The Dao dies but I live on, the spiritual energy dries up but I remain evergreen

In the Changsheng Cave, Bian Huo sat cross-legged, calm and peaceful. In a moment, the eye sore on his back recurred. The skin and flesh first cracked a little, and then the eyes opened. The numb eyes looked at Li Changxiao.

Li Changxiao encountered the Changsheng disease again, and his heart was secretly throbbing. Although he had achieved success in cultivation, it was still very difficult to cure this disease. The master of the Changsheng Cave, the head of the Panlong Sect... had a disease that was quite similar to Bian Huo. But the head of the Panlong Sect had died long ago, so how could the disease remain?

What Bian Huo said should be correct. He had indeed been ill for a long time. The closer he got to the source, the more obvious it became. The strange disease became more and more difficult to understand. Li Changxiao leaned over and put his ear close to him. Bian Huo slowly approached and said with a smile: "You really want to know?" He laughed strangely.

Li Chang laughed and said, "I really want to know." Bian Huo said, "Hehe, then I'll tell you." His eyes were sometimes clear, sometimes confused, sometimes perverse, and sometimes irritable. But every time he talked about his symptoms, he could always talk endlessly.

Bian Huo said, "I have been searching various places for a hundred years. Although I haven't completely figured out the root cause of this strange disease, I have guessed a little. In the past, I didn't practice magic. Although my cultivation was high, I didn't know much about the way of cultivating immortals, so I could never fully understand this disease. In the past hundred years, I have visited the classics of the sects. Hey, I didn't expect that I have a good talent in cultivation. Those extremely difficult magics and extremely profound cultivation essentials, I read them a few times and understood them clearly. I understand more and more about cultivation. I know that this disease is related to cultivation, so I started to study cultivation."

Li Changxiao secretly said, "Is it related to cultivation?" He only muttered this. Bian Huo heard it and immediately cursed, "Shut your stinky mouth and listen to me." Li Changxiao shut up. Bian Huo said again, "I went to see the Eighteen Hells you mentioned. The evil body is also a similar disease. Buddhism pays attention to precepts. Those who violate the precepts have problems in their cultivation. The path of cultivation is distorted, and naturally the spiritual energy is exhausted. The evil body is more distorted and naturally more difficult to deal with. This disease is very easy to spread to those with low cultivation. This is because those with low cultivation respect those with high cultivation and are easily influenced by their words and deeds. There is a saying that 'preaching' means spreading from high places to low places. If people are compared to mountains of different heights, then the Tao is a stream of water flowing from high to low."

"The Tao of the superior will naturally affect the inferiors all the time. The person who was plagued by sin and was sick had a very high level of cultivation, so he was naturally infected immediately. This kind of infectious disease is not common, but it still exists."

Bian Huo mentioned the Seven Star Snake, which was once the "Seven Star Poison Master". He told Li Changxiao that the reason why the poison of the Seven Star Snake is unsolvable is because this kind of snake has a very high level of understanding and a very high realm, but its Tao is indescribably empty. Its Tao is transmitted through the lower level and pollutes the Tao of others. Naturally, the poisoned person must die and there is no hope of salvation.

Li Chang laughed and said, "So, this long-term illness and evil entanglement are all the same disease?" Bian Huo shook his head and said, "In the past, they were the same type of disease. But they cannot be said to be the same disease."

Bian Huo said, "The affliction of karma is a Buddhist disease. Buddhist disciples who do not believe in cause and effect and do not believe in Buddhism are not easily infected. But the longevity disease... used to only be contracted by monks. Now it has evolved several times, and I cannot explain how it has evolved, but it is no longer limited to monks. You must have noticed that countless people have contracted the strange disease along the way, and it is still spreading."

Li Changxiao frowned. Bian Huo laughed and said, "Longevity and evil are the same kind of disease, but they are not the same disease. That is to say, the source of the disease is different, and the cause is different. To put it simply, the source of evil is just a monk in a temple. But the source of longevity is a big shot who is much more powerful than him." Bian Huo laughed, "Well, can you guess who it is?"

Li Changxiao suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, thinking of a certain figure, and asked, "The five Mahayana...except for Bei Shenwu, I have met them all after their spiritual energy was exhausted, and none of them seemed to be sick."

Bian Huo said, "Don't interrupt me, just listen to me. You provided me with clues about Venerable Fengxue. I went to Xuezong and investigated Venerable Fengxue thoroughly. It was clear who he met when he went out on missions. But it was hard to determine who was the source of the strange disease. So I visited them one by one."

Bian Huo said, "I visited many places, but only Japan was infected by Venerable Fengxue and left with the disease. The disease in Japan is actually considered mild. This strange disease is like a big tree with many branches. The closer to the source, the more obvious the symptoms. Japan and Venerable Fengxue are both the tips of the branches, and both have mild symptoms. But even mild symptoms make people helpless. It's really scary, really scary." After saying that, he patted his chest.

Bian Huo said again: "After one last search, I may not gain much, but I got into trouble for nothing. Bah! You wasted a lot of my time. When you have time in the future, you'd better chop those three bastards for me and cut them into pieces!" Li Changxiao said nothing, knowing that this disease will affect people's minds. No... not just the mind, but it will distort people's "reason". A person's style of doing things has his own "reason". Even if he is a heinous and extremely evil person, he still has his own "reason" in doing things. Perhaps this reason is incomprehensible to ordinary people. But it does exist.

But this disease gradually distorts people's "reason", and their actions and words tend to evolve in unpredictable directions. Bian Huo said: "But this trip is not in vain. I heard from the Japanese Santianzun that the Fengxue Venerable was good friends with the three people, and they often sat together to drink and chat about trivial matters. It was probably around the time when the Fengxue Venerable fell ill. He went to listen to a great monk preaching."

Bian Huo said: "At that time I thought... 'Ah! That great monk must be the source.' But when I asked again, the Three Heavenly Venerables asked me to write a medical book in exchange for the book. I was not irritated by that and naturally did not cheat. Later I used some tricks to escape. But the clues were cut off again. Later... I heard that the Lingtian Dynasty had resurfaced, and I remembered the Longevity Cave you mentioned."