Chapter 69 A Letter

There were two new graves outside the Bamboo Grove, with burned-out joss sticks in front of them. There were two newly planted evergreen trees on either side of the graves, but there was no tombstone.

This is what Uncle Li meant. Life and death, grievances and grudges, are all gone. This journey is over. There is no need to erect a tombstone to remind people who you are. Those who care can come and pay their respects. If it is a long time from now, then forget it.

A tombstone is a cumbersome thing, and there is no need for it.

“Master probably saw through it and realized that the essence of everything is actually very simple. Birth, aging, sickness, and death. No matter who you are, you will have to face them all. Once you understand all this, you will want to keep things as simple as possible.” After Chengqing gave us some things, he said this.

These are some things left behind by the older generation who left, and now they have been passed on to us by Chengqing.

In my hands were four volumes of books compiled by the master, as well as a letter. I stroked the four volumes of books, which I had actually seen before. At the Bamboo Grove, in Beijing, the master would always write and draw in his spare time. When I asked him about it, he said that he wanted to organize what he had learned in his life.

This is a long-term project that started when I first followed Master, or even earlier, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Now it seems that Master had long-term plans.

I didn’t dare to read the letter, for fear of receiving some unbearable news, but I couldn’t not read it, because it was the last letter Master left me. Perhaps I could only rely on this letter to remember Master for the rest of my life, because Master never took any photos in his life, and there is not even a single portrait of him.

Thinking about this, I felt a little sad.

When I opened the envelope, I saw my master’s familiar handwriting, and I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed again. My master once said that if you want to laugh, laugh; if you want to cry, cry. That’s the true nature of a man. Those who like to hold back and cry, “Men shed blood, not tears,” are letting their internal wounds fester.

But at this moment, I hate my tears. I really want to settle down and be strong as soon as possible, at least on the surface.

Thinking about this, I took a deep breath, wiped my eyes, and calmed myself down before reading the letter.

“Dear student:

I am afraid that by the time you read this letter, we will have already parted ways. I hope that you are doing well and have moved on from your sadness and are smiling as you face the future of living alone.

I have been thinking about one thing: when we part, should I tell you that I am leaving in a serious manner, or should I just leave as I normally do?

After much thought, I have decided to leave in the most ordinary way, just as I did when I was on the mountain and you were down below, going about your daily business.

Forgive me for my choice. Perhaps I am not strong enough to face the pain of parting, and I am afraid that if I say it, I will not be able to leave. After all, you are the biggest concern in my life.

The master is leaving to pursue something he has wanted to do for his whole life. It is something he has been determined to do since he was 25 years old, and not just me, but all of us in the same generation have been determined to do it.

I thought that when I finally got to do it, I would be very happy and free. But things are unpredictable after all. I have an inseparable master-disciple relationship with you, but the more so, the more I have to do that thing.

I thought that my master also had an inseparable bond with us.

We are going to do something, but we won’t tell you what it is. This is the result of our discussion. I once said that everything in the world is in a cycle, just like birth. No matter how wonderful the journey is, the end is death, unless you can cultivate your mind and understand the Dao, and ultimately escape the cycle.

The older generation of us does not want you to continue our cycle of reincarnation, so we can only stop it by not telling you anything and letting you escape from the cycle of reincarnation.

In the end, this is something I have been pursuing for my entire life. I can say that I have been running around non-stop, collecting clues, and now I finally have some certainty.

Don’t worry about me. The situation is just too vague, but it’s not dangerous yet.

However, we have made up our minds this time and will not give up until we achieve our goal. Chengyi, I am afraid I will not be able to return. We have been together for twenty years, and there should be no regrets about our separation. I hope you can think this way.

Finally, I have compiled all that I have learned in my life into four volumes. If you have any deficiencies in your practice, you can refer to them from time to time. I am not by your side, but I hope that you can still be diligent every day and reach a higher realm than I have.

We hope that you, the younger generation, will continue to carry on the tradition. If you want to take on an apprentice in your later years, remember that both character and fate are necessary. If you don’t have the fate of an apprentice, go to Longhu Mountain, the ancestral home of Taoism, or contact department XXX to donate the books so that they can continue to find someone with the right fate.

In addition, I hope that you will continue to complete the four volumes of books in your later years, after the passage of time. I believe that by then, your state of mind and your skills should have reached a higher level than mine. My disciples are not bad, are they?

I have lived a carefree life, and I will soon be leaving. I have sorted out my thoughts for my entire life, and apart from you being my concern, I have no regrets. However, there is one thing that I cannot help but regret, and that is the gradual decline of Taoism over the years. Those who have vested interests in it have ruined the reputation of Taoism, but I have to admit that there is a succession gap, and Taoism has suffered a great deal.

Nothing can ever be prosperous forever. It is always going to go through a cycle of ups and downs. Master has long since seen through this truth, but it is still heartbreaking.

I hope that during your lifetime, you will be able to do what is right and just, and change the way a few people think about Taoism. After all, the prosperity of Taoism does not depend on you alone, but a single spark can start a prairie fire. My disciple Jiang Lichun must always remember to be virtuous.

Time flies, twenty years have passed, and the past is still vivid in my mind. It seems that you are still the same naughty kid from back then, but when you come to your senses, you realize that it is time to part ways. If you ask me what I want to say to you, there is really one thing:

Just remember that you are a descendant of my old Li, and then forget about me and continue with your life.

Jiang Lichun”

Forget you? Continue living? Master, have you forgotten your master? I carefully folded the letter and put it in the inside pocket of my jacket, thinking about it, unaware that I was already in tears.

As the master said, he wanted to break the cycle of problems for our generation. So, he really left no clues, including the last letter, which didn’t say anything, and didn’t mention what he was going to do.

But is there really no clue? I dried my tears, closed my eyes and thought back. I remembered a morning more than ten years ago when I picked up a few pieces of paper from under my master’s window.

Before that morning, Master had mentioned some secrets about my Grandmaster for the first time, including the mystery of his age. Then Master must have been sleepless all night, writing about Kunlun over and over again.

That was definitely a revelation of his heart, but my master didn’t know that one morning, while he was sound asleep, I picked up that piece of paper and buried the matter in my heart for so many years without saying a word.

This may be the inexplicable fate that has kept me from asking my master and exposing this matter.

In addition to the sentence in the letter from my master, I thought that my master also had an unshakable affection for us. It seemed that there were already faint clues linking the events together. My master, Kunlun!

In the past few days, I have been too sad. In sadness, people are unwilling to think about anything. The instinctive reaction is to get rid of this sadness first. Onlookers may be able to stand and talk without any worries, thinking that they should do this and that. Only those who have experienced it can understand how small people are when the power of sadness sweeps over them. No matter how strong they are afterwards, they will always sink at that time.

The deeper the feelings, the longer the fall.

If it can be avoided, then it is really a heart of a god-like immortal.

I have vaguely sorted out some clues, and my mood has brightened a little. I touched the four books left by my master, and I think this is the responsibility he left to me.

When I arrived in the lobby, everyone was already waiting there. Everyone’s eyes were red, and I believe they had all read the things left by their respective masters.

This is our agreement. After reading the letter, we will discuss everything, sort out the clues, and decide what to do next.

When I entered the hall, Qin Huai led Huigen towards me and handed me two pages of paper, saying, “You must have read Huigen’s letter. There are some instructions from Master Hui for you.”