Chapter 358: The Sage's Path
Chapter 358: Chapter 138: The Sage’s Path
「Six years later.」
In the early spring wind, tree after tree shimmered with light as warmth returned to the earth.
“How fast it’s gone!”
Fang Rui pushed open the window and stretched luxuriously.
In these six years, Fang Li had shot up like a sapling and was beginning to mature. Batch after batch of students from Sanwei Bookstore had scattered across the Great Yu, beginning their own brilliant journeys.
Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family, Third Lady, Fang Ling, and Nannan were also aging year by year. However, they were healthy and free from sickness or disaster. In a world that could hardly be called peaceful, this was already a rare blessing.
At least, they themselves felt fortunate, cherished what they had, and were content.
“In this season of renewal, there is also decay and decline.”
Fang Rui raised his hand and caught a withered old leaf that had survived the winter, now finally falling. “By my calculations, it should be about time for Brother Zhou.”
…
「Zhou Mansion.」
“I’m going to die!”
Zhou Changfa said to Fang Rui.
Upper Three Grade Martial Artists possessed a sharp Martial Arts Intuition, allowing them to sense with relative clarity when their time was up.
“Father!”
“Grandfather!”
…
One of his grandsons even knelt and kowtowed, begging Fang Rui, “Divine Doctor Fang, I beg you, please save Grandfather one more time!”
Fang Rui silently shook his head.
Zhou Changfa’s body was already like a leaky sieve. It was a miracle that he had lasted this long under Fang Rui’s constant patching and mending.
With his Medical Skill, he could continue to patch him up, but it was no use. Zhou Changfa’s own life force was completely depleted.
“Enough. Don’t make things difficult for Fang Rui.”
Zhou Changfa waved his hand at his children and grandchildren. “Everything I needed to tell you has already been said. Let me spend my final moments catching up with an old friend.”
He shooed away his descendants and, full of enthusiasm, led Fang Rui to see his coffin and burial clothes, even asking with a smile if they were good-looking.
Finally, Zhou Changfa led Fang Rui to the doorway. Perhaps he was tired, or perhaps he just wanted to look outside. He paid no mind to his image and sat right on the threshold, just like any ordinary old man.
“You once told me, Brother Zhou, that the older one gets, the more one fears death. What about now? Are you no longer afraid?” Fang Rui asked.
He knew Zhou Changfa no longer shied away from discussing life and death, so there was no need to be tactful.
“I’m afraid, and yet I’m not.”
Zhou Changfa first nodded, then shook his head. “It’s strange. I used to be terrified of dying, but now that it’s here, I’m not so scared anymore.”
“It’s like… back then, I was worried I wouldn’t be a good Director of the Divine Capture Bureau, but once I actually took the post, I realized it was nothing so special.”
“Thinking back, I’ve had a glorious life. I was the Director of the Divine Capture Bureau for a whole prefecture, holding great power in my hands… I’ve been schemed against and have seen the Ghost-like nature of the human heart… And in the end, I was able to land on my feet, retire, and maintain my dignity, securing a peaceful death…”
“It was all worth it!”
He spoke with an air of profound acceptance.
“You’re taking it well, Brother Zhou.”
The two of them sat side-by-side, watching the bustling crowd come and go on the street outside.
A trace of yearning appeared in Zhou Changfa’s eyes, quickly followed by a sense of release.
“What do you mean, taking it well?!”
He shook his head. “I’m not taking it well at all. ‘Through all ages, death is the one true hardship.’ But what can I do? I’m going to die either way. I can’t just spend my last days weeping, can I?”
“Haha!”
Fang Rui laughed. “You’re very honest, Brother Zhou.”
Zhou Changfa laughed too, so hard he could barely breathe. Two streams of murky tears ran down his face, which was as withered as old tree bark. “My wife passed away long ago! I’ve even buried one of my sons. My lifelong friends are all but gone… The people and things I care about are fewer and fewer. Lately, I often feel tired, like I just want to sleep.”
“But that’s a feeling that only came in the last year or so, as my body started failing. Two years ago, I was thinking I should use my remaining time to indulge in even greater pleasures. I forgot my late wife, forgot my children and grandchildren, and spent more than half my family’s fortune just to concoct aphrodisiacs…”
“Now, looking back, it’s like waking from a long dream. I can hardly recognize the man I was back then. My mind was completely clouded by desire!”
“Desire… one’s true self…”
Fang Rui murmured, his mind suddenly filled with many thoughts.
There was no shortage of old farmers in the countryside who had come to terms with death, even preparing their own coffins early and joking about their funerals. Yet the emperors and nobles of the world often desperately pursued Immortality.
—Because what the latter could enjoy was something the former could never imagine, something they could never finish enjoying in a single lifetime.
A man is a boy until the day he dies; he’ll always like young women, unless his portrait is hanging on the wall.
In his previous life, there were many emperors who were wise and mighty in their youth, only to become increasingly power-hungry and debauched in their old age.
…
“I’m also to blame for giving you that prescription, Brother Zhou.”
Fang Rui shook his head slightly, then added, “But you are a man who values his connections, Brother Zhou. You have your anchors. In the end, you came to your senses and found yourself again.”
“Values my connections?! Anchors?! I suppose so!”
Zhou Changfa sighed. “I often wonder, if there really are Immortals in this world, their long life might not be a gift from fate. It could just as well be a curse.”
“If one were heartless and unfeeling, achieving the Taishang’s transcendent detachment, they would eventually be changed by desire over the long ages, becoming someone else entirely. But if one loves too deeply and uses that love as an anchor, watching the people they cherish grow old and die one by one, unable to stop it… how bone-deep and unforgettable must that pain be?!”
‘Were his words a prophecy? Is he foretelling my future?!’
Fang Rui thought to himself. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he held his tongue.
“Haha, I’m getting carried away. How could anyone in this world achieve Immortality?! It’s just a fantasy, a complete fantasy!”
Zhou Changfa waved his hand dismissively and changed the subject. “Fang Rui, do you still remember Huaiyin Prefecture?”
“Of course, I remember…”
The two men chattered on, reminiscing about the past.
“Outside the Farewell Pavilion, Daoist Ge, you, and Qing Yan saw me off… The sunset that evening was truly beautiful!”