Chapter 192 What is Being? What am I? (2/2)

The kind of horror that would drive him mad.

There were horrors that come with birth and death after these horrors come freedom. The first half was said by some man of virtue, the latter half was what he had hoped in his mind.

The closer he was with approaching death, the more matters that appear in his mind. There were memories of him as a human, there were memories as him being the fish in the river, there were memories of him being the bird in the sky, and there were also memories of him being a pen up livestock.

All of these were like the white threads outside his body, surrounding him.

He did not understand but he knew.

Like a spark crossing his mind, he was already really confused. Only one kind of faith remained in his mind and did not vanish forever. That was that he had to live on, only by living then he could have everything.

This survival instinct ran through the beginning and the end of his life.

He spared no effort as he wriggled on, because of that unwavering thirst, somehow there was a hidden and unspeakable transformation. His body began to transform into an extra unnamed potential. The cocoon made from the white threads was not impregnatable. All he needed was to tear it apart and he could receive a new life and freedom.

Because of the drive of this instinct, he exerted all of his strength.

Just as he was about to give it his all to break out from the cocoon, the world in front of him changed and he was still in the Taiwei Pavilion.

His confused gaze soon returned to clarity quickly.

However, deep down in his mind, there was still a longing and that was the regret of not being able to complete the metamorphosis.

”Are you the caterpillar or are you Shen Lian?” A clear and bright voice rang in the Taiwei Pavilion.

So the old Daoist could talk. Back then, he did not make a sound. Shen Lian thought he was practicing some sort of closed mouth chanting martial arts.

Shen Lian pondered slightly and answered, ”The caterpillar and Shen Lian are not Shen Lian.”

The old Daoist chuckled and said, ”Now, you are no stronger than that caterpillar. You'll only get beaten if you go out there. Wait until you could 'spin a cocoon around yourself', then come and talk to me.”

He did not specify whether Shen Lian's answer was correct and he closed his eyes and did not say anything anymore like a silent statue. If Shen Lian did not have a good look, it was hard to notice his presence.

No, the old Daoist was quieter and had a lower presence than a statue. If Shen Lian closed his eyes, he could still feel the changes of airflow of the universe, from that he could know the position of the statue.

But he could not see the old Daoist, as though he truly does not exist in this world.

How could this state be drawn a parallel to the caterpillar, or even the metamorphosis? It was too far away to reach this state.

Shen Lian knew that the old Daoist had always been in Qing Xuan, as for why he did not stop the incident with Yanxu, perhaps there were other reasons for him to not be able to do so.

Questions arose and Shen Lian did not press on because he knew that if the old Daoist was willing to talk, he would definitely tell him. Also, the old Daoist had told him to come and talk to him once he could 'spin a cocoon around himself'. His made it clear that before then, do not look for him.

Shen Lian understood what it meant to have a cocoon spun around himself. It actually meant being burdened with fabrication. By then he would be more qualified to cut through the fabrication and tackled the path of Dixian.

He continued on into the inner parts of the Taiwei Pavilion. There was no staircase that directly connected the second level in the Taiwei Pavilion but as long as one has the conditions to go up to the second level, one could naturally enter.不可语冰的夏虫 - A phrase by Zhuangzi. It means that it is impossible to speak to persons of limited experience.