When Qi Wuhuo turned around and left, the sea of ​​flowers behind him gradually closed like a door. As the sea of ​​flowers gradually closed, the place behind him that looked like a place where immortals practiced also disappeared from Qi Wuhuo's perception. Qi Wuhuo walked up to the old man and handed him the jade slip. The old man did not show much sadness or disappointment, but remained gentle and calm.

Allow disciples to choose their own path.

Such great gentleness and compassion are so vast and boundless that to others, they seem almost ruthless.

His palm brushed over the jade slip, and the two characters "Yu Miao" on it disappeared. However, the old man did not smash the jade slip again, but handed it to Qi Wuhuo. This time, his choice was different from that of Senior Brother Yuyang. He said gently: "Five hundred years later, come and see her and ask the same question again."

"See how she answers."

Qi Wuhuo seemed to be thinking, as long as he was pursuing the path, could he just wait?

The old man turned around and left with Qi Wuhuo, slowly walking away. This time he did not ask Qi Wuhuo how he felt. The old man and the young man walked slowly on the road outside Yu Miao's retreat. Flowers were blooming on both sides, and the fragrance was rich. Those flowers had grown as tall as the boy's waist. As they walked along the road, butterflies danced and landed on the boy's shoulders.

After a long silence, the young man asked, "Teacher, is this what a Taoist couple is like?"

The old man shook his head and smiled gently: "Of course not."

"There are many sects and methods passed down in our Daoist sect, and the Dharma lineages have also spread. Gradually, many theories have spread. However, just like the misunderstandings about essence, energy and spirit, there are also misunderstandings about Dharma, companion, wealth and land. The one about companion is particularly serious. Dao companion does not mean a mortal husband and wife. If husband and wife are Dao companion, why bother to create a special word?"

"Originally it was because of fate."

"Those who practice Taoism also have to face all kinds of disasters, calamities, and life and death."

"Supporting each other in illness and caring for each other in life and death, this is what a Taoist couple is."

The old man joked, "In other words, we should support each other while repairing the road."

"The original meaning is that we walk this road together. If you die, I will bury you and you can continue to move forward. If I die, you should not be sad. There are green mountains everywhere, and there is no place that is not the way home. Bury me and continue to move forward to find the way and the way. The so-called Taoist companion is nothing more than this."

This sentence was joking at first, but later on it made Qi Wuhuo feel a great sense of vastness. In just a moment, with just a few words, he had far surpassed the mercy of his senior sister to one person. The young man paused and looked at the teacher's back. He suddenly felt that this back was only one step away, but so far away.

The old man stopped and looked back at him.

Gentle, "What happened to Wuhuo?"

Qi Wuhuo shook his head: "Nothing."

He thought for a moment and asked, "Senior Sister and Senior Brother should also know that we should not be obsessed with fame, and what it means to be a Taoist companion, right?"

The old man replied: "Yes, but [knowing], [holding the Tao], [the ultimate Tao]."

"But they are three different realms."

"Knowing it doesn't necessarily mean you can execute it, and executing it doesn't necessarily mean you can reach your destination. The Great Dao is not something you can reach simply by making a wish. There are many hardships and sufferings along the way. A Taoist companion is needed because it is easy to get into a dark room when practicing alone."

"So when it comes to Dao companionship, you have to choose someone first, and then form a Dao companionship."

"One must not fall in love, for if one does, one's heart will be tied to the other; one must not know the other, for if one does not know the other, one's feelings will be separated."

"There are three things that make a Taoist couple great: a clear mind, wisdom, and aspiration."

“There are also three incompatibilities: lack of clarity, lack of wisdom, and lack of ambition.”

The old man reached out and stroked Qi Wuhuo's hair, and suddenly asked jokingly, "Why, Wuhuo is also thinking of finding a Taoist partner?"

"Would you like the teacher to introduce you to the exiled immortal from the Cui family?"

"That exiled immortal is indeed a man with a heart as strong as iron."

"One day, even without the help of the Heavenly Emperor's talisman, he can gather the three flowers at the top of his head and ascend to heaven."

Qi Wuhuo never thought that the fire could burn him. His expression froze for a moment, and he blushed a little. He said seriously, "Teacher, stop joking."

Then the old man burst into laughter.

It seemed that teasing this upright little disciple would put him in a rare good mood.

He stroked his beard and sighed, "Tao companionship is also the basis of cultivation. It is not for love, but for the great Dao, to reflect each other and support each other."

"Is love wrong? No, who doesn't have attachment?"

"It's just that he is not one of my kind."

"Just as I told you, I'm looking for a fellow Taoist."

"They have their own choices, and they are all right, but our way is also right."

"They walk their own way, and we walk our own way. There is no right or wrong, no superiority or inferiority. It's just a matter of choice. When there is a destiny, we walk together for a while. When there is no destiny, we leave each other. But there is no need to be nostalgic or worried."

"Fate brings about fate."

"That's all."

"Your senior sister has chosen another path, so you can wait for her for now."

He led the young man forward, and Qi Wuhuo gradually gained some insights in his heart, but those insights were still a little vague, not clear enough, not specific enough. He felt that many concepts and principles were colliding in his mind, but while thinking, his own aura gradually settled down, like a stubborn stone with a rough jade inside, which was being knocked by the affairs of the world and was about to bloom but had not yet.

The old man said in a gentle voice: "Let's go and meet the next one..."

The young Taoist then understood that this journey of questioning his true self had not yet come to an end.

He said yes and followed the old man, moving forward step by step.

This is such a long road, the length of which is measured by the experiences and lives of each of these Xuanmen disciples.

Afterwards, there were several senior brothers and sisters, and Qi Wuhuo went to witness them one by one.

They all have their own obsessions, and each of them is extremely talented, much more powerful than Qi Wuhuo now. Some of them are devoted to mountains and rivers and have no desire to pursue the great way, while others like to play around in the world and show their sainthood in the world. Qi Wuhuo personally collected their jade slips, and the old man would ask him every time, what have you gained?

Every time, ask yourself whether their choice is right or wrong?

Every time Qi Wuhuo answered, “That’s right.”

But each time, the young Taoist took longer and longer to think.

When asked for the last time, the young Taoist suddenly felt something and replied:

"Disciple understands."

"Each of them has his own persistence and his own choices, but they are all right. It is not wrong to leave a name for future generations, it is not wrong to express one's feelings for the mountains and rivers, and it is not wrong to love and be willing to stay together for generations. These things are just like choosing the avenue, they are just one's own choices."

"Who says that something as vast as the road must be greater than what people pursue in their eyes?"

"If that's the case, the world would be boring."

The old man smiled and said, "Shangshan."

He was quite delighted and said, "Wuhuo has realized this by himself, and I accept this gift. If you were a stubborn stone, this walk would have no effect except to warn you, and we should have parted ways here. But now it is not the case. I can briefly talk to you about the heights of cultivation, which is worthy of the word 'Qi Xuan'."

The old man waved his sleeves, then sat casually under two pine trees, on a bluestone, and asked with a gentle smile:

"Can you tell if there is an immortal?"

Qi Wuhuo nodded and replied, "If you travel to the North Sea in the morning and Cangwu in the evening, you can achieve immortality, magical powers, and countless wonderful methods that cannot be described in words."

The old man asked, "Do you know the rank of the immortal god?"

This was knowledge that the boy had not known before, so he said, "Please teach me, teacher."

The old man stroked his beard and said, "Ordinary Qigong practitioners have taken the wrong path. They breathe in and out vital energy, manipulate their spirits, and only know how to cultivate their nature but not their destiny."

"Those who enter the lowest level will become corpse-reincarnation immortals."

“Even though I have a life span of three to five hundred years, I cannot attain the great way, nor can I enjoy a carefree life.”

"Although they are called immortals, they are actually ghosts."

"This is the fate of those who take the wrong path and seek quick success and instant benefits. Beware of this."

"But ordinary practitioners, breathing in and out, refining qi, cultivating their nature and life, do not realize the great way."

"You can obtain a method from the Tao, and a technique from the method. You can have faith and determination, and never change it for the rest of your life. The five elements of qi, misunderstandings, and solid forms and qualities will eventually lead you to the path of the three flowers gathering at the top of your head. This state can be called a human immortal."

Qi Wuhuo suddenly understood and said, "It's Senior Brother Yu Yangzi..."

The old man nodded and said calmly, "People like him have also accumulated external skills, but they are too persistent and can't even be considered as seekers of the Tao. In the future, if they have good fortune, they can go to the earth to become mountain gods and land gods, go to the netherworld to become ghost generals and city gods, or receive a talisman and ascend to the heavenly palace to become an ordinary immortal. They work hard and have no leisure all day long, but they can get a pill to prolong their lives."

"Although they are immortals, they are just ordinary ones. There are many such officials under the names of the great emperors and celestial masters in the heavenly court."

"In the sky, he is the Heavenly Official; on the earth, he is the Earthly Official; in the water, he is the Water Official."

The old man continued, "Those who are higher than human immortals have been able to see through these obsessions but find it difficult to let go. They have realized the truth but cannot escape, and are trapped in the eight difficulties of the Tao."

"He was originally gifted with talent from heaven and earth, but he was stubborn and refused to realize his mistake. He realized his mistake but could not get rid of it, so he finally achieved little."

"He can live forever in the world and be called a land immortal."

Qi Wuhuo's heart was touched, and he thought: "It's the current Senior Sister Yu Miao."

The old man nodded and said casually, "Although there are many disciples in Shangqing Sect, 90% of them are just talents like this."

"Not even as good as your senior sister."

"And if she can see through it one day and come out of it on her own, she will work hard from then on and practice to the point of transcendence."

“When you reach the point where the yin is exhausted and the yang is pure, you can become an incarnation outside of your body.”

"If one can gather the three flowers at the top of his head and gather the five qi to the origin, in my opinion, this person can be called a god."

"In Taoism, he can imitate the heavens and the earth; in Buddhism, he is called the Transformation of Others."

"Of the twelve disciples of Yuqing who received the true teachings, most are just like this."

Under the two old pine trees, the old man with white hair and beard spoke in a calm and gentle tone as always, but everything in the world was extremely quiet.

The silence was eerily quiet.

I don’t know when the wind started, the entire sky was covered, and the sun and moon became dim.

But the wind did not flow here, and the water flow stopped changing.

All the surrounding land gods disappeared, as if everything was silent. The voice was gentle and only entered Qi Wuhuo's ears.

“As for using the talents of the gods of heaven and earth, practicing hard to break the calamity, not being attached to things, yet having great courage, daring to enter the three realms of calamity.”

“You can preach to gain the luck of heaven and earth, or enter the calamity to break the evil spirit and accumulate merits. When you have accumulated three thousand merits and completed eight hundred journeys, you can move forward step by step, go through the thirty-six cave heavens, and return to the eighty-first Yang heaven. Then you will be a celestial being. If you are a disciple of the Three Pure Ones, you will be called the Great Luo Celestial Being of the Mixed Origin and One Qi. If you are not a disciple of the Three Pure Ones, you will be called the Great Yi Celestial Being of the Mixed Origin and One Qi.”

"The most outstanding disciples of Shangqing and Yuqing, the Buddha of the West, and many celestial masters and emperors of the heavenly court are all in this place."

Qi Wuhuo was deeply moved when he heard this.

The old man stroked his beard and said calmly:

"But it is only a lower level method."

So it was even more like thunder.