This Is Cancer

For commoners to cultivate immortality in private was a crime punishable by beheading. They said this was Great Xia's ironclad law—after all, if everyone cultivated immortality, the imperial court would no longer be able to control anyone.

But at first, Ji You could not communicate with them at all...

This world used an ancient Chinese language system, but its pronunciation was vastly different.

He could neither understand nor speak it, so he could only pretend to be mad, lest anyone grow suspicious.

As for the immortal book scroll he had found deep in the Yunling Mountains, he regarded it as the foundation of his survival.

What could one do on ancient nights without a phone? Cultivate, of course!

Gradually, he gained some foundation in the Immortal Dao. He also listened to the scholar in the tree reciting books aloud, and became much more familiar with the language. Then he wanted to learn more about this world.

Then, from a book called the Summer Law Immortal Regulations, he learned that private cultivation by commoners was apparently a bafflingly grave crime...

The paths left open to him were only two.

First, he could work harder and reach Perfection of the Lower Three Realms before coming of age. Then the Seven Great Immortal Sects would cry out that they had found treasure, and the imperial court would have no choice but to let him be.

Second, north of Yuyang County stood a mountain stronghold. Its inhabitants were all private cultivators who hated the Immortal Sects and the imperial court. They were widely inviting heroes in order to expand their power. Its prospects looked decent, and the path of advancement was fairly transparent.

After turning it over and over in his mind, Ji You ultimately decided to head up the mountain next autumn and prove his Dao as an unrivaled bandit.

The reason was simple. There were too many orthodox cultivators feeding on the people's flesh and drinking their blood. He did not particularly want to become one more straw crushing poor households like Old Qiu's...

At noon the next day, the red sun rose thinly into the sky. It was time for Yuyang County's land yields to be assessed. The yamen runners in charge carried intimidating cudgels and marched down the streets in three neat rows, imposing and majestic.

"Faster, faster. Move quickly. Stop dawdling."

"This year, the immortals have blessed us. There have been no disasters or calamities, and it is a bumper year. Meanwhile, Great Xia is at war with the Witch Barbarians beyond the Northern Plains, and the national treasury has long been empty. Thus, His Excellency has decreed that this year's taxes and tributes must be paid in full."

Under the yamen runners' urging, every household in Yuyang County opened its cellars, carried out the prepared sixty percent of their grain harvest, carefully counted it, divided it into two equal portions, and registered it.

One portion was Great Xia's land tax, while the other was Immortal Sect tribute.

A thousand years ago, the Qingyun World had been engulfed in the War of Nations. To forge an empire that would endure for generations, Great Xia's Founding Emperor made tribute agreements with the various Immortal Sects.

The agreement stated that, so long as the reclusive immortals helped Great Xia unify the Central Plains, additional taxes would be collected every year thereafter as tribute for the Immortal Sects.

In the past, immortals would descend the mountains to slay demons and exterminate evil, while also treating village children and dispelling malign influences. But after Great Xia took control of the Central Plains, those tales became swan songs found only in plays.

Later, the Qingyun World was swept up in struggles over religious fortunes. The Immortal Sects recruited disciples on a vast scale, and the share of immortal tribute rose every year, pressing the common people until they could scarcely breathe.

Meanwhile, the immortals all hid in their sacred mountains, comprehending the Dao and cultivating, feeding on the people's flesh and drinking their blood as they pursued the misty Immortal Dao, without a care for worldly affairs.

To the people of Great Xia, long since numb, this seemed as natural and righteous as something passed down since ancient times.

But when Ji You, a monk from another land, first understood the relationship between tribute and those receiving it, only one word came to mind.

Cancer.

The Immortal Sects, the Immortal Dao, and immortals themselves had become like disordered cells, cutting off society's sustainable growth and recklessly draining the vitality of this world.

This was cancer.

Ji You stepped over the threshold of the Ji Family ancestral residence and watched the yamen runners pass down the street. Now that things have come to this, I'd better eat first.

The Yuyang Ji Family had nominally ceased to exist, and its lands had been thoroughly seized by other families. Though he no longer had to pay taxes, food had become a problem.

Not just food—he had none of the standard equipment for transmigrators: a beautiful master, a bewitching senior sister, or a loli junior sister.

As for Old Qiu, his family could not even gather enough for this year's taxes and tribute. Early this morning, he should have gone to his father-in-law's home at Thirty Mile Shop to borrow grain.

When Old Qiu had served as the Ji Family's steward, he had never lacked food or drink. But after the Ji Family fell, he had to survive on borrowed grain year after year. This had long made his father-in-law's family dissatisfied. Last year, he had even been cursed out in the street, so he did not want to trouble them again.

Fortunately, the businesses on Archway Street had all once belonged to the Ji Family. He still had a little standing here, so if he picked a shop and worked himself like an ox or horse, he could at least scrape together a full meal.

However, just as Ji You reached the entrance of a restaurant, a burst of hoofbeats suddenly sounded from Archway Street's main road.

Looking up, he saw three redwood carriages adorned with pearls and jade rolling down the street. They were incomparably luxurious, as though they should not exist in the same age as the mud-brick houses lining both sides.

An old man and a woman sat in the first two carriages. Both wore white robes embroidered with gold and carried splendid longswords at their waists. Spiritual light flickered faintly around them, and their expressionless faces gave them the air of immortals beyond the mortal world.

The third carriage followed behind. Another woman sat inside, dressed in a smoky gauze skirt scattered with flowers. Her eyes were like water, her posture dignified, and a trace of pride hung about her. She had the bearing of a noble young lady.

However, when she saw Ji You by the roadside, the woman in the carriage frowned slightly and reached out to lower the beaded curtain.

After that hurried glance, the three carriages continued down the street toward the county yamen.

"Looks like the Celestial Academy immortals have come to receive Fang Ruoyao and take her to Shengjing. Why isn't Young Master Ji going with them?"

"Young Master Ji is so outstanding in bearing that naturally, he looks down on an Immortal Sect like the Celestial Academy."

Ji You came back to his senses and followed the voices with his gaze. Two diners inside the restaurant were staring at him with ill intentions written across their faces.

One was called Jia Sicong, the other Dong Wei. Both had been classmates of the original Young Master Ji.

When his family business still existed, Young Master Ji had been a spoiled wastrel who would curse a dog if he saw one by the roadside. Naturally, he had made plenty of enemies among his peers.

Jia Sicong walked up to him. "Miss Fang will set out for Shengjing the day after tomorrow. The night before last, she specially held a banquet at her residence for friends and guests. We all went, yet Young Master Ji was nowhere to be seen. As her fiancé, aren't you being rather cold-hearted?"

"Brother Jia, have you gone muddle-headed? Didn't Fang Ruoyao call off her engagement with him long ago?"

Shengjing was Great Xia's capital, and the Nishan Heavenly Script Academy, foremost among the Seven Great Immortal Sects of the age, was located there. It was said that the Founding Emperor himself had been a sage from the Celestial Academy. After forging his kingly dominion, he naturally established the capital beside Nishan.

According to legend, Shengjing City was extraordinarily prosperous, its pavilions and towers soaring high. It had won the hearts of countless scholars and writers, who composed timeless works such as the Ode to Shengjing and Ode to the Capital.

Fang Ruoyao had now been selected as a Celestial Academy disciple. Going to Shengjing naturally meant enrollment, so the county folk were not wrong to say she had risen to the heavens in a single step.

"Ji You, stop pretending to be deaf."

Ji You sprawled across the counter. "Shopkeeper, this young master wants two baskets of fresh dumplings."

Jia Sicong froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "What two baskets of fresh dumplings? I already finished eating!"

"I'll help you eat them."

As Ji You watched the steaming fresh dumplings being brought over, he said, "You're making such a fuss. Don't tell me you can't afford to treat us?"

Jia Sicong's face flushed crimson. "Do you think I'm some wild orphan like you? Never mind two baskets—even ten baskets would be nothing!"

"Then make it ten baskets, with meat. Bring out three baskets first. Keep the other seven; I'll go home later and get a basket to carry them away."

Dong Wei stared wide-eyed for quite a while. The more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong. Damn it, this was not them mocking him for amusement—he was scamming them for food.

Seeing Jia Sicong about to open his mouth again, Dong Wei immediately grabbed his elbow. "Stop talking. He's already drooling."

"?"

With peace at last around his ears, Ji You found a seat by the window, picked up a pair of bamboo chopsticks from the holder, and began enjoying nature's gift.

Of the ten baskets of fresh dumplings, he ate three himself. He planned to pack the rest into a basket and bring them back to the Qiu household. That girl Qiu Ru was foolishly cheerful all day long, but she did have a bit of good fortune when it came to food.

As he sat there, the leisure of midday slipped away in the blink of an eye.

Ji You calculated the time and figured that Old Qiu should have returned from his father-in-law's home at Thirty Mile Shop by now, so he planned to go home and fetch a basket.

However, just as he stood up, the conversation of several diners near the door caught his attention.

"Did you hear? Something happened at the third house east of the Nanya River outside the city."

"What happened?"

"A five-year-old girl was noticed by an immortal from Fengxian Mountain Villa. They said something about... spiritual radiance reaching her crown, boundless immortal potential? They wanted to take her away as medicinal material."

"When did this happen?"

"At dawn today. I heard the father and daughter were borrowing grain at Thirty Mile Shop then..."

"Our county hasn't produced a single immortal in a thousand years. How could a little girl's body possess such damned immortal potential?"

"How could people like us know the affairs of immortals? In any case... that little girl... sigh..."