Seeking Immortality 035

Soon everyone was seated in their own places.

The Ruffian continued muttering, "What are we eating? Air? You're an immortal, you can survive on air, but I can't!"

His muttered words seemed to reach the ears of the Immortal, who gave a slight wave of his hand. The next moment, a miraculous thing happened: white jade plates flew in from midair, each laden with wine and dishes. With a flick of the Immortal's fingers, the plates landed steadily before each seeker of immortality.

The Immortal paid no attention to the mortals. Instead, he glanced around, speaking to his companions: "Brother Wang, Brother Bai, Brother Hu, please!"

The several people seated beside him smiled and nodded, reaching out to pick up their wine cups and drink.

The Ruffian looked at the food before him. The dishes gave off a rich aroma. He wanted to reach for the wine jug, but it floated up on its own, as if held by some unseen hand, and poured him a full cup of wine.

The Ruffian snorted coldly.

Chu Xiangye sat in front of Fang Zhiyi. Excitedly watching the wine jug fly by itself, he turned and said to Fang Zhiyi, "Junior brother, look! It's immortal magic! Immortal magic!"

But Fang Zhiyi sat still, unmoving.

Laughter came from up ahead, instantly drawing the attention of all the seekers. They saw the Immortal wave his hand and clap lightly. The maids painted on the wall suddenly came to life, stepping out of the stone. Two began to play music, while the others started to dance.

For a moment, everyone was stunned, staring in awe.

They had certainly not come to the wrong place!

The Immortal finally turned his gaze to them: "Since you have all come here, it means we share a bond of fate. Come, come, let us drink together!"

The crowd’s hearts were captivated, and they all raised their cups. A smile curled at the corners of the Immortal's mouth, as if he was quite pleased.

But a voice shattered the harmonious scene.

"Damn it! What kind of lousy food is this! All vegetables—how the hell are we supposed to eat this?!"

The Ruffian slammed his cup to the ground.

The Immortal's expression froze. "Young friend, are you dissatisfied with my feast?"

The Ruffian jumped up. "Damn right I am! You eat meat, and we get nothing but vegetables? Why!"

He wasn't wrong. On the stone table in front lay all kinds of mountain delicacies—whole chickens, even deer legs—while the dishes before them, though fragrant, were all vegetarian.

"Stop eating, all of you! Can't you see they look down on you?" The Ruffian's next move was even more reckless. He flipped over several tables in succession.

Chaos erupted instantly.

"How dare you!" A boy attendant shouted and flicked his wrist, sending the whisk in his hand flying. Everyone watched as the whisk drifted lightly toward the Ruffian's face. But the Ruffian neither dodged nor avoided—he drew a short knife from his belt and blocked it.

The whisk and the short knife collided with a metallic clang.

The Immortal's face turned completely cold. "Who exactly are you? Why do you disrupt my immortal banquet?"

The Ruffian let out a strange laugh. "Old fool! You call yourself an immortal? You're nothing but a cheat fooling these blockheads!"

Fang Zhiyi was a little surprised. He hadn't expected to run into someone else here who was causing trouble.

"You—you've gone too far! Insulting the Immortal!" The trembling voice came from Chu Xiangye, whose face was flushed. He pointed at the Ruffian and said, "Ever since before we entered, you tried to drive us away so you could get in yourself. Now you dare offend the Immortal Lord! You—you villain!"

The Ruffian pulled a grimace. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you little villain, go home and suck on your mother's teat! You're about to lose your life, and you're still dreaming of becoming immortal!"

The Immortal raised his hand, and a beam of white light shot toward the Ruffian. The Ruffian rolled to the ground to dodge it, still cursing. Suddenly he looked down and saw Fang Zhiyi.

"Why are you touching my leg?"

Fang Zhiyi put on a smile. "Brother, you're stepping on my clothes."

"So what if I am? Stop being so fussy!" The Ruffian planted his feet and lunged forward, short knife in hand.

Fang Zhiyi sat quietly in place. He had now figured out who the Ruffian really was.

Even he had to admit—this was a tough man.

The Ruffian’s name was Wang Kui. He was a hoodlum from the market, notorious for bullying the neighborhood. With his decent fighting skills, he had become the local tyrant.

Last winter, Wang Kui had done what he always did—drunk without paying and tried to head home, but he passed out by the roadside.

Given the weather, it was cold enough to freeze a man to death.

But Wang Kui didn't die. An old woman who sold fabric scraps found him and took him home. Wang Kui was a stubborn, reckless man, but he had one virtue: he remembered kindness. From that day on, he wanted to repay her.

One thing led to another, and he learned that her son had been missing for days. He volunteered to help find him. After asking around, he eventually heard from a wandering fortune-teller that the old woman’s son had died in a so-called "immortal sect."

Wang Kui was simple-minded. He figured he had made a promise, so he had to settle the score. So he tucked his knife into his belt and went into the mountains, searching everywhere for that immortal sect.

On the surface, it looked like a story of a scoundrel repaying a debt. But the truth was quite different: it was a coincidence, and a trap meant to get rid of Wang Kui.

That day, his drink had been laced with a sleeping potion by a tavern waiter. Their plan was to let him freeze to death. But when they went back to check several times, they found Wang Kui breathing normally even while lying in the snow. That terrified them—if Wang Kui sobered up and figured things out, they’d be in trouble. But they didn’t dare kill him.

So after much deliberation, they pushed Granny Zhang forward as his rescuer.

In the end, Wang Kui actually believed she had saved him and was determined to repay her. So they pooled their money, hired a con artist pretending to be a wandering fortune-teller, and tricked Wang Kui. Their idea was to send him off and enjoy some peace. If he died in the mountains, that would be even better. But as luck would have it, his path crossed with fate.

In the mountains, Wang Kui ran into a tiger. He fought the beast, and the tiger was so intimidated by his ferocity that it turned tail and fled. Wang Kui, stubborn as ever, chased after it relentlessly. In the pursuit, he stumbled upon a white-bearded old man. The old man mocked him, and Wang Kui rolled up his sleeves and beat him up. The old man fled in panic, and Wang Kui, in turn, found a ladder leading to the so-called "immortal mansion."

In Wang Kui’s eyes, it wasn’t a celestial abode at all—just a shabby courtyard. But then he ran into people like Chu Xiangye, who had come to seek immortality. Listening to their talk irritated him. Though not sharp-witted, he realized this had to be some demon’s trick meant to fool them!

So he tried to drive them away, but no one listened. Once inside, he saw the truth for himself—what lay on the tables were not delicacies but maggots and filth. What poured from the wine jugs was a dark red liquid that reeked of a foul, fishy stench.