Simultaneous travel: I am a talented person in all the worlds

Chapter 297 One hundred million years is too short, I desire eternity!
A world of one's own.

Inner View: The Realm of Other-Transformation.

A spark of inspiration arises from the ocean of one's true nature, clear as crystal, untouched by dust.

The vast world, the pleasures of wine, women, and the carefree life of wandering the martial world—ultimately, none of it could hold him back.

The desire for a nine-layered palace, immense wealth, and unparalleled power could not stop him.

The heroes of Moyu simply kept moving forward.
They traversed the martial world and then passed through the imperial court.

Finally, when all the noise subsided, he returned to the green mountains and built a simple Taoist temple.

After an unknown amount of time, he... attained enlightenment.

Living on wind and dew, abstaining from grains and worldly cares, one's body is as light as a feather, and one's mind is in harmony with the Dao.

Gradually, the birds and beasts in the forest stopped disturbing him, and the people in the villages and towns at the foot of the mountain gradually forgot about his existence.

Only a few old men, so old they'd lost all their teeth, pointed to the gnarled peach tree beside the pavilion during the peach blossom season, gesturing happily to the children twining around their knees:

“When I was as tall as you are now, there was a young Taoist priest living in that dilapidated Taoist temple in the mountains… I once treated him to a peach that I grew myself…”

"More than ten years ago, my great-grandfather went up the mountain to chop firewood and ran into him again... Hey, I've aged so much, but he still looks like he was in his early twenties back then, not changed at all! He even recognized me! So... I returned the favor by offering my great-grandfather a peach..."

"Those peaches...so sweet! I couldn't bear to throw away the peach pits, so I planted them. Look, this is the old peach tree right here..."

The children, munching on rosy peaches, tilted their little faces up and listened with great interest.

The adults passing by just smiled when they heard this, and didn't take it seriously.

The old man is already in his eighties; more than ten years ago, he was already at the age of sixty.

Who can maintain their youthful appearance for fifty or sixty years? Wouldn't that make them a living god?
However, these peaches are truly sweet and delicious, and are famous far and wide.

After more than a decade of careful cultivation and expansion, the entire village is now filled with peach trees.

When the peach blossoms are in full bloom, they are as beautiful as rosy clouds, a sight to behold.

The villagers transported these high-quality peaches, peach blossoms, and peach wood products to the outside world, exchanging them for wealth.

As a result, the village gradually prospered.

The Taoist temple in the mountains, which had long been deserted, was renovated several times at the insistence of the old man, and its incense offerings gradually increased.

Named after 'peach blossoms', it has become a well-known Taoist temple in the area.

Time flies like an arrow; time passes swiftly.

More than twenty years have passed in a flash.

The old man who insisted on building the temple back then had lived to be over a hundred years old and passed away peacefully with a smile on his face, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

The day of the funeral.

A young Taoist priest who looked to be about twenty years old happened to pass by the old peach tree in front of the old master's mansion.

He seemed a little thirsty, so he casually picked a ripe peach from the tree, leaned against it, and leisurely began to eat it.

A gentle breeze blew by, stirring up a few fallen peach blossoms.

The young Taoist's figure vanished silently from the spot, as if it had merged into a gentle breeze, leaving no trace.

A scholar with graying temples happened to witness this scene.

She stood there, stunned, rubbing her eyes, thinking she was seeing things because of excessive grief.

The children who used to gather around the old man to listen to his stories have long since grown up, gone to school, started families, established careers, and become respected figures in Peach Blossom Village.

As for the story about the young Taoist priest that my great-grandfather told more than forty years ago, I have long regarded it as a myth and legend, and simply laughed it off.

But what he had just witnessed stirred up a storm in his heart.

The old man's funeral was held in a grand and dignified manner.

Three days later, in the already thriving Peach Blossom Temple, a scholar with half-white hair and beard left home to become a monk and began practicing Taoism.

Spring passes and autumn comes.

Another forty degrees Celsius.

The Confucian scholar who became a monk in middle age back then is now the nearly 100-year-old abbot of Peach Blossom Temple with white hair and beard.

Despite his advanced age, he remains vigorous and his movements are as agile as ever.

At this moment, he was smiling broadly as he told two newly accepted young Taoist disciples the story he had heard and pondered his entire life:
"When I was just a tiny little kid like you, my great-grandfather told me a story..."

After the story was finished, a slightly older young Taoist priest frowned and asked, puzzled:

"Master, how can anyone in this world not look the same for fifty or sixty years? Wouldn't that make them a god?"

"Hehe, yeah, then...wouldn't that make you a true living god?"

The abbot of Peach Blossom Temple was not annoyed upon hearing this; he simply smiled.

In his cloudy old eyes, however, the image of the young Taoist priest eating a peach under the old peach tree on the day his great-grandfather passed away decades ago was clearly reflected, as well as the gentle breeze that swept away the Taoist priest and the fallen petals...

The Great Way is merciless and shows no mercy to the mediocre!
The ways of Heaven are unpredictable, and the affairs of the world are like a game of chess!
Three years later.

The old abbot of Peach Blossom Temple.

died!

He did not die of old age, but rather suffered the calamity of war.

More than a hundred years have passed.

This was enough to cause a once-powerful empire to decay and decline amidst internal and external troubles;

This was enough to allow the once weakened border tribes to regroup, rise again, and covet the prosperity of the Central Plains.

The prosperity of Peach Blossom Town became the most succulent piece of meat in the eyes of a hungry wolf.

The Peach Blossom Temple, with its thriving incense offerings and frequent visits from wealthy merchants and nobles, naturally became a piggy bank in the eyes of the bandits.

After the flames of war subsided.

Peach Blossom Town was completely slaughtered, and the beautiful Peach Blossom Temple was also burned to the ground.

A century of human prosperity is but a fleeting dream. In the blink of an eye, all is vanity!

Time flows on.

I don't know how many years have passed.

On scorched earth, a mighty ruler will eventually rise from humble beginnings.

Rebuild our nation!

To save the day from collapse and to stem the raging tide!
Peace returned to the world.

A group of people were relocated by the imperial court to villages and towns at the foot of the mountain.

The once bustling Peach Blossom Village has gradually regained its popularity, but no one knows the old stories of Peach Blossom Temple anymore.

One day.

An old Taoist priest, described as simple and unpretentious, with an otherworldly air, traveled to this place and inquired around the village, asking if there had ever been a Taoist temple nearby.

Guided by several local elders whose ancestors had survived in this place, he arrived at the ruins of Peach Blossom Temple.

Looking at the devastation and the charred peach wood stumps still faintly visible among the broken walls, the old Taoist priest let out a long and regretful sigh.

He found a place to sit down and took out two peaches from his pocket.

He picked one up and started munching on it carefully.

The other one, without even looking, casually handed it to the empty space beside him.

"Your peaches are indeed quite good. Juicy, sweet and refreshing, and delicious, but... there's too much peach fuzz, it's prickly."

A gentle breeze swept by, stirring up some dust on the ground and lifting the hem of the dark robe of a young Taoist priest who had quietly appeared beside the old Taoist priest.

He casually took the peach the old Taoist priest offered, sat cross-legged beside him, and took a couple of bites.
It's not as sweet as it was at the beginning.

I spent sixty years carefully selecting seeds and repeatedly trying grafting before I finally cultivated this excellent variety.

Unfortunately, it has been neglected for decades, its spiritual energy has gradually diminished, and it has already degenerated somewhat.

The old Taoist chuckled and said without any hesitation:
"It's alright, it's alright. You little rascal, give me one of the peaches you grew to try later. After I eat the peach, I'll give the pit to the new villagers so they can plant it properly."

"When I return to this place in ten or twenty years, and ask the village for some fresh peaches, I'm sure they'll taste even better."

The young Taoist priest glanced at him, his tone indifferent:

"There are still a few old roots on the mountaintop; go and pick them yourself."

The old Taoist nodded, then closed his eyes, his head drooping slightly, as if he had fallen asleep.

However, in the next instant, a plump, fresh, and juicy peach appeared out of thin air in his hand, its fragrance filling the air and making one's mouth water.

Upon seeing this, the young Taoist narrowed his eyes slightly, a hint of admiration flashing within them:
"Fellow Daoist's technique of 'Yang Spirit Astral Projection and Void Manipulation' is truly... incredibly refined and powerful in terms of 'Yang Spirit' cultivation!"

The old Taoist priest, however, paid no attention, taking a bite of the peach in his hand and mumbling indistinctly:

"It cannot compare to your exquisite skill and profound understanding of creation, fellow Daoist. Your Yang Spirit has been refined to the point that it is like a real person with a physical body, complete with all five internal organs and six bowels, with every hair and tuft visible. It can gather and disperse at will, appearing and disappearing without a trace. It is truly the skill of an immortal."

Upon hearing this, the young Taoist priest gently shook his head:
"This is not my true state of being now. Rather, it is an illusory supernatural power that this 'Heaven of Other Transformation' forcibly bestowed upon me based on my memories and understanding of the 'Dao'."

"Hehe, fellow Daoist, there's no need to belittle yourself."

Upon hearing this, the old Taoist priest chuckled again.
“Now that you understand the path ahead, reaching this level is only a matter of time. However… this old Taoist is somewhat curious…”

He paused, then asked with some surprise, "Fellow Daoist, since you have already seen through this place as an illusion, why don't you turn away and break through this barrier? Could it be... that you still have some attachment and reluctance to leave this place?"

The young Taoist priest gazed intently at the old Taoist priest before him, whose demeanor was that of a sage.

I've been waiting for you.

When receiving and upholding this mantra of the Paranirmitavasavartin.

What the hero Mo Yu fears most is that he cannot overcome the hurdle of immortality.

But when he actually went through this ordeal, he discovered that compared to the beauty of the world with beautiful women by his side and the worldly pleasures of indulging in the pleasures of life, and the worldly power to manipulate events and wield absolute authority, he found it far more difficult.

What he figured out most quickly was the key to 'immortality'!
It's not that he has given up his obsession with 'immortality'.

On the contrary, it is precisely because his obsession with 'immortality' far surpasses all other desires that his demands for 'immortality' have reached an unimaginable extreme!

What he sought was eternal life! Immortality through countless eons!!

But all this illusory realm of desire can offer is nothing but an illusion.

Everything is like a flower in a mirror or the moon in water, easily destroyed at the slightest touch!
When his physical body decays and his soul vanishes in reality, the so-called 'immortality' in this illusory realm of desire will vanish like a rootless duckweed.

Such illusions are not what he seeks.
The old Taoist seemed to have seen through Mo Yu's thoughts, completely ignoring his resentment, and continued to ask curiously:

"One day and one night in this 'Paranirmitavasavartin Heaven' is equivalent to 1,600 years in the human world."

With your current cultivation level, you have at least 160 years of lifespan left in reality. Converted to this illusionary realm, that's a full 92,160,000 years...

Is that not enough?

"not enough!"

Mo Yu, one of the heroes, shook his head decisively:
"Not nearly enough! I want to... live longer! Longer! Long enough... to transcend the constraints of time, long enough... to witness the birth and death of the universe! What I want... is true... eternity!!!"

"."

Upon hearing this, the old Taoist priest fell into a long silence, simply looking at him with a complex and unfathomable gaze.

When a person's desires reach such a level, for a cultivator, it's practically the same as having none at all.

Because nothing but the 'Tao' could satisfy his magnificent, almost arrogant desires!

Therefore, in his eyes, there was no room for any other scenery besides the main road.

This fervent desire for the Way is undoubtedly a supreme quality and immense benefit that any seeker of the Way longs for.

However... his desire for the Dao, driven by endless desires, may enable him to overcome all obstacles and difficulties before reaching the Dao, and to be successful in everything he does.

However, when he truly relied on this desire to climb to that final step that brought him infinitely closer to the 'Tao'...

But because of this, he will be forever separated by an insurmountable distance, never able to take that final half-step!
(End of this chapter)