For the first time in three years…
Li Yuan ate.
Not because of hunger.
Not because his body was weak.
His body had long since transcended the basic needs of mortals.
He could live without food, without sleep
even without air, if he so chose.
But in that moment…
He sat upon an old woven mat beneath the shade of a tree,
and accepted a bowl of warm porridge from the hands of an elderly village woman.
The porridge was simple—coarse rice, a pinch of salt, and chunks of pumpkin.
There was no spiritual energy.
No celestial herbs.
Yet the moment the first spoonful touched his lips,
something inside him…
trembled.
"This flavor doesn't come from the ingredients…
It comes from life."
It had been three years since he allowed himself to feel something so simple.
He remembered—how in the past, he sat alone atop mountains,
drawing understanding from heaven and earth…
yet forgetting that the earth itself was understanding.
The old woman looked at him and chuckled.
"It's probably not as good as city cooking, is it?"
Li Yuan nodded slowly.
"No…
But this is a taste long forgotten."
In the world within him—Zhenjing—
the small tree that had once sprouted
shed a single leaf.
That leaf drifted down, touched the earth,
and slowly…
merged—
from which a new sprout emerged beside it.
"Taste is not merely for the tongue.
It is a gate inward."
"And to eat… is to accept the world."
That day marked a beginning.
Village children began sitting near him.
At first, out of curiosity.
Then—without being told—they began to mimic his breathing.
They didn't know what "understanding" was.
But they began… to feel.
Li Yuan didn't teach them techniques.
He didn't give them names of moves or forms.
He simply was there.
And his presence became the center.
In the silence, people began to change.
They started to realize that every breath could carry meaning.
That walking through a field could hold insight.
That sweeping the floor could be as deep as meditation.
"This is not a center of power.
But a center of growth."
"Because wherever life flows—
understanding can grow."
That day, Li Yuan saw a young boy running—then tripping and falling.
His hands bled.
But instead of crying, the boy sat quietly…
looked at his blood…
and said:
"If pain can make me realize I'm alive…
is that also a kind of understanding?"
Li Yuan looked at the boy.
And smiled.
Within him, the world of Zhenjing stirred softly.
This place…
was a center.
But not one built on power.
It was a center formed from living stillness.
The days passed.Li Yuan remained silent.
He did not form a sect.He did not name his teachings.He pointed to no students.
He simply lived.
He walked.He watched.
And without realizing it...the vibration spread.
A father who once chopped wood began to pause—to breathe—before each swing of the axe.
A mother, threading her needle, began to feel the rhythm in her weaving.
Children no longer played only to win.They began to notice the wind on their faces as they ran.
On the surface, it seemed like ordinary life.
But within the inner world—within Zhenjing—that life was being reflected.
One by one, faint threads of light began to appear in the skies of Zhenjing.
They did not come from Li Yuan himself.They were echoes… born from the feelings of others.
These people were not cultivators.But they had begun to understand.
And their understanding… reached Zhenjing.
A bird, released from a child's hands, became wind in the inner world.
A mother's honest cry became a flowing river.
Laughter after a long silence became the first sunlight after a storm.
Li Yuan sat.
His eyes were open,but his gaze turned inward.
Zhenjing... was no longer his alone.
"Can understanding be shared?""Can the inner world respond to the outer world?""If one person understands… and another is touched…""Then… is this collective resonance?"
Zhenjing did not grow because of Li Yuan's power.Zhenjing grew because his presence stirred understanding in others.
And at some point…
A villager, sitting alone and staring at the sky, said softly:
"I don't know why… but my heart feels calm.""As if someone… or something… understands my sorrow."
He did not know that at that exact moment,clouds shifted in the sky of Zhenjing.
Clear blue slowly emerged.
Not because of a technique.Not through cultivation.But because a sincere feeling had touched something deep—and echoed in the inner world of one who sat silently beneath a tree.
That day, Li Yuan stood in the middle of a rice field,watching a young man gaze at flowing water and whisper:
"This water… always flows downward.""But why… does my heart feel lighter when I look at it?"
Li Yuan closed his eyes.
And smiled.
"Because understanding does not belong to one person.""It belongs to the world.""And when the world begins to understand…""Then…resonance is born."
Zhenjing's Sky Slowly Changed
Not because Li Yuan willed it.
Not because he desired it.
But because the world... spoke to him.
The resonance produced echoes.
And the echoes brought an understanding
One not born of him.
He sat on a stone,
Amidst the whispering bamboo,
But his heart no longer centered on itself.
Something greater had begun to vibrate.
In a quiet village,
An old man caressed a dying cat.
He said softly:
"All living things will be silent again."
And in the inner world,
An ancient tiger sat in the mist,
Eyes closed.
A child watched his shadow ripple in the water.
He asked:
"If I change... am I still me?"
Within that inner world,
Light took uncertain forms
Shifting,
Forming,
Becoming.
Understanding emerged,
Not from intention,
Not from teachings,
But from life itself.
From gestures not meant to teach,
From silence that spoke.
And Zhenjing began to grow
Not by force,
But because the world entrusted him with its meaning.
"It is not I who understand them,"
Li Yuan thought.
"It is they who understand... and I simply listen."
Like an empty cave that returns sound.
Like a lake that accepts rain without resistance.
That day,
Zhenjing changed form.
Not by strength,
But as a reflection
Of the lives of others.
Li Yuan stood.
He took a deep breath.
And for the first time
He did not just understand himself.
He understood the world.
And the world understood him back.
"Is this... the true Daojing path?"
"Not just understanding,
But becoming a place where understanding can rest."
That day became part of him.
A day when the world knocked,
And he did not turn it away.
For understanding does not come from power,
But from openness—
From the world to the world.
From life to life.
And at nightfall,
Li Yuan closed his eyes.
The inner world filled with voices
Not noise,
But prayers never spoken.
And he listened.
All of it was not his.
But he did not reject it.
For understanding...
Can come from anywhere.