Notes on Longevity

Chapter 177 A graceful woman, like a beautiful young man; a dashing young gentleman

Taihua frowned as he approached Daoyisheng, who was crying his heart out. He knelt down, his expression grave, unsure whether it was from guilt for being unable to save Lüyi or from the sadness of seeing Daoyisheng in this state.

He pushed the hand holding the silver sword back slightly, and the silver sword turned into a wisp of white smoke and disappeared without a trace. Even the gourd he always carried on his back was gone when he came out from behind the wooden house.

He raised one hand and slowly placed it on Dao Yisheng's shoulder, holding his breath as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to say it.

Does this mean that the dead cannot be brought back to life, or that we should accept our fate and move on?

Even he himself doesn't know.

Dao Yisheng sensed Taihua's movement. He wept, turned his head to look at Taihua's solemn face, and choked out, "Taihua, Green Robe is dead."

His heart ached. Taihua's already furrowed brows were now almost completely knitted together. His voice was slightly hoarse as he softly said, "I know."

"Can you save her?" Dao Yisheng cried, tears streaming down his face. He hoped Taihua could revive Green Robe. He knew Taihua was powerful; he was sure he had a way.

However, Taihua shook his head. "Whether it's a spirit, a demon, or a monster, after they cultivate into human form, they possess all the advantages of humans, but also have the same flaws. Humans have three souls and seven spirits. After they cultivate, their individual spirits, that is, their souls, will scatter like humans, forming three separate souls. This is what they are before they are born or before they transform. For example, Green Robe was originally a rare green rose in the world. Before she transforms, her true form will first have three souls, and her true essence will transform into seven spirits. After the three souls and seven spirits condense, they will attract heavenly lightning, which is called tribulation. After the tribulation, the three souls and seven spirits will be fused together by the heavenly lightning, and the souls and spirits will coexist. However, there is a prerequisite: they must successfully pass through it. If they succeed, they can transform into human form; if they fail, their three souls and seven spirits will scatter, resulting in the loss of their cultivation or even death."

As Taihua spoke, he looked at the green-clad figure in Dao Yisheng's arms and shook his head again. "After a person dies, the seven souls disperse first. After forty-nine days, when the seven souls are completely dispersed, even gods and immortals cannot save them. The three spirits are the foundation of the soul; if the body does not perish, the spirits cannot leave. When the body is placed in a coffin and buried in the earth, the earth becomes trapped, and the wood, seeking life, will absorb the spirit of the dead body to preserve itself."

As he spoke, he lowered his hand from Dao Yisheng's shoulder, slowly stood up, and looked westward towards Kunlun Mountain, where he had once sought the Dao. It was unclear what he was thinking, but a gourd the size of a palm appeared in his hand. "The physical body, deprived of the nourishment of the seven souls, will slowly decay. The coffin's attempt to keep it alive will only accelerate this decay. The three souls are different from the seven souls. The seven souls govern the physical body, namely the heart (fire), intestines (metal), lower abdomen (fire), lungs (metal), liver (wood), gallbladder (wood), and kidneys (water). When the physical body decays completely, the seven souls are beyond saving. The three souls, however, reside within the physical body, atop the bones. When the bones are broken, the three souls cannot connect, and thus become chaotic; when the bones are broken, the coffin feeds on them, and the souls have nowhere to reside, thus they depart."

"With the three souls and seven spirits scattered, even a Great Immortal could not help."

After Taihua finished speaking, a sigh escaped his lips. He looked at Daoyisheng, whose face was covered in tears and who looked dazed, and felt extremely sad.

“I know you want to save her,” Taihua said, handing his gourd to Daoyisheng. “You only know that I studied Taoism on Kunlun Mountain, but you don’t know that I severed my connection to immortality long ago because of greed. Now, no matter how much I cultivate, I can’t become an immortal, and even the Queen Mother of the West doesn’t want to see me anymore. That’s why I said I was powerless.”

"Is there really no other way?" Dao Yisheng took the gourd from Taihua, his voice choked with emotion, staring blankly at it. "If there's no way to save lives, what use is this gourd to me?"

After saying that, he returned the gourd to Taihua.

However, Taihua did not continue, but only frowned and looked at Daoyisheng.

"What's wrong?" Dao Yisheng asked with some concern when he saw that Taihua was unwilling to take the gourd.

Taihua, it seems, is also making some kind of choice.

After a long silence, Taihua finally spoke: "This matter started because of me. If I hadn't seen a different ending through the water mirror, perhaps I wouldn't have brought you down the mountain, and I wouldn't have brought you to Yu'an. Since it started because of me, then I am the cause of everything, and you shouldn't have to bear the consequences now."

As Taihua spoke, he took the gourd, opened the mouth to remove the stopper, and continued, "Although the Queen Mother of the West is unwilling to see me, you may not be. The Immortal Realm is hard to find, but I can take you there, even if there is only a sliver of hope. As for the consequences after we arrive, I will bear them."

Upon hearing Taihua's words, a glimmer of light finally appeared in Daoyisheng's eyes, but it lasted only a moment.

He looked at the woman in green lying in his arms, touched her wrinkled face, and said with a bitter expression, "I want to save him, but I don't want you to offend the Queen Mother of the West. I also don't want to ruin your path to immortality."

Upon hearing this, Taihua burst into laughter, completely out of place with his sorrowful state of mind: "What path to immortality do I still have? I just said that I severed my ties to immortality long ago."

Taihua's laughter gradually subsided, and by the end, he was both laughing and crying. With a troubled smile, he said, "This is all my fault, it has nothing to do with you. I misused the Water Mirror, I was too worried and confused."

Having said that, he made a hand seal with one hand, and the gourd flew out of his hand and into the air. Taihua made sword fingers with both hands, muttering something, and then the mouth of the gourd emitted a golden light towards the green-clothed figure. A moment later, the green-clothed figure turned into a wisp of white smoke and was sucked into the gourd.

Taihua closed the gourd's mouth. Daoyisheng, his face streaked with tears, frowned and looked at him in confusion, asking, "What are you doing?"

Taihua whispered, "Go to Kunlun, go and seek an audience with the Queen Mother of the West."

Before Dao Yisheng could react, Taihua grabbed him and said, "Let's go."

Dao Yisheng frowned and asked, "Didn't you say that the Queen Mother of the West wouldn't see you?"

Taihua, however, said, "Go and ask."

Dao Yisheng looked troubled and said, "I am very saddened by Green Robe's death, but I don't want to implicate you."

He looked at Taihua, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I'll take Green Robe with me to Kunlun Mountain."

He snatched the gourd from Taihua's hand, then looked at the sea of ​​flowers around them. "These flowers were brought from Jiangnan by Lüyi. She told me she promised Grandma she would take good care of them, but now that she's gone, I don't want to leave them all here. I'll go to Kunlun Mountain alone, but I'll have to trouble you to take them back to Jiangnan."

After saying this, Dao Yisheng put the gourd in his bosom, then turned and walked towards the forest, heading towards the direction of Kunlun Mountain.

Taihua looked at Daoyisheng's lonely figure, and then at the colorful flowers swaying in the wind around her.

He knew that these flowers were just as sad. So, he could only watch quietly as Dao Yisheng's figure receded into the distance.

Taihua turned to face the wooden house, sighed deeply, and the words he wanted to say remained unspoken. He lowered his head helplessly, then waved his hand. The sea of ​​flowers swayed in the still air, and petals rose up on their own, swirling around Taihua.

After all the petals tightly enveloped Taihua, the clothes that Green Robe had made for Daoyisheng with her own life floated past his eyes.

Taihua watched the clothes flutter by, then stared at the wooden house before him. He hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "Though I am selfish, I have no ill intentions. If he cannot save you, I will give my life to save you." Startled awake from his dream, Qin Xiangyu anxiously rode his horse out of the city. He didn't know why he had such a dream, but he knew that some things never happen without a reason.

And everything turned out as he had imagined. The place where the flowers used to bloom was now barren, and even the wooden houses had lost some of their vitality.

Qin Xiangyu was worried that something terrible had happened when he heard someone call out to him, "Young master, there is blood here!"

Hearing the noise, he rushed over, and the others followed. Qin Xiangyu frowned upon seeing the bloodstains on the ground. "Let's go! Back to the city!"

Qin Xiangyu knew something must have happened. And he was going back to Yu'an City to find someone—someone he could think of who would target Green Robe and her gang.

"Wei Shengming, come out here!"

After returning home, Qin Xiangyu immediately summoned all the servants in the mansion, as well as the Qin family members from various market areas.

And so, he led hundreds of men eastward toward Wei Shengming's residence.

He was dressed in black, form-fitting leather armor, holding a dark black longsword in his hand, and roared furiously at the half-open gate of the mansion.

The servants hiding behind the door, secretly watching the furious Qin Xiangyu, had never seen anything like this before. Two of them stayed behind to close the door and hold her back, while the other servant ran to the inner courtyard, shouting, "Master! Something terrible has happened! The young master of the Qin family has brought his men and attacked!"

His shouts startled everyone in the Wei family mansion.

Regardless of age or gender, everyone dropped what they were doing and grabbed whatever was at hand as weapons. The guards in the courtyard, hearing the commotion, also gathered together, brandishing various weapons including swords and knives, and charged angrily toward the gates.

When the servant arrived at the main hall, before he could even speak, Wei Shengming gave him a good scolding: "You servant, how dare you! What kind of person is the young master of the Qin family? How could he possibly bring people into my Wei family without any reason?"

After Wei Shengming finished speaking, dozens of guards on duty in the inner courtyard surrounded the servant and pinned him to the ground.

Despite being treated this way, the servants remained steadfast in their story, crying out helplessly, "Master! It's true! I saw it with my own eyes! That person was Qin Xiangyu, Young Master Qin! He even called you an old scoundrel!"

"Insolence!" Wei Shengming picked up a teacup from the side and threw it viciously at the servant. "If you dare to spout nonsense again, I'll cut out your tongue."

The sound of the teacup shattering on the ground pained the servant. He couldn't believe that his master would disbelieve his words or that Qin Xiangyu would bring people to beat him.

In truth, Wei Shengming wasn't disbelieving; he simply couldn't understand why Qin Xiangyu was suddenly acting so recklessly. Although his Wei family was considerably weaker and less powerful than Qin's, he was still the richest man in Yu'an. If he listened to the servants and acted so recklessly, the consequences would be immeasurable, something his entire Wei family couldn't bear.

Suddenly, he remembered seeing Qin Xiangyu leading her entourage out of the city earlier that morning. However, at the time, his mind was entirely on his daughter, Wei Wanyao, and he hadn't paid much attention to what Qin Xiangyu was doing. But when he realized what had happened, he didn't know what he had done to warrant such hostility.
Outside the city? What's outside the city?
wrong!

He remembered; it was that demon.

Qin Xiangyu had always been on good terms with Immortal Taihua, and just two days ago, when Immortal Taihua came to examine his daughter, he told him not to cause her any more trouble.

But he did it!

Oh right, Yun Gong, Yun Gong is missing.

After the Immortal Master Taihua arrived, he paid money to dismiss all the Taoist priests he kept in his mansion. However, when he went to look for Yun Gong, he couldn't find him.

Yun Gong was always unpredictable and arrogant. When he couldn't find Yun Gong, he simply assumed that he had gone to stay on that mountain again.

Thinking of this, he had a bad feeling: "Could it be that the old Taoist priest Yun Gong has already gone there?"

"Dad, what's wrong?"

There was no time to think about the situation, so he bypassed the dozen or so guards and headed towards the door. Just then, Wei Wanyao heard the commotion and came to the main hall.

Upon seeing this, Wei Shengming was immediately at a loss for what to do.

Earlier, he had planned to propose marriage to the Qin family to secure a better future for his daughter, but now things had gone awry. So, he pulled Wei Wanyao aside and angrily said to Chunshuang and Piyi beside her, "What's wrong with you two? Wanyao has just recovered from a serious illness; how could you bring her out into the wind?"

Then, he changed his tune and smiled gently at Wei Wanyao, saying, "Good girl, hurry back inside. You've only just recovered a bit, don't catch a cold again, or your old man will be in so much pain."

The two Wei brothers, who were standing on either side of the main seat in the hall, quickly went to Wei Wanyao's side and tried to pull her back to her room without saying a word: "Little sister, listen to your father and brothers, go back to your room first, otherwise you'll catch a cold from the wind again."

Upon hearing this, Wei Shengming quickly chimed in, "Yes, child. After today, when you feel a bit better, your father will take you out for a walk instead of keeping you in the courtyard."

"But Father, I heard that the young master of the Qin family brought quite a few people with him. Is he really alright?"

Wei Wanyao looked at her father with concern, leaving Wei Shengming at a loss for words.

He thought to himself, "This could have been your husband."

He didn't answer Wei Wanyao's question, but looked at Chunshuang and the other two, and asked, "Which of you told Miss?"

Chunshuang saw that although Wei Shengming spoke gently, his expression was very unpleasant. She quickly knelt down and explained to Wei Shengming, "Master, there was a great commotion in the mansion just now. We heard everything."

(End of this chapter)