Dancing Maiden had been a ten-star puppet from the moment of her birth, close to perfection, but as far as Li Chen could see, she had also remained forever as she had been at her creation.
No matter how much Yan Shi had improved afterward, or what new technologies the Puppet Masters as a whole had developed, they could no longer be applied to her.
Yet longevity was not eternal life, and even the undying would eventually suffer the five decays of the celestial. Once the tides of the age shifted and Dharma's Decline descended, the extraordinary powers of the past would cease to function, and the power sustaining her would come crashing down.
Perhaps Yan Shi had abandoned the creation of similar longevity puppets and chosen the Puppet Masters of later generations precisely because he had foreseen this.
Li Chen continued explaining, "Longevity and imperishability are very broad descriptions. What counts as long? What counts as living? Does being dead yet refusing to fall, like the Great Qian Deities, count as longevity? Does being devoid of consciousness, like a tree, count as longevity?"
"If one refines the true and merges with the Dao, becoming a small world unto oneself, with infinite thought and boundless aspirations beyond mortal understanding, how should that state of existence be measured?"
"That is why one view holds that the long-lived and undying, Immortals and Gods, and those who have merged with the Dao are all unfathomable beings without emotions or mortal thought. They only act and maintain existence according to the patterns of the Heavenly Dao. This is what it means to say, 'If Heaven had feelings, Heaven too would grow old!'"
Yu Bao said, "If Heaven had feelings, Heaven too would grow old..."
Li Chen said, "Exactly. On the path to longevity, you