Becoming Extraordinary

Ren Zu wanders ordinary abyss a long time, finding no exit. Cognition Gu tells him that following others is simple and safe but leaves little hope of becoming extraordinary, and that his own road demands his own footprints. Overjoyed, he leaves the old footsteps for ground that is not firm. ^{ch. 807}

The ground is swampy in places, thorny in others, and seeded with blade Gu. Walking softly against the pain, he keeps losing his way, until cognition Gu tells him that fear of pain left his footprints too shallow to last. Heavy steps mark his explored routes for a while, but the dust buries even the deepest of them. Cognition Gu then points out that he detours around every thorn and blade he sees, and that comfort will not make him extraordinary. He grits his teeth and walks the thorny ground anyway, deep footprint after deep footprint. ^{ch. 807}

Grass sprouts from each bloodied footprint, named accomplishment, and outlasts the prints themselves. It grows into trees that bear fruit, and in time his travels raise a forest across all of ordinary abyss, yet still with no way out. Anxious and disappointed, he plucks a fruit that now tastes bitter rather than sweet. ^{ch. 807}

He discovers a second heart has grown in him, called discontent, and now no food tastes sweet. His original heart, the heart of loneliness, speaks in self Gu’s voice and tells him to plant an accomplishment tree taller than ordinary abyss and climb out on it. His eyes light up. The trees so far, watered with blood from his feet, are only ordinary, but heart blood drawn out with the blades buried in the ground could grow a truly great one, self Gu explains. ^{ch. 807}

The blade’s stab into his heart hurts thousands of times more than any wound on his body, and the blood it draws waters trees much larger than the earlier ones. Pain mixed with joy, he keeps stabbing and planting larger trees, though even the tallest reaches only half the height of ordinary abyss. He perseveres with hope Gu at his side. When one tree finally matches that height, its trunk cracks open and a girl steps out calling him father: Ren Zu’s fourth child, Boundless Forest Samsara. ^{ch. 807}

Ren Zu feeds and plays with his daughter as she grows healthy in the forest. Still wanting to leave, he plants a greater tree whose branches finally clear the abyss. Boundless Forest Samsara begs not to be abandoned, since she cannot climb and would starve alone. He promises never to abandon her, and the two climb together. ^{ch. 807}

The climb grows more dangerous, and the tree starts to waver and crack. Cognition Gu warns that carrying her makes leaving impossible, since his accomplishment tree cannot make anyone else extraordinary, his daughter included. Hope Gu urges him to let her go, because his heart blood is dry after so many trees and this tree is his last hope, but Ren Zu still wants to try. Self Gu, seeing that the other Gu have failed to convince Ren Zu, bites his daughter’s hand without warning, and she lets go and falls from his back as the tree shakes. ^{ch. 807}

Self Gu pushes him forward, and Ren Zu steps out of ordinary abyss as the tree collapses behind him, leaving him no way back. He vows to return and save her, but Boundless Forest Samsara cries that he is cruel to abandon her. Anguished, Ren Zu searches all around but finds no way back in. Self Gu tells him it is no use: his fallen tree still proves his grandeur, and one so extraordinary cannot enter a place built for the ordinary. ^{ch. 807}