Is there a maximum number of times a character can die? I'm currently doing the Sweeping Bandit Archer quest, and while I'm merrily killing the bandits, my character profile begins to glow in red. I ignore it and continue playing, after a while I die and am not asked where I want to revive. Looks like this:

So, yeah. My guess was that my character may have died to many times or something like that, or perhaps that I should just restart the game(have not done so yet, because I don't want to have to wait for hours to get back onto the server). I hope someone more experienced can help me.
Next question is, how do I form a party? CAN I even form a party at my level (currently lvl 11)? like I said earlier, I'm new to MMORPGs and don't know exactly how having a party works, but sometimes when I'm out grinding or doing my quests I encounter people who seem to be at the same level as me, and I think that maybe it would be fun to hunt these things together. This questions is as much a question about HOW to form a party as it is about MMORPG culture. Do I just join/create a party with whoever I like just like that, or am I supposed to "know" them, or hunt the same creatures or something?
Also, I frequently receive party invites from high level players who I assume are going into the Qin-Shi tomb. I usually decline, as I think it feels stupid to be in a party with people doing an entirely different thing. Is this considered rude? Would it be better if I joined the party but then went on with my own buisness?
On a different subject, is there even any point in trying to sell the low level items I pick up in a stall? Would anyone buy them or is it better just to sell them to the shopkeeper NPCs?
Oh, and the guilds. Mustn't forget to ask about the guilds. I've seen guides on how to create guilds, but how do i join one? And why would I want to join one? Once I'm in the guild, what will I be "expected" to do, do guilds normally do any events of some sort or do they just "exist"?
...And that's it, I think. Thanks in advance for any help.
Edit: I would like to point out that I haven't been playing continuously since April, when I joined. I downloaded it, played for two days then just left it until I re-discovered it on my hard drive a week ago.

