Longevity Candle

Chapter 98 The peach blossoms are in full bloom, and youth is at its peak.

South China Sea, a small island.

The peach blossoms are in full bloom, and the bamboo grove is serene and secluded.

Men and women frolicked carefree in the peach grove.

In the distance, several elderly men were fishing on the beach.

Li Qingxuan found a small boat, activated her magic, and arrived at the island.

The elderly men fishing watched her warily, and when they saw that she was alone, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"May I ask, what place is this?" Li Qingxuan asked.

"And who are you?" an elderly man with gray hair asked.

“Taiping Dao, Li Qingxuan.” Li Qingxuan said, “I come from Yunmeng. There is war there, and the people are suffering. I have no relatives left and have nowhere to go. I saw the island in the sea, so I came here.”

"Young lady, is the war in Yunmeng still going on?" the gray-haired old man asked.

The other elderly men also looked at her curiously.

“Not yet,” Li Qingxuan said. “I wonder if I could stay on this island? I have nowhere else to go; the war destroyed my homeland.”

“Of course, we are all refugees.” The white-haired old man said, “My surname is Chen, and my given name is An. What place is this Taiping Dao you mentioned?”

“Taipingdao is my homeland. There used to be peach trees all over the mountains and fields. The villagers lived in the mountains and forests without any worries. But the war destroyed my home.”

Li Qingxuan said in a low voice, "I have been wandering all the way, and I originally thought I would take a boat and drift with the waves, but I never expected to end up here."

“You were lucky. Our island can move. It was by chance that we ended up here,” Chen An said.

They welcomed Li Qingxuan, an outsider, with great enthusiasm and naturalness.

“I can brew peach blossom wine, and I can also do manual labor,” Li Qingxuan said.

"You can make wine? That's wonderful! We haven't tasted wine in years."

The old men swallowed hard, wishing they could drink a bowl right away.

Li Qingxuan settled on the island, and they listened to her tell stories of Peach Blossom Spring and the Way of Peace.

Chen An smiled and said, "From now on, this place will be Peach Blossom Island, a new paradise. Once this island is gone, no one will be able to find us again."

Li Qingxuan didn't investigate the island's ability to move; she settled in with peace of mind.

There are not only people with the surname Chen here, but also people with the surnames Wang and Li. They all fled here during the war. However, apart from the elderly, there are not many young and strong men; most of them are women.

She taught them how to brew peach blossom wine, and since there were poisonous snakes on the island, she taught them how to control them.

Chen An noticed her unusual nature and asked with some concern, "Are you a member of the clan?"

“No,” Li Qingxuan said. “The cultivators of the Way of Peace only seek the Way of Peace in their entire lives.”

What is a Qi Refiner?

Li Qingxuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Refining essence into qi, strengthening the body, prolonging life, and pursuing peace throughout the world."

"It can strengthen the body and prolong life?" Chen An asked with delight.

"Yes, living another three to five years is no problem." Li Qingxuan was not telling the truth.

"Can the children learn it?" Chen An asked.

"Of course you can, but once you learn it, you must not kill innocent people indiscriminately, nor interfere in worldly wars, otherwise you will be punished by heaven," Li Qingxuan said solemnly.

"We live on Peach Blossom Island, carefree and without worries. Naturally, we would not kill innocent people or interfere in worldly affairs. Besides, we just want to catch some fish."

Chen An said, "Moreover, we don't want to go back. Many young people don't know that Yunmeng exists and think that this island is the only place in the world."

“Fishing is also not allowed,” Li Qingxuan said, shaking her head.

"Fishing won't work either? What's the point of practicing this method?" Chen An was disappointed. He just wanted to fish to improve life on the island.

"Qi cultivators absorb the power of heaven and earth, live on wind and dew, and do not need to eat grains."

Li Qingxuan said, "If you want to fish, I can teach you martial arts techniques to strengthen your body and catch fish in the sea."

"Martial arts are good, martial arts are good, but only those that can catch fish are truly good!" Chen An clapped his hands and shouted.

Li Qingxuan smiled, took the stone tablet, and carved the words "Peach Blossom Sword Manual" with her finger.

She taught the people of Peach Blossom Island martial arts, how to control snakes, and how to fish in the sea.

A year passed in the blink of an eye, and her injuries worsened, her face turned pale, and her life was slipping away.

Chen An and the others also sensed something was wrong and tried to heal her, but they couldn't even detect the extent of her injuries.

"Grandmother Qingxuan, you'll be fine after drinking the fish soup."

Young Yan Yu brought a bowl of fish soup to Li Qingxuan.

Li Qingxuan touched her cheek: "Grandma is fine, it's just an old ailment. You have to be good from now on."

"I'm very well-behaved and never naughty. I've already learned how to make peach blossom wine," Xiao Yanyu said obediently.

"Heaven has been kind to me." Li Qingxuan smiled and looked at Chen An outside the house: "Brother Chen An, could you let me and Xiao Yanyu go to the peach grove for a while, so that we won't be disturbed?"

Chen An was silent for a moment, then said, "Take care of yourself."

He called everyone away.

Li Qingxuan led Xiao Yanyu towards the peach grove.

Xiao Yanyu's parents perished at sea while fishing. She was raised by the families of Peach Blossom Island. Xiao Yanyu is very well-behaved and knows how to brew wine, cook, do laundry, and make fish soup.

Her qualifications are also the best on the island.

The people here are so kind, just like the paradise she dreamed of.

The peach blossoms remain, their fragrance still filling the air.

"Grandmother Qingxuan, the peach blossoms are so beautiful, just like when you first came." Little Yanyu was innocent and unaware of what was about to happen.

"Little Yanyu, Grandma is going to introduce you to a new friend," Li Qingxuan said.

"A new friend?" Xiao Yanyu asked in confusion, "Is it the snake that Grandma tamed?"

"No, he is a celestial being."

What is an immortal?

“You’ll know later.” Li Qingxuan placed the green lamp in her hand: “Whenever you encounter any hardship in the future, as long as you hold the green lamp, the candlelight will guide you.”

Under Xiaoyanyu's astonished gaze, a brilliant light shone forth, merging with the light of the sun and moon—a light she had accumulated over many years.

As the candlelight flickered on, a figure in white gradually solidified.

Jiang Zhu looked at her; blood had begun to seep from her seven orifices, and her internal organs had aged to the extreme, beyond any hope of recovery.

Xiao Yanyu covered her mouth in surprise.

“He is Jiang Zhu, my grandmother’s best friend,” Li Qingxuan said. “He lives in Qingdeng.”

Xiao Yanyu stared wide-eyed at the blue lamp, which didn't look like a habitable place at all.

"Don't let anyone know. This is a secret between your grandmother and you. Do you understand?" Li Qingxuan said.

Xiao Yanyu nodded vigorously: "I remember, Xiao Yanyu is the most obedient."

Jiang Zhu sighed softly, "The peach blossoms are in full bloom, and this place is wonderful."

“Yes, Heaven has been kind to me,” Li Qingxuan said with a smile. “However, they say that this island can move, so are there any hidden dangers?”

Jiang Zhu glanced at the ground: "This is not an island, it is a sleeping old tortoise, an ancient spirit."

"An elf?" Li Qingxuan was astonished, never expecting that this island was actually an old tortoise.

“I’ll just give him a heads-up and tell him to keep an eye on the people on the island,” Jiang Zhu said. “The elves don’t want to harm mortals either.”

"Thank you for your trouble," Li Qingxuan said.

"Please don't do that. The peach blossoms are in full bloom, in their prime," Jiang Zhu said gently.

As he spoke, the aged Li Qingxuan's black hair turned white, her wrinkles gradually disappeared, and her skin became firm, as if she had returned to her youthful days.

However, it was only her appearance that was restored.

"Thank you, Uncle Jiang Zhu." Li Qingxuan sat down cross-legged, then breathed her last.

To die young, to leave amidst a sky full of peach blossoms, to spend the rest of her life on this carefree Peach Blossom Island—Li Qingxuan was content. She thanked the green lamp and the heavens for their mercy.

"grandmother……"

The heart-wrenching cries attracted everyone's attention.

Jiang Zhu disappeared. He arrived inside the island, where the giant old turtle spirit, after falling into slumber, had extremely weak life signs.

As if sensing his arrival, the slumbering old elf stirred slightly: "Are you an elf, or a celestial master?"

"I am a spirit among the green lamps, who came here by chance and found many mortals on your back, so I came to remind you that when you wake up, you should make a little noise so as not to disturb them," Jiang Zhu said.

"Are there more people coming?" The old elf sensed for a moment and said, "I know."

"My name is Jiang Zhu. How should I address the old elf?" Jiang Zhu asked.

“They all call me Old Turtle, so you can call me that too,” the old elf said.

Jiang Zhu smiled and said, "They used the peach blossoms on your back to make wine. Would you like to try some?"

"It would be worth a try; it's been a long time since I last had a drink."

The old tortoise was very kind: "By the way, do you know a celestial master named Meng?" "Meng?" Jiang Zhu shook his head: "No, I don't know him."

“Well, she also had a green lamp, and she even said she would bring me a peach.” The old tortoise muttered, “But I never saw her again.”

"Really?" Jiang Zhu smiled. "I can't bring you a peach, but I can offer you a jar of peach blossom wine. If I see her again in the future, I will definitely remind her that she still owes you a peach."

Jiang Zhu was surprised by the coincidence that the old tortoise had actually met the immortal master who once held the green lamp.

So the old tortoise is very ancient.

But he didn't want to pursue it, so he didn't ask.

He brought over a jar of peach blossom wine, and the old tortoise tasted it and said it was quite palatable: "Not bad."

"If you like it, that's fine. I will also go into a deep sleep and wake up once every few years," Jiang Zhu said.

“You also like to sleep, huh? It seems we’ll be good sleeping buddies,” the old tortoise said.

"Jueyou?"

"That's what she calls 'dream.' The green lamp in her hand also likes to sleep. She says that the green lamp and I are sleepy friends." The old tortoise said, "She even taught me how to dream."

"Don't you dream?" Jiang Zhu asked.

“I didn’t know how before, but after she taught me, I learned how to accumulate magical power in my dreams and suppress life fluctuations to the minimum, so that I can live a long life. She named it the Guiyuan Longevity Scripture, but I don’t think it sounds good.”

"So what do you think sounds good?"

"The old tortoise's dream method is both pleasant to hear and apt."

Jiang Zhu laughed: "Then let's call it the Old Turtle Dream Method. Call it whatever you want."

"I'm going to sleep now. I'll move with the seawater and won't usually wake up unless a great spirit like you comes," the old turtle said.

"Okay, I'm going back to sleep too," Jiang Zhu said.

The old tortoise fell into a deep sleep and returned to his dream.

When Jiang Zhu returned to the island, they had already buried Li Qingxuan in the peach grove.

Life on the island settled down, and Xiao Yanyu did not choose the path of immortality, but instead chose the path of martial arts, because she wanted to fish and was grateful for the people around her.

Li Qingxuan also left the rest of her merits to her.

As time passed, the old tortoise moved with the sea, and the island had long since left its original location and arrived in a new area.

The people of Peach Blossom Island were not alarmed; they had known all along that the island would move.

Spring came and autumn went, and Jiang Zhu remembered waking up five times, which took about forty-five years.

Xiao Yanyu has grown up and become the island lord of Peach Blossom Island.

She was truly gifted; before she was sixty, she reached the pinnacle of martial arts and attained immortality through martial arts.

The village elders have all passed away peacefully, but the population is decreasing day by day, with more women than men.

But they had long forgotten which direction Yunmeng was in, and they didn't know where to go to return to the mainland.

Moreover, according to the information passed down from their ancestors, Yunmeng was in turmoil, and they were strictly forbidden from returning.

She did not disturb Jiang Zhu, and remained peaceful and carefree under the candlelight.

She began to study the Taiping Jing left behind by Li Qingxuan and explore the path to immortality.

Opening the Taiping Jing, Yan Yu naturally entered the path of immortality. Looking at Li Qingxuan's unfinished third book, she said, "Refining essence into qi, refining essence into qi, grandmother, you are too impatient. You shouldn't have fused it like this."

"Refining the essence of the five internal organs and six bowels, evolving into magical power, once perfected, it will naturally nourish the soul and body, thereby glimpsing the path to immortality and gathering the power of heaven and earth..."

She saw the reason for Li Qingxuan's failure: she was too eager for quick success and wanted to complete the entire path to immortality in one go.

But she overlooked the most basic thing: the path must be taken step by step, and she neglected the martial arts she once knew.

She began to create a new Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace) and establish a new Taoist method.

She broke off a peach branch, transformed it into a long sword, and practiced a new Peach Blossom Sword Technique.

Based on the Seven Star Sword Formation, she created the Peach Blossom Sword Control Technique, perfecting the sword path that Ayan, Yaoyao, and Li Qingping had not continued.

Time flies, and another thirty years have passed. There are even fewer people on Peach Blossom Island, and almost all the newborn children are disabled.

Yan Yu asked Qing Deng, who said it was due to inbreeding. Their generations of marriages did not strengthen their ties but instead brought disaster.

Compared to Peach Blossom Village, Peach Blossom Island initially had far fewer men, and through generations of bloodline inheritance, they were all connected by blood.

Yan Yu began searching for land, either to allow them to return to the mainland or to invite some men willing to live in seclusion in the mountains to come and live on the island.

However, the island was too far away, and she didn't know which way to go. She flew in each direction for a long time, but she never saw the land.

However, there are often strong winds and tsunamis at sea, and Peach Blossom Island can move, so she needs to protect Peach Blossom Island and dares not go too far.

Not long ago, a strange thing happened. A pregnant woman was walking on the beach when she said that a blue light entered her body, but she couldn't find the cause. She planned to ask Jiang Zhu when he woke up.

She once again rode the clouds, attempting to find land.

On the distant sea, a dark shadow appeared in sight, and a huge creature was rapidly approaching it.

As the mist and rain descended from the clouds, a gentle breeze lifted the dark shadow, and the enormous creature leaped out of the water, only to bite empty air.

It was a great white shark, but its meat wasn't very tasty; it was once hunted on Peach Blossom Island.

She saw a dark figure, a young woman dressed in black with terrible wounds on her body, as if she had been injured by a sharp blade.

Fortunately, she had a plank of wood, and she lay on it, drifting on the sea.

After bringing the woman in black back to the island, Yan Yu used her magic to stop the bleeding and heal her wounds.

The islanders all came to watch this outsider.

"Great-grandmother, Yun'er has given birth, and it's a boy!" A lame man, holding a child, said anxiously, "He has all four limbs intact. Please take a look, does he have any hidden illnesses?"

Yan Yu glanced at him and looked surprised: "There are no hidden dangers. He has a natural talent for immortality. It must be Grandmother protecting us."

"That's wonderful! With the talent for immortality, he'll surely stay young forever, just like his great-grandmother," the lame man laughed.

Now nearly ninety years old, Yan Yu still looks like a young woman, showing no signs of aging.

“There’s no such thing as eternal youth. If your father and the others had chosen the path of immortality back then, they wouldn’t have left us so early,” Yan Yu sighed.

“Hey, my father and the others couldn’t get used to the kind of life my great-grandmother led, living on air and dew.” After saying that, the lame man stared straight at the woman in black: “An outsider? She definitely knows the way back to Yunmeng.”

"Remember, do not reveal the wonders of this place, nor your martial arts skills, and do not address me as your great-grandmother in front of her," Yan Yu said.

"I'll wait to understand."

During the conversation, the woman in black slowly woke up, and looking at the group of people around her, she was startled: "Who are you?"

"This is Peach Blossom Island. I found you at sea and rescued you," Yan Yu said.

"Peach Blossom Island?"

After a while, the woman in black figured out Peach Blossom Island, and they also learned the woman's identity: Ning Qinghan, a martial artist from the Taiping Dao of Yunmeng Kingdom.

Ning Qinghan said, "The world is at peace now. There is no war in Yunmeng, and ordinary people are living peaceful lives."

"An ordinary person?" Yan Yu asked in confusion, "Then why are you, a martial artist, on this mountain? Aren't you supposed to be safe?"

"During the great chaos of that time, the First Emperor of Yunmeng and the Great Ancestor Emperor took turns killing many mountain and sea spirits and immortal masters. Their flesh and blood flowed into the world, creating many ferocious beasts, martial arts experts, and people with exceptional talent."

Ning Qinghan said, "We are responsible for cleaning up beasts and villains from the martial arts world."

"Are there such beasts in the sea?" Yan Yu asked.

“There are many, but I didn’t come here to clear out the beasts,” Ning Qinghan sighed. “We came here to find the Peaches of Immortality.”

"Peony peaches?" The group asked, puzzled. "Peach Blossom Island has many peaches, but we've never heard of any 'peony peaches'."

“I don’t know what a peach of immortality is either. It was His Majesty who wanted it, saying that eating one peach of immortality would grant one at least a thousand years of life,” Ning Qinghan said.

"What peach? Eating one can make you live for a thousand years? Even the emperor would believe such a lie?" the lame young man scoffed.

Yan Yu also said, "If such peaches existed in the world, they would have been eaten up by elves and immortals long ago. How could the emperor possibly have gotten a chance?"

"That's what I thought too, but we couldn't disobey the emperor's orders. We encountered storms and sea monsters at sea. Although we tried our best to resist, the waves were too big."

Ning Qinghan's face showed fear.

Even martial artists feel fear when faced with such natural might.

They carried the emperor's edict, but the dragon's energy was dwindling with each use, and eventually it was exhausted.

“If you want to go back, we can make you a bamboo raft. There are also bamboo forests on the island,” Yan Yu said.

"I don't want to go back." Ning Qinghan shook his head and said, "Let all of this be buried in the sea, and perhaps His Majesty will no longer search for peaches of immortality."

"Then let's stay on Peach Blossom Island for now," Yan Yu said. "However, there are more women than men here, so we can't find you a suitable husband."

"All I want now is a peaceful life," Ning Qinghan said.

Having survived this life-or-death crisis, she really doesn't want to go back to her old life.

She used to clean up those beasts and evil martial artists, guarding peace and stability in the world with great motivation.

But now, His Majesty Yunmeng is sending them out to sea in search of some immortal peach.

She still remembered the words on the Taiping Stele when she joined the Taiping Dao: "Birth, aging, sickness and death are the natural laws of heaven and earth. One cannot seek immortality. Anyone who seeks immortality will be killed!"

Later, she went there again, but the stone tablet was gone and replaced with new text: Taiping Dao, serving the imperial power and protecting all living beings.

Imperial power has already taken control of the Way of Peace.

(End of this chapter)