"Xuanji, there is something I need to tell you."
Suddenly thinking of something, the Grand Elder spoke solemnly.
"What happened?"
Lu Xuanji asked.
"In the second year of your seclusion, your father, Lu Jinwen, passed away; in the fifth year, your mother, overwhelmed with grief, also passed away."
The Grand Elder said calmly.
Buzzing!
Lu Xuanji’s mind was buzzing, and for a long time, he couldn’t regain his posure.
...
Just like that, he walked away stiffly, going to the area behind the mountains, finding a group of graves.
Searching, he found his father’s grave, and found his mother’s grave.
"Father, I’m sorry."
Lu Xuanji said, "I was too busy with seclusion, too busy striving for breakthroughs, and at the moment of your passing, I wasn’t by your side. I’m sorry."
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but start crying.
Tears fell.
"Xuanji, don’t be sad. Death is not that significant." At this moment, the Grand Elder said, "Your father passed away at two hundred twenty-five, which is considered a ripe old age. As for your mother, she was only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivation but lived to one hundred thirty, which is quite considerable. They were lucky to die peacefully at home, passing away naturally."
"As for other cultivators in the Lu Family, some died killing others for treasures, some died hunting demon beasts, some died fighting with other cultivators, and some died from going astray during cultivation."
"The lifespan of those in the Qi Cultivation Stage is one hundred twenty years, but how many live to be a hundred with their lifespan exhausted? Many cultivators die midway; it’s the same for Foundation Establishment cultivators. How many live to over two hundred, passing away naturally? Most die outside, their bones crushed, then carried away by wild dogs."
"Take me for example, I am a Purple Mansion Cultivator, my life expectancy should be four hundred eighty years, but it’s possible I could be killed while fighting with other cultivators."
"On the path of cultivation, the first thing to learn is to face death, to accept it calmly."
"But I can’t accept it, nor understand it."
Lu Xuanji clenched his teeth and said, a flash of unwillingness in his eyes.
"Whether you accept it or not, you must. You are just a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, even if you bee a Golden Core Great Cultivator, a Nascent Soul True Monarch, how many can you bring to Golden Core, and how many to Nascent Soul? In the clan, some cultivators don’t have the aptitude or prehension, just let them be, choose to give up!"
"Originally, some cultivators could only cultivate to break through Foundation Establishment, but you dragged them to the Purple Mansion; some could only cultivate to Purple Mansion, but you pulled them to Golden Core. Leading a group like that will inevitably slow your own cultivation speed. Resources are limited, how much can you squander on those people?"
The Grand Elder’s tone was calm, speaking of a cruel and cold reality.
"Cultivating immortality within the clan is not to make all cultivators Golden Core or Nascent Soul, being top-tier cultivators. That’s impossible. It’s just to give them some assistance, some help. How far they can go depends on their own fortune."
Relying on one person’s strength to pull the clan forward will drag oneself down. You’re the Clan Leader, the ruler of your clan, not their hardworking ox. You owe them nothing; rather, they owe you much."
"It’s just unwillingness, losing my parents, I’ve bee an orphan."
Lu Xuanji said, "With my parents, life has a direction; without them, life is just a return journey."
Totalled this, tears fell once more.
"What if you’re unwilling?" the Grand Elder said. "It’s said that only a Nascent Soul True Monarch can tinker with reincarnation, live another life. But your parents, one a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, the other just a Qi Cultivation Cultivator, when they died, they truly died; there’s no second life."
"When people die, it’s like a lamp going out, how could there be a second life."
"Mortals, when they die, truly die; only the strong can live a second, third life."
"In legend, the Reincarnation Demon Vein birthed an Emperor of Reincarnation, self-created the Reincarnation Celestial Technique, intending to open the Underworld, vowing to establish an unparalleled reincarnation, wishing to give people hope that death is not the end, but a new beginning.
Resulted in failure.
He only allowed his sect members to have the power of reincarnation.
Because after death, the soul can only last less than ten breaths before dissipating. Only under special circumstances does it turn into a ghost, but without great opportunity, it also dissipates.
For mortals, low-level cultivators, wanting to live a second life is almost impossible.
To live a second life is a privilege of the powerful.
As for the poor, the weak, there’s no need to even think about it."
"But I’m still unwilling."
Lu Xuanji said.
The Grand Elder said, "Cultivating immortality is inherently lonely. Two hundred years from now, I too will pass away, and many familiar people will also die. Only a Dao panion will acpany you until life’s end. I used to think it was Ye Feixue, but now it seems to be Ye Linglong."
"Still unwilling."
Lu Xuanji said
"Cultivating immortality is for happiness, for joy, for living content. If cultivating immortality only leads to loneliness, then it’s not worth cultivating."
Standing up, wiping away tears, a trace of determination and resolve appeared in Lu Xuanji’s eyes.
"When I close my eyes, the world is as illusory as smoke. When I open my eyes, the world is as real as ever. The sun and moon rise for me, rivers and mountains dance for me. I exist, giving meaning to this world; I disappear, and this world loses meaning."
"I seek not a lonely immortal, but a free and easy immortal."
"If I bee immortal, I will surely revive my parents."
"If not, then I will bee an Immortal King, an Immortal Emperor, standing at the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm."
Standing there, Lu Xuanji vowed to the heavens, like an ant defying the heavens.
The Grand Elder fell silent.
Not knowing what to say.
In cultivation, there is the saying of Supreme Forget Emotions;
This means when parents die naturally of age, emotions naturally fade.
In the Demon Dao, there is the saying of Severing Emotions.
There is the saying of killing one’s spouse for enlightenment.
To sever emotions, one kills spouses, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, severing all mortal emotions
Both seem different, but essentially are the same.
Abandon the cause and effect of the mortal world, seeking great freedom and ease, only then can one achieve immortality.
If cause and effect are not severed, the Great Dao is hard to acplish.
But Xuanji couldn’t let it go and turned it into obsession.
He wanted to step forward and say something, but gave up.
He was just a mere Purple Mansion Cultivator, what did he understand?
Xuanji has his path, right or wrong, he must continue walking it.
...
After paying respects to his parents, the world returned to calm.
Lu Xuanji approached clan cultivators, inquiring, guiding.
Bloodline is the link among clan cultivators.
But that’s not enough, it requires more interaction, with time es familiarity, creating mutual bonds. By asking and interacting, they develop feelings for each other.
His position as Clan Leader bees stable.
Like this, another three years passed.
"Xuanji, the beast tide is approaching."
At this moment, the Grand Elder said.
...
PS: Why cultivate immortality? Some for longevity, some for power, some for strength. What sustains life is obsession; as long as obsession remains, it keeps one from being lost in the eons, from being the Evil Dragon when once a Dragon Slayer.
In Renegade Immortal, Old Demon Wang reversed the river of time to resurrect his wife.
In Covering the Sky, the brutal ones sought to resurrect brothers, Ye Fan wished to revive his parents, Wushi wished to revive his parents. One wonders, when they became Immortal Emperors, illuminating the heavens, did they revive their past loved ones?
User Comments
0 comments from readers