Journey To Longevity

In the main hall of Baiyuan Mountain, Zhang Tongan sat at the top, next to him was Zhang Huaiyu, the former patriarch who had abdicated, and in the lower two rows sat several monks who were eighth and ninth floors of Qi refining. Those who have cultivated to the eighth and ninth levels of Qi Refining, they make up for those monks of the Zhang family who failed to build a foundation.

The plum blossoms planted outside the Great Elder’s cave are still in full bloom. He just left in the early morning. At that time, Zhang Huaiyu, the head of the Zhang family, was meditating in his cave. Suddenly he felt something and took out a bloody stone. There was a crack on it, and he was neither sad nor happy, but looked at the cracked blood stone with a very calm look.

He walked out of the cave and ordered the servants in the mountain to call Zhang Tongan and the great-grandson of the great elder of the Zhang family, and let them come directly to the cave of the great elder on the top of the mountain, while he walked slowly to the mountain. Using the token of the head of the Zhang family to open the Great Elder's cave formation, seeing the Great Elder lying on the bed as if asleep, Zhang Huaiyu did not move Zhang Qiyue's body, he moved a chair and sat quietly beside the bed , without saying a word, like a petrified statue.

"The Great Elder can finally rest." Zhang Huaiyu came back to his senses when Zhang Tongan drove the flying magic weapon to come, and said to Zhang Tongan lightly.

"Yes." Zhang Tongan walked to Zhang Huaiyu's side and looked at Zhang Qiyue who was sleeping peacefully.

The two were relatively silent, and death was not something to be happy about.

"Is there really longevity?" After a long time, Zhang Huaiyu stood up, and when the two walked out of the cave, he said softly, and he didn't know who he was talking to.

"Who knows?" Zhang Tongan next to him responded.

...

When Zhang Shiping rushed back, the funeral on Baiyuan Mountain had just passed the end of the seventh day, and even the great elder’s direct blood relatives and great-grandsons had taken off their sackcloth, except for the newly raised one in the Zhangjiazudi cemetery next to Baiyuan Mountain. Outside the earthen tomb, the traces of the Great Elder slowly disappeared in the White Ape Mountain. Perhaps in a year or two, the Zhang family would only mention Zhang Qiyue's name when offering sacrifices to their ancestors.

Zhang Shiping did not go directly to Baiyuan Mountain. He drove the Qingling ancient boat to stop at the foot of the mausoleum. After putting the flying boat into a storage bag, he walked step by step towards the family cemetery on the mountain. The stone-paved mausoleum road stretched all the way. There are dense ancient cypresses on both sides. When Zhang Shiping was about to reach the mountainside, he looked up at the stone archway. The plaque above was written with the words "Eternal Evergreen" in red cinnabar. Under the archway, there were two old monks from the Zhang family who were cleaning with brooms. Falling leaves on the stone slabs of the mausoleum.

"Elder, over there." The mountain wind was cold, and Zhang Shiping walked past the two of them. The two monks of the Zhang family guarding the tomb naturally knew Zhang Shiping, a young elder, and they pointed in one direction. Because he was in a hurry, Zhang Shiping didn't prepare anything, so he took some yellow paper for ingots and candles from the two.

Only then did Zhang Shiping detour along the stone road for a while in the direction they pointed, and finally saw a tomb of Xinlong. In front of the tombstone were several plates of melon and fruit offerings, and three glasses of wine, floating on the surface of the wine. There are some ashes, which are burnt yellow paper. As a former patriarch and great elder who has been thinking about the family from birth to death, Zhang Shiping is full of respect in his heart. But after all, the two are not of the same generation, there is a hundred years of age difference between the two, after a long time, even the direct blood relatives will be estranged from each other, let alone Zhang Shiping, the younger generation, so the emotion in his heart is more than sadness.

He pulled up his clothes and knelt down, kowtowed three times in front of Zhang Qiyue's grave, then took out the yellow paper of the ingot candle from the storage bag, and set it on fire in front of the grave, the flame reflected on Zhang Shiping's face, and the flames in his eyes danced.

After all these yellow papers were burned to ashes and blown around by the mountain wind several times, Zhang Shiping slowly walked out along the stone road. After descending the mountain, his imperial weapon flew to the main hall of Baiyuan Mountain.

In the main hall, Zhang Tongan was rubbing the flesh on the bridge of his nose between his brows. He had just taken over the affairs of the Zhang family. There are too many chores, and it is very exhausting.

"Shiping, you're back." He heard the greetings from his disciples outside the door and the sound of footsteps approaching, he put down his hands and opened his eyes to look.

"Have you gone to see the Great Elder?" In fact, it should not be called the Great Elder now, Zhang Huaiyu stepped down from the position of patriarch, and after he took over, the Great Elder belongs to Zhang Huaiyu, but Zhang Tong'an got used to calling him, and changed it for a while. However, Zhang Shiping was even more so, as soon as he mentioned the Great Elder, he understood who his father was talking about.

"I've seen it, I just came back from the cemetery." Zhang Shiping walked over and sat on his futon.

"The Great Elder walked away peacefully in his sleep. When he left, the plum blossoms in the cave were in full bloom, very bright." Zhang Tongan said to Zhang Shiping.

...

Seven days later, Zhang Shiping drove Qingling Guzhou away from Baiyuan Mountain.

He was sitting in the flying boat, and the flying boat was flying above the clouds. A round pale golden sun was rising behind him, and the golden light paved a road on the clouds.

Zhang Shiping sat on the flying boat, stopped and walked along the way, when he arrived at Yekunshan, three or four days had passed, he took out the token, opened the trapped soil formation in the cave, and entered the cave with a complicated mood .

The Great Elder walked very peacefully, lying on the bed and leaving without pain was a blessing for the old man, but when Zhang Shiping returned to the cave, he frowned and died on the bed like ordinary people. This way of death made Zhang Shiping There is an indescribable strange feeling.

He walked slowly through the passageway inlaid with moonstone pearls in the cave, and only sighed that this kind of end of life is actually a sad way of death for a cultivator of immortality. He didn't want to be like this one day, getting old, and then quietly waiting for the moment when he died.

The kind of calmness that seems to let go and see everything, the so-called optimism, peace and happiness, is actually just a kind of helplessness towards oneself. Life is beautiful, who wants to leave early, Zhang Shiping said to himself in his heart.

It was the first time for Zhang Shiping to walk so slowly in the ten-foot-long stone cave passage. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Shiping suddenly felt moved. A blood-yellow locust the size of a palm was clinging to the top of the cave. He had a faint feeling that he was connected with this locust by heart and blood. Judging from its appearance, he was somewhat familiar with the phantom locust, but its size and color had changed a lot.

He stretched out his hand and made a move. This Phantom Locust, which had changed a lot, turned its head and hissed at Zhang Shiping, but it didn't jump over directly, but felt like retreating a bit. Zhang Shiping was very surprised, he immediately released his consciousness and increased the intensity of control, only then did this much bigger phantom locust jump down from the top of the stone and land in his palm.