Change of Heart

The old man smiled at Chen Fan and said evenly, "This old man sits here in meditation every night. I have long grown accustomed to these deserted nights, so the moment I sat down just now, I knew you were here."

"So that's how it is." Chen Fan nodded, unable to stop himself from admiring the old man. This was a state of mind. Only when one's own heart was calm to a certain extent could one notice someone whose aura was so faint it was nearly imperceptible.

By this state of mind alone, Chen Fan knew he could not compare at present.

He walked down from the mountaintop, came to the old man's side, and sat down like him, quietly gazing at the lake before them.

"Fellow Daoist, your heart is still unsettled." The old man smiled faintly as he looked at him.

Chen Fan paused, then shook his head. "It is difficult to find peace. Could it be that there truly is no eternal strength in this world?"

He was not asking a question, but voicing a sentiment. Even something as powerful as the Heavenly Dao would ultimately be replaced by the Heavenly Emperor. Could eternal, supreme strength truly be impossible?

Yet after hearing him, the old man merely continued to smile, as though this question could not stump him at all.

He said, "Fellow Daoist, you have fallen into an obsession. Though we cultivate the Dao, what we cultivate is also a state of mind."

"Oh? Can you resolve my confusion, sir?" Chen Fan froze for a moment and asked.

The old man ceased meditating and said, "You seek eternal supreme strength in this world, seek an eternal and indestructible Dao. Yet the Dao is like all living things—it requires the turning of Heaven and Earth, and