One hundred years.
Li Yuan counted the time that had passed since he began flowing like water, seeking the lowest place. One hundred years of following spiritual gravity toward the bottom of existence. One hundred years of searching for the Oldest Breath in the most fundamental place.
And the result he got...
Nothing.
There was no dramatic enlightenment. No meeting with a primordial consciousness. No revelation that changed everything. There wasn't even a sign that he was getting closer to his goal.
Just... a continuing flow. A spiritual gravity that kept pulling. And a patience that was constantly being tested.
"180 years as a pure soul," Li Yuan calculated. "If you add the 30 years as a human... I am now 210 years old."
Two centuries and a decade.
And in that moment, something surprising happened.
Li Yuan... smiled.
The smile came along with a word that appeared in his consciousness. It wasn't a word he was looking for or a word he forced to appear. But a word that came on its own, like a guest gently knocking on the door.
"Understanding cannot be forced."
"Sometimes it appears in a single day."
"Sometimes it takes years."
Li Yuan felt a profound wisdom in those simple words. In his 180 years as a pure soul, he had learned 13 understandings. Some came quickly, some took decades or even centuries.
Water came when he was still a child, from a simple curiosity about the river.
Soul came after 50 years of total solitude as a pure soul.
Chaos Qi took 100 years to mature.
Chaos took an additional 20 years.
"Each understanding has its own rhythm," Li Yuan realized. "Each one comes when I am ready—not a second sooner, not a second later."
"And maybe... the search for the Oldest Breath also has its own rhythm."
"Perhaps these 100 years that feel 'futile' are part of the process."
"Perhaps... nothing is in vain."
With the smile still etched in the consciousness that had no face, Li Yuan made a decision that surprised even himself.
"I will walk in the real world again."
It wasn't because he was giving up on the search for the Oldest Breath. It wasn't because he was desperate or tired. But because... intuition. The same intuition that had guided him for 310 years of life.
"Perhaps to find the Oldest Breath, I need to go back and see the world from a different perspective."
"Perhaps for the past 100 years, I've been so focused on 'descending' that I forgot that the water that reaches the ocean also rises into a cloud."
"Perhaps... that's the cycle I need to understand."
"Not just descending, but also ascending. Not just looking for a low place, but also seeing from a high place."
Li Yuan began to project his consciousness body. With the 13 understandings that had matured over hundreds of years, with the stable Understanding of Body and Existence, with the Wrapping that protected it—the consciousness body was easily formed.
"The same face. The same gray eyes. The same black hair."
"But there was something different."
"There was a new depth in those eyes. A depth that came from 280 years as a pure soul. A depth that came from watching a battlefield turn into a lush forest. A depth that came from searching for something for 100 years and not finding it... yet not being disappointed."
Li Yuan—in his consciousness body—stepped out of the lush forest that was once a battlefield.
"280 years," he calculated. "280 years since that war ended."
The world outside the forest... was different.
It wasn't just different because time had passed, but different in a fundamental way. Li Yuan could feel... a change in the quality of the air, in the way the sunlight fell, in the rhythm of nature itself.
"Something has changed in this world while I was searching for the Oldest Breath."
"Not just a physical change. But a deeper change."
Li Yuan began to walk—a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time. The feet made of the Understanding of Body touched the ground in a different way than physical feet. Each step was a conscious choice, each movement a manifestation of will.
"And most interestingly—each step provided information."
"About the ground he was stepping on. About the life flowing beneath it. About the stories buried in the layers of time."
"This consciousness body doesn't just allow me to interact with the physical world—it allows me to 'read' the physical world in a way that was impossible with a normal body."
After walking for several days, Li Yuan met the first person he had seen in the last 100 years.
An old traveler, sitting under a tree, watching the sunset with eyes that held wisdom.
When the traveler saw Li Yuan, he was not surprised to see a figure who looked to be in his 20s but had a much older aura. As if he was used to seeing unusual things.
"Good afternoon, young master," the traveler greeted with a smile. "It's rare to see someone walking with such... tranquility."
Li Yuan smiled. "Good afternoon, grandpa. May I sit with you?"
"Of course."
As Li Yuan sat down—a movement so natural even though his body was made of consciousness—he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time.
Human connection.
A simple interaction with another soul.
And in that simple interaction... there was something familiar.
Something that for 100 years of intense searching he had forgotten.
"Where are you from, young master?" the old traveler asked.
"From... a long journey," Li Yuan answered with incomplete honesty. "And what about you, grandpa?"
"Ah, I am old. I have spent my life walking from one place to another. Watching the world change. Watching people be born and pass on."
The old traveler looked at the sunset with peaceful eyes. "But lately, I feel there's something different in the air. Something that... has changed in the way the world breathes."
Li Yuan was surprised. The way the world breathes.
"What do you mean, grandpa?"
"Ah, maybe it's just an old man's thought. But it feels... like the world is waiting for something. Or perhaps... remembering something long forgotten."
Li Yuan felt his 13 understandings tremble with a new resonance.
The world is remembering something long forgotten.
The world is waiting for something.
And perhaps... I am also waiting for something.
Perhaps the search for the Oldest Breath is not about finding something that is lost.
But about remembering something that has always been there.
After the simple conversation ended and the old traveler continued his journey, Li Yuan sat alone under the same tree.
100 years of intensely searching for the Oldest Breath.
And the first insight came from a simple conversation with an old traveler.
Understanding cannot be forced.
Sometimes it appears in a single day, sometimes it takes years.
And sometimes... it appears when we stop searching and start... living.
Li Yuan felt something shift within him. It wasn't a new understanding entering Ganjing—not yet. But a subtle shift in perspective.
Perhaps for the past 100 years, I've been too focused on "reaching" the Oldest Breath that I forgot to "be" a part of the flow that leads to it.
Perhaps the Oldest Breath does not need to be found.
Perhaps the Oldest Breath needs to be... remembered.
And to remember, I need to live. I need to interact. I need to be a part of the world, not separate from it.
With an insight born of simplicity, Li Yuan made a new plan.
I will walk in the real world.
I will meet people.
I will see how the world has changed in the last 380 years.
I will... live.
And perhaps, in the process of living, the Oldest Breath will remember me.
Or I will remember the Oldest Breath.
Or... we will remember each other.
Li Yuan stood up, his consciousness body moving with the grace that came from hundreds of years of wisdom.
380 years as a pure soul has taught me about depth.
Now it's time to learn about... breadth.
It's time to see how that depth plays out on the surface.
It's time to see how the Oldest Breath breathes through ordinary, daily life.
With the smile still etched on the face made of consciousness, Li Yuan began to walk.
No longer searching for the lowest place.
No longer following spiritual gravity with total intensity.
But walking like water that has reached the ocean and now becomes a cloud—rising into the sky to see the world from a different perspective, before descending again as life-giving rain.
A cycle that never ends.
And perhaps that is the Oldest Breath.
Not a destination that is reached, but a cycle that is lived.
Not a place that is found, but a way that is embodied.
The journey continues.
With a new perspective.
With a smile in the void.
And with the conviction that sometimes, to find what you are looking for, you have to stop searching and start... remembering.