Fearing death, one seeks longevity. Having gained longevity, one covets agelessness. With an ageless body, one foolishly seeks to become an immortal.
During the Yuanhe era, Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Li Chun, was "fond of immortals and sought out alchemists." In pursuit of an elixir of immortality, he went so far as to appoint an alchemist as governor of Taizhou.
With the emperor setting the example, those below followed suit. Seeking immortality and taking elixirs became common practice, from the emperor down to his ministers.
The Ghost of Poetry, Li Changji, once wrote a poem satirizing this.
"Flying light, flying light, I urge you to drink a cup.
I know not how high the blue sky is, nor how deep the yellow earth.
I only see the cold moon and warm sun, slowly cooking away human life.
Eat bear and grow fat; eat frog and grow thin.
Where is the Divine Lord? How can the Great One be real?
In the east of heaven stands the Ruomu tree, beneath it lies the Torch Dragon.
I would cut off the dragon's feet and chew its flesh, so it could not return at dawn or lie down at night.
Then the old would never die, and the young would never weep.
Why take gold elixirs or swallow white jade?
Who is like Lord Ren, riding a green donkey among the clouds?
In Maoling, Liu Che's tomb is packed with bones; for Ying Zheng's coffin, they wasted abalone to mask the smell."
Seeking recipes and techniques, seeking a copper coin.
Seeking life and death, seeking to become an immortal.
But when you finally get what you have been seeking, is it really what you wanted?
By then, regret comes too late.
Theme: Desire is an illusion.
Author, your writing is very interesting and has a good idea. But from a reader's perspective, it seems to me that your words are a bit too dense. You can divide the line spacing or paragraphs further. It's a little too dense to read, and I want to read it too much.
What kind of weird start is this? Hahahaha, it smells like Xinsu's madness.
Wuwuwu, God's great resentment flows.
Turn around ahead hahahahahahaha