Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 298 Butterfly
"My dream?"

After hearing what that person said, Shi Fei hesitated for a moment.

Where is his dream?

The memories of the Dream City came flooding back like a tide. He had had those bizarre dreams before, but after waking up, they seemed like quicksand through his fingers, fleeting.

"I don't know, I don't remember." Shi Fei shook his head and said.

The man sat up, revealing a thin but energetic face under his messy hair. He was barefoot and ragged, but his eyes were as calm as a deep pool, revealing the indifference and carefreeness of seeing through the world.

His name was Zixiu, which was Zhuangzi and also the Immortal of Nanhua.

"If you don't even know your own dreams, how can you leave here?" Zhuangzi said softly, his voice like the gurgling of a clear mountain spring.

“This is a dream. The way to leave the dream is to find your own dream and reach your own dream.”

"No!" Shi Fei shook his head and said firmly, "In my last dream, I was ejected by someone!"

Zhuangzi smiled and said, "I'm telling you this because I think you're interesting. If you want me to ask you to leave, I can do so at any time. But you'll never find the place you want to go."

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Zhuangzi was teaching Shi Fei how to escape from such a dream.

"I..." Shi Fei was stunned by Zhuangzi's words.

As an NPC in the Dream City, does he really have his own dream?
"Are dreams real?" Shi Fei asked, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

What he actually wanted to ask was, is the self in the dream real?

Zhuangzi smiled slightly and looked into the distance: "It depends on how you think. I once dreamed that I turned into a butterfly. At that time, I..."

At this point, he paused and said, "Forget it. The entire Three Realms know the story of Zhuangzi dreaming of a butterfly. If you think that what is in the dream is real, then the real world is illusory. If you think that the real world is real, then the world in the dream is illusory."

Shi Fei pondered for a moment and said, "Is it possible that both reality and dreams are illusions, and that 'reality' is also someone else's dream? Is it possible that it is an illusion from the beginning to the end?"

His past and reality are all other people's dreams, so he has to look for the "truth".

"Well said!" Zhuangzi nodded, with a hint of appreciation in his eyes: "I have also thought about this question. Do you want to hear my answer?"

"I'm all ears!" Shi Fei sat opposite him with a burning gaze.

Zhuangzi took a deep breath and said slowly: "I was born in a turbulent and chaotic world. I am a guest of honor today, but a prisoner tomorrow. Today's prosperity, tomorrow's devastation. Those saints and nobles, for their own selfish interests, treat others as bargaining chips to be sacrificed."

His voice was deep and powerful, as if it traveled through time and space, presenting that war-torn era before Shi Fei's eyes.

"Their lives are full of struggles, just like the fights on the tentacles of a snail." Zhuangzi's tone was a little sad: "People cannot just care about fame and fortune, they also need 'themselves' and 'freedom'."

Therefore, only when you have a "self" will you pursue "freedom". If you don't have a "self", you won't pursue "freedom".

Shi Fei said in a deep voice: "But freedom is too expensive!"

"Right!" Zhuangzi couldn't help but clapped his hands and laughed when he heard Shi Fei's words. "This 'expensive' is a very good description. People at that time had a problem with having enough food, let alone talking about 'freedom'."

When you are well fed and warm, you will think about sex. When you are well fed, you will think about your wife, want to realize your life ambitions, and finally think about freedom. "When I was a human being, I felt that it was not easy for people to live, and freedom was too difficult. I could only propose the idea that the heaven and earth coexisted with me, and all things were one with me." Zhuangzi continued, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes: "This is actually a compromise, a compromise in the face of reality."

"No one can be truly free, that's true!" Shi Fei nodded and said with a hint of resonance in his tone: "Compromise is normal."

Absolute freedom is a false proposition, no one can be absolutely free.

"I don't want to compromise, but I think life is short, so why not live it freely and happily." Zhuangzi continued: "After I became a god, I suddenly realized that gods don't have freedom either."

The gods have no worries about food and clothing, but they also have no freedom. In the Three Realms, there are gods everywhere and countless mortals. Who can be free?

Could it be that there are only the Jade Emperor and the saints?
He suppressed the doubts in his heart and continued to cultivate in the Three Realms. As his cultivation became more and more advanced, the feeling of being unfree made him feel breathless.

Freedom is not about doing whatever you want, but having other options when faced with a choice. In the Three Realms, few people have choices.

So he could only dream and seek answers in his dreams.

"Is there an answer in the dream?" Shi Fei asked, with a hint of anticipation in his voice.

Dreams are illusory, but are there answers?

"Yes!" Zhuangzi said with certainty, his eyes sparkling with wisdom. "If you treat dreams as dreams, then dreams will be illusory. If you treat dreams as reality and do well in every dream, then there will be answers in dreams."

"Have you found it?" Shi Fei asked again, with a hint of urgency in his tone.

Zhuangzi thought for a moment and said slowly, "I found it."

"Can I tell you?"

Zhuangzi was silent for a moment, and finally nodded: "Of course! The answer is butterfly."

Shi Fei was stunned for a moment, thought for a while, and nodded: "Butterfly? I think I understand."

"What do you understand?" Zhuangzi said, "I think what I said was rather vague."

"I know." Shi Fei nodded, his eyes flickering with an inexplicable light: "I know what you mean. There is actually no difference between dreams and reality. The difference lies in whether you realize that you are a 'butterfly'."

Once upon a time, Zhuangzi dreamed that he was a butterfly, fluttering about like a butterfly, and thought that he was content! He did not know that he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and found that he was Zhuangzi. He did not know whether Zhuangzi dreamed that he was a butterfly or the butterfly dreamed that he was Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi and the butterfly must be different. This is called materialization.

Zhuangzi woke up from his dream of a butterfly, wondering whether he dreamed of the butterfly or the butterfly dreamed of him. If the butterfly dreamed of him, then Zhuangzi's life was just a dream.

Reality and illusion changed at this moment.

Because of this slight change, reality and illusion began to blur, and truth and dreams also began to blur.

Do dreams have meaning?
Of course, people should have dreams, otherwise what is the difference between them and salted fish?

A person’s life is all about pursuing “dreams”!
If you treat dreams as illusions, they will disappear without a trace. If you treat dreams as real, you will start to look for them.

The dream is getting closer and closer to you!

This is not Zhuangzi's original intention, but it is Shi Fei's original intention!
(End of this chapter)