When Old Daoist sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, he was still as a maiden, carrying something of an immortal's bearing and a sage's bones.
Hearing Zhou Yi's footsteps draw near, Old Daoist slowly opened his eyes. His irises were green, his pupils crimson.
Under the firelight, they gleamed brightly, like the eyes of an evil ghost.
His eyeballs followed Zhou Yi as he moved. Once Zhou Yi came close, he suddenly lunged like a rabid dog, thrusting both arms through the steel bars and clawing wildly, revealing five fingers black as ink, shriveled like chicken claws.
Awoo—
Old Daoist let out an unconscious roar. His blackened yellow teeth were sharp and sparse, every one as keen as a blade.
He gnawed wildly at the refined steel, leaving row after row of bite marks.
Zhou Yi had expected this long ago. His steps stopped precisely on the fourth stair from the bottom.
After raging for a moment, he seemed to run out of strength.
Old Daoist gradually regained his composure. He sat cross-legged in the cage once more, a kindly smile on his face. "This poor Daoist is Ji Sheng. Greetings, fellow Daoist. May I ask what year it is now?"
Zhou Yi's eyes were blank, as though he could not hear Old Daoist speaking.
"Thirty years in seclusion, forty... seventy, or eighty... I do not know how many years. They have all passed in a muddle..."
"Seeing you today, fellow Daoist, I feel an extraordinary sense of kinship."
"This poor Daoist cultivated bitterly in seclusion for five hundred years. Today, I have finally ascended as an immortal, enjoying great freedom and attaining great liberation!"
Old Daoist's voice rose and fell. At times he muttered to himself, at others he shouted loudly. Time was jumbled in his words—one moment he