Notes on Longevity

Chapter 184 Paradise is indeed a wonderful place, but lingering there is a true earthly paradise.

Mountains rise majestically, evergreen for thousands of miles, a gentle breeze sweeps through, and white clouds blanket the landscape.

Dao Yisheng helped Taihua walk among them.

Suddenly, Taihua stopped and turned around to look at the fields that had long since disappeared behind him.

The young man carried the fertilizer into the field again. The older man replaced the empty bucket and continued to use a wooden ladle to scoop the fertilizer to irrigate the land and feed the crops. When the young man lifted the bucket to get new fertilizer, the older man didn't forget to tap him on the head with his finger, saying, "You little rascal, how old are you? Don't you know to change your clothes before coming here? You're suffocating me with the stench."

"Father, you've been using it all this time and never complained about the stench, so why does it smell so bad to me without me changing my clothes?" The young man was helpless and could only feel aggrieved as he looked at his father's unreasonable argument.

But that didn't seem to be what Father was concerned about. He poked the young man with a wooden ladle, and the young man asked, "Father, why are you poking me?"

The father glanced around, approached the young man with extreme caution, and then quietly asked, "Third child, did you really see a deity? He even talked to you? What did he ask you?"

Sanwazi, looking arrogant, picked up his load and was about to leave: "I didn't see anything." However, Sanwazi took a step back, put his mouth close to his father's ear and said, "Father, what are you dreaming about in broad daylight?"

Before his father could even react, Sanwazi darted off with the buckets, leaving his father, Awei, standing there with a dark expression. Then, the father flew into a rage, roaring from the field, "Sanwazi, if you get any dinner tonight, I'll believe you! You little brat, trying to play this game with your old man! You're asking for it!"

Despite his father's fiery temper, Sanwazi walked happily along the road carrying his load. Suddenly, he felt that the immortal from before seemed to have drifted away. So, with a smile, he looked in the direction where Taihua and Daoyisheng were.

The mountains were high and the road was long; all that could be seen were green hills and fields. Taihua turned away dejectedly and continued walking into the distance.

Ping An sat under the tree, listening intently to Dao Yisheng's tree-like face, while also asking himself, "Are immortals human?"

But a sudden autumn evening breeze rustled the branches of the Dao Yisheng avatar above him, disturbing his thoughts. He had no choice but to look up.

The sun was setting in the west, and dusk was approaching.

The white clouds, edged with gold, cast the afterglow of the setting sun, penetrating the dense foliage and finally landing on Ping An's upturned face.

Melancholy and loneliness were what Dao Yi saw on Ping An's face. But why would a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy have these things on his face? He didn't understand either.

All he remembered was that they took Taihua from that field that day, and headed east all the way to Jiangnan.
On that mountain, they met the grandmother that the woman in green had mentioned.

He was a dwarf and looked very old.

Their grandmother led them into the courtyard, where they saw the place in the middle that had been empty for hundreds of years, the place where Dao Yisheng had once lived.

Grandma looked at Dao Yisheng with a relatively gentle expression, but when he looked at Taihua, she suddenly turned hostile and launched into a tirade: "You old Taoist priest! Do you really think you understand the principles of heaven and can predict the future? I think you're just a novice in Taoism, only good at abusing magic. You call yourself a disciple of Kunlun, a disciple personally bestowed with magic by the Queen Mother of the West? Truly, after three years of studying Taoism, all you can do is spout nonsense."

Grandma angrily berated the frail Taihua, raising her cane and drawing circles around him. The flowers that Taihua had previously contained within his magic appeared. They circled Grandma, their petals swaying as if trying to tell her something.

When Grandma saw these flowers that had been gone for hundreds of years, she no longer glared angrily at Taihua. Instead, she touched each of the flowers that had passed through her hands and said, "Alright, don't be sad. It's not your fault. If anyone is to blame, it's this old woman. If I hadn't let her go down the mountain and leave Jiangnan, none of this would have happened."

After she finished speaking, she waved to the flowers, which circled around her once before flying back towards the door they had come through and leaving the courtyard.

With a soft sigh, Grandma watched the flowers depart, then looked at Dao Yisheng and said, "I told you when you left that the mortal realm is no good place. But you wouldn't listen. That girl was really something, always telling you about the springtime in the mortal world, making you yearn for worldly things. Otherwise, with your thousand years of cultivation, this old woman could have helped you. Maybe you could have gone to heaven and had a look."

Finally, he looked at Taihua and said, "I was too harsh with my words just now, please forgive me. However, Linglong is a child I raised myself. Even if she's not my biological granddaughter, she's still my own. I can't help but feel some resentment towards you."

Grandma shook her head, not giving the two a chance to speak, and continued to say to herself: "Back then, I was just like that child Linglong. I went to the human world and was attracted by its hustle and bustle. As a result, I also developed worldly desires and made a big mistake. Since then, I have been stuck on this mountain in Jiangnan."

"The human world, a place where mortals dwell, is also a place that gods yearn for."

"Those who have left often want to linger; but those who have come never want to leave."

"Indeed, paradise is a wonderful place, but lingering here is the human world."

"You go."

"As for Linglong, her life and death are predestined. If she dies, she should become a star in the sky, so I can continue to watch over her."

A thousand years later, as time flowed by, Taihua accompanied Daoyisheng through a millennium of history, witnessing the splendor of the world. When they returned to the wooden house outside Yu'an City, it had long since decayed, with only broken branches supporting it.

They sat outside the wooden house at the long table, and Taihua said to Daoyisheng, "I never imagined that I would return here a thousand years later."

"A thousand years, a hundred years in the human world, and ten lifetimes have passed now. We still haven't found her. Do you think she's really dead?"

Dao Yisheng turned his head to look at the old Taihua, and then at the green-clad phantom that had long since faded into nothingness. As he watched the phantom dissipate day by day, his sorrow deepened.

"Perhaps. A thousand years have passed, and her three souls and seven spirits have scattered. Perhaps she has already turned into the stars in the sky that Grandma said, and is no longer on earth."

Dao Yisheng waved his hand, dispelling the illusion of the green-clad figure, and lowered his head in silence.

Seeing Dao Yisheng's state, Taihua felt extremely sad. He patted Dao Yisheng's shoulder and tried his best to comfort him, saying, "In this world, whether human or demon, and of course, including us, we will all die before we find the Great Dao. Since we can't escape it, why not accept it? Since we can't find it anymore, shouldn't it be over?"

Taihua choked up as he finished speaking.

Over a thousand years, Dao Yisheng and Taihua traveled the world, but could never find the green-clad figure. In his heart, he had considered giving up. Especially at night, he always struggled between searching and not searching, to the point that his personality changed drastically, and he would inexplicably destroy his own roots and branches.

Taihua had tried to stop him, but Taihua's cultivation level was now less than a tenth of what it used to be, so he couldn't stop him at all. Every night, he could only watch helplessly as Daoyisheng broke off his branches.

At times like these, Taihua's heart aches no less than Daoyi's, but perhaps even more. Just as the old woman in green said, if it weren't for his three years of studying Taoism and spouting nonsense, things wouldn't have turned out this way. But now, it's all too late to say anything.

Dao Yisheng lowered his head and remained silent, his eyes filled with tears. He knew it was time to end it, so he turned to look at Taihua, his voice also choked with emotion: "I understand."

Taihua let out a long sigh, then leaned back completely against the wooden house. Gazing at the distant sky, he pondered for a moment before drawing two beams of white light from between his brows. He said, "A thousand years of lingering life—this was originally meant to help Green Robe regain her memories after we found her, but you gave it to me to prolong my life. Now that you're willing to stop, I should give it back to you." Dao Yisheng looked at what Taihua had taken out, a sudden unease creeping into his heart. He asked, "What do you intend to do?"

"I agreed to let you extend my life back then because I was afraid something might happen to you during the process. Now that it's all over, I've finally experienced the feeling of immortality."

As Taihua spoke, he shook his head helplessly with a bitter smile, then suddenly shouted, "It's so sad!"

Taihua laughed in his old and weak voice, "If I had known that everything I would see and experience after achieving immortality would be so heartbreaking, I would have preferred not to have it."

"Then you might never meet me again." Dao Yisheng looked at Taihua, his eyes filled with sadness and tears.

"That would be best!" Taihua sat up straight. "That way, perhaps the outcome will be different. If I hadn't sought immortality back then, you and Green Robe might already be together. By the way, maybe you even have a child together."

Taihua smiled.

Dao Yisheng wanted to say something, but then he remembered that Taihua hadn't smiled since he accompanied him on this path. So, he didn't want to disturb him. He let him laugh, let him laugh unrestrainedly, without any burden or self-reproach.

Dao Yisheng smiled wryly, then let out a sigh of relief and laughed along with him. "Tell me," he said, "if I had a child with Green Robe, would it be a boy or a girl? And what would we name it?"

“I guess it’s a boy,” Taihua said.

Dao Yisheng was puzzled and asked, "Why is it a boy?"

Taihua looked at the clouds on the horizon and pointed at him, saying, "When I first met you, you were like that white cloud, pure and innocent, just like a child. So, I think he must be a boy."

"But what if it's a girl?" Dao Yisheng asked, looking at the cloud that resembled a sugar figurine, following the direction Taihua had pointed.

“It would be best if it were a girl.” Taihua still smiled. “Look, compared to you, the little girl in green is practically a little girl. So, it would be good if it were a girl.”

The two of them gazed at the clouds on the horizon in silence.

"Tell me, after I die, will you be afraid to be alone in this world?" The sun slowly set, and in front of the dilapidated wooden house, the two bright white pearls were brighter than the moon in the sky.

Dao Yisheng looked at Taihua and suddenly smiled, "Are you afraid of dying? Are you asking this on purpose? If you are afraid of dying, then put them away, they're too glaring."

Taihua laughed, "Of course I'm scared! How could I not be scared? I've lived for over a thousand years, and suddenly I'm about to die. How could I not be scared? I haven't seen enough of this world yet."

Dao Yisheng fell silent. He looked at Taihua and slowly said, "Why don't you leave them here? With your talent, you'll be fully recovered in less than fifty years."

Hearing Dao Yisheng's serious tone, Taihua also stopped smiling. He then waved his hand and said, "No need. Maybe something like this will happen again someday, and I can't stand it. Sometimes, death is more peaceful than hiding in the mountains."

Dao Yisheng sighed and stopped trying to persuade him, instead looking at the moon.

Seeing that Dao Yisheng remained silent, Taihua looked at the two white beads beside him and said, "How about this, I'll teach you the Water Mirror Technique?"

"The Water Mirror Technique?" Dao Yisheng tilted his head and stared at Taihua. "Is that the technique that can predict the future?"

“Yes, that way, you might need it someday after I die. Who knows, maybe you'll see Green Robe in the Water Mirror someday.” Taihua looked at Daoyisheng, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

Dao Yisheng remained silent.

Helpless, Taihua had no choice but to use his mind to guide two beams of white light into Dao Yisheng's forehead, which he could not remove no matter how he tried to drive them away.

"What are you doing? Do you really want to die?"

Dao Yisheng couldn't retrieve those two items, so he immediately stood up, frowning as he looked at Taihua.

Taihua didn't want to say much. He stood up with some difficulty and leaned on the wooden root, saying, "To know what you know, and to know what you don't know, that is true knowledge."

"This is Shui Jing's mental cultivation method. As for how to use it, that's up to you."

"Alright, you don't need to see me off."

After saying that, he turned and left the wooden house.

"Where are you going?" Dao Yisheng asked.

"I don't know, maybe I'll just die on the way."

He waved and said.

Dao Yisheng watched Taihua's departing figure. He wanted to call out to him, but he found that he seemed to have no reason to keep him.

And all he could do was watch him walk further and further away.

"Oh, right!" Taihua suddenly stopped and turned to look at Daoyisheng with his aged appearance. "If, and I mean if, you ever meet my senior brother again, please pass on a message for me. Tell him that Taihua can no longer wait for the thousand-year promise, and I would be grateful if you could go and see that person for me."

After saying that, Taihua was about to leave again, but he remembered that Daoyisheng did not know his senior brother, so he added, "My senior brother's name is Yan Yu. If you meet him in the future, please remember to tell him."

This time, Taihua made no stop.

Dao Yisheng looked at Taihua, which had disappeared into the distance under the moonlight, and finally shed tears of sorrow.

Because this is not the outcome he wanted.

(End of this chapter)