Seeking Immortality - Chapter 4

My fellow disciples stopped calling me a liar.

They liked to whisper “Sanniu” behind my back, then run while I chased them and tried to hit them.

Ping’an never called me that.

I thought he respected me especially deeply, just as Erdan did, so I had to take even better care of him.

When I tucked his quilt around him that night, Ping’an smacked his lips.

“Chicken legs are delicious. Sanniu, eat a chicken leg.”

I pulled the quilt over his head and rolled over with my back to him.

Our friendship was over!

For the entire night!

Yu Hai was the first among us to enter Qi Refining.

An outer-court elder said he had done it faster than some inner-sect disciples with three spiritual roots.

During a lesson, our teacher said, “The road of cultivation depends on talent, but also on character and perseverance. Some with a single spiritual root never advance beyond Foundation Establishment, while some with mixed spiritual roots rise all the way to Nascent Soul.”

His words made perfect sense.

I thought I was definitely one of the latter.

Many of our fellow disciples stopped associating with Yu Hai. They whispered to me,

“He has five spiritual roots, yet he’s advancing so quickly. It’s all because his uncle gives him spirit stones. It’s awful.”

We outer-sect disciples received three spirit stones each month.

We treasured every one of them.

Yu Hai, on the other hand, had acquired a storage pouch long ago.

Supposedly, it held more than a hundred stones.

I did not want to hear any more, so I walked around them and headed for the martial hall.

“Of course he’ll use them if he has them. If you want some, go ask your own uncles.”

The crowd dispersed unhappily.

Yu Hai shuffled out from behind a wall, his head lowered and his voice as soft as a mosquito.

“Thank you this time, but I won’t give up on competing with you for first place.”

He turned and ran away as soon as he finished.

I still thought there was something wrong with his head.

At eighteen, I entered Qi Refining.

An elder gave me a sword he had once used.

“Not bad. Now that you have entered the realm, you must work even harder.”

That same year, Li Zhengyang reached Foundation Establishment, and many sects came to congratulate him.

I had learned how to use a paper crane.

I held it and talked for half an hour before sending it to the inner sect.

Li Zhengyang’s Foundation Establishment was an important occasion. I could not congratulate him in person, but I still had to prepare a gift.

Yet after searching my entire storage pouch, I could not find anything suitable.

Xu Ping’an came rushing back like the wind.

He had been assigned the cave dwelling next to mine, but he was afraid of the dark and came to sleep beside me every night.

“Stop looking. Tomorrow, I’ll take you to the rear mountain. There are lots of spiritual fruits there.”

I stood beneath a tree and picked up a fruit no larger than my fingernail.

“This is the spiritual fruit you told me about?”

Xu Ping’an stuffed handful after handful into his mouth while urging me,

“Fruit touched by spiritual qi is obviously spiritual fruit. Hurry and eat. If someone finds us, there won’t be any left.”

Cultivators did not eat ordinary grains, but that did not mean we never craved food.

If we ate mortal fare, we had to spend spiritual power expelling its impurities, which delayed our cultivation.

Food containing spiritual qi, however, was very precious.

Outer-sect disciples like us could not afford it.

These fruits contained only faint spiritual qi, but they could still satisfy our cravings.

I picked willow branches and wove them into a little basket, then decorated it with small flowers.

I filled it with the larger fruits.

Li Zhengyang should have some too.

Ping’an pouted. “All you think about is him.”

I knocked him on the head.

“For your birthday a few days ago, I spent two spirit stones on spiritual flour. You ate that enormous bowl of longevity noodles all by yourself.”

Xu Ping’an covered his head and begged for mercy.

He counted it up, realized I had spent more money on him, and immediately smiled.

He handed me the fruit in his hands.

“Then give him a few more this time.”

The place where we gathered the spiritual fruit was quite remote. I had no idea how Xu Ping’an had found it.

He pointed at a pool ahead. “I came here on a mission to gather bamboo-shadow grass and happened upon it. I’m certain there are fish in there.”

After crouching in the grass for ages, Xu Ping’an failed to catch a single fish.

He threw down his bamboo pole.

“I’m done. We might as well go back and meditate.”

I kicked the large rock beside me. It seemed to wobble.

When I kicked it harder, it rolled away,

revealing a rust-covered sword.

Xu Ping’an crouched and studied it. At last, he concluded, “There’s no spiritual qi in it at all. Someone must have thrown it away.”

I pushed him aside, tapped the blade, and came to a decision.

“I think this is a divine sword.”

My heart hammered. This had to be my destined opportunity.

From now on, I would wield the divine sword and be invincible beneath the heavens.

I would slay anyone who stood in my way, man or demon.

In the end, I would become the supreme ruler of the immortal realm and live forever.

Xu Ping’an winced at my words. “Why don’t we pull it out and see?”

I nodded and used all my strength to tug at the sword.

It did not move.

Xu Ping’an and I pulled together, but it still did not budge.

That made me even more certain. “It must be a divine sword.”

Xu Ping’an grinned from ear to ear. “Right, right. Maybe the time hasn’t come for it to be drawn.”