I am the Immortal for Eternal Life

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The young Daoist gazed at the scroll but did not immediately give a definitive answer. He merely said:

“Whether one can understand it or not—only upon reading it will that be known.”

Yun Qin nodded, thought for a moment, then unfurled the scroll and placed it upon the mirror. In the past, the [Round Light Manifestation Technique] was sufficient to transmit all things without causing their reflections to appear reversed within the mirror. But this time, things were different—Qi Wuhuo saw that nothing at all was reflected on the mirror’s surface.

Yun Qin had already brought the scroll very close.

Yet in the young Daoist’s eyes, the mirror remained utterly empty.

The words seemed to have scattered, as though they had vanished—unseen, untraceable. Neither the naked eye nor the primordial spirit could perceive them in the slightest.

The pure of heart can reflect all things.

Yet these words failed to be reflected.

Qi Wuhuo relayed this to Yun Qin, who looked puzzled and murmured: “That shouldn’t be the case?”

“Could that uncle have used some kind of technique?”

“Strange, I didn’t see him use any divine abilities when writing.”

“Should I just read it aloud for you?”

Doubt flickered in Yun Qin’s eyes, but after several attempts, the words still refused to manifest. The [Round Light Manifestation Technique] could not reveal them to Qi Wuhuo. She pondered for a long while, staring at the scroll, then reached out to press her palm against the title page, deciding to recite it aloud. Yet the moment her hand touched the book, the pages beneath her palm felt as heavy as a thousand catties. In the end, the young girl exhaled a long, heavy breath and withdrew her hand.

With the utmost care, she placed the scroll aside, stacking it together with her small wooden box. Then, with all sincerity, she declared:

“This is too difficult.”

“Wuhuo, I don’t want to read it!”

The young Daoist chuckled helplessly.

The girl muttered: “Just looking at this scroll makes me want to sleep.”

“I’d rather just send it to you—read it yourself.”

“That Xuantan spell is too complicated. I’m not a Star Officer, nor do I hold a position among the Earth Deities, so I have no way of using it.”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait for Uncle Niu to help us later.”

The Xuantan spells were, in principle, a means of borrowing power. Therefore, when used by Heavenly Officials, Earth Deities, Water Officials, or Yin Deities of the Underworld, they would take effect with ease. For ordinary cultivators, unless they were invoking the aid of their own lineage’s Patriarch, it was not easy to wield such techniques. Take Yun Qin, for example—though she had already grasped the spell, her success rate was inconsistent, managing to succeed roughly three times out of ten.

As for Old Yellow Ox, he was an expert in such matters.

His execution was seamless, his mastery over this transportation-based Xuantan spell was exceptionally refined.

This left Qi Wuhuo somewhat doubtful—could it be that Uncle Niu had already practiced many other Xuantan techniques as well?

The young Daoist and Yun Qin chatted idly about many things. The girl rested her chin on one hand, listening as the young Daoist spoke of the myriad affairs of the mortal world—of what he had done amidst the rain, of playing chess with others, of resolving karmic entanglements, of healing the sick and saving lives, and of the warmth and bustle of human life. The young Daoist did not particularly dwell on these matters; he simply flipped through Daoist scriptures, speaking of whatever came to mind in a casual manner.

The girl propped her cheek on her palm, her eyes sparkling, as if she had already begun to envision such experiences.

It was as though she, too, had wandered alongside the young Daoist—

Strolling through the rain, befriending the spirits of the mountains, awakened by the golden light of dawn, and the chirping of birds.

After a long while, she let out a deep sigh and murmured: “That sounds wonderful…”

“I want to go too.”

The young Daoist could not help but ask, puzzled:

“You still can’t descend to the mortal world?”

Yun Qin sighed wistfully: “It’s not just my mother and father—even the North Emperor has forbidden it. I can only descend after I come of age.”

“They say they’re worried I’ll be deceived because I’m still young.”

“How could I be tricked so easily?”

“But, there’s only three years left now.”

The girl reached out, lightly patted her own cheeks, then exhaled a breath, gathering her resolve. She declared with firm determination:

“Three years from now, I will definitely go down to the mortal realm! When the time comes, I’ll find you, and we’ll explore the world together—eating all the delicacies of the human realm!”

The young Daoist merely smiled and agreed.

At this moment, the warm sun still shone outside, and the scenery was at its finest. Within the Daoist temple after the rain, the stone slabs carried a serene atmosphere. They were still in the prime of their youth, speaking mostly on a whim, not dwelling too much on their words. Yun Qin noisily urged the young Daoist to place his hand on the mirror. The boy had a gentle temperament, so even though the girl was lively and persistent, he paid it no mind. After calling out to him a few times, she raised her hand, just as Uncle Niu had instructed—palms overlapping, taking this as a solemn oath, swearing to Heaven and Earth, never to go back on their word.

Only then did the two finally quiet down.

The girl sat there in silence before suddenly breaking into a mischievous smile.

“Hm?”

The young Daoist tilted his head slightly, a trace of puzzlement in his eyes.

Yun Qin lifted her hand, grinning. “Wuhuo, Wuhuo, look at this.”

Her eyes gleamed with unrestrained joy.

Yet what had suddenly made her laugh was nothing special—she simply stretched out her fingers and gestured.

“Your hand seems to be just a little bit bigger than mine.”

“When the time comes, you can’t complain that I eat too much, alright?”

The young Daoist chuckled. “I won’t.”

Satisfied, Yun Qin retracted her hand and obediently sat back down, though she still seemed somewhat regretful. Unable to hold back, she muttered:

“What a pity. We can’t do it the way Uncle Niu said.”

“The way Uncle Niu said?”

“Yes! According to Uncle Niu, at a time like this, we should be cutting off a chicken’s head, burning yellow talismans, and drinking blood wine!”

“Hahaha! What’s all this talk about cutting off a chicken’s head? Are you two trying to become sworn siblings?”

“Little Yun Qin, you can’t just take everything you hear and play around with it! Hahahaha!”

A hearty, booming laugh rang out from afar, followed by the stirring of clouds and wind. Soon, they saw auspicious clouds billowing in the distance as a burly man strode toward them, carrying a jug of wine, half-drunk. His frame was mighty, and his presence was robust and imposing. It was none other than Old Yellow Ox. With a cheerful grin, he plopped himself down, then reached out a thick finger and flicked Yun Qin on the forehead.

“You little rascal! I only told you a story, and now you’re taking everything from it literally?”

Qi Wuhuo asked curiously: “A story?”

Yun Qin clutched her forehead, making a funny face at Uncle Niu’s back. But when she spoke, her eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Yes! A story Uncle Niu told me.”

“It’s about a protagonist who started with nothing—how he escaped from slavery, then embarked on his journey of cultivation, refining his breath and essence. When he entered the world of commerce, he faced oppression from the powerful, so he allied himself with thirty-six demon caverns and seventy-two rogue cultivator mansions, freely traversing the Demon Kingdom. In the end, he triumphed over his enemies, seized his own territory, proclaimed himself king, refused to obey the Demon King’s rule, ignored the Demon Emperor’s commands, and roamed the world as he pleased!”

“He told it in such vivid detail!”

Old Yellow Ox flicked the girl’s forehead again, making her clutch it while her eyes welled up with tears, stopping her story mid-sentence.

Then, he turned to Qi Wuhuo and said,

“This story was told to me by a friend.”

Yet he did not continue, ending the topic there.

With a slight movement of his finger in the air, several small chests floated out. Old Ox caught them in his palm, grinning as he said: “I did not fail in my duty.”

“I’ve finally gathered enough to help that peacock grow. I carefully controlled the fire of the Tribulation Hound and refined everything into a spiritual liquid.”

“All you need to do is administer a few drops each day according to their type.”

“Heh, I ran into some matters on the way, which delayed me slightly. Luckily, you two were still chatting.”

Old Yellow Ox chuckled. To join in the excitement, he had sprinted all the way from the Thunder Palace to the Eastern Pure Glazed Buddha Kingdom outside countless Samsara Worlds, then turned right back without stopping, rushing to this Xuanwu Seven Mansions region. Even with his thick hide and boundless stamina, two such journeys had left him utterly exhausted.

Yun Qin lifted her head, curious. “You ran into something?”

Old Yellow Ox replied: “That’s right…”

But he didn’t elaborate, instead pulling out the chests and saying with a smile: “I’ll set up a Xuantan altar and deliver these to you.”

Yun Qin handed him her wooden box along with a book.

Old Ox looked at them in curiosity. “What’s this?”

The girl answered matter-of-factly: “A return gift for the osmanthus cake.”

At that, Old Yellow Ox roared with laughter. “Not bad, not bad! There should always be give and take—just as it should be!”

At once, he erected the Xuantan altar. From the Ox Mansion of the Xuanwu Seven Mansions, he directly locked onto Dao Sovereign Wuhuo, who was an Earth Spirit Deity. As the radiance shifted atop the ritual altar, Old Yellow Ox, whose strength was formidable beyond compare—strong enough that even ordinary Star Lords were no match for him, and even Bodhisattvas could only fight him to a draw—handled the Xuantan as nothing more than a common technique. He still had the leisure to joke with Yun Qin and Wuhuo.

Yet, just as he formed the hand seal, he realized something was wrong.

His own spiritual energy became completely uncontrollable.

It surged wildly, pouring into the Xuantan as though maddened.

“This… this is—?!”

Old Yellow Ox staggered, nearly falling to one knee.

BOOM!!!

The aura atop the Xuantan burst forth violently. The sheer force consumed was so vast that even his battle-hardened, weathered ox-hide instantly paled. In that instant, seven-colored divine light radiated from the Xuantan altar, yet it still managed to lock onto Qi Wuhuo, and in a flash, everything vanished. The transmission of items was complete. By then, Old Yellow Ox was nearly drained, panting heavily.

Yun Qin was so startled that she rushed forward to support him.

“Uncle Niu, y-you—what happened?!”

Old Yellow Ox, still gasping for breath, forced himself upright. “No… no problem. Just… too much spiritual energy drained. That’s all… that’s all.”

He panted as he slowly sat down, feeling his legs turn to jelly.

“What is going on?”

“Even running from the Thunder Palace to the Buddhist Kingdom and back to the Xuanwu Seven Mansions wasn’t this exhausting.”

“Could it be that the materials were too complex, their ranks too high? That to form a Xuantan, I had to invoke a Heavenly Venerable, causing an enormous drain?”

Though Old Yellow Ox kept his face calm, pretending as if nothing was wrong to reassure Yun Qin and Wuhuo, deep in his heart, he was utterly bewildered and uneasy.

He was ever cautious and suspicious.

Yet, not once did he suspect the book. Not even a single trace of doubt surfaced in his mind.

Meanwhile, before Qi Wuhuo, the ritual altar manifested the delivered items. Many jade caskets, emanating the aura of the Vermillion Bird Divine Sovereign and the blood essence of the Azure Lion, lay suppressed at the very bottom, while a seemingly ordinary scroll rested atop them. The young Daoist reached out instinctively and picked up the scroll. As he casually flipped through it, his gaze landed on the last page—

【██ Great Dao Sovereign】

—The handwriting was unrestrained and carefree.

But when Qi Wuhuo looked at these words, he could not recognize them.

Not only could he not recognize them, even after looking away, he felt no memory of ever having seen them.

Puzzled, he flipped back to the first page.

The script was wildly elegant, exuding utter freedom.

Completely different from the warm and courteous handwriting Yun Qin had seen.

These words imprinted themselves upon Qi Wuhuo’s soul.

And transformed into a black-robed Daoist, reclining lazily upon a Taiji diagram, yawning. He seemed very handsome and utterly carefree.

The Daoist raised his eyes and stared directly at the young man in front of him. He suddenly sneered, raised his eyebrows, and spoke:

A voice resonated directly in Qi Wuhuo’s heart—

“You brat, how dare you!!”