Can one achieve longevity?

Yellow grain rice, not yet cooked?

This sentence seemed to awaken Qi WuHuo. His gaze slowly shifted, and he saw the bundle on the table to the side, the few books spread open nearby, and the three strings of copper coins Mr. Su had sent.

He saw the green plant he was raising on the side, the cabbages piled in the corner of the room, and the courtyard outside with unfinished firewood. He was lying on the wooden bed he had made himself, and there was still residual warmth on the bed. He closed his eyes, and a spiritual light returned to his eyes:

"That's right... the yellow grain rice at my home isn't cooked yet."

The young man got up at the old man's urging, tidied up the food, served the yellow grain rice from the stove, cut a plate of side dishes, placed it on the table, and sat down to eat. However, his movements paused.

"Kid, the food is getting cold. What are you spacing out for?"

At the dinner table, the old man took a bite of the yellow grain rice and then a mouthful of the crisp side dish. He then pointed at Qi WuHuo and chuckled, saying, "What's wrong? You've woken up from your dream, but you're still thinking about it?"

Qi WuHuo raised his eyes but did not answer.

His eyes held a trace of contemplation.

The heavy snow outside had stopped. Birds perched on the branches, preening their feathers. The branches swayed, shaking off accumulated snow, painting a picture of rustic charm. On the table sat a coarse pottery bowl filled with yellow grain rice and crisp side dishes, the cabbage dotted with chili rings, a charming sight.

Quite some time had passed since Qi WuHuo woke up from his dream. The yellow grain rice had slowly turned cold. Qi WuHuo ate without taste, put down his chopsticks, and said calmly to the old man, "Old man... I just had a dream..."

His voice paused, and he looked at the bed beside him: "That jade pillow..."

The old man smiled and said:

"Oh? The jade pillow? A wandering Taoist priest gave it to me."

"He said it was good for sleep, calming the mind and aiding dreams."

Qi WuHuo nodded in silence.

The old man asked with a smile, "It seems, just as that wandering Taoist said, you slept quite soundly."

"But no matter what kind of dream you had, you don't need to dwell on it too much. Life is like a dream, and dreams are like life. We who live in this world, how can we be sure we are not merely figures in a dream?"

"Did you gain anything from this dream, WuHuo?"

Qi WuHuo lowered his gaze. Although it was said to be a dream, everything he experienced in that dream was so clear. Perhaps small details were no longer recallable, but many major events were still so vivid and graspable.

If he could retrace this path.

He could achieve the accomplishments that took him until his dying day in his previous life much more smoothly and easily. But what then? The young man suddenly felt a sense of weariness.

Seventy years of clouds and smoke have passed, eight hundred miles away the Taoist returns.

"It was just a dream..."

Qi WuHuo sighed for a long time and replied:

"The way of favor and disgrace, the fortune of poverty and success, the principle of gain and loss, the sentiment of life and death."

"I have seen it all..."

The old man stroked his beard and laughed heartily, "Excellent."

After the meal, Qi WuHuo washed the bowls and dried his hands. He began to pack away the things Mr. Su had given him, putting away two strings of large coins. One string was stored in the cabinet for easy access.

Chopping wood, sweeping the yard, washing clothes – it was all the same as usual, no different.

Then, with free time, he picked up the ancient books Mr. Su had given him.

These were the classics for the upcoming Spring Examination, containing knowledge for selecting officials through the imperial examinations. Some parts were difficult to understand, and Mr. Su had added annotations in small, cinnabar-red script to explain the knowledge.

These were all things Qi WuHuo had yet to learn.

Even some scholarly officials might not be able to fully comprehend them. Mr. Su's understanding was profound and incisive, renowned throughout the prefecture. It was precisely for this reason that families of high officials and nobles sent their children to study at the academy in this small town.

Qi WuHuo flipped open a few pages. Before he even read them, many words flowed through his mind like water, precisely the content of these scrolls. It was as if he already knew these things by heart, as if he had read them more than ten times before. They emerged in his mind before he even began to read.

Qi WuHuo's movements paused slightly.

He was certain he had never read this book before.

Except in the dream...

An absurd thought arose in his heart.

"Could it be..."

"That dream..."

He quickly recalled the content of this book in his mind. Even though he had never read it before, the text of the book still surfaced clearly in his mind. He then opened the scroll and quickly flipped through it. The content was indeed exactly as it appeared in his mind!

He went on to flip through the other books, and it was the same for all of them.

Not only was he extremely familiar with their content, but the profound meanings within them were deeply ingrained in his heart, understood like the back of his hand. Now, when he looked at Mr. Su's annotations, Mr. Su, who was famous in the prefecture as a learned scholar, was now subtly perceived by Qi WuHuo to have omissions in his explanations and interpretations of these classics. Although still brilliant, there were shortcomings.

It was as if he were not a fourteen-year-old boy at this moment.

But rather Qi WuHuo, the esteemed scholar, who had spent his life studying, served as a general and minister, and was unparalleled in the world. After a long while, Qi WuHuo put all three books back, his expression calm and peaceful, his thoughts gradually becoming clearer.

The events experienced in the dream, the intense personal emotions, had faded, but the experience of reading seemed to remain. It usually didn't show itself, but once encountered, it could operate and think like an instinct.

Although it was just a dream.

The books he had read, the things he had seen, were not nothingness.

Qi WuHuo got up and looked at the jade pillow.

The pillow was made entirely of white jade, with tadpole-shaped cloud patterns on both the top and bottom. Embossed clouds coiled around it, appearing to be an item of Taoism. When he reached out to touch it, it was as if he had triggered something. The cloud patterns on it seemed to light up for a moment, or perhaps it was just an illusion. Immediately, with a crack, it shattered, its surface densely covered in cracks.

The old man's voice of regret came from behind him:

"Alas, what a pity, what a pity."

"I obtained it from a wandering Taoist priest twenty-seven years ago. I never expected it to be so brittle. It broke after just one use. That Taoist priest must have been toying with me."

Qi WuHuo turned around and saw the old man standing behind him. His purple robe was half-hidden in light and half-hidden in shadow, making him look like he was wearing a purple Taoist robe at first glance. He watched Qi WuHuo with a smile.

Qi WuHuo knew this old man was no ordinary person. He paused and said:

"Old man, you said... a Taoist priest?"

The old man smiled and said, "That's right. That fellow claimed to be True Man Huolong."

"He met me by the roadside more than twenty years ago and lost three gambling matches to me in a row. He gave me this pillow to settle his debt. It's just something to sleep on, not worth much."

"WuHuo, you don't need to worry about it."

"Anyway, I remember there should be more than one of these pillows. There's probably another one. I'll get it back next time I see him."

Qi WuHuo suppressed his confusion, poured tea, and served water, his attitude towards the old man unchanged. He didn't become more respectful upon learning the old man's identity, nor did he become frivolous or arrogant due to his dream experiences.

Holding his teacup, he recalled the past and murmured to himself:

"Demons and monsters in the world, beasts that gain sentience are merely beasts, they too have life and death."

"Ghosts are merely the persistence of obsessions."

"But..."

Qi WuHuo fell silent, his eyes slightly closed. The scenes from his dream, which felt both real and illusory, churned in his mind. Seventy years of absurd dreams, studying, entering officialdom, becoming a minister, the bustling mortal world, emperors and generals, fame and beauty, all flowed past him. Suddenly, he sat up straight, composed his expression, and asked:

"May I ask, old man, do immortals truly exist in this world?"

The old man's smile faded, and he replied, "Yes."

The younger man asked again:

"Can one achieve immortality?"

The old man adjusted his robes.

He sat up straight, composed his expression, and replied –

"Yes."

PS: Today's update is complete. Eight chapters have been released in two days. From now on, there will be one chapter every day at noon and another at 6 PM.