The changes in others could serve as a mirror to reflect upon oneself.
The two words "lifespan" encompassed many things.
"And what about me?" Lu Qing did not know why, but on this rare night, with silver streams of light cascading down and nothing but birdsong around him, the thought surfaced naturally—as though it had always been meant to.
He did not hesitate. Having conversed with himself while crossing the Golden Core tribulation, having exchanged and sparred with different versions of himself, he would not be misled or troubled by such a fleeting thought.
"Regardless of whether this life holds Calamity Avoidance or added lifespan, I will still choose to cultivate steadily—only seeking the Dao, only seeking truth, only seeking to witness cultivation." Lu Qing no longer had much in the way of opportunities upon him. The anxiety of gain and loss was not his way; steadiness had always been his attitude toward himself.
As Lu Qing contemplated this and arrived at an answer he would never question, he suddenly felt a long, liberating sensation—as though a shackle had fallen away from the part of him that belonged to his true self: within his thoughts, his Purple Mansion Realm, his Golden Core, his Divine Soul, and every inch of his body.
"What is this?"
"The Lifespan-and-Death Obstacle?" A trace of strange expression appeared on Lu Qing's face. He had not expected to cross this obstacle so easily. It was a kind of heart obstacle.
The Lifespan-and-Death Obstacle was intangible and formless. Unlike Heart Tribulations and Heart Demons, which could be perceived, it resembled an instinct within cultivators—the instinct to fear death, the instinct to flee. Cultivators tempered both body and heart, and there was no such thing as an endpoint to cultivating the heart.
And just as cultivation had no