yasinovel Chapter 3 A Dead Heart, A New Path
Chapter 3 A Dead Heart, A New Path
Xuanji looked at Lu Ming and said, "You are destined to be with the Dao, so I will teach you the method of cultivation. Remember it well and try to comprehend it with your heart."
Lu Ming knelt solemnly and listened quietly.
Xuanji uttered a profound incantation.
Lu Ming seemed to understand, yet he remembered every word, as if these principles were already hidden deep within his soul, waiting to be awakened.
From then on, he devoted himself to cultivation in this quiet place.
When hungry, he draws upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to nourish himself; when tired, he closes his eyes and concentrates his mind. He has no concept of day or night, no concept of years or months, and he doesn't even know how long he has been cultivating.
All he knew was that with each breath, his body became lighter and lighter, his senses sharper and sharper, and the sounds and breaths of all things in the world became incredibly clear in his mind.
He gradually gained the ability to leap and fly, to walk on air, to observe the winds and clouds over vast distances, and to hear the whispers of mountains and rivers. His cultivation level advanced by leaps and bounds without him even realizing it, far surpassing that of ordinary cultivators.
Xuanji occasionally appears, offering only a few pointers, but most of the time he lets things grow naturally.
Until one day, Xuanji looked at him and said calmly, "Your foundation is complete. It is time for you to enter the mortal world, experience life, and see your true self."
"Thank you for your guidance, Master. I wonder when we will meet again?" Lu Ming was overjoyed. He had long wanted to go home and see the world outside.
"A thousand years from now, the place where the Dao begins," Xuanji said calmly.
"Master, no..." Lu Ming was extremely anxious. Hearing that they would meet again after a thousand years, he began to panic.
Before Lu Ming could finish speaking, Xuanji waved his sleeve, and the light and shadow before Lu Ming's eyes became chaotic, time and space flowed, and when he landed again, he was already in the mortal world.
"Master, Master..." Lu Ming called out loudly for a long time, but received no response. He had no choice but to leave dejectedly.
In secret realms, there is no concept of the passage of time; years pass unnoticed.
But when Lu Ming set foot on his homeland, he suddenly realized that the world had already changed.
Qinghe Village is still in the same location, but everything in my memory has changed beyond recognition.
The old trees at the village entrance were even thicker, and the mud walls of the former houses were mostly dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. The pedestrians on the road were dressed in unfamiliar clothes, and he didn't recognize a single face.
Lu Ming's heart sank. He stepped forward and grabbed an old man, his voice hoarse: "Old man, do you know where Lu Dashi's family is? Is Village Chief Hu still alive?"
The old man squinted and thought for a long time before shaking his head and sighing, "Lu Dashi... that was someone from more than 60 years ago. He was buried in the cemetery behind the mountain long ago, and even his children and grandchildren are gone. Old Village Chief Hu also passed away many years ago, and his descendants moved away decades ago."
Before the year 60...
These four short words struck Lu Ming like a thunderbolt.
He cultivated himself in the mountains, and in the blink of an eye, sixty years had passed in the world.
His parents have long since passed away, his childhood playmates are now very old, the school is gone, the bell has stopped ringing, and even Hu Zhen, who once smiled and said she would take him on a spiritual journey, has long since disappeared into the past.
He stood before his dilapidated old house, gazing at the overgrown weeds, speechless for a long time. It turned out that the first gift of spiritual practice was homelessness.
A light rain began to fall, and raindrops slid down his cheeks.
Lu Ming found his parents' graves and knelt there all night, talking to himself incessantly.
The tree wants to be quiet but the wind keeps on, and the child wants to support but the kiss does not wait.
As the sun rose in the east, Lu Ming finally got up and left his hometown step by step.
Looking back at his homeland, he finds no way back. From this day forward, the land of China will have one more solitary traveler.
He lived through secular dynasties, witnessed prosperous times, and also saw the decline of splendor.
He had saved lives, quelled rebellions, and protected the lives of an entire city, but ultimately he could not stop the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death, or the changing of dynasties.
He traveled through famous mountains and rivers, met reclusive masters, saw demons and monsters, and ventured through perilous places.
Lu Ming's cultivation level grew stronger and stronger, enabling him to traverse mountains and seas, summon wind and rain, and intimidate an entire region with a single thought. However, the deeper his cultivation and the stronger his power, the more alone he became.
A century has passed in the blink of an eye. His dearest friends, with whom he once shared drinks and laughter, have turned to dust. His old companions, who once walked alongside him, are now old and frail, no longer resembling their former selves.
One year spent similar, each year is different.
Two hundred years, three hundred years, five hundred years. He had become the world's top cultivator, able to suppress mountains and rivers with a wave of his hand and startle heaven and earth with a thought. Everyone respected him.
He witnessed the rise of the immortal sects, and then watched them decline and perish. He saw dynasties at their peak, and then watched them crumble. He saw countless geniuses emerge, and then watched them fall one by one.
A thousand years have passed quietly.
He has lived for so long that he has almost forgotten where he originally came from.
The land of China remains the same, and the lives of ordinary people continue to evolve from generation to generation, but everything related to him has vanished.
No one understands his past anymore, no one knows his homesickness anymore, and no one talks to him about the people of Qinghe Village, the books in the school, or the trees at the village entrance.
Immortality became a long period of loneliness.
I yearn for the simple joys of life, but find them utterly elusive. All the vibrant colors of life fade into ashes before my very eyes.
He possessed immense power, yet he could never find a home again. He traveled the world, but found no place where he could find peace of mind.
If the heart has no place to rest, then wherever you go is a place of wandering.
Finally, on a day when snow was falling heavily, Lu Ming stopped.
He was tired of wandering, tired of parting, tired of watching the people around him disappear into the years.
He turned and flew back in the direction he had started.
Having traversed countless mountains and rivers, and passed through a vast sea of clouds, he returned once again to the place where the Dao began.
The place is still shrouded in mist and the pines and bamboos remain evergreen, just as it was when he became an apprentice, as if a thousand years have passed without him ever stopping here.
"Master, Master, where are you? I have suffered so much these past years..." Lu Ming searched and called out frantically, but there was no response.
Lu Ming slumped down on the bluestone where he had knelt for so long, closing his eyes to recall his life.
A young man sought the Dao, entered the mountains one day, and returned to find his hometown no longer the same.
Throughout a thousand years of mortal life, witnessing the rise and fall of life and death, experiencing joys and sorrows, and wielding supreme supernatural powers, one cannot even hold onto a wisp of smoke.
At the beginning of his quest for enlightenment, he yearned for power and freedom. But a thousand years later, all he wanted was a peaceful life and a place he could return to.
"What is the purpose of cultivating the Tao?"
He muttered to himself, filled with confusion.
"If immortality brings only eternal loneliness, if power cannot protect those one wishes to protect, what is the point of cultivating this path?"
He recalled his childhood in Qinghe Village, when he and Qin Feiyu secretly ran to the back mountain, with Da Huang running happily ahead of them.
He remembered how Hu Zhen would secretly bring him snacks when he was in school. Back then, he didn't understand anything, but he was filled with joy.
He remembered his parents mending his clothes by the light of an oil lamp, reminding him to eat well...
"Was I wrong..." He closed his eyes, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"If I could do it all over again, would I still choose this path?"
In the moment before his consciousness was about to completely sink into darkness, he felt no fear of death, only endless reflection.
However, amidst this utter disillusionment, a glimmer of light shone from the depths of his Dao heart.
Immortality may be nothing but emptiness, and loneliness may be the end.
But on this arduous path of seeking truth, he has witnessed scenery that ordinary people cannot imagine, experienced extreme emotions, struggled, fought, and lived!
"The Way... is right there."
A sudden realization dawned on Lu Ming, like a star in the dark night.
"Seeing myself, seeing the world, seeing all living beings... Perhaps I failed to see all living beings. But I saw my own insignificance, and I also saw my own resilience and indomitable spirit."
Loss has taught me to cherish things more; loneliness has made me yearn to understand the meaning of existence.
"The road ahead may still be difficult, and there may still be losses, but... this is my choice."
My path to enlightenment is not for immortality, but solely to...see the true nature of this world and find the answer to my existence!
"If the mind does not die, the Way will not be born..." Lu Ming murmured to himself, finally understanding.
With this last thought of pursuing the Dao, Lu Ming's consciousness completely sank into oblivion.
Then the secret appeared: "Foolish child, wake up!"
A soft shout, like the morning bell breaking the dawn.
Lu Ming suddenly opened his eyes, his mind reeling.
Before my eyes, there is no trace of a thousand years, no loneliness in the mortal world, and no sense of things changing beyond recognition.
He was still that twelve-year-old boy, still standing in that white expanse inside the Taoist temple, only now, deep in his eyes, there was a layer of vicissitude that did not belong to his age.
It turns out that from the moment Xuanji began preaching, he stepped into a grand dream of self-examination. A thousand years in the dream, joys and sorrows, life and death, were all illusions.
Xuanji stood quietly before him, his gaze gentle: "A thousand-year dream, gone in the blink of an eye, the past fades like water and smoke. A dream of a thousand years, do you understand?"
Lu Ming took a deep breath, calming himself. He bowed deeply to Xuanji, his voice firm:
"Disciple...understands. The path to the Dao is not a smooth one; there will inevitably be loss and loneliness."
But my heart's devotion to the Way, though shattered by disillusionment, remains unchanged. I will simply continue on my path, without questioning gain or loss.
"Do you really understand?" Xuanji asked again.
"Disciple understands!" Lu Ming replied.
"You know nothing, humph!" Xuanji said angrily.
Lu Ming was momentarily stunned and began to doubt himself, falling into deep thought.
Xuanji, seeing his expression, was furious: "You're truly hopeless! I've gone to so much trouble, can't you see that my Taoist arts are boundless, my skills are astounding, and my supernatural powers are immense? Shouldn't you be amazed by my extraordinary abilities?"
Lu Ming was speechless... and fell to the ground. The mental state he had just cultivated through the Trial of the Heart was completely shattered by this.