Li Yuan returned to being a pure soul, releasing his consciousness body projection.
After experiencing the "eating of meaning" from wild grass and understanding how his 13 understandings could be nourished and strengthened, he felt... ready. Ready to continue the journey that had spanned 180 years as a pure soul.
The tranquil qi path still lay before him, winding toward something he could feel more and more clearly.
The Eldest Breath.
But now, instead of following the path in the same way he had all this time, Li Yuan decided to return to the most fundamental nature of his first understanding.
Water.
Water always seeks the low ground.
Water has no ambition to reach the mountain peaks. It flows into valleys, into cracks, into the deepest places.
And perhaps that is what I must do now.
Flowing to the Low Ground
Li Yuan let his consciousness flow like water, no longer following the straight or winding qi path, but seeking... the lowest ground.
The lowest ground in reality.
The lowest ground in existence.
The lowest ground in... everything.
As he began to "flow" in this way, something extraordinary happened.
The tranquil qi path—which he had been carefully following—suddenly changed. It was no longer a meandering line of light, but like a river flowing downward, following an invisible spiritual gravity.
Water seeks the low ground not because it is weak, Li Yuan understood with a new clarity. But because it knows that in the low ground, all water gathers.
In the low ground, water becomes an ocean.
In the low ground, small drops become a force that can change the landscape.
And perhaps... in the lowest ground of existence, all souls gather.
The Path Changes
As Li Yuan flowed like water seeking the low ground, he felt the path to the Eldest Breath change dramatically.
What had felt like an "upward" journey toward something grand and high, now felt like a "downward" journey toward something fundamental and deep.
The Eldest Breath is not "above" or "far away," Li Yuan realized. The Eldest Breath is at the... bottom of everything.
In the lowest ground.
In the place that is the foundation of all that is.
Like the unseen roots of a tree that support the entire tree.
Like the bottom of the ocean that is never seen but holds all the water above it.
The more Li Yuan flowed "down," the more strongly he felt the presence of the Eldest Breath. Not as something distant and mystical, but as something... familiar.
Like returning to a home I left long ago.
Like returning to a place I always knew existed but forgot how to reach.
The 13 Understandings Resonate
As Li Yuan flowed like water seeking the low ground, his 13 understandings began to vibrate with a frequency they had never before reached.
Water vibrated with excitement—it could finally flow according to its true nature.
Silence became deeper—like the silence at the bottom of the ocean, undisturbed by the waves on the surface.
Existence became more fundamental—like the root of existence that doesn't need to prove itself because everything else depends on it.
Breath began to beat with an increasingly slow and deep rhythm—like the breath of the earth itself.
Soul felt a resonance with other souls who were also "flowing downward"—no matter where they came from.
And most surprisingly—Chaos Qi and Chaos began to... calm down. Like churning water that finally finds a stable bottom to settle on.
In the lowest ground, even chaos finds peace, Li Yuan understood.
Spiritual Gravity
Li Yuan felt something like a "spiritual gravity" pulling him deeper.
Not a forceful pull, but a natural one—like water naturally flowing downward, like breath naturally returning to the lungs after being exhaled.
A gravity that pulls all existence back to its source.
A gravity that pulls all souls back to the place of their birth.
A gravity that pulls all breaths back to the Eldest Breath.
And the more Li Yuan surrendered to this gravity, the more... light he felt.
A paradox, he thought with awe. The more I descend, the lighter it feels.
The more I seek the low ground, the higher my consciousness.
The more I flow downward, the broader my perspective.
Like water flowing to the sea—it descends from the mountain, but in the sea, it becomes part of something much vaster than any river.
Meeting Other Streams
As Li Yuan flowed deeper, seeking the low ground, he began to feel... other streams.
Other souls who were also flowing toward the same place. But unlike Li Yuan who was consciously making this journey—they seemed to be... naturally drawn.
Like small rivers flowing toward the ocean.
They don't know they are heading for the Eldest Breath.
They just know that something is pulling them to the deepest place.
Li Yuan felt those souls—some were still bound to a physical body but their souls were dreaming or meditating, some had just died and were looking for direction, some had long been pure souls like himself but were just starting the journey.
All water flows to the sea, Li Yuan understood with profound peace. All breaths return to the Eldest Breath.
All souls, in the end, seek the lowest ground—the place where they can become part of something much greater than themselves.
Closer to the Bottom
The more Li Yuan flowed downward, the more he felt... peace.
Not an empty or static peace. A peace filled with potential. Like the silence before the music begins. Like the darkness before the dawn. Like the emptiness before creation.
In the lowest ground, Li Yuan realized, all possibilities gather.
In the lowest ground, all potential waits to be realized.
In the lowest ground... the Eldest Breath breathes.
And when that understanding came, Li Yuan felt something that shook his entire consciousness.
A Breath.
Not his own breath—he hadn't been breathing for 180 years as a pure soul.
But a... universal breath. A breath that was the foundation of all breaths. A breath so fundamental that all of existence moved according to its rhythm.
The Eldest Breath.
I'm almost there, Li Yuan felt with a mixture of excitement and profound humility. I'm almost at the lowest ground.
The place where all water gathers.
The place where all souls come home.
The place where... all journeys begin and end.
Water Reaching the Ocean
As Li Yuan flowed increasingly like water seeking the low ground, he began to feel himself not as a separate drop of water.
He began to feel himself as part of... a larger current.
A current composed of an infinite number of souls who were all flowing toward the same place. Toward the lowest ground. Toward the place where all existence is rooted.
Like water reaching the ocean, Li Yuan felt with an indescribable peace. I don't lose my identity as water.
But I become part of something much vaster.
I am still Li Yuan, but a Li Yuan who is a part of... all that is.
And with that realization, Li Yuan felt that his journey was almost over.
Or perhaps, it was only truly beginning.
Because when water reaches the ocean, it doesn't stop flowing.
It begins to participate in a much greater cycle.
The unending cycle of rain, rivers, and the ocean.
And perhaps that is what will happen when I reach the Eldest Breath.
I will begin to participate in the cycle of... existence itself.
With that thought, Li Yuan continued to flow.
Deeper.
Lower.
Closer to the place where all water gathers.
The place where all souls come home.
The place where the Eldest Breath breathes for the first time, and will breathe for the last.
The lowest ground.
Which, it turns out, is the highest place.
Which, it turns out, is the most expansive place.
Which, it turns out, is... home.