Chapter 459: Immortality

After the meeting ended, Yulong, who had remained silent and invisible the entire time, walked over and asked Baifeng, "Father, you seemed very troubled just now. Is there some major matter?"

Baifeng supported Yulong's shoulder as he sat back in his chair, then had Yulong pull up a chair to sit beside him, sighed, and said, "Xuanyuan said before that he wanted to visit Guangchengzi; you remember that, don't you?"

Yulong nodded, but remained puzzled: "Father, although Xuanyuan said Guangchengzi is a very formidable Sage, and you echoed him at the time, I feel you were likely deceiving Xuanyuan. You do not know Guangchengzi, and your knowledge was not learned from Guangchengzi. In my view, you are the greatest Sage under Heaven; why worry about a Guangchengzi? If Xuanyuan wants to see him, let him go. He cannot possibly meet Guangchengzi once and then surpass our Huaxia."

Baifeng gave a bitter smile: "Alas, actually, I do know of this person Guangchengzi, and I know he is at Kongtong Mountain, but I have never met him. I only know that he possesses a field of study called the 'Great Dao' that is extremely formidable. As for exactly how formidable, I cannot say."

Yulong silently recited the word 'Dao' several times, but he could not read any meaning from it, so he pressed: "Father, what does this 'Great Dao' speak of?"

Baifeng gathered his thoughts before slowly speaking: "This 'Great Dao' is extremely profound; I cannot explain it either. It speaks of, perhaps, the principles of all things in the world. The Great Dao encompasses the operating laws of certain things in the world, but to explain it in detail, I cannot. It is more like a very broad, grand principle, and it is more closely related to the observation of Nature. It should be about teaching people to follow Nature. For example... uh, extending a person's lifespan. Their greatest pursuit should be immortality."

Bai Yulong widened his eyes in shock: "Father, is there really a way to make people immortal? Then why don't you learn it? I also want you to be immortal!"

Baifeng laughed heartily upon hearing this. He felt very gratified in his heart. Although he had established a primary system of a feudal dynasty and the status and identity of the Royal Family were gradually being established, in history, there were far too many examples of father and son turning against each other and brothers becoming enemies over the throne. Almost every dynasty's Emperor and his sons were like enemies.

He had taken the lead in proposing the Chuan Di System, cultivating different development paths for his two sons, Yulong and Changle, from a young age, precisely to avoid such things from happening. But Yulong's words just now still made Baifeng very happy. At least the affection between father and son was still very deep. It was just that he did not know if, in the future, when he truly grew old and did not pass on the throne, and Yulong had been an old Crown Prince for decades, he would still think this way.

Yulong thought what he had just said was a bit foolish, but he still defended it: "Father, although you have told me the reason, it is a fact that the lifespan of our Huaxia people has increased, and the elderly who were previously near death have become younger. This shows there is definitely a way to make a person's lifespan increase until they never grow old, right?"

Baifeng pressed his hands on the armrests of the chair and sighed deeply: "I think that in my lifetime, if I can allow the people of Huaxia to increase their average lifespan to sixty—no, fifty years old—without the influence of war, that would already be a tremendous success."

In my understanding, a person's lifespan is at most one hundred and twenty or thirty years, because a person's internal organs will eventually have a day of failure. When kidney Qi fails, the ears go deaf; when liver Qi fails, the eyes go blind; when stomach Qi fails, the teeth will fall out. Once there are no teeth and one cannot eat, even if one can drink some soup, if the stomach Qi has failed, the food eaten will not be digested, and the person will reach the time of death. This law cannot be reversed.

Perhaps there really are a few people who can live for several hundred years, but they are only a few. It cannot be your father, me. But speaking of which, I suppose I have lived for several thousand years."

Bai Yulong seemed to have heard some incredible fact; he widened his eyes and asked: "Several... several thousand years? Father, is what you say true?"

Baifeng smiled slightly: "The several thousand years I speak of are not the same thing as what you understand. As for what it actually is, perhaps, on the day I am about to die of old age, I will tell you. But not now. You do not need to think too much; just treat it as your father bragging. Do not go telling others either. People cannot live that long; only gods can."

Baifeng had kept this secret for so many years and had never mentioned it to anyone. He also did not know whether he should tell his children. If he told them, he feared they would be unable to accept it. Although they had grown up under his personal cultivation and their thinking was similar to his, he estimated they would be unable to understand this matter of his transmigration. Even Baifeng, to this day, was not sure if this was a dream.

If it really were a dream, continuing to live it like this would not be bad.

Yulong did not pursue the matter further, only asking worriedly: "Father, then will you go find Guangchengzi?"

Baifeng was also not certain, only sighing: "Let the people of the Ministry of Revenue go and scout it out first to see if Xuanyuan is actually in their tribe. If he is not... perhaps I really will have to make a trip."

The conversation between father and son stopped abruptly here, with nothing more to say.

The people of the Ministry of Revenue hurried to hold a meeting that very day. They thought for a long time but still could not decide on a method to trade with the Xuanyuan Tribe that would not be too abrupt.

In the end, it was Yu who told them there was no need to be so complicated. Just say that Huaxia was in urgent need of a batch of Slaves, and that they could even trade using Ironware. If they stated a larger quantity, they would force Xuanyuan to come out. If the quantity were small, their people would be able to make the decision.

The people of the Ministry of Revenue were somewhat uncertain: "Trading with Ironware, that might not be good. Although we have plenty of Iron, we cannot let it flow out casually."

Yu pointed outside and said carelessly: "We said Ironware, but we didn't say what kind of Ironware. We certainly won't give them Weapons. Aren't those broken Iron Pots outside also made of Iron? As long as the Xuanyuan Tribe sees it is Iron, they will definitely scramble for it."

The people of the Ministry of Revenue felt these words were somewhat shameless, but they were indeed correct. Plus, their goal this time was not a normal trade, so they had to accept this plan. Yu told them not to feel pressured; if the trade didn't work out, it didn't work out, it didn't matter, as long as they scouted back the necessary intelligence.

Only then did the people of the Ministry of Revenue find some discarded Ironware in the warehouse that had not yet been sent back to the furnace to be remade. After bringing them along, they borrowed a Large Ship from the Navy and sailed at top speed toward the territory of the Xuanyuan Tribe.

This was also the first time Huaxia had specifically gone to the door of the Xuanyuan Tribe to conduct trade; previously, it had always been the Xuanyuan Tribe running to Huaxia.