If you wanted immortality, first court death. This was an indisputable maxim of the Great Universe of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths: as long as your recklessness did not kill you, keep pushing yourself to death's door.
The prerequisite was that you must not actually die. Otherwise, like the Azure Emperor, you would become a laughingstock for all eternity.
"Die without passing away completely. Pursue that mysterious state of neither truly alive nor truly dead. When faced with a desperate situation, do not be frightened or panic. As long as you have not died utterly, life will always find its own way out."
"Trust your flesh and your primordial spirit. Life is the greatest miracle in the universe, bearing the hopes of your ancestors and the blessings of heaven."
Lin Xian spoke with calm eloquence. What he explained was neither some profound, mysterious immortal scripture nor an invincible imperial art. Instead, he approached it through the most fundamental, unadorned pursuit of survival and truth.
The life wheel within the sea of bitterness was a cultivator's foundation, as well as the place where all things first began. Ordinary people used it to beget children; practitioners used it to beget themselves anew.
So-called nirvana and transformation meant making the life wheel flawless and crystalline, like pure yang, like a newborn life.
"The sea of bitterness submerges the life wheel, so one must transcend it and reach the other shore. This really is the philosophy of the Daoist Venerable's lineage."
The youthful Emperor Jun looked thoughtful, recalling his struggles to repair his immortal altar. His body's instinct to survive, combined with his unyielding will, had ultimately forged an undying existence and enabled his ultimate leap.
Yet something seemed to be missing in between.
The world's heroes were as numerous as carp crossing