I’m Trapped in a Cube - Chapter 240

“It’s me.” Bai Zhou cupped that Chali tribe member’s face, saying painfully.

“Disciple, do you still remember what I told you? Disciples must always trust their master, cannot disobey the master’s commands, must not doubt the master’s actions, and must wholeheartedly support everything the master does…”

“Do you still remember these things?”

Bai Zhou trembled as he recited these words one by one.

The voice echoed in the fish swarm. All the mermen stopped their movements, looking at this master and disciple.

“I remember.”

“Good. Now tell us the method of immortality.”

…

That disciple kneeling on the ground stared at Bai Zhou for a long time, his eyes carrying both panic and unfamiliarity.

His gaze swept over the merman armor Bai Zhou wore, over the flying components floating around, and looked toward Jeff in the fish swarm, death-like…

The component on Bai Zhou’s neck glowed faintly, but Bai Zhou made no move, continuing to stare at his disciple.

Those dark pupils of Bai Zhou’s were staring at him.

The disciple’s whole body slumped down, even the center of those tree roots softly collapsed to the ground.

But the disciple seemed to know that these incantation-like principles had no practical effect. After a sigh, his voice began echoing again.

“Master, I’ll tell you everything…”

“Master, let me demonstrate once.”

That voice suddenly accelerated, like chanting some spell:

“The socalled immortality is eternal death. The end of death is life, the end of life is death. Infinite life represents infinite death.”

“The moment you pay eternal death, immortality will come seeking you…”

“To achieve immortality, one must use eternal death as the cost.”

His voice suddenly became lifeless, echoing mechanically.

The tree roots slightly contracted, and the tendrils coiled around Bai Zhou’s neck pierced into his skin.

Bright red blood drops seeped from the indentations.

The tendrils stopped.

“Immortality… immortality…”

“Master, you told me the story of Wandering at Ease. I liked it very much, but those principles, I didn’t quite understand…”

“I can only demonstrate once.”

The pupils reflected his face.

This passage was spoken very quickly. After Bai Zhou heard it, he could only stare blankly at his disciple, not understanding at all.

While muttering, his form began slowly distorting. His two feet actually transformed into tree roots, burrowing into the ground. His head and arms became twisted, elongated branches, stretching toward the high sky.

His gaze returned to Bai Zhou’s face at the end.

“In ancient times there was a great chun tree, taking eight thousand years as spring, eight thousand years as autumn. I liked that very much.”

As soon as these words fell, the tree formed by that body quickly grew large. Countless branches spread out, but these branches were bare, without any leaves.

The massive canopy sheltered Bai Zhou beneath it like a great umbrella, instantly dispersing the thick fog beside them. The branches swayed slightly, as if greeting Bai Zhou.

“Is this what the great chun looks like?”

“However, even after many cycles of eight thousand years, this tree cannot decay, because this is eternal death, always dying…”

“Master, do you understand? If you understand, I’ll begin the next step.”

That great tree’s growth speed gradually slowed, but by now it covered the sky and earth. The tree extended countless aerial roots downward, burrowing into the soil. These aerial roots also spread toward the surroundings.

“Death will continue to spread.”

“Life will constantly expand, and so will death. This tree is slowly dying. When it completely dies, it will be completely alive.”

“Calling it great chun doesn’t seem quite fitting. Master, give it a name.”

Bai Zhou raised his head, looking up at that towering leafless tree, his eyes full of complexity.

“How about calling it Immortal Wood?”

“Good.”

After answering this sentence, the voice from within those tree roots didn’t come for a long time.

Bai Zhou’s eyes gradually became panicked.

Just as he was preparing to pry open the branches on his neck and rush forward, that voice began sounding again.

However, this time what sounded also included some faint dripping sounds.

Like water drops hitting a water surface.

Drip, drip…

An ethereal and illusory narrating voice slowly transmitted from the tree roots, like someone gently calling out in a cave.

“Master.”

“I actually don’t like the kun-peng very much. It’s too big and still needs to ride the wind. I think that’s not true ease.”

“Being a free and unrestrained little fish is quite good, going wherever you want, swimming from the sea to the sky, then from the sky back to the sea.”

“Who says fish can’t swim in the sky?”

That voice echoed, like calling out echoes in a cave, making the voice appear even more ethereal.

“Master, let me continue…”

“Immortality means abandoning half of one’s existence, letting this half die forever, so the other half can be completely alive.”

“This is the cost.”

“I abandoned my physical body and kept my soul. From then on, these two became completely opposing things.”

The branches swayed slightly again at this moment, as if reminding Bai Zhou.

“Also, there’s one important thing I forgot to mention. Do you remember I said before that knowing the method of immortality would come with a cost?”

“Learning the cost of immortality means everything around will be tainted by death. Death will even wrap around like thick fog, accelerating the passing of everything nearby. Even if immortality is achieved, this mist will forever linger.”

“Just like this island…”

Accompanying these words, the fog that had just dispersed came again, surrounding the entire great tree in the center.

“About right. When the soul separates from the body, it will fall into a confused state, with only instincts remaining. But what I needed to teach has all been taught.”

“Master, you always say you know everything, but now you still come to ask me…”

That voice began to ramble incoherently, constantly saying meaningless things to Bai Zhou.

“In the northern darkness there is a fish, its name is fish… transforming to become fish, its name is fish…”

“Seems I didn’t recite it quite right, Master…”

That voice became lighter and lighter, even somewhat inaudible, leaving only some mumbling whispers.

He seemed to be reciting some chaotic article, randomly mixing it with his own understanding. The word order was confused, the vocabulary extremely strange, completely incomprehensible.

Bai Zhou rested his head against the branches, closed his eyes, as if listening to something.

“Continue reciting, disciple…”

“Continue.”

But Bai Zhou’s calls could no longer get any response.

The tree roots hung down weakly.

The tree was still there, but completely motionless…

Bai Zhou looked upward. Those branches also stopped swaying, falling into silence.

He anxiously circled the great tree to check, still discovering no sign of life.

Until on that lifeless bark, a transparent outline suddenly protruded.

An elongated little eel fish like a long piece of jelly passed through the bark and swam out in a daze, soft and beautiful.

After the little eel fish glanced at Bai Zhou, it swam toward the sky without looking back.

Soaring upward…
Notes:
Reference to the ancient mythical tree from Zhuangzi’s writings that lives for 16,000 years