People get sick. Their limbs, internal organs, and five senses can all fall ill.
The heart is no exception.
Illness begins in the heart. A person's inner affliction can grow and spread, and negative emotions radiate outward, consuming others whether the afflicted intend it or not. Just as each person's understanding shapes their perspective, one's state of mind determines one's joy, sorrow, life, and death.
But every illness has a cure. A red thread serves as the contract, and a bronze bell summons the soul. Entering the mindscape through the spirit, one can cure the affliction.
But whether it's Lin Baifeng, Lin Furen, or the many, many other "mindscape divers" who stake their own names as collateral, they all understand this:
The one who tied the bell must untie it.
Lin Baifeng looked back on the past, slow to comprehend.
All the happiness was real, all the pain was real, all the love was real, and all the hatred was real. Yet his short, long life alone was as illusory as a great dream, a long sleep that held him fast within it.
He also remembered what Buji Li Kai had said to him before he left:
"You're ill at heart."
Theme: Perseverance
Living forever in your own state of mind may also be a kind of happiness