Chapter 2685 Letting Go and Picking Up, All Within a Thought

When the first morning light came down, Lin Xun opened Cloud Guardian Workshop as usual, placed the rocking chair carved from Dragon Spirit Wood in front of the door, and then lay down on it.

His body relaxed. With his eyes half-closed, he looked fast asleep. His breathing was almost imperceptible. The gentle sunlight cast a soft glow on his handsome face.

“This sluggard opens his shop at the same time every day, but that's the only commendable thing he does. What a waste of such a fine appearance.”

“Haha, to live such a carefree life is a form of freedom, no?”

“I originally wanted to introduce my niece to him, but this guy is too lazy. I've never seen such a lazy young man in my entire life. How can he achieve anything on the path of cultivation?”

Many neighbors in the streets and alleys noticed Lin Xun. Having gotten used to seeing the way he acted, they gossiped for a few moments and then went about their business.

Lin Xun remained motionless. Inside him, the profound mysteries of the almighty dao formed a boundless and ever-changing world, constantly cycling through astounding phenomena. They operated in complete silence.

In his True Self Emperor World, the Primal Chaos Tree swayed its branches. The traces of primordial chaos dispensed by the tree fused with his cultivation, allowing the law powers in his arsenal to display their quintessential nature.

The Emperor Ancestor Stage was also known as Ancestral Reversion. The term ‘ancestor’ signified an original, primordial state. Lin Xun's cultivation had already reached the pinnacle of the Ancestor Stage.

Others were Ancestors of a Path, while he could be considered an Ancestor of All Daos, with every dao having the potential to evolve into an unimaginable Ancestor law! Currently, he was only a hair's breadth away from the path of immortality. All he needed was an epiphany to soar upward.

Lin Xun had been waiting for this epiphany for years. While he occasionally felt a surge of inspiration which he could grasp important signs from, those signs were ultimately too indistinct.

This had frustrated him at first, but he had come to terms with it now. He was no longer fixated on and endlessly overthinking those signs, for an epiphany on the dao could not be forced. Since settling in Cloud Guardian Workshop, he had abandoned all his plans and begun to experience things outside of cultivation.

The world was shaped by objects and beings.

This alley was a corner of the world, a small stage that exhibited the mortals’ affairs and ways of life, their joys and sorrows, and their fights and hardships. Life was like a current which the beings struggled to cross.

At this very moment, Lin Xun finally understood the words uttered by Saint Buddha Xingjia upon realizing his path:

“When my dao was proven, I realized the suffering of all beings.”

[1]

This suffering was the hardships, obsessions, and karmas that no one could escape when walking the great path.

Whenever there was desire, there would be obsessions. Obsessions trapped one in a cage, but at the same time, not having a focus made the mind become prone to turmoil and confusion...

Therefore, the first three realms of the Emperor path were known as ‘Emperor internal struggles.’ To be free of external obsession, of a physical form, and of shackles on the mind.

Only by penetrating these Emperor internal struggles could one see into the details at Pervading Mystery, achieve divinity at Pervading Deepness, and procure freedom at Pervading Emptiness. These were respectively the fourth through sixth realms.

No-Law, Against Heavens was another name for Pervading Emptiness.

This was equivalent to breaking free from the constraints of the law of a certain world, so that even in another world where the law was completely different, one could still cultivate and realize their own dao. From there, one would be able to reach Practicing Voidness, Fusing with the Dao, and attain Ancestral Reversion!

Such was what unfolded in the nine realms of the Emperor Stage.

Lin Xun had reached the very peak of this stage, boasting invincibility and a potential to surpass everyone ever existed. Despite that, breaking out of it and into the next level was no easy feat for him.

He did not know what epiphanies other Immortal experts had grasped to certify their Immortal dao. In fact, their experiences were useless to him anyway. Every cultivator pursued different things, leading to their epiphanies to be completely different from each other.

Emperor dao legacies were common, while there were almost no legacies on immortality because this stage concerned the profound principles of law powers, and law powers were numerous and covered many grades.

Even at the same realm of Heavenly Longevity, different Immortal cultivators condensed different immortal-grade laws since they had previously mastered different law powers. As a result, their strength vastly varied.

Killing a Heavenly Longevity cultivator who controlled an Earth Rank immortal law was far easier than killing their counterpart who wielded a Heaven Rank immortal law. All in all, it was extremely difficult to leave behind any legacy in the Immortal Stage.

Even if one did so, what they would pass on would still only be suitable for their own cultivation. Others would likely find it completely impossible to learn from or comprehend.

Lin Xun had specifically discussed this point with his senior sister Jun Huan. Her response then was simple:

“This path is something you seek on your own. Experiences and insights of others are instead a burden; learning from them only does you harm and zero good.”

Meaning, one must rely solely on themselves to embark on the path of immortality.

Lin Xun had contemplated this matter for years. He had analyzed it, meditated over it, and diligently sought information associated with it. In the end, none of that proved helpful and had instead trapped him in a cycle of obsession.

Therefore, he had abandoned it all and severed the obsession. He had ceased to think, ponder, yearn, and seek it. Each day, he would recline back in his rocking chair, observing the lively world with his heart. As it turned out, watching the beings put great efforts into reaching their goals proved to be quite a unique experience.

Spring went, and autumn came. Half a year had passed.

One day, the crisp voice of a child echoed in the distance, who was a little girl with pigtails, “Mom, why can't you just help me pick up the hairpin?”

A woman who was busy in her shop scolded the little girl, “Nuonuo, how old are you? Can't you pick it up yourself? What are your hands for?”

The little girl named Nuonuo pleaded, “But I'm holding a full basket of aeth fruits. If I try to pick up the hairpin, what will happen to these fruits? Please, mom, help me.”

The woman said impatiently, “Just put down the basket, and you can pick it up.”

Nuonuo looked at the basket of bright-red fruits in her hands then at the jade hairpin on the ground with an indecisive, conflicted look on her face.

At that moment, Lin Xun in his rocking chair suddenly laughed.

Let go of what you’re holding, then you can pick it up!

The conversation between Nuonuo and her mother was normal and mundane, but it had been like thunder to his ears, a revelation that pierced through the fog in his mind like a ray of light.

“Your mother is right,” he smilingly said to the little girl.

Nuonuo was stunned for a moment before she fiercely criticized, “You’re not only a bum but also such a meanie!”

Lin Xun smiled cutely, “Why am I a meanie?”

Nuonuo said angrily, “Your hands and feet are free, so why can't you help me?”

Lin Xun was speechless. He then stood up, picked up the hairpin, and inserted it into her black hair. Finally, he stroked her little head, “In fact, I should thank you properly. Why don’t you tell me about your wishes? Maybe I can fulfill them for you.”

Nuonuo rolled her eyes, “Fulfill my wish? A sluggard like you? Save it!” and turned toward her family shop.

However, she quickly turned back and presented the fruit basket to him, “You did help me after all. As a grateful person, I’ll let you taste this fruit, but you can only have one!”

Lin Xun's smile grew even broader as he picked a red, plump fruit. Popping it into his mouth, he savored, “Mhmm, very sweet.”

Nuonuo said proudly, "I got up early this morning and picked these on the mountain outside the city. Only I know about that place. The aeth fruits there are big, pretty, and delicious. If you really like it, then I’ll take you there tomorrow to pick some.”

Lin Xun shook his head, “I’m not a child, so I have no time to go fruit-picking with you. Haven’t you seen that I have a shop to watch?”

Nuonuo dramatically rolled her eyes, “You’re really a sluggard. You want the fruits but don’t want to work for them. You’re hopeless.”

With that, she went into her family’s shop, while Lin Xun returned to his comfortable rocking chair with a whole new mindset.

Let go to pick up. So letting go...was the only way to attain the ‘dao’!

Never had his state of mind felt so light and transcendent. It was as though he had figured out an enormous confusion and shattered its shackles.

He wanted to go find Nuonuo again and ask her if she wanted anything, but he held back in the end, saying to himself, “When the opportunity arises, I'll help her family out.”

Nuonuo and her mother ran a shop that sold ordinary mountain delicacies, nothing particularly precious, so business wasn't too great.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Lin Xun had long observed that her mother was merely a Longevity King who was busy with making a living. The amount of cosmic origin crystals she earned barely sufficed to sustain her and Nuonuo’s cultivation needs. They weren’t poor, but they were immensely far from being well-off.

He had also learned that Nuonuo's father had lost his life in a battle long ago, and Nuonuo had been raised by her mother from infancy, so the little girl had no memories of her father at all.

At this thought, Lin Xun shook his head and stopped dwelling on it. As he meditated, his qi and energy began to circulate quietly.

Bang!

The Primal Chaos Tree suddenly exploded shortly into the session. Its trunk and branches turned into countless streams of rich chaos qi flowing in all directions, which were gradually absorbed and refined by his True Self Emperor World.

The chaos law nurtured by the Primal Chaos Tree had brought Lin Xun immeasurable benefits over the years, polishing all of his law powers into their best, most original state. However, the tree had become an obstacle on his path to immortality.

All along, he had hoped that it would grow alongside him, maybe one day metamorphosing into an Immortal Primal Chaos Tree, but he realized now that stubbornly clinging to this idea would only turn it into a burden.

Before long, Lin Xun felt an unusual sensation arising in him.

When the Primal Chaos Tree was completely refined, he clearly felt that his True Self Emperor World had received a kind of divine nourishment. The entire space appeared to have been filled with a heavy aura of chaos!

Such was to be free from worries in mind and body, to let go in order to gain.

1. See chapter 1288 if you want to go back ☜