Chapter 4
The Longevity Formula
Yanguo, Beiyang Mansion.
Shen Gui sat on a haystack, leaning against a half-earth wall. Sunlight leaked down from the broken roof, falling on his shoulders as if covered with a layer of dust.
His attention was focused on the stone pendant.
The pendant, about the size of a fingernail, lay in my palm, slightly warm, and felt like a pebble that had been sun-dried for half an hour.
There are four deep cracks running through the stone surface.
For a month after leaving the small town, he walked very slowly, focusing all his attention on the stone pendant necklace. He would often walk for a day and then find a place to rest for five or six days, studying it quietly.
He found a stream, soaked the stone in the water, and weighed it down with a rock to prevent it from being washed away.
The stream water was icy cold, and the stone lay at the bottom, looking no different from any other ordinary stone. If you didn't experience the constant temperature, no one would think it was anything special.
He also dug a large pit, buried the stone in it, and lit a fire on top of it.
The fire was fierce, and the flames crackled as they licked the earth. When the fire pit was completely extinguished, Shen Gui dug the stone pendant out of the ashes. It was still the same as it had been before he put it in.
By this time, the sun had already risen, and the mud pits on the official road were still filled with rainwater from the previous night.
Shen Gui picked up a few stones by the roadside, put the stone weight on the ground, and picked the hardest stone to smash down.
"Bang!"
The stone broke.
The pendant didn't even leave a white mark.
He changed to another piece, which broke again; he changed to yet another, but it still broke from stone.
Shen Gui raised the stone weight above his head and stared intently at the crack above it in the sunlight.
Bai Xingjian explained that this thing is a fragment of the Immortal Path, which can be repaired to open the Heavenly Gate.
There is only one way to restore it: absorb the purest of the seven emotions and six desires in the world.
But how do you determine the purest purity?
Is anger the purest form of love? Is fear the purest form of greed?
How is absorption calculated?
Should I stand there with the shards in my hand, waiting for some emotion to drift over on its own? Or should I take the initiative to do something?
The fragments did not come with any explanation; Bai Xingjian was already dead.
When a person lives for too long, they will feel that they know everything, have seen everything, and understand everything.
Then something suddenly tells you—you know nothing.
Shen Gui hadn't experienced this sense of the unknown for a long time, so long that he found it intriguing.
very interesting.
After playing with it for a while, he hung the stone pendant back around his neck. The moment the silver chain touched his skin, the warmth returned.
Shen Gui stood up.
The shadow of the post station had already stretched long; the sun was about to set, and the trees on both sides of the official road swayed in the wind, their leaves rustling.
He glanced in the direction of the official road, which led to the prefectural city to the east.
I remember visiting Beiyang Prefecture before. Back then, Beiyang Prefecture was just a small county town. The city gates were made of wood, and the city walls were covered with ivy. I wonder what it's like now.
Shen Gui had no destination in mind; he simply chose a random road and set off again.
As dusk falls, the sun and moon hang in the sky together.
Shen Gui suddenly stopped and walked forward.
It was very noisy there, with the sound of horses' hooves mixed with human voices.
Someone was shouting, shouting "Stop!", shouting "Don't run!", shouting "Leave your things behind!"
Then came screams.
Shen Gui glanced at it but lost interest. He then turned his attention back to the pendant on his chest, where the last rays of the setting sun stretched his shadow long and extended.
As time went by.
The sounds of fighting turned into cries for mercy, and then into the playful sounds of cats catching mice.
The two sides began to chase each other.
The sound of horses' hooves drew near.
Shen Gui could hear the horse snorting and smell the scent of horse sweat mixed with the smell of blood wafting over.
Dust rose from the bend in the official road, churning up as horses hooves pounded it.
First came two mule carts.
The first vehicle was wobbling along, its axle rattling as if it were about to fall apart. The second vehicle was even faster; a bundle of cloth fell off its load and rolled into the mud, unattended.
Seven or eight people followed behind the mule cart, some on horseback and some on foot, protecting the merchant in the middle.
The merchant was a fat man riding a mule. His face was as white as if he had applied powder. He kept looking back as he ran, shouting something that was indistinguishable, his voice completely drowned out by the sound of the horse's hooves.
The last ones are bandits.
The leader was a bearded man with a scar over his left eye. He held a knife in his right hand and waved it constantly. He rode a black horse that was half a head taller than the others.
The person was laughing, like a hunter who had seen his prey had no chance of escape.
Seven or eight bandits behind him were also laughing; some whistled, while others tapped the stirrups with the backs of their knives, making a clanging sound.
The last guard was caught up.
Make a diagonal cut from the shoulder to the waist.
The guard groaned and fell to the ground, rolling twice. His horse continued running a few steps before stopping.
No one dared to look back. The merchants didn't look back, the drivers didn't look back, and neither did the other guards.
It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't; if I turn back, I'll be facing the next one.
The group chased and fled, and finally caught sight of that thin, gray, old figure in the setting sun.
The guards at the front saw Shen Gui first.
The guard tried to warn him, but it was too late. As his horse brushed past Shen Gui, he only managed to shout half a sentence: "Run—!" The rest of the words were swallowed by the wind.
The merchants also saw Shen Gui.
He rode on a mule, his face shaking from the jolting.
As his gaze swept across the entrance of the post station, the merchant's eyes lingered on Shen Gui for a moment. In that brief instant, he wasn't thinking, "This person is in danger."
His thought was that "with one more person blocking the road, the bandits will have to go around when they come to chase them."
Time is just a matter of going around in circles.
With a little more time, he can run a few more steps.
So the merchant didn't shout; he even deliberately looked away from Shen Gui, as if he hadn't seen him.
In short, most people had the same thought when they went around Shen Gui.
—Hopefully this person can stand in the middle of the road a little longer, so that when the bandits' horses charge, they'll have to go around him, right?
Just one breath, just one breath.
But no one said it out loud; to say it out loud would be too inhuman.