Chapter 253: Chapter 238 Death is just turning from a person into a small mound of dirt, right? (Life and Death Illusion Realm · Part 1)
"The Life and Death Illusion Realm isn’t so easily seen through..."
Tian Qianzi murmured to himself, looking at Chen Zhixing lying in eternal sleep through the lid of the coffin.
The next moment.
He extended a finger and gently tapped on the coffin lid.
A trace of Divine Thought immediately surged into the coffin lid, then entered Chen Zhixing’s Sea of Consciousness.
...
...
At the same time.
Chen Zhixing entered an incredibly strange state.
He merely experienced a blackout before his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was a different scene.
It was a somewhat old and shabby house, where a gentle-looking woman was seated on a bed, gripping the bed edge with all her strength, biting on a wet cloth, sweat beads continuously forming on her forehead.
A midwife was cheering and encouraging the gentle woman, urging her to push harder.
"Where is this...?"
Chen Zhixing was slightly stunned, wanting to ask where this place was.
However, no matter how he tried to ask, the others in the scene seemed to not see him, passing through his body as if he didn’t exist.
"...An illusion realm? And am I just a consciousness roaming outside this world?"
A thoughtful expression flashed in Chen Zhixing’s eyes.
This must be the Life and Death Illusion Realm that Tian Qianzi mentioned, right?
And he needed to comprehend the Life and Death Tao here.
"To experience the Great Tao in such a manner..."
"Interesting... Then let it be so."
Chen Zhixing watched quietly.
The next moment.
An external narration from Tian Qianzi sounded in his ears.
...
...
[Accompanied by a cry of ’Wah’, you were born.]
[Your name is Chen Xiaoxing, born in Li Family Village, Huangqiao Town, Jiangzhou, East Profound Domain.]
[Your branch is not originally from Li Family Village; your great-grandfather fled here during a locust plague and was aided by kind villagers, settling in Li Family Village.]
[Your great-grandfather had no particular skills except strength, and coincidentally, an elder in the village passed away, needing a coffin carrier, so your great-grandfather filled the position.]
[From then on, your great-grandfather became a Coffin Carrier in Li Family Village.]
[And this marked the beginning of your Chen Family’s ancestral legacy.]
[After your great-grandfather’s death, your grandfather took his place, continuing as a Coffin Carrier.]
[Thus, by the time you were born, three generations of your ancestors were in the funeral profession.]
The scene before Chen Zhixing’s eyes gradually advanced.
"Hmm? A Coffin Carrier?"
Chen Zhixing watched it all silently, a hint of interest flickering on his face.
He was curious whether these scenes were created by the effects of the Death Spirit Pill or Tian Qianzi’s methods.
Could they directly construct a world for the purpose of comprehending the Great Tao?
"Tian Qianzi told me before to remember who I am, saying it’s the light guiding me back. I suppose it means to prevent me from getting lost in this Illusion Realm world?"
Chen Zhixing murmured to himself.
The next moment.
He shook his head, calming his mind, and focused on the scenes of the Illusion Realm.
"A Coffin Carrier... is perhaps the profession most exposed to death in the mortal world?"
"Using this as an entry point to comprehend the Life and Death Tao is indeed somewhat novel."
...
...
The scene continued to advance, Tian Qianzi’s external narration ceaselessly playing.
Seasons passed year after year in these scenes.
And initially remaining clear-minded, Chen Zhixing’s self-awareness gradually blurred, as if turning completely into Chen Xiaoxing of this world, gradually forgetting everything.
[Within this world, there was a clear hierarchy of the three teachings and nine schools, and your Chen Family, as generation after generation of Coffin Carriers, was among the lowest of the nine, only slightly better than the ninth tier of prostitutes.]
[But in Li Family Village, since everyone needed your help for sending off their deceased, your Chen Family was never discriminated against. On the contrary, nearly every household treated your Chen Family with respect.]
[After all, death is something no one can escape from. Everyone dies, and if one offends you too much, there’s no guarantee you won’t play some dirty tricks during their funeral.]
[No one wants to be restless even after death.]
[Moreover, your father has some wit. After becoming a coffin carrier, he also took on the work of paper horse craftsman, coffin shop, drummer and so on, opening a clan benevolence hall and organizing a one-stop funeral service.]
[Not only did he monopolize business in Li Family Village, but even extended it to Huangqiao Town.]
[Whether in town or nearby villages, whenever someone passes away, they would come to the Chen Family.]
[Thus, after you were born, your life was relatively comfortable.]
[Your mother passed away early, shortly after you were born she died from illness, so most of your memories of her come from your father’s stories.]
[According to outsiders, those who work in your line of business have bad luck and are surrounded by misfortune, either jinxing themselves or those around them.]
[However, when you mentioned this to your father, he was indifferent.]
[Your father said, ’Others don’t understand our trade, but in fact, we are accumulating virtue for our descendants, lifting coffins is indeed a blessing. Count a few years back, the eight who lifted coffins weren’t called coffin carriers, even the county magistrate respectfully referred to them as Eight Immortals or Eight Great Vajra!’]
[Due to your mother’s early passing, you had enough to eat and wear, but lacked care.]
[In the absence of options, you traveled with your father since childhood, across villages, each household had someone die, and while your father made paper figures or horses, carried coffins and repaired graves, you quietly stayed by his side.]
[Thus, from a young age, you were exposed to the dead.]
[Death was not unfamiliar to you.]
[However, though familiar with death, you were unclear about its concept, not knowing what death truly represented.]
[As you grew older and stronger, your father wanted to take you out to lift coffins, to familiarize you with the trade so you could take over his business in the future.]
[But you had an unprecedented resistance to it.]
[Because you didn’t want to continue being a coffin carrier, dealing with the dead.]
[That day, you and he had the fiercest argument ever!]
[Young and vigorous, you shouted at him loudly: ’I don’t want to do these things in the future! Dad, do you know what the classmates at the school say about me? They all say I’m a child raised on the food of the dead!’]
[Your father, originally named ’Chen Jisheng’, sat on a bamboo stool making paper figures, and hearing this, he set them down and sneered coldly: ’Yes, you were raised on the food of the dead! They weren’t wrong! Xingyazi, let me tell you, not just you were raised on the food of the dead, but me too, and your grandfather, we were all raised on the food of the dead! And we all can do this trade, while you can’t?’]
[You retorted defiantly: ’They also said, our trade is the lowest of the low, only slightly better than the brothel ladies in town, vulgar!’]
[After saying this, you added: ’I want to study and earn a title! I want to be a scholar, an officer, that’s real prestige! They said, if one has ambition, even a humble family can produce distinguished children!’]
[Slap!]
[Your father harshly slapped your face.]
[That was the first time he hit you.]
[You were stupefied because you had never seen such anger on his face before.]
[He was so furious that his entire hand trembled, and he shouted: ’You say it’s vulgar? Even vulgar, it raised you! Who taught you to eat with one hand and curse with the other?’]
[At this point, your father changed his tone, angry yet laughing: ’Distinguished children from humble families? Look at you, with your foolish manner, talking about studying? Also, humble family, humble family, do you know what that means? Even a humble family is a family gate! Is our family even worthy of being called a humble family?’]
[His words left you speechless.]
[Of course, what mostly confounded you was that slap from your father, rendering you unable to recover fully.]
[Finally, bewildered, your father grabbed your ear and locked you in a room, not allowed to come out until you made ten paper figures.]
[Well, you behaved yourself.]
[Time slowly passed, and under your father’s pressure, you began helping the family with work.]
[The first task you undertook was lifting coffins.]
[According to your father, the Old Chen Family prospered from coffin lifting, so naturally, you should first practice coffin lifting well.]
[Although it sounds simple, lifting coffins is not easy in practice.]
[Not only must you carry it steadily, without the dead inside being jolted on the journey, but the journey also requires no turning back or pausing, and the coffin must not touch the ground.]
[You practiced for half a year, then followed your father to lift coffins a few times, and only after a year did you finally have the chance to lift a coffin on your own.]
[That day, the sky was ominously gloomy, the dark clouds seemed to fall down, stiflingly oppressive.]
[The torrential rain made the mountain path slippery and muddy, making walking without stumbling difficult, and even more so while carrying a coffin, ensuring it was carried steadily.]
[Fortunately, the other seven people lifting coffins had decades of experience, seasoned craftsmen, and the journey went without incident.]
[After carrying the coffin up the mountain, putting it into the tomb, opening it one last time for family to view the deceased, while family members cried heartbreakingly, your mood turned sombre for the first time.]
[Looking at the person lying silently in the coffin, motionless, face pale, then at the family crying surrounding it, you began pondering what death is.]
[You couldn’t find an answer to this question.]
[Finally, the pouring rain hit your face, and under the dead’s family’s mourning, amidst cries and calls, you sang the Curse Scripture, and sealed the coffin completely with a dragon nail.]
[Then, handfuls of yellow earth covered the coffin, eventually completely burying it under the soil.]
[A living person thus transformed into a small mound.]
[From then on, separated by life and death, each with their peace.]
[For the first time, you gained some understanding of death.]
[Perhaps... death is when someone turns into a small mound?]