Finding self

Climbing out of the River of Time onto its ice, Ren Zu and his children find they have aged, since time Gu lives in the river and washes away lifespan with its water. Ren Zu reflects that lingering too long in constant good feeling is itself dangerous, since it could make a person forget time and lose themselves in the present. The same water has also washed away the emotions they piled up earlier. Relieved, the three keep travelling, and learn to dip their hearts into the river to wash away both bad feelings and any joy that starts to feel indulgent. Cognition Gu warns that this only ages their hearts rather than healing them, and tells them to stop. They obey, but move more slowly without the washing, until familial emotion Gu arrives and lets them split every joy and sorrow three ways, carrying each other’s burden and moving quickly again. ^{ch. 2294}

The shared emotion still grows too heavy for their hearts, so Carefree Wisdom Heart cages it instead in a Mental Domain she creates. This returns the ice to plain truth and reveals calm Gu inside it. At the ice’s center they find no self Gu, only practice Gu together with rules and regulation Gu, who had left Ren Zu for dead after the Predicament ate his heart, and the three of them make the truthful floating ice here. Practice Gu explains that Ren Zu and self Gu have both changed so much over so long that he would not know it standing before him. It offers to help Great Strength True Martial undergo a situation of recognizing himself instead, aided by his ability Gu and the serious Gu Carefree Wisdom Heart gives him. The ice ball grows as practice Gu drills Great Strength True Martial and his ability Gu strengthens, carrying them past year Gu, month Gu and day Gu, and at its largest the three find self Gu. It is so small that cognition Gu calls it insignificant beside heaven, earth and mankind. ^{ch. 2294}