The Immortal's Path Through a Fleeting Life

In Lin'an during the Southern Song, Li Quan was a poor scholar who had lost both his parents. With no way to pursue the civil service exams, he buried his brush and ink before their graves and stepped into the vast, turbulent world. He worked as a hired hand for a landlord, opened a congee shop at the end of an alley, served as a county yamen runner, and finally shaved his head and became a monk at Lingyin Temple. After spending half his life struggling in the mortal world and tasting all its warmth and cold, he had a chance encounter and obtained a damaged copy of the Great Dream Heart Sutra. It let him cultivate in dreams: one day in reality was a year in the dream. But nothing comes for free. Cultivating in dreams cost him years of life, while nightmare beasts constantly coveted his spiritual consciousness. To establish his foundation, he had to risk death to seize heavenly treasures. To form a golden core, he had to fight for his life against a vengeful spirit king on an ancient battlefield. To reach the Nascent Soul stage, he had to cut away the obsessions in his heart and watch helplessly as the person he loved most died by his own hand. To become a god, he had to endure three calamities and nine trials: lightning, fire, and wind nearly scattering his soul. He lost so much along the way: years of life, his beloved, his master, and his memories. Every breakthrough was a wrenching farewell that cut into his heart and bones. At last, the immortal gate opened before him, ready to usher him through the tribulation and into ascension. Golden light descended from the heavens. After ten thousand years of cultivation, he was only one step away. Yet he looked back at the mortal world. There was still war and plague, fields littered with the starving dead, and a bowl of hot congee he had never managed to deliver. “I’m not leaving.” The immortal gate closed. Heavenly lightning fell, and he shut his eyes to await death. The lightning halted three feet above his head. A voice slowly rang out between heaven and earth: “If you will not enter the immortal gate, then the immortal gate shall open for you.” This is a story about gaining and losing. Cultivation is not about seeking eternal life, but about gaining enough strength to protect that faint glimmer of warmth in the mortal world.