In the novel’s cosmology, immortals do not possess infinite lifespans—their longevity is merely exceptionally prolonged.
The Jade Emperor’s Age as a Benchmark
Why is this so? As the supreme ruler, the Jade Emperor benefits from all life-extending resources, making his age the probable upper limit for immortals. How old is he?
When the Buddhist Patriarch heard these words, he laughed aloud in scorn. “A fellow like you,” he said, “is only a monkey who happened to become a spirit. How dare you be so presumptuous as to want to seize the honored throne of the Exalted Jade Emperor? He began practicing religion when he was very young, and he has gone through the bitter experience of one thousand seven hundred and fifty kalpas, with each kalpa lasting a hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years. Figure out yourself how many years it took him to rise to the enjoyment of his great and limitless position! You are merely a beast who has just attained human form in this incarnation. How dare you make such a boast? ”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 7
Calculating this reveals an age exceeding 200 million years. This confirms immortality is finite: a quantifiable beginning implies an eventual end. Vast timescales do not negate mortality’s inevitability.
Celestial vs. Mortal Time Dilation
Critically, time flows differently across realms: “One day in heaven equals one year on earth”—a rule reiterated throughout the text. Thus, even 10,000 earthly years equate to merely 27.5 celestial years.
For example:
The Ginseng Fruit extends life by 47,000 earthly years—a mere 128 celestial years.
One kalpa (129,600 earthly years) spans just 355 celestial years.
The Jade Emperor’s 1,750 kalpas translate to ~620,000 celestial years—making him truly ancient.
The Constant Struggle for Longevity
Moreover, immortals must continuously cultivate to maintain their extended lives. As the Three Star Lords(Gods of Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity) admonished Sun Wukong:
“You ape!” said one of the three old men. “You are dumb! A man who takes one whiff of that fruit will live to be three hundred and sixty years old; he eats one and he’ll last forty-seven thousand years. That’s why it bears the name of ‘The Long-Life Grass of Reverted Cinnabar: The level of cultivation in Dao of that Great Immortal far surpasses ours! With such a thing in his possession, he can easily have the same age as Heaven, whereas we still have to nourish our spermal essence, cultivate our breaths, fortify our spirits, harmonize the tiger and the dragon, catch the kan to fill up the li, in short, we have to spend a lot of time and effort just to attain immortality. How could you say, ‘How much could they be worth?’ Throughout the whole world, that’s the only kind of spiritual root there is.”
— Journey to the West, Chapter 26
This underscores a core truth: the path of cultivation demands perpetual effort. Achieving immortality is not an endpoint—complacency risks regression.
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