A Different Path
Li Yuan was silent for a long time.
Outside the window, Qinlu was beginning to change. On the streets, he could see small units of soldiers arriving from nearby villages. Carts filled with weapons rolled by. War flags were being hoisted on government buildings.
In a few weeks, this city would become a military base. In a few months, perhaps a city mourning the sons who would not return.
"Li Yuan?" Master Cheng repeated his question.
Li Yuan looked at the two people who had become his family over the past few months. Master Cheng, who would go to war. Bao Jing, who would stay behind to tend the empty shop.
And himself?
He, who had the ability to bring calm amidst the storm, to become an empty space where others could find peace—should he stay here, serving a city growing more and more restless?
Or was there another place where his understanding was needed more?
A place where water would be more useful if it flowed?
"I will go," Li Yuan finally said.
Bao Jing turned quickly. "Go where?"
Li Yuan looked out the window again, toward the far south. "To the state of Lu."
Master Cheng and Bao Jing stared at him, eyes wide.
"To the state of Lu?" Master Cheng repeated. "Li Yuan, that… that's the enemy. And it will become a battlefield."
Li Yuan nodded. "Precisely because of that."
He stood and walked to the window. The afternoon light fell upon his calm face, making his gray eyes look like the surface of deep water.
"War will bring suffering to both sides. In Qinlu, there will be those who weep for lost sons, husbands, fathers. In Lu, there will be weeping for the same reasons."
Li Yuan turned to Master Cheng and Bao Jing.
"Water does not choose sides when it flows. It simply seeks the place where it is most needed."
That night, Li Yuan sat alone in the room he would soon leave behind.
At his desk, he wrote a letter slowly and carefully:
"Mu Yi, Fan Tu,
I will be traveling again. Farther this time, and perhaps for longer.
War is coming to our region. I cannot stop it—water cannot stop a storm.
But I can flow to where water is most needed.
Take care of yourselves. Take care of our village. And if someday someone asks about me, just say that I left to learn something new.
To learn how existence can still hold meaning in a world teaching destruction.
May we meet again in a more peaceful time.
Li Yuan
P.S. — Water always knows how to return home."
Li Yuan folded the letter and placed it in the envelope he had prepared.
Tomorrow morning, he would hand the letter to a merchant he knew, one who would pass near Ziran Village on his route.
By noon, he would begin his journey south. To the state of Lu. To a place where suffering would be just as real as in Qinlu, but perhaps no one there would offer warm water for trembling hands.
By nightfall, he would sleep in a place he had never known, under the same sky, but with a different weight.
But tonight, he was still here.
In the small room above the noodle shop that had become home over the past few months.
Listening to the changing sounds of Qinlu—the thudding of boots, the creak of cart wheels, the conversations growing more serious, and increasingly rare.
The sounds of a city preparing for war.
Li Yuan closed his eyes and felt his Zhenjing one last time in this place.
The water still flowed—clear, calm, ready to find a new path.
The silence still stretched wide—deep, patient, ready to offer space in a place it had never been.
Existence was still present—simple, unconditional, ready to serve whoever was in need.
Tomorrow, everything would change.
But the essence would remain unchanged.
Water would still flow.
Silence would still make room.
Existence would still serve.
Only the path would be different.
Only the form would be new.
Only the way would be one not yet tried to be useful in a changing world.
Li Yuan opened his eyes.
Outside the window, stars had begun to appear in the Qinlu sky.
Tomorrow, those same stars would shine upon his journey to a place he did not yet know.
But tonight, they still shone upon the home he would leave behind—with gratitude.
A home where he learned that existence could hold meaning without needing to be understood.
A home where he discovered that water could flow even when everyone talked only about how to measure a river.
A home where he understood that some truths did not need to be defended—they only needed to be… experienced.
By those who were ready.
In the form that was right for them.
At the time that was right for the world.
Tomorrow, Li Yuan would begin a new chapter in his journey.
A chapter that might teach something entirely different.
Something about how water flows when the river is blocked.
Something about how silence speaks when the world is full of shouting.
Something about how existence remains meaningful when destruction threatens all that is.
The last night in Qinlu passed quietly.
Like water flowing toward the delta.
Like a breath waiting to be exhaled.
Like a step that already knows where it is going, even if the road ahead is still dark.
Dawn would come.
And with dawn, a new journey would begin.