Techniques and Dao

Chapter 98 A Thought

Time passed day by day, and Taishang Xiaojun never appeared again. Huasheng's nightmares of falling from the height also became less and less frequent. Most nights he would review his textbooks and fall asleep in the middle of the night, so tired that he barely had time to dream before dawn.

To prevent further delusions, Hua Sheng always tries to fill her time. Aside from studying in the hospital ward, she helps with cleaning and mopping whenever she has free time. After all, she's staying here at the government's expense, and Hua Sheng doesn't want to become a useless person who can't do anything.

That afternoon, he was mopping the tiled floor as usual. When he reached the stairwell, he noticed a piece of chewing gum that had been stepped on and stuck to the ground.

"Who's so inconsiderate? They didn't even wrap the chewing gum in a paper towel and just spat it on the floor." Hua Sheng put the mop against the wall, took out a tissue, and vigorously rubbed the dried chewing gum. As he stood up, he accidentally knocked over the mop leaning against the wall, and the mop rolled down the stairs with a thud.

"Oh! It would be a real problem if it broke." Hua Sheng has been using it to mop the floor lately, and although it's just a cleaning tool, she's developed some attachment to it.

Sure enough, after the mop fell down the stairs, the rope on its head broke, and the mop head separated from the stick. Hua Sheng sighed and shook his head. He picked up the stick and tried to put it back into the mop head, attempting to repair the broken rope.

As Hanamoto picked up the stick, a flash of golden light suddenly appeared before his eyes. It was like sunlight reflecting off a window being closed by someone across the street.

But there were no glass windows at the bottom of the stairs. Hanamori looked around, then his gaze settled on the wooden stick in his hand.

This is an old, ordinary mop, used for who knows how many years; the handle has become very smooth from being handled so many times. The fine wood grain shimmers with a subtle sheen.

Because of the fall, a small piece broke off from the originally smooth surface, revealing the brand-new wood grain underneath.

The wood grain was rather strange, and Hua Sheng leaned closer to examine it closely. There seemed to be some small writing on the grain, but he couldn't make out what it was, and he didn't recognize it. What puzzled him, however, was that these writings seemed to be glowing!

Hua Sheng put down the mop head he was holding in his other hand and examined the wooden stick closely with both hands.

Yes, there is indeed light!
Hana used her fingernail to pry open the broken piece of wood along the grain. Something was clearly hidden inside the mop handle.

He kept prying away the fragments until his fingernails cracked. Finally, he managed to pry them into a piece about two fingers wide.

Surprisingly, it was that dazzling golden light.

For a moment, his mind was in turmoil.

Hua Sheng gripped the wooden stick tightly with both hands and then slammed it forcefully onto the ground. A loud crack echoed, like a high-pitched firecracker going off in the corridor.

Hua Sheng picked up the wooden stick again, and the wood grain covering it began to fall off piece by piece!

He couldn't believe it no matter what, but this was the color he was familiar with.

This is the radiance of the Ruyi Jingu Bang!
Startled by the noise, the doctors and nurses in the corridor rushed over. Nurse Cat and Dr. Yu Ran were among them.

Dr. Yu Ran asked in astonishment, "Hua Sheng, what are you doing?"

"Doctor! Look! Look! This is the Ruyi Jingu Bang! Taishang Xiaojun didn't lie to me!"

Dr. Yu Ran shook his head and said, "Hua Sheng, look closely, it's just a mop handle. You've held it before, insisting it was some kind of magic staff. The dents and bumps on the walls of your ward were all made by you hitting them with a stick. What are you doing with it now?"

“What mop?! You didn’t see the light, how could it be a mop?” Hua Sheng asked.

“It’s a mop! Hanamoto!” the nurse next to him said to Hanamoto.

Dr. Yu Ran looked at the nurses, a hint of complaint in her voice: "That's why I told you not to mop the floor for him. Now he's hallucinating again!"

Hua Sheng stared in disbelief at the real Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand.

Dr. Yu Ran said, "Hua Sheng, look in the mirror next to you."

Hua Sheng looked at the floor-to-ceiling glass mirror beside him. His reflection showed a sallow complexion and a vacant gaze. In his hand, he clearly held an old wooden stick with a mop handle, the stick having just been thrown around and covered in marks.

He looked up from the mirror and then at his hand; it was clearly the Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff).

The cat nurse took out her phone, snapped a picture of the blooming flowers, and showed it to him: "Take a look for yourself!"

Hua Sheng looked at his phone screen, and his reflection in it was just like in the mirror, holding a worn-out wooden stick.

Besides doctors and nurses, the corridor also contained security guards, caregivers, and patients walking around. Everyone stared at Hua Sheng with horrified eyes.

Hua Sheng looked at the golden cudgel in his hand, then at the expressions on everyone's faces, and suddenly he laughed sadly to the sky.

"My golden cudgel, which I cherish as my life, is nothing more than a broken, worthless mop in the eyes of all of you!"

At that moment, he suddenly realized that he was a monster.

He was deeply branded; all the bizarre thoughts in his mind had become his label, a part of his being. In this world, he would forever be a monster. Every so often, the brand in his life would torment him repeatedly, forever bringing fear and unease to others, causing everyone, including himself, to worry and suffer for him.

Because he can never truly integrate into this world, not even the real world. He sees and feels things that others cannot understand.

Even with pretense and sympathy, people can never truly coexist peacefully with monsters. Why subject everyone to suffering? Especially those who want to help—they are all good people. Hua Sheng couldn't bear to see their disappointed faces.

Hua Sheng laughed wildly. Whether it was real or just his imagination, he heard his own laughter echoing in the corridor.

The only thing he was certain of was that this was not his world!

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! I'll kill anyone who dares to come up!" Hua Sheng shouted, then suddenly lowered his head and recited, "The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things..."

Dr. Yu Ran slowly approached: "Hua Sheng, please hand me the stick. Slowly!"

"The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things!" Hua Sheng repeated over and over, "The Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, Three gives birth to all things!"

"Dr. Yu Ran! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I've let everyone down and disappointed you all." A single hot tear rolled down Hua Sheng's cheek and landed on the golden cudgel in his hand. "My illness is incurable, and I've found the answer. Because I don't belong here at all!"

Yes. I already know the answer to that question.

Why do time and space exist in the world? This world is inherently difficult to understand; it's just a jumble of shapes, colors, noises, smells, tastes, and suffering—things that have no meaning to our physical bodies. But we perceive this world because we possess an intuition that gives us space and time.

Whether space and time originate from our imagination is not important; what matters is that they exist in our life's intuition. This intuition is not given to us by the outside world, nor is it necessarily created by it. When our senses receive stimulation from external information, such as seeing, hearing, or touching, intuition adds something to that stimulation.

So when we cover our ears, close our eyes, press our noses, seal our mouths, or even float in mid-air, we can't perceive the world. But deep down, we know the world still exists. Therefore, our minds tell our senses: what you're telling me is inaccurate.

Although I can no longer perceive this world, the world has not disappeared.

Reality is actually a fusion of mind and information.

This is why "one" can transcend yin and yang, transcend opposition, and transcend all things!

Hua Sheng instantly understood what the "One" born from the "Tao" truly was.

"Because one is the heart! It is what the heart sees, knows, and perceives."

The One that the Tao gives birth to is my heart, your heart, and the hearts of countless others.

One is consciousness, the soul, and awakening. It enables all things to perceive.

First is the standard by which everything is measured, determining good and evil, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, intelligence and stupidity, light and darkness.

Because the concept of "one" is so important that it renders concepts like yin and yang, opposition, and even all things themselves dispensable.

If every mind believes that light is darkness and darkness is light, then what are light and darkness themselves, and what does it matter?
The Tao can indeed create the world, but it doesn't need to create it at all. Because the Tao has already created the mind, and the mind can also create its own world. Humans, of course, are completely unaware of the world they create, just like in a dream. Throughout the long night, people are immersed in their dreams without realizing it; how much more so if they are only immersed for a fleeting moment?

Not only that. This "one" is not just a number, but also a sequence. Only this sequence can give rise to a complete and meaningful heaven and earth.

Therefore, it is not that the Tao gives birth to all things, and all things give birth to the One.

Rather, it is the Tao that gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two, Two gives birth to Three, and Three gives birth to all things.

Therefore, the universe arises from the mind, and the universe returns to the mind.

Therefore, everything that can truly trap a person in this world is "a single thought".

Hua Sheng went berserk and swung the golden cudgel at Dr. Yu Ran's hand, knocking it away with a snap.

"Then tell me! Who in this world doesn't live in their own mental world?"

Dr. Yu Ran's hand immediately started bleeding profusely.

Taking advantage of the brief moment of everyone's exclamations, Hua Sheng burst out of the crowd and ran desperately up the stairs.

Dr. Yu Ran, clutching her wound, chased after the nurse upstairs. People shouted, "Hua Sheng, stop! Don't run!"

Hua Sheng ignored them and kept running. He ran for an unknown amount of time before he smashed open an iron gate with his shoulder and reached the rooftop.

This is the rooftop where he and Wei Yu released sky lanterns in that photo.

The image of countless prayer lanterns filling the sky was once the softest spot in his heart.

Hua Sheng saw that Tai Shang Xiao Jun was standing on the edge of the corner of the rooftop, smiling at him.

He ran over like a madman, leaped over the rooftop railing, climbed to the edge of the roof, and stood side by side with Tai Shang Xiao Jun.

“I believe you will come eventually.” Tai Shang Xiao Jun looked at him. “This place cannot hold you back. If you don’t come, I will stay here with you forever.”

“I just understand now.” Hua Sheng smiled. “I thought the world was just there, and I was just here to see it. But actually, my heart determines how I see the world.”

"Then let's leave together."

How do I leave?

"Jump down."

"Wouldn't he have fallen and died?"

"It's because they've died that they've left this world."

"You're just an ordinary person here, this is my world. Aren't you afraid that if you jump down with me, there will be no way to save us?"

Tai Shang Xiao Jun pointed to the Warrior sneakers on his feet: "So I'm wearing these 'Power of Reversal' sneakers!"

Hua Sheng smiled again, as many things suddenly came to mind.

Dr. Yu Ran also ran to the rooftop: "Hua Sheng, don't be impulsive!"

The cat nurse was so anxious that she jumped up and down, shouting almost at the top of her lungs, "Don't jump! Stop!"

Hua Sheng turned around and said to them, "My brothers are here, and my Ruyi Jingu Bang (Golden Cudgel) is here too. Can you see them?"

"We can see them, we can see them!" Dr. Yu Ran said enthusiastically. "Come down first and introduce your friend to us!"

"You! You're all lying!" Hua Sheng smiled, but it looked desolate. "You can't see it at all. Because you and I are not the same kind of people. Saying you can see it is just pity. But I'm still grateful. It's just that my presence here will only add to your burden. We will all continue to suffer."

Dr. Yu Ran stretched out the hand that was covered in blood from Hua Sheng's beating and said to Hua Sheng, "Child, listen to Dr. Yu Ran, get down quickly."

Hua Sheng said to Tai Shang Xiao Jun, "If everything perceptible can be faked, will the real me end up with nothing?"

"It depends on what you firmly believe in," Taishang Xiaojun said to Huasheng. "What kind of story are you willing to write with your life? Is it a clichéd tragedy with an ending that every reader can guess? Or is it to prove what the protagonist's halo is, to make the plot take unexpected turns and to gallop through that thrilling world?"

Hua Sheng suddenly understood something and turned to Dr. Yu Ran.

Dr. Yu Ran's eyes were filled with sadness.

"Doctor, what are you sad about?"

"Come down, silly child. You know perfectly well that it's not the real world, so why are you still unwilling to leave?"

"Doctor, you're wrong. I just know better than you when I'll leave this world. It's you who aren't sure, which is why you don't feel any sadness. Is that right?" Hua Sheng took a deep breath. "Dr. Yu Ran, have you ever heard of those stories about multiverses?"

Everyone stared at Hua Sheng in astonishment.

"This universe is like a series of plastic bubbles, each with its own subtle differences. I'm standing here, and in one universe, I jumped in, while in another, I reached out and returned to you. Perhaps we became lifelong friends, living our lives to the fullest. So, believe that the other me stayed, don't be sad. Because I was able to be with you all at the same time, and also pursue my own path without reservation."

Hua Sheng's eyes shone with warmth as she slowly spoke:
"Thank you! You never gave up on me, and you were always forgiving of my mistakes and foolish things. I just don't need anyone to define me, because I am who I am. Now I have to go. Since we have come to the end of the story, please indulge me one more time and let me be willful and write this hopeful ending."

Let's count down together, and please let this world I created return to my heart.

"Three! No more confrontation."

"Two! There is no Yin and Yang."

First! Change your inner self.

In an instant, Tai Shang Xiao Jun gripped his hand tightly. Then, the two young figures, their hands clasped, leaped into the air and soared into the sky!
It's not just a feeling of weightlessness, but an unparalleled sense of freedom, like an eagle breaking free of its shackles and soaring back into the embrace of the sky.

As he fell, Hua Sheng passed by his hospital room. He saw that the door and windows were wide open, and the stack of manuscripts lay on the corner of the table. A gust of wind blew, and the manuscripts, page by page, were blown out the window and into his vicinity. Then, countless white manuscript papers covered him and Taishang Xiaojun like snowflakes.

Like the snowflakes falling on the lake at that time, or like the handkerchiefs waving in celebration of the heroes' return.

Where's your Rolex?

"Why would you need a Rolex in a place where there's no time to spare?"

"I just want to check the time. I keep wondering if all of this is just because we're still stuck in the Panxian Cave, and have never left..."

That was a dazzling light at the end of the tunnel; that was the magnificent battle flag fluttering above the Academy of Arts and Sciences; that was the prayer lamp illuminating the boundless night; that was the stirring war song of the world.

Time will take away all the sad things, leaving behind only beautiful, mottled memories. Those past events are like the shimmering surface of a lake, rippling with the waves of memory. When you can no longer possess them, the only thing you can do is to not forget them.

Hanamoto said to herself, "How can everything end like this?"

The story has only just begun.

(End of this chapter)