Li Yuan sat in the Realm of Questions, the center of his entire inner world.
Around him, questions roamed like living light, never still, never ceasing to move. And in that silence filled with questions, a surprising realization began to crystallize in his mind.
My time is endless.
Not in the sense he had previously understood—that he had a long life or the ability to live for thousands more years. But in a much more fundamental sense.
Even after reaching the Wenjing realm, my time is truly limitless.
Li Yuan pondered the journey of his Water Understanding from Ganjing to Wenjing. Eleven thousand years. A number that felt very long, but now he realized something surprising.
Maybe one of my understandings will enter Wenjing in a hundred thousand years, and I will still be in the Ganjing realm for the other understandings.
The thought did not make him anxious or frustrated. Instead, a calm smile appeared on his face.
Maybe I will be in the Ganjing realm for a hundred thousand years. Maybe a million years without any other understanding entering the Wenjing realm.
And that's okay.
Depth is more important than speed.
Li Yuan began to understand something fundamental about the nature of Daojing. It wasn't about ascending realms as quickly as possible. It wasn't about accumulating spiritual achievements or reaching a certain level within a certain time.
Daojing exists to understand.
The fundamental purpose of the path he had created was not about power or longevity in a conventional sense. Its purpose was to sustain spiritual life through endless questions.
Every understanding gives birth to new, deeper questions.
Li Yuan observed the questions roaming around him. Every time he achieved a new insight, instead of the questions decreasing, they actually increased. Every answer opened a door to a greater mystery.
True age is measured by the depth and diversity of questions, not the years that have passed.
The realization made Li Yuan understand why he never felt bored or stagnant even though he had lived for eleven thousand years. Because every day brought new questions. Every meditation revealed layers of understanding he had never touched before.
Questions are the breath of the soul.
Li Yuan felt a profound truth in that insight. As long as there were questions within, the soul remained alive and growing. To stop questioning was to stop breathing spiritually.
True death is not the loss of the body, but the loss of curiosity.
He had seen people who were physically alive but spiritually dead—those who felt they knew everything, who were no longer in awe of anything, who stopped asking questions because they were sure they had all the answers.
They are more dead than a corpse.
But Li Yuan would not experience that spiritual death. Not as long as he continued to nurture curiosity, continued to allow himself to be surprised, continued to be open to the possibility that everything he believed might be wrong or incomplete.
Daojing has a beautiful spiritual life cycle.
Li Yuan began to see the pattern with new clarity:
First, a question arises—the soul begins to live.
Second, understanding develops—the soul grows.
Third, new questions are born from that understanding—the soul continues to live.
Fourth, the cycle continues—spiritual life is extended.
There was never a finish line.
There was no "graduation" from Daojing. There was no moment where one could say, "I am done understanding the Dao." The higher the realm reached, the deeper and more diverse the questions that arose.
Longevity is not a gift, but a natural consequence of a soul that continues to question and understand.
Li Yuan felt an incredible freedom in this realization. He didn't have to rush. He didn't have to worry about "falling behind" or "not being fast enough." As long as he continued to question, he would continue to live. As long as he continued to understand, he would continue to grow.
Spiritual vitality is maintained through continuous inquiry, regardless of formal rank.
A cultivator could live for a very long time without "ascending realms" in a conventional sense. What was important was not formal progress, but the vitality of the questions they carried in their soul.
The depth of understanding can grow endlessly even within a single realm.
Li Yuan thought about his sixteen understandings that were still in the Ganjing realm. Each could be developed with an infinite depth. The Understanding of Silence could be explored for hundreds of thousands of years without ever reaching its bottom. The Understanding of Chaos could be studied for millions of years and still hold new surprises.
And that was beautiful.
Li Yuan didn't feel left behind for having only one understanding in the Wenjing realm. On the contrary, he felt excited about how much room for exploration was still left.
A hundred thousand years for one understanding? A million years for another? Bring it on.
He had eternity. Not the eternity of the body—though his consciousness body could last a very long time—but a more fundamental eternity: the eternity of curiosity.
Understanding has no end or limit.
Every understanding gives birth to new questions. There is no hierarchy in understanding—all are windows to the Dao. And the Dao itself is infinite, incomprehensible in its entirety, always holding new mysteries.
Longevity is not about fighting time, but about merging with it.
Li Yuan realized a beautiful paradox: the more he chased spiritual progress, the further he was from true peace. But the more he let go of the need to "achieve" something, the closer he was to the essence of the Dao itself.
The more you chase, the further you get. The more you let go, the closer you get.
In the Realm of Questions, surrounded by questions that would never end, Li Yuan felt a profound peace.
He was not rushing to a higher realm. He was not anxious about how long each understanding would take to develop. He just needed to ensure one thing: that the curiosity in his soul never died.
As long as I continue to question, I will continue to live. As long as I continue to understand, I will continue to grow. As long as I continue to be in awe, I will continue to be a part of the great mystery called existence.
Li Yuan smiled in the silence full of questions.
An endless journey is the greatest gift a truly living soul can receive.