of pain and suffering.

He thought for a moment and continued the topic, "Just now, you said that you have recovered your memories of your past life. I believe that the immortality method taught to you by Medicine King Li Zhenren must be in your memories. Why don't you pass it on to your wife and children?"

Chen Yun knew the reason and asked deliberately to continue the topic. He Xiangu was drinking tea and didn't say a word.

Yang Zi sighed again and said with a bitter smile: "Master Chen, you are not unaware of the things that happened between me and my mentor. I burned his body by mistake, causing him to go from being handsome to being ugly. How can I still have the face to practice the immortality method he once taught me, let alone pass it on to my wife and children."

Chen Yun asked in return: "Did Master Li ever blame you, sir?"

"It is because he never blamed me that I blame myself even more."

Yang Zi said with tears in his eyes: "My dear teacher treated me like his own children, but I... I... Alas!"

Chen Yun said, "I have heard a profound philosophical saying. I wonder if you are interested in listening to it?"

Yang Zi said: "Master Chen, please speak."

He Xiangu was also a little curious and glanced at Chen Yun's face.

Chen Yun said: "Filial piety is the first of all virtues. If we judge by the heart, not by the deeds, there will be no filial sons in poor families. If we judge by the deeds, not by the heart, there will be no perfect people in the world."

This sentence comes from "Weilu Yehua" by Wang Yongbin in the Qing Dynasty, which is not available in the current era.

When Yang Zi heard this, he immediately fell into deep thought.

He Xiangu standing by also seemed to be thinking about something.

Chen Yun continued slowly, "I want to ask you, sir, why did you burn Master Li's body?"

Yang Zi was still pondering what he had just said, and he said casually, "Back then, my master was invited by my great master to travel as a spirit. Before he left, he told me to burn his body if he didn't return within seven days to prevent it from being refined by mountain spirits and monsters. On the night of the sixth day, I suddenly received a message from home saying that my mother had passed away. I saw that it was already the sixth day, and my master would definitely not come back, so I prepared the offerings, kowtowed, cremated my master's body, and hurried down the mountain to attend the funeral."

Chen Yun asked again, "What time was it when you burned Master Li's body?"

Yang Zi said: "After midnight."

Chen Yun smiled and said, "Isn't this the seventh day? How can there be a sixth day?"

Yang Zi smiled bitterly and said, "Master Chen, don't waste your time trying to persuade me. My master said that he would not return within seven days. The seventh day has not even passed yet, and I have burned his body. How can I pretend that nothing happened?"

He Xiangu gave Chen Yun a sly smile, as if to say that this method was useless.

Chen Yun originally wanted to "sophistry" to let the other party put down his worries, but when he saw that Yang Zi was not fooled, he had to change the subject and said, "I would like to ask you, sir, how do you view loyalty and filial piety?"

Yang Zi was about to answer.

Chen Yun did not give the other party a chance to speak. "Like I said just now, filial piety comes first among all virtues. The original intention is not the original action. There is no filial son in a poor family. The key to the issue of loyalty and filial piety lies in what you think in your heart. If you want to be both loyal and filial, then other people's opinions are not important. As long as you do your best to do things according to your definition of loyalty and filial piety, then you are loyal and filial. When you burned Master Li's body, did you have any unfaithful thoughts in your heart? You went back to attend the funeral, and you did not show any unfilial behavior to your aunt. If that's the case, why do you blame yourself?"

"That's true." Yang Zi still couldn't untie the knot in his heart, "But can't a filial son from a poor family be true and kind?"

He Xiangu looked at Chen Yun again, as if wanting to see how to respond.

This time, Chen Yun did not choose to answer, but stretched out his hand.

In an instant, a water mirror appeared in front of the three people.

I saw a man in his forties on the water mirror.

He was feeding a bedridden old woman very thin porridge.

This thin porridge is half water and half rice. It can be said to be extremely bland.

Chen Yun asked, "This man is called Zhang Han. His mother's illness was not serious, just a cold, but she did not receive medical treatment, which made her condition worse. In addition, Zhang's mother was old, so her body could not hold on. Under such circumstances, Zhang Han only fed his mother very thin porridge. Sir, is Zhang Han filial or unfilial?"

Yang Zi was extremely surprised. "It's just a cold. It can be treated with a little money. Not only did he not give him treatment, but he also only gave him such thin porridge. This is definitely unfilial."

Chen Yun didn't say anything, but his fingers danced slightly.

In an instant, the image on the water mirror technique began to flow backwards.

Soon, Yang Zi and He Xiangu saw the situation in previous years.

At that time, Zhang Han had quite a lot of assets.

His mother fell seriously ill.

In order to save his mother, he sold almost all of his assets and searched for famous doctors in Sichuan and Shu without his mother's knowledge. In the end, he managed to save the old lady's life.

Later, Zhang Han's wife could not bear the poverty, so she divorced the other party, took her son back to her parents' home and married another man.

Despite this, Zhang Han still worked hard every day, and then divided the money he earned into two parts, one part was given to his wife to raise their son, and the other was used to support his mother.

During this period, Zhang Han's mother suffered from various minor illnesses, probably due to her old age.

Not only did Zhang Han spend all the money he earned, he also owed a lot of debts.

Then the scene gradually came to the recent days, when Zhang Han's mother fell ill again. He had no choice but to sell part of the grain and get some money for his mother's medical treatment.

In order to allow his mother to have something to eat, he had been living on only drinking water for two or three days.

The bowl of porridge that Yang Zi and He Xiangu saw just now was made from the last bit of rice in Zhang Han's house.

He didn't drink any of it, he fed it all to his mother.

At this point in the scene, Chen Yun waved his hand and the Water Mirror Technique disappeared immediately.

He asked again: "Sir, do you think Zhang Han is filial or unfilial now?"

Yang Zi was silent for a while, then he sighed, "He is a man of integrity and a filial son."

He Xiangu nodded beside him, agreeing with the title of "the great filial son".

Chen Yun asked again, "Do you think he is worthy of his wife and children?"

Yang Zi smiled bitterly and said, "He tightened his belt and barely ate or drank anything, but he still wanted to give money to his wife and children. Naturally, he didn't let his wife and children down."

Chen Yunsan asked, "If others didn't know about these deeds, do you think anyone would think he was a filial son?"

Yang Zi was stunned, and couldn't help but recall his initial "evaluation" of Zhang Han.

He shook his head, "No, I will only regard him as an unfilial person and an unfaithful wife and children."

Chen Yun hummed and said, "So I said that some things are not original. If they were original, I'm afraid there wouldn't be a single filial son in the poor family. So, I'm asking you, sir, if you were Master Li and those things happened, would you blame 'Yang Zi' or understand him?"

Yang Zi looked sad and said, "I understand, but..."

Chen Yun suddenly slammed the table, making a loud "bang" sound. "You think you are condemned by your conscience, and you committed suicide by doing something disloyal and unfilial, but you let your master blame himself and suffer. You are really a disloyal and unfilial person!"

Yang Zi was dumbfounded, "I...I..."

"What do you mean by 'you'?" Chen Yun stood up and scolded, "Even children know that they should make amends for their mistakes. Not only did you not make amends, you also avoided it and even made your master think that you committed suicide because of him. What else do you want to say? If you really have a sense of loyalty and filial piety, go and serve your master immediately and make amends for your mistakes! If you think you are not wrong, then it's even easier. Since you are not wrong, why do you avoid your master and make your master feel guilty?"

Yang Zi suddenly came to his senses after being scolded. "I was wrong. I was really wrong. All these years, I only knew how guilty I felt, but never considered what my mentor felt. I was really unfaithful and unfilial!"

At this point, he could no longer sit still and stood up, "No, I want to go see my master, I want to serve him and make up for the wrong things I did."

(End of this chapter)