The Illusion of Mortality

Yaan was embraced by the villagers of Tian Village, and before long, it was as if he were truly one of them.

The villagers were very generous, they not only allowed him to stay in their village, but they even provided him with food, shelter and a change of clothes.

Yaan ended up living with Granny Ging. The old woman lived alone, but there were actually three bedrooms in her house. In the past, her children had lived here, but they all moved on, getting their own homes and forming families of their own.

The old woman's husband died three years ago and now, she lived alone. Really, she was happy to have Yaan stay with her, it meant that she had someone to accompany her for her meals. Plus, Yaan was a polite and diligent child, he even helped out with the household chores without her asking!

One week into his stay in this small mortal village, Yaan found himself wondering through the village market as he looked around.

"Morning Yaan!"

"Good morning, doctor."

"Hey Yaan, do you need any apples?"

"No thank you Drake, Granny Ging bought too many from you last week…"

"Haha, right, I remember now!"

"Hey Yaan!"

"Good morning…"

Yaan was greeted by each and every person he walked past. He politely greeted everyone back, even when the merchants tried to rope him into buying their wares.

In a small villages such as Tian Village, the common people lived by regularly trading with one another in small markets like this. Yaan remembered that it had been the same way back in Lightstone Village, making him feel nostalgic once again.

Even though he felt nostalgic, during these last few days he could not help but ask himself…what was he doing here exactly?

Well obviously he was pursuing dao…but what was he looking for specifically?

It was difficult to say for sure, the pursuit of dao was illusive and unclear, this was why many cultivators struggled to make any progress in this pursuit throughout their lives.

"I would like to ask my question of dao to these mortals, but how am I supposed to do this if they have never even heard of the concept before?" Yaan muttered to himself.

After Granny Ging was able to answer his question, explaining her own understanding of dao to him, Yaan had felt hopeful that others in the village would be able to do likewise. Unfortunately, reality was not so smooth. The second person he questioned, the man named Runto who had a habit of drinking a bit too much at feasts, had no idea what Yaan was talking about.

His answer of, 'Dao? Who's that?' was not very helpful to Yaan.

"Do I need to explain dao to these mortals, and then ask them to explain dao to me?" Yaan smiled wryly at the thought. This would not work, they would probably just repeat his own words back to him.

"In the end, asking mortals about dao is not a very effective way to pursue dao…this is likely not what is meant by returning to mortal roots." Yaan mused to himself

Unknowingly, Yaan had made his way to the outskirts of the village. Tian Village lay at the bottom of Everstone Mountain, but there was a small forest separating the village from the beginning of the mountain's incline.

There were various wild animals found throughout this forest, many of which were hunted by the locals in Tian Village. The forest was small and lacked any demonic beasts, so the level of danger was not high; of course, the presence of wild boars and venomous snakes in this forest still posed a degree of danger to the nearby mortals.

As he wondered aimlessly through the small forest, looking around at the various bright colours and listening to the exotic sounds which spread across the canopy, Yaan came across a snake. He blinked, taking a closer look at this snake for a moment.

"Purple stripe snake…" He muttered to himself.

Granny Ging, after noticing that Yaan sometimes ventured into the forest, warned him about this snake. It was extremely venomous and it possessed an aggressive temperament, but thankfully it was brightly coloured with white and purple stripes, making it easy to spot. Whenever the villagers saw this snake, they would pull back and keep their distance, staying well away from this fatal little reptile.

Yaan approached the snake calmly, until he was standing face to face with it.

"Little snake, could you tell me…what is dao?"

Hiissss!

The snake hissed, then suddenly lurched forwards, biting Yaan on the nose. Yaan blinked, but he did not flinch at all. After a moment, he couldn't help but laugh.

"I quite like this answer."

When the snake retracted its fangs and retreated into the forest, Yaan watched it slither away without bothering it any longer.

"If I was truly a mortal child, I would have already died by now…" Yaan mused to himself as he made his way back to the village.

After temporarily releasing his sealed cultivation, this poison was completely harmless to him.

After he felt the poison seeping into his body, Yaan had retracted the seal on his cultivation without thinking, letting his body instantly detoxify the poison and allowing the wound on his nose to heal over.

At first, Yaan fell into contemplation as he realised just how much he relied on his cultivation.

But in the next moment, he felt somewhat stunned. That mortal snake…had actually penetrated his skin, then forced him to act in order to detoxify its venom!

It wasn't that this snake was anything amazing, but simply that Yaan's self-imposed seal on his own cultivation had steadily grown stronger and stronger without him realising it.

Naturally, it was a non-issue to completely remove this seal in a single instant, but it was curious that he had somehow improved this illusory seal without even meaning to do so.

No, rather than this being a mere 'seal', it was more like he had imposed the illusion of mortality on himself, causing it to manifest as reality…

"Mortal roots…" Yaan muttered to himself.

He realised that mysteriously, by turning his attention away from the cultivation world and returning to the world of mortals, his ability to manifest the power of the illusion dao was growing more formidable.

In a way, this made some sense. Right now, Yaan was constantly living in a sort of illusion, the illusion of his own mortality.

He was not a mortal, but he was maintaining the appearance of a mortal. He was not a mortal, but those around him believed him to be so. He was not a mortal…yet now, his body was injured by an ordinary snake, just like a true mortal.

Yaan felt a faint premonition that perhaps, in order to find an answer to his question of dao, he needed to drop the question for now. If he wanted to find his answer, he would be better off truly living as a mortal…and mortals did not seek dao.

"Seeking dao by not seeking dao…fine then, I will try this."

Would this path truly lead Yaan to an answer? More importantly, would this pursuit actually help him to develop his understanding of dao, would it increase his chances of success in the Xuqi Sect's entrance exam, in that Tower of Mortal Dao?

Yaan could not say for sure, but honestly, when was the path towards dao ever clear? Since it was impossible to be certain of the right way forwards, then he might as well go with his gut feeling.

And with that, Yaan immediately stopped thinking about all matters pertaining to cultivation. As he re-entered Tian Village, his cultivation was once again sealed, now even more thoroughly than before. At this point, even an Origin Soul realm Qi master would be unable to see through Yaan's true power, unless they used a powerful investigatory spell or technique.

"Hmm?" Granny Ging, upon noticing Yaan returning home, paused for a moment and stared at him in a daze.

"Is something wrong, Granny?" Yaan asked.

"No dear, it's just…you seemed different for a moment. It must be my imagination."

Granny Ging smiled and shook her head.

For a brief moment, she had the feeling that Yaan was acting differently, as if something about him had changed, but she could not tell what it was. In the next moment though, this feeling vanished, disappearing as if it had only been an illusion.

"Oh right, Yaan, you mentioned before that you are interested in learning more about cultivators, right?" Granny Ging suddenly asked.

As Yaan entered her thatched three bedroom house, which was built from a mixture of stone and wooden beams beneath the straw roof, he paused.

"Yes…?"

"Well in around six months or so, the Qi master resource collector will be visiting the villages around Everstone mountain to collect the everstone that we've harvested over the past three years. Perhaps you could ask him more about the cultivation world…that is, if you're planning to stay for that long?

Yaan pondered for a moment before giving a faint nod.

"I'm not sure how long I will stay, but if it does end up being that long, then I'll be sure to talk to this resource collector. Thank you for telling me this granny."

"No problem, no problem at all dear! Come now, I've prepared lunch already."

As Yaan sat down at the table and began eating the modest portion of potatoes and greens, he let out a sigh in his mind.

'Why is it that, as soon as I decide to turn away from the cultivation world, it immediately chases after me? Well, six months should be more than enough time…right?'

Yaan did not intend to stay in this village for such a long time, but nor did he expect that as the days passed by, he would gradually find himself being sucked deeper and deeper into his own illusion of mortality.

After living amongst the Tian Villagers for one month, Yaan no longer thought about cultivation, about the Xuqi Sect's entrance exam, about his past or the mysteries surrounding his life and fate.

After three months in this small village, Yaan had already forgotten his original intention in coming here. He lived amongst the mortals as if he was truly one of them, as if he had always been one of them.

After spending six full months in Tian Village, Yaan had completely fallen into his own illusion.

He no longer remembered the truth of his life. In his mind, he truly was a travelling mortal child.