Tao and Heaven

Chapter 221: Dao and Heaven (End)

Outside the sky, the city of two worlds.

The magic sword came from the sky, and all those who practiced swordsmanship in the city fell down, and all those who held weapons trembled.

The sword intent was everywhere, and in just a moment it locked onto a loft somewhere in the city. Yu Hua was lying on a huge piece of black ice, and Qing Cang was sitting cross-legged three steps away, nourished by wisps of immortal Taoist charm.

The fox fairy sat on a chair and drank tea, casting a glance at him.

The magic sword turned into a stream of light and flew into the room, hanging quietly in the air.

Qingcang slowly opened his eyes and said leisurely: "Every five years, she'll have a scar. If she has more, it'll be broken bones. She's going to die."

Xianjian asked, "Why didn't you stop her?"

"Life is not about length. I respect her wishes."

Qingcang's answer was cold, but consistent with her style.

If she cared about the length, she wouldn't need to live a second life. If she treated herself like this, she should treat others like this as well.

"I'll convey it to Gu Wen."

The immortal sword did not ask any more questions. It turned into a sword light again, broke through the boundary and flew into the immortal land.

The Immortal Sword didn’t care whether Yu Hua was alive or dead. He just came to confirm one thing on behalf of Gu Wen.

The room returned to calm.

The fox fairy sitting on a chair in the corner took a few sips of tea slowly, moistened her throat, and said, "You are really cruel, aren't you afraid of overstimulating me?"

"With my disciple's determination, he will not be defeated by this, nor will he be able to fool around."

There was a sense of pride in Qingcang's words that the fox fairy could not understand. Perhaps it was because she had never had any expectations for her descendants.

As an immortal, she has transcended the secular world and naturally has no expectations of it.

"Besides, I originally planned to seal Yu Hua away for 500 years. Now it's just a little longer. I can prevent her death at any time, but I can only stand by and watch my disciple die."

Qing Cang stood up and walked to Xuan Bing's bed. He reached out and gently touched Yu Hua's eyebrows. Yu Hua's eyelids trembled slightly and his eyes slowly opened.

She said weakly, "Master, I don't want to go to the Netherworld."

"Be obedient." Qingcang stroked her forehead and said softly, "Only a thousand years. This thousand years is nothing more than a sleep for you."

"Will he still be here a thousand years later?"

Yu Hua's voice trembled slightly in her weakness, as if she showed some great fear. She grabbed Qingcang's sleeve and held it tightly, and the veins on her pale skin were visible.

"I was the one who brought him to this path. With his talent, he can be resounding through the world even without my help. I should repay the karma. Master, please let me go back. I can cut off all my cultivation and become a mortal. This way, I can at least die with him."

"He wouldn't want you to do that."

Qing Cang shook his head and said calmly and firmly: "If Gu Wen died in the end, you should live even more."

"Different."

"What's the difference?"

"."

Yu Hua slowly let go of his hand. He didn't know when some emotion had been buried in his heart, but now it was stuck in his mouth and he couldn't express it at all.

She raised her head slightly, revealed a pale smile and said, "It is too cruel to let a peerless genius be a frog in a well for his whole life, but if a goddess like me is buried with him, at least it won't be so miserable."

"Perhaps I am a person who admires the strong. I cannot accept a time when a peerless genius like him does not exist."

Qing Cang looked into her dark eyes and saw a hint of affection in the depths, but she still shook her head firmly and said, "Child, you can hate me."

His palm gently stroked Yu Hua's crown, and a wisp of force pressed down her eyelids. Knowing that she was powerless to resist, she spoke word by word, "If I wake up a thousand years later, I will still be buried with you."

"But Yu Hua will not hate Master. I am sorry that I cannot share your worries and cause you trouble."

Yu Hua closed her eyes completely. The surface of the black ice bed melted and swallowed her, turning into an ice coffin.

The immortal sword watched from the sidelines, without saying a word, then turned into a stream of light and flew away.

The fox fairy put down the teacup and said, "Even those who are enlightened in this world cannot escape the seven emotions and six desires. You have only delayed her death. If her heart is dead, you cannot save it even if you are a saint."

Qing Cang asked back: "If I let her go to die, wouldn't it be another tragedy for my disciple to come out in the future?"

She couldn't become a saint in a hundred years, nor in a thousand years, but her disciple could definitely do it.

When heaven is about to entrust a great responsibilities to this people, they must first endure their hardships.
-
The place to become immortal.

The magic sword was like a meteor that streaked across the sky and fell into a small courtyard in the bamboo forest.

Gu Wen had been waiting outside. He looked at the Immortal Sword hanging in the air and asked, "Senior Immortal Sword, is she okay?"

"She was dying. She was only breathing her last when I saw her."

Xianjian is as straightforward as ever, as if everyone who practices swordsmanship has similar problems.

The death was announced so frankly.

Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound, and the sky and the earth suddenly became gloomy.

Gu Wen stood there in a daze, opening and closing his mouth. He remained silent for a long time, and the aura emanating from his body slowly faded.

He asked, "As long as there is still breath, I am not dead. Please explain the whole thing to me."

"No need to say."

The magic sword shook slightly, and a sword light flew into Gu Wen's eyebrows. Everything he saw and heard was heard by his ears.

Not dead, but not dying either. The so-called remaining breath is just a matter of life and death.

But to some extent, it has never changed, because after Yu Hua was completely resurrected by his master, he could not obtain the elixir of immortality and the power of Qingcang to maintain his life, like a candle in the wind.

However, the master used some means to cover the candle flame with a layer of gauze. Frequent entry and exit of the immortal land caused the gauze to break, and the candle flame flickered.

Gu Wen's quick thoughts calmed his mind.

"That piece of black ice can preserve life, but it will only cause a slow death under the life span disaster. The master must have other ways, otherwise he would not have preserved Yu Hua's life."

Seeing this, Xianjian praised: "Your character never needs any training or teaching."

There is a great terror between life and death, not only for oneself, but also for relatives and friends. If you can accept the death of those around you, you have already seen through half of life and death.

He once thought about taking Gu Wen as his apprentice, but he had to give up because of Qing Cang. As time went by, Xian Jian found that he had no room to teach Gu Wen, but sometimes Gu Wen could inspire him.

It’s a pity that if you don’t leave the land of immortality, even a real dragon will be just a frog in a well.

"But I'm afraid she will never be able to enter the immortal land again, and you may never see her again. If I'm not mistaken, that piece of black ice can seal life for a thousand years."

Xianjian's words were as sharp as he was. He bluntly cut through all the embellishments and laid the facts before Gu Wen.

"What does it have to do with you a thousand years from now?"

"It's good that you're not dead."

Gu Wen answered without hesitation, without a ripple in his eyes.

The Immortal Sword said in silence for a few breaths, "Do your best and leave the rest to fate. If this is your fate, I will cut off Jianmu for you. After a while, I need to go back to Zhejian Mountain to prepare for the battle with Jianmu."

"Please cut off a section of Jianmu and burn it for me. I hope I will still have a tomb by then."

Gu Wen made a joke, turned around and pushed open the gate. Then he found that the wooden door had rotted away and the right side was missing.

“It’s time to fix it.”

Gu Wen turned around and flew away. He had not stepped out of the courtyard for decades, but today he casually walked out and went to a nearby town to buy a set of carpentry tools and a door.

He repaired the gate, then discovered that the yard was full of weeds, so he spent half a day weeding. Heirloom followed suit, biting a blade of grass with his teeth and shaking his head wildly.

After the weeds in the courtyard disappeared, the ground was still full of mud, and the original bluestone slabs were lifted up by the roots of plants, making it look very messy.

Gu Wen arranged the stone slabs one by one and fetched well water to wash the soil.

The yard looks brand new, and the dilapidated house looks particularly eye-catching.

Gu Wen had no choice but to go out again to a town a hundred miles away to buy materials. He was carrying the wood and walking on the road. A eunuch appeared from nowhere and approached him cautiously and asked:

"If you need anything, just tell me."

Gu Wen stopped and replied, "The roads in the town need to be repaired."

The eunuch was stunned by such an irrelevant answer, but Gu Wen ignored him and continued walking home.

Gu Wen repaired the house, and the sun and rain could no longer enter. He sat on the chair and everything became quiet. Then he saw the chair with a missing leg, the tea set broken by the cat, and the peeling wall.
The trivialities of the past came flooding back like a tide, as if asking him to make up for the things he should have done but did not do over the years.

The immortal sword was unsheathed, and he asked in a telepathic voice: "Perhaps I should take back my previous praise. Are you okay?"

"Me? I'm fine."

Gu Wen picked up the dusty teacup and looked at the gap.

"I need to buy some new teacups, and the furniture, and the cat should stop chewing the table legs."

"Oh."

The cat stopped biting the table legs, climbed onto Gu Wen's shoulder again, rubbed his cheek, and asked, "Master, can we go out and play? There are so many people outside, and cats like places with a lot of people."

"Then can I take you to a crowded place?"

"Okay, okay."

Gu Wen placed the cat on the magic sword, and the magic sword turned into a stream of light and flew away, and a shooting star appeared in the night sky.

In the land of immortals, all creatures have become mortals, and heirlooms are still in their infancy, so problems will arise if they stay there for too long.
-
Sixty years of Daxia.

In the following days, Gu Wen became very busy. He didn't know what he was busy with, but every time he finished one thing, there would be another thing for him to do.

He went to buy a teacup and happened to be unable to pass through the town because of road repairs, so Gu Wen used his power to repair the road directly. Then he was regarded as a god, and an old man came out and knelt down to cry out for injustice, saying that the government was unjust and begged him to do justice.

So Gu Wen went to uphold justice and killed a county magistrate, and more people came to complain about their injustice. He killed countless corrupt officials, gentry and powerful people along the way. Anyway, he killed anyone he didn't like.

He was obsessed with the feeling of solving one problem after another.

Finally, he stepped into the city of Bianjing again, and the emperor traveled hundreds of miles to greet him.

Entering the palace, the empty hall only had the elderly Jiang Jucai and Gu Wen, and a young man in a dragon robe in his prime.

The old emperor helped him to the throne and sat on the dragon chair.

The old emperor smiled and said, "Father often said that it was you who pressed him onto the throne."

"is it?"

Gu Wen couldn’t remember some of it. He didn’t like to reminisce because memories were always glaring.

"The one below is the prince, right?"

"Yes, what do you think?"

The prince in the audience stared with his eyes wide open and dared not say anything, his whole body tensed up.

Gu Wen looked at the noble young man and said with a smile, "He looks like an old friend. I don't like him very much."

In an instant, the prince's face turned pale and he collapsed to the ground powerlessly. Then he was lifted up by an invisible force.

"Don't be afraid, kid. I'm not finished yet."

A smile appeared on Gu Wen's calm face. The prince calmed down a little and forced a smile as well, reminding himself in his heart not to make any mistakes.

"Do you have a merchant slave?"

The prince was a little confused, but then he didn't dare to lie and nodded slightly.

It is normal to borrow money from merchants.

"Is his last name Gu?"

"His last name is Yu, do you know him?"

"Let him come here."

The prince walked out in confusion, and half an hour later ran in with a fat man. The merchant, wearing gold and silver, had a fat head and big ears, and knelt on the ground, trembling.

He was puzzled as to why a Taoist monk in plain clothes was sitting on the dragon throne, and then he thought of the various legends about the founding of the dynasty.

"Have you ever met a fairy from heaven?"

The merchant replied tremblingly: "How can a common people be worthy of seeing the gods?"

"What a coincidence. I have seen her before." Gu Wen's smile gradually deepened, and he said as if to show off: "I saw her before, and I often stayed up all night with her."

None of the three people present dared to respond. They just listened to Gu Wen's story and finally fell silent.

"Jucai, you are not young anymore, it's time to pass on the position."

The old emperor's eyes sparkled, and the prince's face was filled with joy.
Three months later, Jiang Jucai died of illness and the prince succeeded to the throne.

----------

The sixty-fifth year of Daxia.

When Gu Wen was approaching eighty, he returned to Nanshui and sat in his house, with no trivial matters in sight.

Only the destiny in his body was vibrating, and the unfilled sky began to fall off like an old wall, stripping away everything he was proud of.

He watched quietly, without crying or making a fuss, accepting everything calmly.

Cang Yu disappeared completely, as if a curtain had been torn off. Behind him was a tall and majestic figure. He was dressed in dark black and his face could not be seen.

Gu Wen looked at it calmly and asked, "Did you give this fate?"

He nodded slightly and said, "All living things in the world have destiny, but for some reason you have no destiny and do not exist in the world."

"So you corrected me, gave me a destiny to become an immortal, and then took it away?"

"Life is high and heavy. If you can't bear it, you will become a mortal."

The mysterious sound echoed in all directions, like the decree of heaven being read out.

"All living things in the ten directions have their own destiny. You originally had no destiny, but now you have one."

As the sound fell, the destiny completely disappeared, the Heavenly Marrow and the Emperor's Juice no longer existed, and the saint who maintained the heaven and earth also withdrew his gaze.

He was the best in the world due to his destiny, but now the tide has receded and he has been beaten back to his original state.

The Lord of the Mansion endowed him with the destiny of becoming an immortal in the mortal world, but now he has lost that destiny.

He endured licking the snow, begging for humiliation, and kneeling on the ground as a slave.

He also endured being surrounded by enemies all over the world, being isolated and helpless, and hiding everywhere.

He also endured being trapped at the bottom of a well, losing his confidant, and being alone.

If you lose your destiny, you will become a mortal?

"Haha. The Fate Heavenly Marrow Emperor's Juice can't help me create a technique out of thin air, and can't make me realize it without feeling. On the contrary, why is what I have now not what I know?"

Gu Wen chuckled, his eyelids half closed, a gleam of spirit suddenly burst out in them, shining like the morning sun.

"I have never retreated, nor have I ever strayed from the path. I want to leave this well and see the vast world."

He sat cross-legged in meditation and slowly closed his eyes.

"What I lose is only my fate, but what I gain is the great way."

As day and night alternated, the sunlight entered and exited the house again and again, and the moonlight shone on his face again and again.

The houses were destroyed and turned into ruins, grass grew from the rotten wood, the autumn fire burned them to ashes, but grass and trees sprouted again the next year.

The eight hundred years of Spring and Autumn passed in a flash. The Great Xia Dynasty perished, the Xin Dynasty was established, and then it perished again.

The Taoist sat cross-legged, unconcerned about the Spring and Autumn Period.

Refining essence into Qi, refining Qi into spirit, refining spirit into emptiness, refining emptiness into Tao.

Above the harmony with the Tao there is transcendence, and above transcendence there is also the Tao.

Ninety-nine is perfection, and there is perfection above perfection. The number of ninety-nine has no end.

Above the great road, there is ultimate perfection.

My body is level with the earth, and my ways are equal to the sky.

Another spring has arrived with birds singing and flowers blooming. The Taoist who had kept his eyes closed for eight hundred years slowly opened his eyes and exhaled his first breath.

As a result, magical medicine appeared in the land of immortals.

(End of this chapter)