Notes on Longevity

Chapter 167 All things in the world are the same; the body is one with the Great Dao.
"what?"

Feeling the warmth from Dao Yisheng's gentle stroking of her head and the rubbing sound from her ear, Green Robe looked up in confusion and asked, her voice choked with sobs.

Dao Yisheng looked down at the woman in green who was looking up at him. He wanted to lower his hand and keep his distance, since men and women shouldn't touch each other. However, the woman in green's arms remained wrapped around his waist, showing no intention of letting go. So, he had no choice but to let her hold him and explained:

“At first, I thought Taihua was just saying that I hadn’t experienced the joys and sorrows, the worldly pleasures of life, but after you took me to that old woman’s house, I understood a little better. And what you just said, ‘Always green in spring, blooming even without fruit for a hundred years,’ suddenly woke me up.”

Green Robe listened to Dao Yisheng's words with some confusion. She didn't understand what was so special about them that made him immediately understand what Taihua had told him. In her mind, these words were simply referring to Dao Yisheng when he was still just a tree.

Then, her voice choked with sobs and filled with confusion, she asked again, "What's wrong with that?"

Dao Yisheng remained silent, only looking somewhat awkwardly at the green-clad figure staring up at him. He wanted to speak, but the situation made it difficult for him to continue.

Green-clad noticed his embarrassment. She took a deep breath, lowered her head, and gently pressed her forehead against Dao Yisheng's chest. In truth, she was reluctant to let go. Centuries had passed, and she was nearing death. This was a rare opportunity; to give it up, even if it meant only staying in his arms for a moment longer, would be worthwhile.

However, she didn't know what Dao Yisheng had gone through, so she had no choice but to give up. She could only loosen her arms around his waist, bite her lips, and reluctantly take two steps back.

Seeing the woman in green retreat, Dao Yisheng breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked in the direction she had gone and saw that the petals that had been fluttering in the wind were still standing there like a wall of flowers. He sighed and walked towards the woman in green and towards the petals.

Although she was keeping her head down, Green Robe could still see Dao Yisheng's approaching steps. She nervously clasped her fingers in front of her, expecting him to walk up to her, put his arm around her shoulders, and say something earnest. However, she only saw Dao Yisheng walk past her, heading towards the other side of the wooden house, towards her back. Disappointed, she turned back, only to witness a surprising scene.

Dao Yisheng stepped past the green-clad figure and slowly walked towards the flower wall, where he also stood before them.

Petals rise without wind. Dao Yisheng is not a spirit, but he is also a demon. Taihua says that all things in the world are the same, and the Dao returns to oneness, all taking Taiyi as the root and Jinhua as the branch. The two nourish each other, and only when the body and the Dao are united can one achieve the ultimate goal.

He now truly understood the meaning of that sentence, and he also understood why Taihua said that wandering was entering the world, and entering the world meant going to places where there were people. He looked at the petals and smiled knowingly, then waved his sleeve at them.

got windy.
Standing there in green, she stared in astonishment at the petals swaying in the wind. She quickly approached Dao Yisheng and, observing the petals moving in circles, sometimes scattering, sometimes gathering in clusters, asked him in surprise, "How did you do that? I didn't sense you using any magic. How did the wind suddenly rise?"

Dao Yisheng turned his head and looked at the green-clad man with tears streaming down his face, yet he remained astonished. However, he did not speak, but smiled without saying a word.

This was the ultimate realization he had made of magic. It required no incantations, no need to invoke the power of nature, but rather the will to follow the heart, the heart to sense nature, and nature to become the wind.

The petals danced in the wind, as if they saw two people standing side by side, and they converged on the two from all directions.

Petals surrounded them, their colors mingling, but their fragrances didn't blend together; each scent remained distinct. The forsythia's fragrance was somewhat strong, but it didn't bother them. On the contrary, the delicate aroma of the jasmine filled their nostrils, making them feel quite pleasant. Amidst the mingled fragrances, Dao Yisheng finally spoke. The woman in green looked up at him, and he said:
"After staying in the mountains for a long time, all I can see are trees and flowers. What I see and hear is just what I've heard from Taihua. Although I find it novel, I can't empathize with it because I'm missing something."

The man in green asked in confusion, "What is it?" Dao Yisheng smiled and said, "Experience."

"Experience?" Green-clothed woman was puzzled, but then she suddenly realized from her memories of leaving Jiangnan and her grandmother over the past few hundred years. She said, "That seems to make sense."

"I left Jiangnan and wandered the human world for hundreds of years. Although I always avoided people because of my weak cultivation, I still encountered quite a few people. Sometimes I would hear some stories from them and encounter the people or things in those stories, but I would always sneak away or go far away when they weren't paying attention. However, I can't call these experiences, but rather just passing by and encountering them."

Dao Yisheng smiled helplessly: "Yes, humans and demons have different roots, so they cannot easily travel together. What if one of them or a demon harbors evil intentions one day?"

"However, without experiencing these things, one will never know how to conduct oneself, how to discern the true nature of people and demons. This will only lead one to constantly hide, ultimately going astray or destroying oneself. Perhaps this is what Taihua meant when he said, 'One cannot know fortune without experiencing poverty, nor remains naive without understanding human affairs.'"

"Then how do you say 'everlasting spring, evergreen in all seasons' as Grandma said?" Green Robe understood what Taihua meant, but she still didn't quite understand what Grandma meant.

Dao Yisheng looked at the petals surrounding them and asked, "Have these flowers always been with you?"

The woman in green was puzzled: "They have been following me ever since I left my grandmother's side. If I have a place to rest, I will release them. If I am on my way or change places, I will use magic to put them back into the flower bag that my grandmother gave me."

Dao Yisheng smiled and said in a riddle-like manner, "This is the answer."

The woman in green was even more confused; she couldn't understand why this was the answer.

Dao Yisheng didn't explain, but waved to the petals again, and the wind stopped. The petals returned to their roots the instant the wind ceased, slowly stretching under the bright sun, blooming and swaying their petals: the forsythia, its branches arching, seemed to smile at people; the winter jasmine was in full bloom, perfectly balanced; the magnolia, still unopened, was somewhat disappointing, but fortunately, the iris was the most beautiful of all the flowers, its broad green coat highlighting the various colored petals, creating a harmonious and pleasing sight.

After everything calmed down, Dao Yisheng turned around halfway and explained to the woman in green, "Don't these flowers look like you and me before we came down the mountain?"

Green Robe frowned and pondered, but Dao Yisheng continued, "In the mountains, you had your grandmother to protect you, and the wind and snow were no obstacle; while I had Taihua by my side, and a thousand years of barren time passed in the blink of an eye. We didn't know when spring came and autumn went, or when summer was hot and winter was cold. It was precisely because we were protected by them so well that we were completely ignorant of the affairs of this world. Now that we have left them, we are at a loss and do not understand things when we encounter them."

"And then what?" Green Robe seemed to have sensed something from Dao Yisheng's words, and she quickly asked.

Dao Yisheng fell silent. He thought he had lived for a thousand years and that he had insisted on coming to the human world with Taihua so that he could easily understand things in the human world. But now he realized that he, a thousand-year-old demon, was still just a child in this human world. Without Taihua, he could do nothing. He even needed a woman to take care of him when he was injured. So he wanted to leave.

Leaving Yu'an and Taihua, he wanted to experience life on his own.

(End of this chapter)