Ah yes, my time has come. I have completed writing my final scriptures...
As sure as the heavens and earth are without end... this old ancestor has reached his own.
It is time to rest peacefully within the earth beneath my seclusion chamber…
It is time to become one with the unending Dao...
Finally, it is time to write my Zen Death Epilogue.
............
You see, I'm not so young as I used to be when I was a child.
In those days, my Divine Heaven Sect flourished under the radiant light of the Dao. Every junior was a dragon among men. A crouching tiger. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Every beauty had skin like jade, and wandered around the pavilions in lush blades of heavenly skygrass. Truly, Jadeskin Beauties were a spirit stone a dozen. I recall not a single green hat being worn in those days.
Truly, the Dao filled our sect with its most bountiful blessings…
Blessings this ancestor will surely remember, even when entering the cycle of reincarnation. If the heavens would rather I transmigrate or regress, then so be it.
Yet, while the heavens and the earth stay the same, the times do not. Everything is not what it used to be...
As sure as the heavens and earth are without end, all other things fall apart.
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Now, this old ancestor’s time has come.
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Juniors of my Divine Heaven Sect. I speak to you…
Though my time has come, yours has not.
The Divine Heaven Sect is now in your hands!
Let the Shining Dao guide you, and the sect will surely be in good hands.
………
Juniors all across Murim…
Do not take your eyes off of Mt. Tai… Set your eyes firmly upon it!
Do not fear being a frog in the well… Fear being a frog that remains in the well!
Do not fear smelling of your mother’s milk… Become a daoist who loves and takes care of her!
Do not fear dragons among men and crouching tigers… Become one!
Do not fear seeking the flesh of a swan… savor every last bite!
Do not fear even the most fearsome of Young Masters… Defeat them in the sect’s tournament!
And lastly…
When you court death…
Court Death with your Entire Heart!!
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This ancestor once thought that his life was not the way it ought to be.
At times, he thought that it was devoid of meaning.
At times, he thought that it was too meaningful, with too many responsibilities.
At times, he thought that it was too long
And at times, he thought that it was too short.
But only in his final moments has this ancestor finally come to see Mt. Tai…
............
This ancestor's life was neither too short, nor too long.
This ancestor’s life was neither devoid of meaning, nor too meaningful.
Rather, this ancestor’s life was just the way it needed to be.
In Bountiful Dao,
Ancestor RitchieCharlesFiction