Borrow another five hundred years from heaven

The old man's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

Even though he had lost all desire to live, the young man's "greeting" still left him a little bewildered. Had people in the mortal world become this uncivil these days?

He had been thinking that, if this young man had come to comfort him, he could bestow an opportunity upon him...

Alas, how bleak the world was...

He might as well wait for death.

The old man kept his face ashen and his eyes hollow, pretending he had heard nothing.

Lin Zhishui crouched beside him, discreetly observing his reactions.

He had encountered people who had lost hope in life before, so he understood that ordinary platitudes were useless to someone in such despair. They would not listen, nor did they want to. Only something sufficiently provocative would get a reaction.

Even from the photograph, he could tell that this old man's scholarly air and refined bearing marked him as someone with considerable life experience.

Ordinary sweet talk would probably be meaningless.

He had to win him over with an unexpected approach.

"I know you heard me."

Crouching beside him, Lin Zhishui keenly noticed the movement of the muscles around the old man's mouth. "Perhaps you've suffered some setback, but I'm not concerned about that. Don't overthink it, either. I'm not planning to persuade you to keep living."

The old man forcibly restrained his twitching mouth and fought down the urge to send this mortal flying with a slap, continuing to lie utterly still.

"I can tell you already have one foot in the grave and don't have much time left. There's nothing particularly wrong with dying like this."

As usual, Lin Zhishui spoke with no regard for normal human conversation. "After all, every life in this world that begins must end. Whether you struggle to live, live carefree, or live like this, you can't escape death in the end."

The old man's eyes shifted slightly, glancing at Lin Zhishui. Then he slowly rolled onto his side, presenting the back of his head, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Then let me die in peace."

"You want to die in peace? That means you still care about what you experience before death."

Lin Zhishui pressed his advantage. "But what difference does it make whether your final moments are peaceful? Once you die, whatever dreams you once had, however glorious your life once was, everything will become meaningless to you. After death, there is nothing."

The old man remained unmoved. He merely thought, This brat wants to take me by surprise? There's bound to be a 'but' next.

"But... everyone dies eventually. Did you come into this world just to wait for death?"

Lin Zhishui did his best to draw on the philosophy he had picked up from all sorts of places over the years, racking his brains for a more convincing way to put it.

"Everything becomes meaningless after death, but only to you. What about other people?

"Even the blazing sun, seemingly eternal, will go out one day. But before it does, it nourishes all things upon the earth. What about you? Do you have family? If not, do you have friends?

"Your life is nearing its end. Everything you do will mean nothing to you after you die. The only meaning left... is to give other people more meaning in their lives. Their memories will be the only meaningful trace you leave in this world."

By this point, even Lin Zhishui felt that what he had said was profoundly philosophical.

He paused, then asked with a smile, "Now you understand, don't you?"

A few seconds passed before the old man spoke in a low voice. "If everything is nothingness after death, what does it matter whether this world remembers me?"

Lin Zhishui's mouth twitched slightly.

This stubborn old coot!

If you're so good at picking everything apart, why not get a job on a demolition crew?

He tried to remain calm as he said, "We come into this world alone, and we leave it alone. Don't you want to leave something behind? Don't you have any unfulfilled wishes?"

Without turning his head, the old man said, "I want to remain in this world forever. I want to borrow another five hundred years from heaven. Can I?"

Lin Zhishui had no answer.

He suddenly understood.

So this old man didn't want to die-he wanted too much. Borrow another five hundred years from heaven?

Why not wish for peace and happiness throughout the mortal world while you're at it?

Lin Zhishui took a deep breath. After calming himself, he thought for a moment, took a Lesser Immortal Peach from his shoulder bag, and set it behind the old man. Smiling, he said, "I think you're dreaming of peaches. Here, have one. Fill your stomach first, then we'll talk."

Inwardly, he muttered to himself that, at the old man's age, he probably would not know the "dreaming of peaches" meme meant wishful thinking.

The old man remained lying with his back to Lin Zhishui and said nothing. He merely sighed inwardly. It seems people in the mortal world are still quite decent. I've met a kind young man...

Sadly, he would not live past today. In fact, in less than an hour, his allotted lifespan would run out...

He might as well lie amid the dust and dirt and fall into eternal sleep alone, without having to face those painful, tangled farewells...

"Even if you're going to die, you shouldn't die hungry, right?" Lin Zhishui stood up. "This is all I can do. Perhaps... it'll make my life more meaningful, too."

After offering that final platitude, he glanced at the old man again and said softly, "See you."

He did not say farewell forever, since he could message Yan Shanshui right away and have her and her teacher come pick up the old man. A final farewell would be far too inauspicious.

His footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

After Lin Zhishui left, the beggar-like old man sat up. Watching the young man's retreating figure, he sighed and gently curled a finger. Just as he was about to send a wisp of magic power after him, he suddenly froze and slowly lowered his head to look at the ground.

"Hmm? This is..."

He looked at the slightly green, smooth-skinned peach on the ground. Beneath its seemingly unremarkable appearance, he could sense a trace of incomparably refined immortal energy.

Most importantly, he had once seen its likeness in the Book of the Great Thousand, handed down from the Heavenly Realm.

"How could... this... this is... a Lesser Immortal Peach?"

The old man extended his trembling, aged hand as though touching a fragile bubble, as though cradling a dream that might dissolve, and slowly picked up the little peach. Immediately, he felt the gentle, extraordinarily pure immortal energy within it.

It looked exactly like the legendary Lesser Immortal Peach that ripened once every three thousand years, and contained such gentle, pure immortal energy... What else could it be?

His entire body trembled as he stared at the Lesser Immortal Peach before him. Tears streamed down his aged face, blurring his vision.

The legendary Lesser Immortal Peach could extend his lifespan by five hundred years!

To receive such an immortal treasure just as his allotted lifespan was about to end-how could he possibly contain his excitement?

It was like a beam of light in boundless darkness!

"Who exactly was that young man, to... to give me such an immortal treasure?"

In his daze, he recalled what the young man had said earlier-

"I think you're dreaming of peaches. Here, have one. Fill your stomach first, then we'll talk."

The old man's heart jolted.

When that seemingly mortal young man had asked about his wishes, he had merely made the absurd remark that he wanted to borrow another five hundred years from heaven. Yet the young man had actually given him a legendary Lesser Immortal Peach?

This dreamlike, impossible experience was like something straight out of myth!

He abruptly stood up and looked in the direction the young man had gone, but his spiritual awareness could no longer detect any trace of him.

"Could he... be an immortal master?"

The old man murmured, gazing through tear-blurred eyes at the Lesser Immortal Peach in his hand. "Senior, just as my lifespan was about to end, you granted me a new life... I, Zhu Chenghuo, will never forget this kindness!"

Then, with tears in his eyes, Zhu Chenghuo opened his mouth and slowly swallowed the Lesser Immortal Peach, absorbing its gentle immortal energy, brimming with vitality.

That endless flow of immortal energy was like rain nourishing the earth, like spring reviving withered trees. It steadily restored his deathly still body as he approached the end of his allotted life, and his remaining lifespan of less than an hour began increasing rapidly.

Even the lifespan he had lost from using a forbidden technique all those years ago was steadily being restored!

Feeling this renewal, he became even more tearfully grateful to that mysterious immortal senior.

For this had not merely given him five hundred years of life-it had also given him the chance to break through the Five Passes!

If not for the damage caused by that forbidden technique, his talent would likely have allowed him to break through the Five Passes long ago and become one of the greatest masters in the world.

And now, these five hundred years of life gave him all the time he needed!

A single immortal fruit had let him emerge from his cocoon and be reborn!

No wonder that senior had said "See you" at the end, despite knowing he was waiting to die. So that was why!

At that moment, the joy of his new life prompted Zhu Chenghuo to recall all the reasoning that mysterious immortal senior had offered earlier.

As he savored those words now, he felt that the other man's understanding of life was profoundly deep, and his insight into its meaning extraordinarily clear.

He suddenly remembered the senior's final words before leaving-

"Perhaps... it'll make my life more meaningful, too."

In a flash of enlightenment, Zhu Chenghuo seemed to gain some understanding of why the senior had acted this way. He could not help feeling ashamed of his own selfish preoccupation with himself.

Yes... after death, there is indeed nothingness, seemingly without meaning.

But letting the living feel meaning and hope in their lives-isn't that precisely the joy I feel now?

As expected of an immortal master... This must be the true meaning of life that senior has grasped over his long existence.

Zhu Chenghuo understood.

The gulf between himself and that senior was probably not merely one of cultivation realm and level of existence, but also one of thought!

"How could I hope to look up to such a lofty mountain? I can only bow here before its pure virtue..."

He slowly closed his eyes and silently vowed, I, Zhu Chenghuo, shall take you as my guiding light, Senior, and forge ahead.

P.S. (Another chapter of nearly six thousand characters today. Please send recommendation votes~~)