Notes on Longevity

Chapter 216 Fallen plum blossoms lay scattered like snow beneath the steps, brushing them off only to find them still covering one's body.
"Really do not have?"

She Li still looked Ping An up and down with some concern. Only after confirming that he was safe and sound did she breathe a sigh of relief and say, "What's going on every day? Why do we keep running into these strange things?"

Ping An didn't hear She Li's complaints clearly, but Yang Shouren leaned against the corner of the wall and laughed, "Yes, if I hadn't met you, I probably wouldn't have encountered such an interesting thing."

She Li frowned and glanced at Yang Shouren, intending to ask him some questions, but Xiao Changgong beat her to it: "Yang idiot, you look like you haven't had enough after surviving such a disaster?"

Yang Shouren laughed and said, "It's not that I'm not satisfied, it's that I really found it interesting. I always heard about ghosts and monsters from them, so it's a rare opportunity to experience it firsthand, and I naturally felt a sense of indescribable joy."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Changgong slapped him without saying a word, and said viciously, "You're still gloating? If you had met some troublesome guys tonight, you would have been dead long ago. You're just a newborn calf that doesn't fear tigers."

Yang Shouren smiled without saying a word. He turned to look at Ping An beside him and asked, "Daoist Ping An, did you see that porcelain demon when you went in just now?"

Ping An nodded and said, "I have seen him. What do you mean by that, Young Master Yang?"

"So what do you think of the porcelain demon's appearance?"

Ping An was surprised to hear this. He tilted his head slightly and looked at Yang Shouren, replying, "I was so busy talking to her that I didn't notice anything."

Ping An's words startled She Li and Xiao Changgong, who both looked at him with disbelief, as if to say: How could you not notice someone like that?
Yang Shouren seemed to understand something. He said, "Perhaps it's because Master Ping'an is still young and has met mostly kind people, so he doesn't care about this. But this also shows Master Ping'an's true nature. Although he is close to people, he lacks a bit of humanity. This is why your mind seems stable but you can't integrate things on your own. Master Ping'an, according to your Taoist teachings, this will be your inner demon."

"Inner demons?" Ping An stood there with a frown. His face showed turbulent emotions, but his heart was empty, with nowhere to settle. He opened his mouth to speak but could not utter a word, and could only stare blankly at Yang Shouren.

Xiao Changgong didn't understand what Yang Shouren meant and felt confused. How could this become a mental demon? Shouldn't a Taoist cultivator be separated from the mortal world and lack human nature?

But She Li understood the implication in Yang Shouren's words: "Young Master Yang, you can tell me directly without beating around the bush."

Yang Shouren glanced at She Li and smiled, "Daoist She Li, do you still remember the story of the porcelain demon I just told you?"

She Li paused slightly, then nodded and said, "I remember."

"Do you still remember what that immortal named Yunzhongke said when he left?"

She Li was speechless, her mind replaying the words "past".

Yang Shouren smiled helplessly at She Li's expression, then continued, "I'm not a scholar; I've only read a few books on commerce, but I understand the principles of conduct. Unscrupulous merchants are driven by profit, while poor peddlers toil for a few taels of silver. Merchants are never greedy without profit, and this is the fundamental reason they can't be considered respectable. They may appear wealthy, but sometimes they live worse than poor farmers. And you cultivators, having journeyed from the past to the present, cannot fully know the future. It's like the saying, 'After letting go of the old, a new past will entangle you.' Each step..." His steps seemed firm, but were actually uncertain. At first, I truly didn't understand, but after my conversation with that Miss Suqing, I realized I hadn't done anything wrong, and neither had you. Your assertiveness and my anger were both understandable, but Master Ping'an lacked emotion. Master Ping'an's desire to seek immortality was not wrong, but his mistake lay in the word "now." He was a Taoist, but also a human being; he should have emotions and desires. I don't know what the mountain god said or did to Master Ping'an, but his humanity shouldn't have been erased. A person without humanity is not human.

Xiao Changgong's eyes widened upon hearing this. He looked at Yang Shouren in disbelief as he heard him say such a long thing. Although he knew why Yang Shouren was saying these things, he couldn't be so absolute. He cautiously looked at She Li, but She Li's reaction also stunned him.

After saying these words to Yang Shouren, She Li looked at Ping An. The bewildered and confused look on Ping An's face in Yang Shouren's words made She Li's heart tremble. In particular, Ping An's eyes, which were like the hazy moonlight over Qumu Town, stirred up waves of emotion in his mind.

His tightly furrowed brows remained furrowed for a long time. He knew that Yang Shouren was taking the opportunity to talk about what had happened before, but what he said was not without reason. Although he was a cultivator, he should not be without humanity. After thinking for a while, he said, "I know that the mountain god must have had his concerns since he did this. Moreover, I have only been cultivating for more than twenty years. I have no way to break the magic of a mountain god who has been cultivating for thousands of years. Now, if I want to go back to find the ancestor, I am afraid it will be too late to get to Huangzhou."

She Li's words shocked Xiao Changgong. The usually strong and domineering She Li was actually going along with a fool's words—this was completely unlike him. Xiao Changgong, knowing everything, shook his head repeatedly, while Ping An, completely unaware, asked curiously, "Senior brother, what are you talking about, Young Master Yang?"

Ping An's words froze everything around him. All three looked at Ping An, their eyes revealing different emotions: Yang Shouren's regret and helpless smile puzzled Ping An; Xiao Changgong's shrug and pitiful expression made Ping An frown slightly; and She Li's heartache and slightly open lips, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't, left Ping An at a loss.

"Senior brother?" Ping An called out softly, his voice trembling, but the three of them did not react and continued to stare at him.

The bright moon hung in the sky, a thin mist enveloped the town, and all was quiet. The atmosphere at the alley entrance was extremely subtle. Ping An stood holding a whisk, feeling uneasy. After a moment, She Li and the other two looked away and smiled at each other. Then Xiao Changgong walked past She Li and Yang Shouren, grabbed Ping An, and laughed wildly: "Look how scared you are, your face has turned pale."

Ping An exclaimed "Ah!" and then looked at She Li, only to see that She Li was no longer acting as before, but instead, imitating Xiao Chang Gong, came to her other side and laughed, "What are you thinking? You don't think we're going to eat you, do you?"

Seeing She Li's appearance, Ping An was puzzled and asked, "Senior Brother shouldn't be like that, but it's hard to say about Senior Brother Xiao."

After saying that, he shifted his gaze to Xiao Changgong. Upon hearing this, Xiao Changgong was furious! He immediately adopted a murderous posture and lowered his voice, hoarsely saying, "Little Taoist, hand over your golden core, and I'll spare your life."

Upon hearing this, She Li slapped Xiao Changgong on the head and said, "Hand over what? Believe me or not, I'll beat you out of everything you ate today!"

Xiao Changgong feigned anger, and a red light suddenly appeared in his hand as he was about to strike She Li. "You stinking Taoist priest, take my seductive palm strike!"

Without saying a word, She Li picked up Ping An, who was still in a daze, and ran back the way they came. Xiao Changgong was not about to give up, so he quickly chased after her.

Yang Shouren smiled as he looked at the three figures who had disappeared: "What a familiar scene."

This reminded him of the scene when the four of them first met in that bamboo forest not long ago.

He smiled, glanced back at the dark alley behind him, sighed, and thought about his conversation with She Li and the others. Although it was a strange encounter, it did reveal a lot of suspicious things. Who was impersonating him and spouting nonsense, and who led him to this place?
He couldn't figure it out, and he couldn't understand it.

Forget it, let's leave first. Once we leave Qumu Town, we should head into the city.

Yang Shouren shrugged, turned and left the alleyway. Su Qing, who had been lying by the door, frowned slightly, as if she had something on her mind. At that moment, the face behind the door quietly surfaced. She stared at Su Qing in confusion and asked, "Su Qing, why did you let him go? He's the one who harmed us."

Su Qing turned her head to look at that pretty face and sighed, "It is him, but it is not him."

"But he clearly carries the scent of those people."

As Su Qing watched Yang Shouren's departing figure at the alley entrance, she said again, "They are the ones who deserve to die, not him. He is innocent."

"But, will they come again?"

"Probably not."

"Then what do we do?"

"When the master returns, he will train another body for you."

After saying that, Su Qing closed the door and turned to walk into the house. She stood in front of the window and looked at the wooden table in front of her, her eyes shimmering with emotion: "Sister Qinghuan, I will definitely find you all when Master comes back."

Having said that, she looked up at the moon, raised her hands to hold her bosom, and as a gentle breeze blew past the window, she transformed once again into a blue and white porcelain vase, standing on the wooden platform. Meanwhile, the pretty face on the gate in the courtyard stared at the porcelain vase that Su Qing had transformed into with a desolate expression. She sighed, "Half of spring has passed since we parted, and the sight of it breaks my heart. Fallen plum blossoms lie scattered like snow on the steps, and even after I brush them off, they still cover me." This was the master's favorite poem.

(End of this chapter)