Notes on Longevity

Chapter 145 The mountains are far away, the sky is high, the mist and water are cold, and the Jiangnan region is full of spring.

Her petite figure in green, and her lovely face, were now weak and lifeless, devoid of any luster. Since leaving Jiangnan, she had never imagined she would die one day. And not at someone else's hands.

She had solemnly promised her grandmother that she would take good care of herself and protect the flowers that came with her, but it seems she really can't do it now.

She deeply regrets it; if she had listened to her grandmother and hadn't thought about going to see the world, perhaps things wouldn't be like this today.

Taihua promised her that he would definitely go to Jiangnan if he ever arrived there.

She squeezed the flesh on her face, watching Taihua's departing figure with a painful smile.

Perhaps she was born and raised in Jiangnan, but she was unaware of its beauty. She had also heard people say: "Everyone says Jiangnan is good, and tourists should only grow old in Jiangnan."

She was born and raised in Jiangnan, transforming herself into a green rose each day, wandering the region with her roots. She witnessed the small bridges and flowing water, the bustling life of the people; she saw the noisy shops and the comings and goings of people, but she paid no attention to them.

So every night she would silently go up to the west tower alone and gaze at the crescent moon.

She was born on a high mountain, where there was a courtyard. The courtyard was large, but rather neglected, resulting in overgrown weeds and blooming flowers.

There is a sycamore tree in the courtyard. My grandma said it is over two hundred years old.

When not out playing, Green Robe would transform into a human, a seven or eight-year-old girl, who would rest against it. At night, she would jump to the treetop, gaze into the distance, and tell it how beautiful the scenery of the human world was, even though it was only in Jiangnan.

But it seemed as if the sycamore tree understood her words; its branches and leaves would always respond to her as the wind blew. Sometimes, it would even gently caress her delicate, tender face with its branches and leaves.

"I always hear the people down the mountain say that if you go to Jiangnan in spring, you should stay there. Jiangnan is infinitely beautiful, and I know its scenery well."

"I know Jiangnan is beautiful, but I prefer the world outside of Jiangnan."

"Because I've never seen the outside world, and my grandma won't let me leave."

“You know what? A few days ago, when I passed by a teahouse, I heard a scholar say another thing: ‘Everyone says Jiangnan is beautiful, but I have traveled to thousands of places in Jiangnan, and seen hundreds of flowers bloom and wither, but none of them are like you.’”

"But just as I was about to leave, he suddenly looked out the window."

“I was standing at the window when he saw me. I still remember his expression, the way he looked so sad but startled. It’s funny to think about it now.”

"But then he walked towards me. I was terrified and turned and ran."

I only vaguely heard him say again: 'Everything is you.'

"But I think people are really strange."

But one night, she leaned against the sycamore branch as usual, recounting everything she had seen. As night deepened, a gentle breeze rustled the leaves, the moon was bright and the stars were few, and drowsiness crept over her. Gazing at the moon, she felt a growing sense of longing, for the Jiangnan region was not the place she dreamed of.

It's gone.
When she woke up the next day, she slept in the middle of the courtyard, where the sycamore tree had once stood.

She asked her grandmother, "Where did Wutong go?"
Grandma said, "She went to the human world."

She asked, "Why?"

Grandma replied, "Because, although Jiangnan is beautiful, it can't compare to even a fraction of what's in the world. You want to leave Jiangnan, and so does it."

"So where did it go?"

"How would I know!"

"Grandma, I want to leave Jiangnan too." "No, you're too young. You can't even escape from an ordinary person right now, let alone other people."

"Then I'll go find it! It must have gained sentience to be able to leave. I'll have it protect me then."

"sure."

"I'm leaving!"

"However, you must have at least three hundred years of cultivation before you can leave, otherwise, forget about it!"

And so, she watched the sky at dawn and the clouds at dusk, witnessed the passing of spring, autumn, summer solstice, and snow, and as all things went from birth to death in endless cycles, she began her three-hundred-year wait.

For three hundred years, she always liked to sit on the rooftop at night, watching the moon rise, her heart always thinking of the human world and that phoenix tree. She would also often murmur: "The mountain is high, the moon is small; the moon is small, yet how bright it shines. My thoughts are with someone far away. If I don't see them for a day, my heart will be restless."

At this moment, she was unaware that what she longed for was no longer the unseen human world, but the phoenix tree that had left, its whereabouts unknown, and its trace vanished.

The next day she found her grandmother and told her that she was leaving Jiangnan.

Grandma looked at her daughter, who had grown up, and reluctantly agreed. Actually, she didn't want her to leave, because the human world wasn't as good as she had imagined. But why did she agree? Because the human world was the best place for spiritual practice.

But she was worried about going down the mountain alone, so she asked the flowers to come with her. Thus, Yingchun went to find Green Robe.

"Sister Linglong, can we go down the mountain with you?"

Green Robe readily agreed, but Grandma pretended to disagree, saying, "You can go down the mountain alone, but you can't take them with you."

The woman in green, puzzled, asked, "Why?"

“You are a rare being, and your cultivation is different from ours. You attained human form in thirty years, but they may not be able to transform even after three hundred years. Can you protect them all if you take them with you?”

Grandma's words were perfectly reasonable, but Greenie assured her, "Grandma, don't worry, I will definitely protect them."

"Sigh! Let's go."

Grandma had a head of white hair, her body was hunched over, and her eyes were blurry with tears. She looked at the woman in green, her expression showing that she had so much to say, yet she didn't know where to begin.

"grandmother!"

Green Robe understood that her life had been saved by her grandmother. If her grandmother hadn't brought her back to the mountain on that snowy night when she was almost frozen to death, she wouldn't have been saying goodbye here, and she wouldn't have had the chance to experience life in the human world.

Green Robe left that mountain, left the beautiful Jiangnan region, crossed one mountain after another, but still could only see distant mountains, high skies, and cold misty waters, and could not see the Jiangnan region full of spring.

"A phoenix tree?" Ping An looked at the ancient tree with its straight and thick trunk in front of him, a hint of doubt rising in his heart. "Mountain God, you seem to be a phoenix tree! Could it be that the phoenix tree in the courtyard of the high mountain in Jiangnan is you?"

Dao Yisheng twisted his tree face helplessly, "Yes."

Ping An frowned and asked, "Since you are that sycamore tree, didn't you recognize her?"

“I don’t remember her at the time, and I don’t even remember how I left Jiangnan or why I left. I only remember that when I woke up, I was already outside the Taoist temple in Taihua.”

Dao Yi sighed, and Ping An asked again, "So what happened to you afterwards?"

"later."

(End of this chapter)