These past two years have felt like a dream.
Li Ping'an's Father, Li Dazhi, stood before a bronze mirror, examining the brand-new crimson robe with wide sleeves and a short collar on his body.
Seeing the faint wrinkles on his fair, rosy, slightly plump face, Li Dazhi sighed softly.
He was getting a little old.
Li Dazhi was not particularly tall and had a somewhat plump build, with a notably prominent beer belly. The long hair he had grown for two and a half years gave him a touch of scholarly refinement.
Li Dazhi chuckled inwardly. I may not be much to look at, but my son is a famous handsome lad for miles around!
A guard dressed in a short shirt and long trousers hurried over and bowed his head in salute.
"Master, people are shouting in the streets that several immortals have arrived at the Ascension Platform in the city!"
"They came so quickly..."
Li Dazhi felt a little lost and sighed. "Where's Ping'an?"
"Young Master is already waiting in line."
Li Dazhi nodded lightly, flicked his sleeve, clasped his hands behind his back, and put on the bearing of a master.
"Is the carriage ready?"
"It is ready."
Li Dazhi waved a hand, looked at the bronze mirror, and a trace of reluctance welled up in his eyes.
This great city, stretching ten miles through clouds and mist, was called Wan'an City. It lay in a corner of the middle of the Eastern Continent and was within the mortal territory controlled by the Myriad Cloud Sect, a great human cultivation sect.
Wan'an City held an Immortal Sect selection once every ten years, and children from hundreds of miles around who wished to cultivate would gather here.
The Ascension Platform, the Path to Immortality.
His son, Li Ping'an, had already paved the way and arranged everything. He was about to leave the Mortal World with those immortals.
Li Dazhi naturally knew that ever since the two of them had transmigrated here, Li Ping'an had dreamed of cultivating. How could he stop his son from pursuing that dream?
"Ah."
Li Dazhi sighed, turned, and strolled toward the Front Courtyard, admiring the family estate that father and son had built together.
Shortly afterward, Li Dazhi left through the grand gates and boarded the carriage. Guards and attendants flanked him on either side as two domestic beasts, about the size of horses and resembling goats, slowly pulled the carriage forward.
Li Dazhi watched the road ahead, his thoughts gradually drifting away.
Faced with a father-son parting, Master Li could not help feeling more than a little sentimental.
It had already been two and a half years since the two of them had transmigrated.
Li Dazhi remembered it clearly.
It had been the night of the twenty-seventh day of the lunar twelfth month. He and his only son, Li Ping'an, had been returning to their hometown for the New Year when they had a small argument on the highway.
Arguments were normal, really. The two generations simply had different ideas.
Li Dazhi had run a business in a rural town for years, and he had more appreciation than dissatisfaction for the thinking of young people from his son's generation.
But there was no helping it. Ping'an's mother had died early, so urging him to marry, have children, and go on blind dates could only fall to Li Dazhi himself.
At a highway rest stop, father and son had fallen into a cold war because Li Dazhi had secretly arranged a blind date for Li Ping'an back home. Neither had been willing to lower his head, so they stubbornly ate two bowls of rice noodles.
As they walked back toward their SUV, Li Dazhi spotted, with his sharp eyes, a truck that had lost control and could not slow down, hurtling toward a little girl ahead.
Li Dazhi was a retired soldier. Without thinking, he rushed forward in a burst of impulse. He successfully pushed the girl away, but was left standing directly in front of the truck.
Just as Li Dazhi's mind went blank, he suddenly felt someone pulling him. When he turned his head, he saw his son's young face illuminated by the headlights.
Li Dazhi was frantic, but in the next instant, searing pain struck him, and his consciousness plunged into an abyss of darkness.
When he woke again, he was already on his son's back, the two of them slowly making their way through a wilderness...
Whenever Li Dazhi thought of what came afterward, he could not help feeling deeply moved.
He lamented that he really had grown old, that his way of thinking could no longer keep up.
The language system of this world was somewhat similar to a dialect from some remote region of their Chinese homeland, so it had not been difficult to learn.
Li Ping'an had carried him to a village, where Li Dazhi spent more than a month recovering from his injuries.
Li Dazhi had farmed in his youth. He made several farming tools, earned a little reputation in the village, and quickly gained the locals' respect.
By chance, father and son saw several "immortals" riding clouds away from the mountains.
Only then did they realize they were in a world rich in spiritual energy, where one could cultivate.
In Li Dazhi's view, they should have been more practical. They should first establish themselves firmly in this world, accumulate some wealth, and then exchange worldly riches for a path to cultivation.
But Li Ping'an clearly had his own ideas.
Once he had confirmed that his father Li Dazhi's injuries were no longer a concern, Li Ping'an asked several young men he had become friendly with in the village center to look after his father. Then he slung a bow and arrows over his back, took a machete, and disappeared into the vast mountains.
Li Dazhi worried for his son's safety, but he could not overcome his son's stubborn temper and could only let him go.
After Li Ping'an entered the mountains, Li Dazhi dragged his nearly healed body into an early start on his new entrepreneurial journey in another world.
With his experience of successfully starting a business back in his Chinese homeland, Li Dazhi's beginnings went smoothly.
He first accumulated some money by promoting farming tools, then entered the town nearest the village with a handful of coins, trading goods, buying and selling, and entertaining customers. In less than half a year, Li Dazhi had made a name for himself and acquired seven or eight market stalls and shops.
During this period, Li Ping'an sent letters home through others every month to report that he was safe, and Li Dazhi gradually became less worried about his son.
Once wealth gathered, it inevitably attracted the covetous eyes of villains.
A group of thugs in town set their sights on Li Dazhi's business. They smashed his shops, beat his clerks severely, and even threatened to burn down all his stores.
Li Dazhi was not someone who feared trouble.
He secretly made a crossbow, lay in wait at night, and ambushed several thug leaders, severely wounding them. Then he set the two tigers against each other, provoking the town's two gangs of thugs into a vicious fight while he stirred the flames and profited from the chaos.
In the end, Li Dazhi gritted his teeth and spent most of his savings bribing the local government constables to wipe out those thugs. He then absorbed more than a dozen young enforcers and expanded his business.
The townsfolk all applauded in delight.
A few months later, Li Dazhi had become the richest man in town and bought himself a grand residence with three courtyards.
This cultivation world still retained traces of slavery. Li Dazhi specifically had someone purchase seven or eight young female slaves with pretty faces and slender figures.
Of course, it was not for his own enjoyment.
At his age, such desires had long faded, and he did not wish to wrong the mother of his child, who had died of illness several years ago.
But his son Li Ping'an was still young.
Li Dazhi had planned it all out. Once Li Ping'an returned after failing to seek immortality, he would let his son live in luxury and find several beautiful women to carry on the Li family line.
It was at this time that Li Ping'an, who had been gone for nearly ten months and had sent ten letters through others, appeared before Li Dazhi covered in dust and travel weariness. He pulled Li Dazhi onto a strangely shaped beast carriage and rushed straight for Wan'an City, more than a hundred miles from the town.
It was a misty afternoon of fine rain.
Li Dazhi watched as Li Ping'an forcefully pushed open the two great doors and saw the two neat rows of maidservants, female slaves, elderly maids, and dozens of burly guards behind them.
The men and women shouted in unison.
"Greetings, Master!"
"What?"
Li Dazhi could not help widening his eyes.
"Dad."
Li Ping'an, dressed in an elegant blue-green robe, approached with a smile.
"From today onward, all of these are yours. Your son is honoring you with them."
"No!"
Li Dazhi grabbed Li Ping'an, glanced at the men and women watching the spectacle around them, and quickly asked in his hometown dialect.
"You went and committed crimes or something! How the hell did you get all this?"
"Too small-minded."
Li Ping'an's handsome face was full of smug satisfaction.
"Dad, your vision is too narrow... We'll talk when no one's around."
Li Dazhi looked utterly bewildered. Before he knew it, he had become the master of this grand residence.
Late at night, when all was quiet, father and son chatted in a secret chamber in the rear courtyard. Li Ping'an finally explained how he had made his fortune.
Li Ping'an said with a smile.
"I thought about how, back in our homeland during the Two Jin, Sui, and Tang Dynasties, many scholars who wanted official appointments first built up a reputation for cultivating the Dao. It was what they called the Zhongnan Path.
"I asked the local officials in town about it. Dad, you set up stalls, traded goods, worked from dawn to dusk to earn hard money, and then went around fighting people, beating up thugs, and taking in gangsters.
"Why didn't you just open a fish stall and sell fish?
"When I went into the mountains seeking immortality, I found cultivators stationed by the Immortal Sect in the mortal regions. I casually quoted a few lines from the Dao De Jing, Baopuzi, and Huangdi Neijing, and those cultivators started looking at us differently.
"I drank with them, talked about life, discussed ideals, and managed to get a few bottles of low-grade pills that could extend a mortal's life and cure illnesses."
Li Dazhi frowned. "Why not keep the life-extending pills for yourself? Why sell them? Wouldn't selling them be slapping that Daoist priest in the face?"
"How could I sell them?"
Li Ping'an smiled.
"I took those pills and came to this Mortal World to find the authorities. I deliberately let a little pill fragrance leak out, and the local officials came running over with their noses in the air.
"The governments here are all called Immortal Dynasties, and they are remotely controlled by cultivation forces beyond the mortal realm.
"Now, the two deputy city lords of Wan'an City and I have become close friends. I gave them a few bottles of pills as meeting gifts, and they returned the favor by taking me to several gatherings of dignitaries and nobles. I took the chance to secure a little power and wealth.
"After getting rich, I hurriedly acquired some rare and elegant mortal goods to give the Daoist priest on the mountain and maintain our relationship. My relationship with Daoist Priest Chen has also grown closer by the day. Look..."
Li Ping'an took out two more bottles of pills.
"Dad, keep these. The blue pills will help you live longer, and the green pills can restore your masculine vigor!"
Li Ping'an said this with a completely serious expression.
"Haven't you always urged me to marry and have children? I'm going to cultivate in the future. If you like children, why not make a few more yourself? I have absolutely no objection to you remarrying and having a second child!"
"Pah! You little brat!"
Li Dazhi had forgotten whether it was because he was embarrassed or because he felt he had lost face, but he grabbed a shoe and chased his already twenty-four- or twenty-five-year-old son all around the room.
Li Dazhi naturally understood that his son had arranged all this so that he could live out his old age peacefully and securely.
His son was more capable than his father, and Li Dazhi was proud from the bottom of his heart.
But when he thought that his son was about to cultivate, and that they might not see each other for decades to come, that he might even face his final moments alone, helplessness rose within him...
Alone in a foreign land, a stranger in a strange place; whenever holidays came, he missed family all the more.
Ah!
Whether he had transmigrated or not, what difference did it make? In the end, he was still just a lonely old man left behind somewhere.
"Master, the road ahead is blocked."
Li Dazhi gathered his thoughts and looked up. The road ahead was already packed with people. Children tugged along by their parents could be seen hurrying toward the Ascension Platform in the center of the city.
Near the Ascension Platform, Li Dazhi spotted that familiar figure at a glance.
Among several rows of children, the finely dressed young man standing alone stood out like a crane among chickens. He could vaguely hear quite a few people around him pointing at the only adult there and making mocking remarks.
That was Li Ping'an.
Li Dazhi immediately broke into a broad smile.
What he was most proud of, really, was his son's handsome looks. They were no worse than his own when he had been young.
I'm still a little nervous.
Li Ping'an looked at the high platform ahead and clicked his tongue softly in his heart.
He did not particularly like the feeling of placing his fate in someone else's hands.
But under the current circumstances, this was his only path to Ascension. He had to seize this opportunity.
There were always busybodies who put on airs and deliberately made mocking remarks about others' dreams.
"Young Master Li! You're this old and still haven't had your constitution tested? Don't tell me you're shamelessly clinging on, dreaming in broad daylight, and trying to sneak in for another test?"
"Haven't you heard? Cultivation has to begin before the age of twelve. Only then does one retain a breath of innate qi. Once a person grows up, that innate qi disperses."
A burly man in a short tunic laughed and shouted, "Brother! Are you still a virgin? Cultivation starts with virgin boys and girls. We don't allow people to muddle through here!"
Laughter immediately erupted all around.
Li Ping'an stood there calmly, turning a deaf ear and a blind eye.
He had asked Daoist Priest Chen to examine him. It had been confirmed that he had a chance to cultivate, though his aptitude was not particularly outstanding. Because he had started late, the gate of his innate potential was already closed, and he had lost his virgin Primordial Yang years ago. His future achievements would not be especially high.
Having a chance was enough.
As long as he could step over the threshold of the immortal path, he could work twice as hard in the future and strive to leave this journey without regrets.
The sting of these comments was nothing compared to the Zu'an Grand Stage he had frequented in his previous life.
As Li Ping'an was thinking this, he heard another shout from behind him.
"Oh! Shopkeeper Li, why have you come to join the excitement too?"
What followed was Li Ping'an's most familiar booming voice.
"Please don't take offense, everyone, don't take offense! My son and I once lived as hunters among the mountains and waters. We did not know of immortal fate and lacked knowledge, so we missed the chance to cultivate. It has been the greatest regret of our lives!"
Li Ping'an turned his head, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.
He heard his father continue with a hearty laugh.
"Today, it isn't only my son taking the test. I'm going to try as well!
"Who says an old man can't seek an immortal opportunity?
"Everyone here! After this is over, every last one of you can come to my Drunken Immortal Tower! Each person gets a pot of fine bamboo tea, two taels of good wine, and two meat dishes!"
"Great!"
The men and women around them cheered.
His father, Li Dazhi, walked up to Li Ping'an with his hands tucked into his sleeves and a genial smile on his face, raising his short, thick brows at him.
Li Ping'an muttered quietly, "Dad, I can handle this myself. Why did you come out here?"
His father held his belly, narrowed his eyes, and said softly, "I signed up too."
Li Ping'an smiled. "You want to cultivate too? That would be great. We might still get to become fellow disciples."
His father gave a dismissive snort and slowly said.
"What cultivation? Half my body is already in the grave.
"This way, you won't be the oldest one here anymore.
"Your father has thick skin. I'm not afraid of embarrassment... Look ahead. Keep smiling. Leave a good impression on the immortals on the platform. One of them might even be your future master."
Li Ping'an sighed softly in his heart, invited his father to stand before him, then held his head high and chest out, allowing his state of mind to settle into calmness.
Flowing clouds passed by my ears. Why should I heed the vulgar noise?
Clang!
On the high platform ahead, a Daoist acolyte struck a bronze gong and called out in a clear, childish voice:
"Those who have heard their names may step forward onto the platform.
"If you lack the means for an immortal destiny, do not persist in entanglement.
"Once you step onto the platform, there is no need for further words. Reach out and touch the Heaven-Questioning Stone, and your fortune and aptitude will be revealed at a glance."
Clang!
The second gong sounded.
The Daoist acolyte called a name, and the child from Wan'an City at the front of the line lowered their head and walked forward.
Before you continue