Longevity Diary 3

Dappled sunlight.

"The Slave Dynasty, the Seaside Ghost Country, the Bronze Country." Zhu Zhengwei sat in the old house, his expression as calm as it had been back then, turning page after page of the diary, reading patiently.

"It's hard to imagine these are Third Brother's words."

"There's no literary flair here—even his worst student far surpasses this."

"It's as if that refined scholar-teacher had completely reverted to the wild, becoming a rough, untamed savage, sweeping his brush in crooked, scrawling lines, writing whatever came to mind."

In a daze, Zhu Zhengwei seemed to see a long-lived wanderer moving alone through history, witnessing the destruction of eras, the birth of civilizations, the growth of humanity—all the things of the Mortal World weaving together into a sacred epic.

This was a hymn to the years.

Likewise, a sediment of civilization.

"Perhaps I should get used to this. Because I created this map-like world in a dream, and it's no longer just a dream—it's a world where countless souls gestate mysteries."

"They are truly alive now."

He smiled with a complicated feeling and continued reading.

[Summer 0128: I went from soldier to war executive deputy officer in the Ghost Country. Fevers, witchcraft—they kept draining the lives of these soldiers. I bet the commander that this war, dragging on for years, would soon end in a truce. Sure enough, in less than half a month, I was right. The two allied armies still couldn't take that tyrant's City of a Hundred Stones. We were finally going home, but I had to leave. My ageless face would cause big trouble if I stayed in one place too long.]

[Winter 0138: The Bronze City held a Sage's birthday banquet. Hot air balloons rose, and women scattered flowers from above to celebrate the Sage Zhang Zhi's 250th birthday. The princess was also using the occasion to seek a husband—a Descendant of Big Brother's daughter. That's also why I rarely go to the Bronze Country. While they held their grand ceremony, I was at a tavern in Black Cloud Port, gambling at chess with an old man who had no idea who Zhang Zhi was, and I lost everything.]

[0140: Stone Light Emperor of the Slave Kingdom was assassinated. In that long-ago campaign, no one could defeat that powerful man, hailed as the closest to a god, head-on. Yet ridiculously, a bunch of mortals stabbed him to death in the night. Our brains can unleash terrifying power, but our bodies remain pathetically weak. Divine might, Mortal Physique—how tragic? Of the power my elder brother bestowed, I only got half. I still haven't cracked the Divine Blood Factor, the method to let humans cultivate perfectly, to let qi circulate through the entire body. Qi still can't get past the neck; it's stuck dead. And the tyranny of the Slave Dynasty will always be overthrown like this.]

[Winter 0141: A new king ascended—the slave laborer hero who led the assassination of the tyrant. He became the next Stone Light Emperor, an even more cruel and petty upstart. I kind of miss Stone Light Emperor now; at least he was a man of grand vision. But after the third transfer, the seeds of sensing qi in their kingdom had diluted, and their power was far from what it used to be.]

[0146: At the Bronze Jingshan Temple, I bought the sixth collector's edition of New Interpretation of Sage's Enlightenment Theory. The wisdom of the world is always great. This temple gathered the kingdom's strongest monk-scholars, interpreting theories I never could have imagined back then. I couldn't put it down.]

[0152: I returned to the City of a Hundred Stones. The Slave Dynasty was on its last legs again. I came back as a wealthy merchant known far and wide. I took a walk and found nothing worth seeing. The nobles and clans still stank to high heaven, amusing themselves in the arenas. They weren't stupid—they knew their decline was inevitable—yet they still indulged in their final revelry. On the great stones, I unexpectedly recalled that night long ago, counting stars with Slave Laborer A Da. He said to me: "So these giant stones, soaked in elephant blood and human tears, feel cold to the touch too."]

[0154: I debated with a Bronze Country professor named Li Su about the reasons for the Slave Dynasty's collapse. In the winter snow, we argued until our faces were red. Behind his back, I admitted his arguments were well-founded. I really am getting more stubborn with age.]

[0156: I decided to go back to my hometown and take a look. But where was the happiest time of my childhood? It was when Journey to the West played on TV. Yet when I think hard, I can't remember the plot anymore. The impressions of the old civilization era have completely blurred. I've even nearly forgotten my family's faces. I only remember that Big Brother was disabled, and my elder brother was a Man with the Tear Mole.]

Finally, he left a note:

"All these years, my elder brother has been wandering and never returned. I fear we two wanderers might have passed each other by. What do you think?"

"All these years, I've been searching for the method of perfect cultivation, but I've found no way."

"And what truth does the history of this world truly hold?"

Zhu Zhengwei closed the diary left behind.

I haven't been here lately, nor have I been wandering the world—how could I find myself?

Still, back then, most of the students slept eight hours a night. Now, with a twenty-four-hour cycle, one day is over three times nine years of time flow.

Over a hundred years had passed inside, while in reality, these past ten-odd days, Zhu Zhengwei had been busy with exams outside.

It was an unavoidable routine as a student. Luckily, he hadn't failed any courses. The rest of the time, he was running around whenever he could, searching for various animals.

That the dream world before him had developed like this was beyond his expectations.

Zhu Zhengwei thought for a moment, then wrote a deliberately vague reply on the back of the note.

"The blizzard has begun again."

"Just like three thousand years ago, the predators are quietly crawling out from this ancient land. The night cannot hide the gleam on the claws and fangs of the Ancient Species."

Mm.

Very satisfied.

No matter how you think about it, it makes sense. No matter how you spin it, it all fits.

Zhu Zhengwei carefully placed the reply in the secret compartment, then left again.

This time, he would disappear for another hundred years. He planned to search for some special creatures to enrich the world.