Seeking Immortality 039

He grabbed a weapon from the person beside him and charged forward. By now, Fang Zhiyi was already utterly exhausted, simply letting that light drag his body upward.

Fang Zhiyi felt a warm sensation all over, his body growing lighter and lighter, when suddenly he was yanked back by a powerful force, his entire frame nearly jerked off the ground.

"You really know how to make a mess! If I'd come any later, you'd be done for!" Little Hei's familiar voice rang out.

"Huh?"

"Your assimilation rate with this world is almost full! If you ascend to immortality, you'll be stuck floating in the Ninth Heaven for eternity as a mindless roaming deity! Let's go!" Without another word, Little Hei grabbed Fang Zhiyi and fled.

On the ground, Zhou Lian stared blankly as his blade pierced through the body of the man before him, who then crashed heavily down.

Everyone was stunned.

Zhou… Zhou Lian had killed a soon-to-be ascending immortal?

"It's truly over." Zhongli tugged at Zhao Yue, casting a glance at the maniacally laughing Zhou Lian before silently leaving the scene. The other members of the Imperial Observatory reacted the same way. Even several Directors wore expressions of utter disbelief, casting a long, lingering look at Zhou Lian, still laughing there.

News of the Imperial Observatory slaying the demon dragon spread among the common folk.

Xu Xiaoya paid it no mind. She seemed gifted at alchemy, spending all her days holed up in her room refining pills.

Inside the shop, a veiled person entered. The boy sitting at the counter looked up at him and pointed to a pill on the shelf. The masked person reached for it, nodded at the boy, tossed down a copper coin, and turned to leave.

Yuanbao watched him go and sighed: "I don't know what kind of business Sister Xiaoya is running. There's no set price… At this rate, maybe I should just take them out begging."

Another person walked in. Yuanbao looked up to see a scruffy, burly man glancing around. It was already autumn, yet he wore a leather vest, his chest and belly exposed, a blade tucked at his waist.

"Help yourself," Yuanbao said, lowering his head again. This shop was useless to ordinary people—they didn't even know it existed. Most who came in were involved in the supernatural.

But the man tossed his bundle onto the counter, and the clinking of gold and silver rang out from within.

Yuanbao looked up.

"Are you Xu Xiaoya?"

"Sister Xiaoya!" Yuanbao called out. The shop connected to a small wooden building at the back, where Xu Xiaoya was studying that book.

"Hurry! Got anything to eat?" the burly man shouted loudly.

Xu Xiaoya hurried over, studying the stranger with some confusion.

"Brother Fang asked me to bring you something."

"Fang… Gousheng?" Xu Xiaoya suddenly realized, then quickly said toward the door, "It's fine, it's fine. He's a friend."

Wang Kui whirled around. The doorway was empty. Nearby stood a fortune-telling stall, two idle men lounging in the sun, and a lame beggar not far off.

"So dramatic. Just count it already—I haven't touched a thing," Wang Kui grumbled.

Xu Xiaoya seemed dazed: "Where is he?"

"Him? Dead." Wang Kui was blunt. To him, death came to everyone. "Seems like… seems like he was killed by some kid named Zhou. Now count it—I've got things to do."

Xu Xiaoya froze on the spot.

Gousheng was dead?

"There's finally someone I had some regard for, and that brat went and killed him. I'll skin him alive!" Wang Kui kept grumbling, as if murder were as natural to him as eating or drinking.

Xu Xiaoya's eyes slowly darkened.

The court announced the old emperor's death to the public. The Imperial Observatory concealed the fact that he had been assassinated, and the crown prince ascended the throne.

The new emperor's coronation shook the court. The Imperial Observatory didn't care who wore the crown—they only guarded the nation's fate. But the new emperor had much to consider. No sooner had he taken power than unrest spread across the land: famines everywhere, followed by popular revolts.

It was then that Zhongli, newly promoted, sent a secret report to the new emperor.

The once all-powerful Grand Preceptor Zhou fell from grace. A rumor circulated in the court that his nephew had killed a soon-to-ascend immortal, bringing heaven's punishment upon them.

Whether true or not, the new emperor used this excuse to crush Grand Preceptor Zhou, leaving him unable to lift his head.

Grand Preceptor Zhou immediately sought out Zhou Lian, berated him fiercely, and cast him out.

Still, Zhou Lian remained Zhou Lian. He had a foundation in cultivation, and even with his changed status, few dared offend him. Instead, he felt a sense of being the only sober one in a drunken world. He secretly vowed that he, too, would be the next to ascend.

The mortal world was in chaos, but it didn't affect the cultivators hidden among ordinary folk. A rumor spread among them: in a small shop in Jing'an City lived a kindhearted female cultivator. Anyone in need could go to her for pills.

There were those who schemed to take advantage, but the shop was guarded by a fierce mortal. Though an ordinary man, his methods were terrifying, and common spells had no effect on him. Over time, no one dared try anything.

Wang Kui didn't understand what that little girl Xu Xiaoya was playing at, but since she claimed she could find Zhou Lian, he stayed. In his free time, he taught a few crippled boys some martial arts.

Zhou Lian gradually made a name for himself, but he also made many enemies.

By a stroke of irony, he found his way back to Xu Xiaoya's shop. He was the same as ever—rambling and boasting, trying to get closer to her.

Fortunately, two other cultivators walked in and saved Xu Xiaoya from the situation.

"Immortal Xu, that idiot's not worth your time."

"Yeah, the heavens are unfair—he killed an immortal and still gets to cultivate?"

Xu Xiaoya's hands paused. She smiled, bringing out a handful of pills and handing them to the two. One of them took them with both hands: "Immortal, there's no need—so many! We didn't bring enough money either."

"It's fine, take them. I'm leaving tomorrow anyway."

The two were startled. "Immortal Xu, why? Where are you going?"

Xu Xiaoya shook her head. "I don't know."

"Then why?" They knew that while her pills weren't enough to make one immortal, they were incredibly beneficial to cultivators. "Immortal, if you're in trouble, just tell us!"

"It's… Young Master Zhou Lian won't allow me to keep the shop open here anymore."

The two cultivators were taken aback.

They tried to persuade her, but Xu Xiaoya was determined. She closed the shop that very day.

One of the cultivators' face turned cold. "Zhou Lian, is it? After today, there won't be such a person in this world."

Zhou Lian never dreamed that overnight, the hatred against him would grow even stronger.

Walking down the street, he would be attacked without warning. Fleeing outside the city, he was hunted by passersby. Even if he merely stated his name, his pursuers would immediately see red.

By then, the stripped-of-power Grand Preceptor Zhou had been completely sidelined by the new emperor.

Zhou Lian's end had begun.

Cultivators from all over the world were hunting him down, and Zhou Lian couldn't understand what he had done. His former good luck seemed to have run out. Zhou Lian could only flee everywhere, even going so far as to change his appearance. But what he never expected was to die at the hands of an ordinary person.

Staring at the short knife thrust into his belly, Zhou Lian looked in terror at the man with a scarred face across from him. He opened his mouth to demand an answer, but in the end, he couldn't utter a single complete sentence.

"So, there was a scholar, obsessed with reading idle books, and he became dead set on going up the mountain to seek immortals and ask about the Way. Later, he encountered an immortal who showed him the path, and finally he found the immortal sect. Inside the sect, he witnessed the immortals' divine powers. What powers, you ask? Take a guess!"

"That's right—the immortal waved a hand, and the wine jug flew up. Then a boy brought out a painting, and the immortal clapped his hands, and all the maids in the painting stepped out alive!"

"Later, this man pestered the immortal to teach him the divine arts. Seeing his sincerity, the immortal taught him a few tricks..."

Someone in the audience shouted, "That story's older than dirt! I've heard it. Later, he went down the mountain and his spells stopped working!"

But the storyteller smiled and shook his head. "That's not the truth."

"A storyteller like you, talking about truth now?"

"The truth is, not only did he secretly learn the immortal's spells, but when the immortal held a banquet, he slaughtered everyone in the entire sect."

Yuanbao sat in the corner, his face full of shock. "Sister Xiaoya, the man he's talking about is really vicious."

Beside him, Wang Kui let out a grunt while gnawing on a meat bone. "This old bastard—he couldn't become an immortal himself, so now he's quite good at making up stories."

As he spoke, Chu Xiangye happened to look over. When his eyes fell on Wang Kui, there was obvious discomfort on his face, and he quickly turned away.

"That immortal turned out to be a giant python! A body that stretched to the heavens!"

Xu Xiaoya listened quietly.

Wang Kui glanced at her. "Go on then, just listen to his tall tales. I've got a clumsy tongue, and I passed out later, so there's not much I know for sure."

"Uncle Wang, you're not leaving?" Yuanbao asked.

Wang Kui kicked him. "You little runt, you're just hoping I'll leave! With you bunch of misfits, if I leave, won't you just get bullied to death?"

Yuanbao gave a silly grin.