She had calculated the time of awakening, believing it was when they would emerge from their cocoons as butterflies.
But in truth, it was when the "black light" would awaken. It measured time in millennia, and perhaps it had not even awakened at all.
Perhaps it had merely stirred a little.
The two things Zhuangzi used for comparison were: "The morning mushroom knows neither the month's end nor its beginning; the cicada knows neither spring nor autumn. These are short spans of life.
South of Chu stands the Dark Spirit Tree, for which five hundred years make a spring and five hundred years an autumn; in ancient times there was the Great Chun Tree, for which eight thousand years made a spring and eight thousand years an autumn. These are long spans of life."
The distinction between long and short years came down to what they themselves perceived as "a year."
In Zhuangzi's account, long and short years were still measured through the human understanding of spring and autumn.
Small insects had short years because their lives were brief, so their years were brief.
Great trees had long years because they lived a long time, so their years were long.
Whether it was Silkworm who came later, King Mu of Zhou after that, or the "expedition" sent by the ruler of Qi State, their arrival seemed rather futile and laughable in the face of a predetermined outcome.
Too clever by half, plotting every last detail.
Only to scheme their own lives away.
More importantly, Lin Feng had realized that he was not without natural enemies. Now it seemed someone was hunting Historians.
They treated Historians as "materials."
Making him die would not be any great suffering. Leaving him unable to live or die, however, would earn his deepest hatred.
Lin