Enlightenment is divided into three levels: observing things, observing people, and observing oneself.
When Chen Xia was young, he once observed trees but gained little insight, only half-understanding what he saw as if it were a dream.
In his youth, he observed people, watching Little Chan Er's entire life, with ups and downs in his heart but not knowing exactly what he was feeling, let alone able to talk about it. Since then, he no longer wanted to observe people.
After that, there were a few more shallow enlightenments, but Chen Xia did not gain much from them and was unwilling to delve deeper into them. But if it was a medicine farmer, Chen Xia could try to gain more insight.
Because when Zhang DaoMing entered the Blue Sky Sword Sea, his identity was that of a medicine farmer.
Chen Xia also had an affinity with alchemy that he did not understand. He was indeed not very good at alchemy, but the achievements he had made along the way were inseparable from alchemy.
A medicine farmer would be good too.
Chen Xia did not resist this identity. Every day, carrying a hoe, he farmed the land just like every other farmer.
His body also became hunched over like every other farmer’s. His hair was slightly white, wearing a self-made cape and straw hat. When not working the land, he would lie back in a rocking chair and rock himself.
Alchemists collecting medicinal herbs would still come by frequently, and over time, some grew familiar with Chen Xia, occasionally chatting and laughing with him.
“Old Chen, keeping such a large medicinal field serves no purpose, wasting your talent for nothing. Why not come with me to our sect, and I’ll find you an elder position in charge of pills and elixirs, much better than waiting to die here in this hut.”
“Get lost,” Chen Xia lay in the rocking chair unimpressed, raising his head with a tobacco pipe in his mouth, stubborn like an ordinary old farmer.
“Come on, brother, I mean well to advise you. I have no intention of scamming you. I sincerely want you to go to better places to shine and achieve what you deserve,” the cultivator kept persuading.
Chen Xia tilted his head, the tobacco pipe in his mouth. He got up from the rocking chair, his cape swaying as he stood. Pressing his straw hat, he shook his head and laughed.
“You’re thinking too much.”
The cultivator was helpless, frowning in distress. “Could it be you really want to stay in this hut, smoking this crappy tobacco until you die old here with no one to collect your corpse?!”
“Actually, it’s candy.” Chen Xia opened his mouth, revealing the candy stick in the pipe.
“......” The cultivator was speechless.
Afterward, news spread that the medicine farmer in the hut was talented but lacked ambition, which some cultivators looked down upon, thinking it was a waste of talent and wasted heaven’s gifts.
There were many rumors, but Chen Xia never cared. His appearance aged a few more decades over the hundreds of years. His hair turned white, the cape he wore grew shabby, his gait and speech increasingly like an old man.
Zhang Feiyu didn’t dare visit Chen Xia over the decades, mainly because nothing major happened in the Zhang Family, so he didn’t dare report to Chen Xia for fear of being reprimanded again.
Time flows like water, never stopping for anyone.
At first, it was only decades. Before he realized it, slowly it became hundreds of years. Over these hundreds of years, Chen Xia learned another attitude toward life called benefiting others.
Perhaps an old man’s insight, the Chen Xia now, even when in conflict with others, would no longer smash them with a hoe like before. Instead, he would turn the hoe and strike them with the handle. This was benefiting others.
It wasn’t some deep resentment. There was no need to beat someone to death, beating half-dead was good enough.
Chen Xia’s reputation in the alchemy world also grew. Alchemists often came to seek medicine from him, surrounding his door, quite noisy.
As more and more surrounded him and his fame increased, it was like a positive feedback loop. But Chen Xia extremely disliked it, hearing the clamor outside his house every day, feeling slightly annoyed.
Year 1500, early autumn.
Chen Xia made a decision. He would travel far away.
He didn’t know how far or how long, just that he had to go out and see the vast world.
This meant Chen Xia decided to step out of his medicine farmer identity.
That day there was light rain. As autumn leaves gently fell, Chen Xia closed the door of the hut. Wearing his shabby cape and straw hat, like every ordinary old man,
Rainwater hung from the eaves, about to connect into a line but unable to as each droplet kept falling. Chen Xia pressed his straw hat and turned around in the pattering rain.
Misty rain shrouded heaven and earth. The blurry figure of an old man in a cape grew farther and farther from the hut until disappearing completely into the mist.
No goodbyes, because he didn’t need to bid anyone farewell this time.
This happened in year 1500, passing quietly in the autumn rain without alerting anyone.
Afterward, the medicine farmer disappeared from the hut, leaving only a tightly shut door behind.
Some cultivators tried jumping over the wall to check inside but found the medicinal field already emptied, even the central recliner gone.
Year 1700.
Zhang Feiyu finally came to the hut, looking excited as he kept knocking but no one answered. He stood there reverently waiting, figuring the Chen Ancestor must be busy with something and unable to open the door.
Or perhaps the Zhang Family did something wrong to displease the Chen Ancestor, which worried Zhang Feiyu even more as he waited.
Two months passed.
Until a passing old neighbor made an offhand comment, “No use coming here for medicine anymore. Old Chen left two hundred years ago. This place has been empty since, just some alchemists guarding and seeking medicine every day. Your information is quite outdated, haha.”
Zhang Feiyu was stunned at first before pressing his lips tightly, complex emotions in his eyes as he gazed at the door.
The large parasol tree inside the house was like looking down at him, like an elder observing a junior.
Parasol tree watching people over the fence.
Zhang Feiyu lingered here for months.
In the end, Zhang Feiyu didn’t open the door. He only had the Zhang Family dispatch many cultivators to guard Chen Ancestor’s residence, keeping watch over the hut in a small, trivial act for the Chen Ancestor.
From then on, it was as if the Chen Ancestor completely vanished from the world without any news of him ever spreading out or discovered despite constant investigation.
Meanwhile, the Zhang Family continued developing. Relying on the pills Wang Yangzi sent, the second Zhang Family patriarch defied fate and broke through his Sea-Leveling Boundary bottleneck, stepping into the Heaven-Patching Realm to achieve the Zhang Family’s first solid Heaven-Patching Realm master.
Zhang Feiyu’s rebirth also progressed extremely well. His physique and aptitude both changed—previously at the Primordial Infant Realm, he was now at the Mountain-Moving Realm and glimpsed the peak of Sea-Leveling Boundary, unimaginable matters for the previous Zhang Feiyu.
But now there was no one he could report the joyous news to or speak with Chen Ancestor again, full of regret.
The Zhang Family also rose to an apex position among mid-level sects in the world, though not securely seated yet, only having the qualification.
Zhang Feiyu wanted the Zhang Family to prosper and hold their heads high facing Chen Ancestor in the future instead of disappointing Chen Ancestor’s nurturing.
But what level of achievement would satisfy Chen Ancestor?
Heaven-Patching Realm?
Zhang Feiyu really didn’t dare think higher. He felt Chen Ancestor’s realm was beyond his imagination, so he could only strive toward that goal.
A full 1700 years.
Without farewells or letters.
Did Chen Ancestor give up on the Zhang Family?
Every decade, Zhang Feiyu would kneel outside the hut, kowtowing reverently. He also brought the Zhang Family’s most outstanding juniors to kneel together.
Kneeling to Chen Ancestor and Ancestor Ming.
This tradition passed down hundreds of years and became part of Zhang Family traditions.
Meanwhile, the Zhang Family patriarch became the most mysterious existence among mid-level sects in the world.
Everyone knew there was a Zhang Family patriarch and the Zhang Family was powerful.
But few had truly seen him, only knowing the Zhang Family patriarch was called...
Chen Ancestor.