Thoughts had reached this point, and his brows relaxed again.
Gu Wen tilted his head back, just as he had looked up at her on Dragon Bridge, and asked, "May I ask, Immortal Master, can I still cultivate without celestial opportunity?"
Yu Hua, the immortal, nodded and said, "Of course, opportunity is fate bestowed by the heavens. Everyone has their own destiny. The founder of our sect, Qingcang Daoist, was a man who defied heaven. He became an immortal without needing destiny."
Zhao Feng watched coldly from the side.
Though that was said, how many Qingcang Daoists were there in the world? Now that the path to immortality had opened, it represented the greatest opportunity since ancient times. If Gu Wen still held onto the celestial opportunity, then ten years later, it might be Zhao Feng who would have to bow to him.
On the other hand, today he had completely lost the celestial opportunity, making it impossible for him to catch up to Zhao Feng.
Even my noble birth is something he could never aspire to in his lifetime.
Zhao Feng commanded in a firm tone, "Swallow it, and I will grant you a hereditary title, even that of a Marquis."
Yu Hua, the immortal, frowned slightly but could only persuade again, "If descendants of the Gu family possess the qualifications in the future, they are naturally welcome to join our Sanqing Taoist Sect."
Gu Wen, having no choice like before, swallowed the red pill.
It seemed as if a string had snapped somewhere deep within.
The lady in white returned to her seat and said no more, while Zhao Feng was very pleased, directly promising Gu Wen the title of Marquis, the loyalty of ten thousand households, a life of glory and wealth.
-----------------
After welcoming the Immortal, a grand banquet was laid out at the royal mansion, with tables and chairs filling the street at the entrance, offering a feast for all comers, even beggars and refugees could find food in the alleys.
That evening coincided with the Grain Rain Lantern Festival, numerous opera troupes performed in the streets, surrounded closely by throngs of citizens.
The royal mansion's songstresses sang clear tunes, beloved by the nobles for their elegance.
In the entertainment districts, the common folk preferred vulgar ditties.
Gu Wen, not understanding these tunes, also listened until midnight.
Holding a jug of wine, he staggered drunkenly along the street, candlelights twinkling in his pupils, the elegant and convoluted music enveloping his ears, creating an illusion of universal peace, a prosperous nation.
It seemed as if the age of warfare, excessive taxes, and unbearable life was thousands of years in the past, unreachable, as if it would never come.
Yet when tomorrow's wind called "living" blew, people would wake up reluctantly, still facing labor, taxes, wars, hunger, cold, death...
They would never find peace in their lifetimes.
Walking under the Dragon Bridge, the riverside breeze sobered him.
The clouds dispersed, and moonlight made the reflection in the well even clearer, mundane yet wrapped in the ugliness of loyalty and filial piety, Gu Wen laughed at himself mockingly.
"Bending low is my means of survival. But if standing grants stability, who would choose to bend in order to survive?"
He had lost his fated destiny, but wasn't it also a liberation from chains, from everything that bound his original self?
He wasn't left with nothing, he still had ten thousand taels and a hereditary title of Marquis in his pocket, enough for a lifetime of food and clothes, and the title allowed him to legally have three wives and four concubines.
Gu Wen realized the wider truth and also found joy in suffering.
He laughed and poured the wine into the water under the moonlight, as if inviting the moon to a drunken revel.
Suddenly, it seemed as if the tide receded to make way for bigger waves, that eventually converged on his brow, like a primordial beast endlessly battering its confinements.
Breaking through the old chrysalis of feudal rites and tearing the webs binding his heart.
Fate could no longer obscure that radiance; the departure of so-called celestial opportunity was merely like brushing off the dust, cracking the crust of jade. What remained was the essence of the Dao, aligning with heaven's own destiny.
A thought, a streak of golden light, a line of text, a message...
Indescribable, unseen, unpredictable, finally becoming something he could understand.
[Fate Diagram of Red Dust Immortal]
[Ten thousand years of Heavenly Marrow, ten thousand years of Emperor's Elixir, enduring through the Red Dust, understands destiny turning mundane into immortal, to live as long as the heavens and earth, transcending all beings.]
What is Heavenly Marrow, what is Emperor's Elixir?
A speck of white light flickered, bringing a faint message.
[Ten years of Heavenly Marrow]
That Spirit Pill was the Heavenly Marrow.
Thoughts cycled repeatedly, deepening the memory, Gu Wen's mind filled with only one crystal clear thought.
As long as he could gather ten thousand years of Heavenly Marrow and Emperor's Elixir, nurturing himself until the age of eighty, he could ascend to immortality!
He would rid himself of all constraints, wander freely, inquiring about eternal life!
Gu Wen felt like someone who had been thirsty for years, suddenly finding a fresh spring, greedily, crazily lapping it up, indifferent even if it drowned him, refusing to spare any.
To hell with glory and riches, this Daoist wants to become an Immortal!
With a splash!
He plunged his head into the river, letting the cold river water wash away his agitated emotions and distractions.
April twenty-ninth, on the bright moon of Grain Rain day.
I plunged my head into the water under the bright moon, as if receiving a whiff of immortal qi.