In that instant, the old man suddenly found a thousand words jammed in his throat, while endless complexity and astonishment filled the depths of his heart.
The mole at the corner of that man's eye was like a flame, completely rekindling his memories!
Clearly, that figure had been the oldest memory buried deep within his mind, while the face had almost become blurred.
He completely recalled that period of time: his teacher's tall back, that seemingly immortal man, and even the scene from back then when he had followed his teacher down the mountain.
"Teacher, it's time for us to go down the mountain."
"Teacher, tell me, are there really Immortal Gods in this world?"
"There are."
"There is always a mystery in this world that science cannot touch."
"My second brother told me that in ancient times, there were once Immortal Gods who disappeared for unknown reasons."
Memories surged forth, as if the events of his Previous Life were resurfacing in his mind.
He suddenly remembered a line from Zhuangzi's Xiaoyao You and murmured, "On Mount Gushe, there lived a divine man. His skin was like ice and snow, his bearing was like that of a maiden. He ate no grain, breathed wind and drank dew, rode the clouds, drove flying dragons, and wandered beyond the four seas."
"Grandpa!"
Zheng Weiwei couldn't help calling out, stopping the old man who seemed to have gone mad.
Yet the elderly man in his twilight years seemed not to hear his granddaughter. At that moment, he no longer resembled the renowned professor acclaimed throughout the country. His expression held neither joy nor sorrow. He merely bent at the waist and bowed, all his words ultimately becoming one sentence: "May I ask, sir, after we parted all those years ago, have you been well? Where did our teacher go all these years?"
The man before the grave turned around, as if only then noticing the arrival of the group. A trace of confusion appeared in his beautiful eyes, and he murmured softly,
"How could that be? These things shouldn't still be remembered by anyone."
Shouldn't be remembered?
Yet when those words reached the ears of the elderly men, they exploded like thunder, carrying an entirely different meaning.
As expected!
As expected, our memories were blurred because someone tampered with them!
But to tamper with memories—how inconceivable was such a thing in the Mortal World?
Even professors in the most advanced fields of brain science couldn't accomplish something like this. It already involved the fundamental mysteries of human consciousness and the field of soul science.
Perhaps, just as their teacher had said back then, the ancient civilizations of this world had once possessed mysterious beings who lived forever, only declining in modern times.
Zhu Zhengwei looked at the people before him and couldn't help frowning.
He carefully sensed them.
For an ordinary person, one ten-thousandth of their memory fragments leaking out would at most be mistaken for a dream.
However, perhaps because of some experiment by Zhang Zhi, the leakage of their "campus Local Area Network" memories had been somewhat excessive.
As Zhu Zhengwei sensed them, he also tried to determine how much they still remembered. He couldn't help saying, "I still remember you from back then, when you were young and inexperienced. You followed your teacher up the mountain, and I asked several questions of you. I never expected that in the blink of an eye, you would have aged this much."
"Yes, we still remember those questions." Zheng Linshou began answering them one by one.
As expected, it was only a rough recollection.
It was like waking from a dream. Everything was hazy and fragmented, existing only in scattered pieces.
But even so, it was still a troubling sign.
A little leakage was unavoidable. Many people would mistake it for a dream, but as it accumulated over time, it would still be easy to discover clues.
"Senior, may I ask whether our teacher has been well in recent years?" the old man before him asked. "Our teacher comprehended the Dao in the mountains. How far has he gone this time?"
Zhu Zhengwei fell silent for a moment.
Looking at the unwilling longing in the aged man's eyes, which resembled Zhang Zhi's when he had gone up the mountain back then, he finally sighed. "Look at my expression. I'm the same as your teacher was back then."
"Yes." Zheng Linshou didn't hide anything. He said candidly, "I finally understand how our teacher felt. It was the greatest fear that humanity cannot resist. I feel the same."
Zhu Zhengwei shook his head, squatted down, and continued arranging the fruits.
After calculating the time carefully, he truly had been their elder in that world, and had genuinely lived for more than a hundred years—far longer than they had.
Although, after awakening, the sensation of time passing had been smoothed away, like a dream of yellow millet.
But how were they any different?
"You're all elders now, while I'm a young man. There's no need to be so restrained. Sit down and talk." Zhu Zhengwei spoke as he arranged the fruits.
Zheng Linshou and the other elderly men remained standing, as if they were students waiting for their teacher, quietly standing to the side.
Zheng Weiwei stood beside them without saying a word, her eyes wide with curiosity as she watched the people on both sides.
"My master is him. As expected, you're just as stubborn as he is." Zhu Zhengwei shook his head.
Watching their conversation, Zheng Weiwei finally came to her senses: her grandfather had actually addressed a young man as a senior! Could this young man before her really be over a hundred years old?
It was simply too bizarre.
She also remembered those strange descriptions, as well as the two extremely sensitive words: Qi Consumption and immortality.
She felt as if a mysterious world, lost for thousands of years and beyond belief, had begun unfolding before her eyes.
"Your teacher."
Looking at their sincere, expectant eyes, Zhu Zhengwei patiently replied, "He has gone to many places over the years. He went to sea and worked as a sailor, built city walls, and even served as a soldier and participated in several battles. He has continued traveling across the land, but he has still lived a lonely life all these years. Sometimes, living too long is also a curse."
Zhu Zhengwei paused, speaking with complete candor and equality, without the slightest trace of arrogance. "I haven't seen him for a very long time. To be honest, I'm suddenly a little afraid to meet him. What he longs for is an idol, but I'm a living person, not a true idol."
"So our teacher really succeeded all these years." Zheng Linshou sighed inwardly, You're too modest. You aren't merely an ordinary living person. Ordinary people would have already grown old beyond recognition.
Zhu Zhengwei nodded. "I'm leaving."
Zheng Linshou opened his mouth, wanting to speak but stopping himself. Some words caught in his throat and refused to come out.
After hesitating several times, he watched that retreating figure and finally couldn't hold back any longer. "Sir! Could you let us see the true method of Qi Consumption?"
Zhu Zhengwei turned his head. Although he wore a baseball cap and a mask, the mole at the corner of his eye was exceptionally dazzling.
"Very well. Then I'll let you see the true technique."
Zhu Zhengwei left as soon as he finished speaking.
The instant they saw the mole at the corner of his eye, they had already been hypnotized and drawn into a dream.
"I hope they can obtain the beautiful dream they long to see. This is all I can do for now."
As for what dreams they would have in their own dreams, Zhu Zhengwei didn't open their bubbles to look. He simply left.
But he could vaguely guess.
Based on their impressions of him, they would continue the story of meeting him in their dreams.
Those young women, because rumors had exaggerated things, saw him as a bold and domineering underworld figure. Combined with their own preferences, they had dreamed of a "Hong Kong-movie gang war" involving him.
That robber, believing his combat strength to be overwhelming, had combined it with his own preferences and dreamed of fighting the martial-arts master he imagined Zhu Zhengwei to be—a "Jin Yong martial-arts dream."
What about them?
How they would interact with him in their dreams was already obvious.
Several hours passed.
They opened their eyes, their faces filled with disbelief.
"Is this the art of an immortal?"
They murmured as they stood up, recalling the incredible powers they had just witnessed.
It was exactly the same as they had imagined: dazzling to the extreme, Wind Swallowing and Qi Consuming!
They stood up, incomparably excited, and returned along the path they had come.
Suddenly, they saw an old man from one of Zhujing Village's households resting in the shade beneath a tree. A thought stirred in their minds, and they went over to ask, "May I ask where the three brothers from the Zhang Family at the street corner have gone all these years?"
"What three brothers?"
"The family with Hemophilia—the household with that strange bleeding disease."
"I know which family you mean! Who told you they had three brothers? Their family was miserable, but they only had one child. The child had a strange illness and was paralyzed." The old man shook his head. As for how that family had died, he was unwilling to say more.
"Only one child. Their memories also..."
"As expected!"
"They only remember the eldest brother. No one knows of the other two brothers. Clearly, the memories of the relevant people were erased. They may even have shifted the entire timeline forward by a considerable span, erasing them from the Mortal World. They have probably already set foot on the path to immortality."
The elderly men cried out in shock and quietly left.
Zheng Weiwei, who stood nearby, remained dazed.
She recalled the spectacular scene above Shancheng City just now: Wind Swallowing and Qi Consuming, roaming through heaven and earth, looking down upon all the tiny buildings below, with mountains reduced to mounds of dirt, people reduced to ants, and wild winds howling across her face.
"Xiaoyao Gege, fly faster on the sword! Huh? Why are red dandelions raining down from the sky!?"
When she remembered that scene, she also recalled how that tall and handsome man had secretly removed his mask for her, concealing it from the elderly men. His handsome features had indeed been exactly what she had expected deep down, and her face flushed.
She had dreamed of a xianxia film, which also fit the spirit of the times quite well.
Zhu Zhengwei, meanwhile, boarded a bus and began the journey back to the city.
He looked out the window.
The scenery on both sides of the bus sped past.
The noisy streets and pedestrians' clamors were left behind.
He thought back to the scientific achievements of those highly respected old professors. They had once led their teams to accomplish great feats when the nation was struggling to move forward, and had been the unreachable objects of admiration for his former self, the Roll King.
Yet even they had displayed true weakness and helplessness before the end of their lives.
It was humanity's helplessness before the passage of time, the universe's and nature's sigh at the weakness of the human species. No one could escape it.
Looking into the night, a trace of fear and awe toward the Mortal World began to burn in his heart. He couldn't help asking himself, "Even these giants of their era could not escape the dust of history or the fear of death. Can I truly obtain the power of immortality?"
Before you continue