Road of Life and Death

Grieving Verdant Great Sun’s death, Ren Zu confronts wisdom Gu, who taught his son to drink and so caused it. Wisdom Gu answers that he can still be revived: enter the Door of Life and Death by the Road of Death, and lead his son’s soul out again by the Road of Life, walking under sunlight. Furious, Ren Zu accuses wisdom Gu of trying to finish what the drinking started. No one who enters the door is known to leave. Wisdom Gu answers that the secret can be taught: both roads were first trodden by destiny Gu at fairness Gu’s side, and courage Gu will keep him from fearing the suffering Gu on the Road of Death. Past fairness Gu he will already be dead himself, though he can still find his son’s soul and lead it out by the Road of Life, which holds three obstacles, Dang Hun Mountain, Luo Po Valley and the Reverse Flow River. Each obstacle needs guts Gu, faith Gu or unbroken forward motion in turn. ^{ch. 410}

Ren Zu secures faith Gu, who agrees to help but warns it will leave him if he ever gives up. He also secures courage Gu, already a companion of hope Gu. Courage Gu’s light drives off the swarming suffering Gu as Ren Zu descends the Road of Death, his body turning hollow and ghostlike. He reaches the vast fairness Gu, whose body grows enormous inside the door itself, and who tells him his son waits nearby. ^{ch. 410}

Ren Zu finds Verdant Great Sun as a ghost beside a lake, drinking its water, which smells like wine, and tries to pull him away, calling it the bewitching soup that muddles ghosts into not wanting to leave. Verdant Great Sun corrects him. It is the soul calming wine, prized for settling and purifying a restless soul. Ren Zu cannot move him, for Verdant Great Sun has grown as heavy as a mountain in death, a weight he earned by living on reputation and dying under the light of glory. Told to cast off reputation Gu, Verdant Great Sun answers that it already left him at death, replaced now by fixed immortal travel Gu. It can carry his soul anywhere but cannot make him live again, and only a full crossing of the Road of Life will do that. ^{ch. 411}

Fairness Gu tells Ren Zu that both roads trace back to destiny Gu, that death is a destiny to accept, and that his son is at peace here, free of every worldly worry. Realizing wisdom Gu misled him, Ren Zu cannot bring his son back for now and leaves alone down the Road of Life, far harder than the road he entered by, its suffering Gu growing thicker with every step. Courage Gu alone cannot hold them back. Ren Zu breaks guts Gu from Dang Hun Mountain’s stones to strengthen his soul, then crosses Luo Po Valley’s fog and cutting wind guided by faith Gu’s light, emerging with only his soul’s bare essence left. At the Reverse Flow River, the last barrier, he must never stop moving against the current. Just short of the far side he pauses to catch his breath, forgetting wisdom Gu’s warning, and the river sweeps him back down into Luo Po Valley, spent and trapped. ^{ch. 411}