Chapter 274 - 269: Wind Stirs, Thunder Rumbles, Hearts are Stirred

If the heavens and earth are eternal, then Immortals are eternal; if the heavens and earth endure, then Immortals endure!

The Immortals the fisherman spoke of had their lifespans measured by the "heavens and earth."

Song Ciwan asked, "Senior, may I ask, do the heavens and earth themselves have a lifespan? What if the heavens and earth were to be destroyed..."

Before she could finish her question, the fisherman’s eyes went wide, as if he had heard something utterly terrifying and unbelievable.

"Young lady, you can’t say such things!" the fisherman growled in a low voice. "The heavens and earth are eternal and unchanging. How could they possibly be destroyed? You..."

Anger contorted his features, and it looked as if he was about to let fly a torrent of rebukes.

But just as the words reached his lips, he immediately held them back.

"My apologies, my apologies," the fisherman sighed. "After three hundred years of Cultivation, practicing mental discipline every day, I am still so easily angered. This is not good, not good at all!"

He shook his head, set down the sculling oar, and first clasped his hands toward Song Ciwan. "My apologies, young lady. Please forgive this old man."

Without waiting for Song Ciwan’s reply, he suddenly knelt toward the town on the other side of the river and kowtowed. "I beg the Immortal Venerable’s forgiveness! This disciple’s Cultivation was lacking today. For the matter of crossing the river, I will add a further ten years to my own punishment. I beg the Immortal Venerable’s forgiveness!"

The fisherman kowtowed on the deck, THUMP THUMP, and Song Ciwan watched from the side, a little stunned. ’Is this really necessary?’ she wanted to ask.

When she first saw the fisherman, he had undoubtedly struck her as a Red Dust Immortal—in the mortal world, yet seemingly beyond it.

His carefree magnanimity and unrestrained ease seemed to embody the state of being eternally sought by Seekers of the Dao in Huaxia civilization.

Song Ciwan practiced the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting. Although this Cultivation Technique was from this world, her Cultivation was still, in fact, greatly influenced by the memories of her past life.

Even though the world of her past life had followed a technological path where there was no such thing as Cultivating Immortality, all the stories about "Immortals" were merely the stuff of legend.

But even if the world changes, the cultural imprints a person carries are hard to erase.

In her bones, Song Ciwan’s understanding of an "Immortal" was like the Immortals of Huaxia legend: possessing both compassion and detachment, able to enter the mortal world and withdraw from it, to take things up and let them go. Only such a being was worthy of the title "Immortal."

She had rarely seen this kind of idealized "Immortal" in the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty, but now, upon entering this Secret Realm, she seemed to see it in the fisherman before her—

Of course, that image was shattered in an instant, utterly collapsing the moment the fisherman suddenly knelt toward the distant horizon.

It was hard to describe the feeling, but it was profoundly strange.

The fisherman kowtowed three times on the deck. Then, he bowed his back and tilted his head as if listening. It was impossible to know what he heard, but an expression of timid reverence appeared on his face.

A moment later, the fisherman climbed up from the deck and bowed to Song Ciwan again with clasped hands.

Song Ciwan immediately stepped aside, then quickly bent down and placed her hands underneath his, making a gesture to lift him up. "Senior, you absolutely must not do this. You are showing this junior far too much honor."

The fisherman straightened up, following her gesture, but covered his face with his sleeve in shame. "I should not have gotten angry. A single moment of anger has ruined ten years of my Cultivation. Young lady, it was this old man’s fault. Thank you for your magnanimity and understanding."

Song Ciwan really didn’t know what to say. Her mind was filled with countless questions, but at this moment, she had no idea where to even begin asking.

At the same time, she suddenly noticed a very interesting phenomenon: the river she was currently crossing was, in fact, a small, winding, clear stream.

The small river flowed over the clouds and was no more than thirty feet wide in total.

Despite the short distance, and though the fisherman had been sculling the boat in the river and talking with Song Ciwan for a long time, the small boat just kept spinning in the middle of the current, never getting any closer to the opposite bank.

Was the fisherman deliberately delaying the crossing, or was there some mystery to this small river?

In any case, this Secret Realm, which the fisherman called the Spirit Realm, was far too strange, filled with all sorts of inexplicable things.

But she had to admit, the Golden Core Dao the fisherman spoke of was truly enticing. Although Song Ciwan did not lack for longevity, she was still filled with curiosity and longing for the great Dao and long life he described.

’Any Seeker,’ she thought, ’when faced with the promise of long life and eternity, would inevitably feel the urge to investigate. They would never give up so easily.’

This was an attitude—the attitude of Cultivation.

So Song Ciwan wasn’t in a hurry. She followed the fisherman’s line of thought and said, "Senior, ’to err is human.’ If one were a sage, one should be even more capable of forgiveness—whether for others or for oneself. Don’t you agree, Senior?"

She was following his lead, acknowledging that he had been wrong to get angry just now.

Although Song Ciwan didn’t think it was a mistake at all; she just found it baffling.

But what she said was, "To be honest, Senior, this humble one has long aspired to seek the Dao. Though I have yet to shed my mortal coil, I still wish to emulate the sages of old and be tolerant and magnanimous. Please, stop blaming yourself... Senior, why not forgive others, and also forgive yourself?"

These words immediately struck a chord with the fisherman.

The fisherman was stunned. He repeated Song Ciwan’s words, murmuring, "Forgive others, and also forgive myself?"

Song Ciwan smiled faintly. "Yes. How is forgiving oneself not also a form of Cultivation?"

The fisherman said, "It should be so. I am not a sage, but I have the heart to become one. I am not an Immortal, but I have the will to become one. If one wishes to become an Immortal and a sage, how can one not cultivate forgiveness? For three hundred years, that viper has provoked me countless times, yet I never grew angry at it..."

At this, the fisherman laughed heartily, his expression relaxed, as if he had recovered his former carefree air. "And today, I have had the good fortune to be treated with your forgiveness, little friend. Therefore, I forgive others, and others forgive me, and now I shall forgive myself..."

"The snake is a living being, you are a living being, and I too am a living being. This wondrous cycle is the marvel of the Celestial Dao."

The fisherman looked up at the sky and declared, "I am enlightened!"

Above the white clouds, there were more white clouds.

Just as there is always a heaven beyond the heavens.

And so, when the fisherman looked up, he saw that above the cloudy sky, even more layers of clouds were gathering. In an instant, clouds converged, wind arose, and thunder rumbled faintly.

A moment later, snakes of lightning and fire weaved through the layers of clouds.

The fisherman tilted his head back and let out a long cry, exclaiming joyfully, "Three hundred years of Cultivation, and I finally welcome the Golden Core tribulation! Little friend, back away quickly! I must face my tribulation!"

At the same time, the Heaven and Earth Scale appeared beside Song Ciwan.

On its Balance Plate lay a mass of pale golden qi tinged with a faint red glow: [Human desires. The joy, gratitude, and elation of a Foundation Establishment Stage Immortal Seeker. Weight: nearly four pounds. Available for trade.]

The Heaven and Earth Scale had collected the fisherman’s qi and provided an appraisal.

First, the fisherman had been identified as "Human."

For some reason, Song Ciwan felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

As for the rest—Foundation Establishment Stage or Immortal Seeker—none of it was a problem.

Song Ciwan took a light step back, intending to leap to the shore before the Thunder Tribulation descended.

But strangely, the very moment she gathered her qi to leap, a mysterious restraining force suddenly pressed in from all directions. Song Ciwan discovered that she couldn’t leave the boat!