Swindling

The mountain deity took human form, sitting cross-legged before a stone table alongside the Earth Deity, one after the other, as they discoursed on the Way.

Caught up in the moment, he spoke of the methods by which lords of mountains and rivers regulate the earth's veins. Behind the two gods, a patch of bamboo grove greenery concealed serpents, tigers, monkeys, and tree spirits, all listening intently to his lecture.

Not far off lay the unremarkable ginseng leaves. The tiger, absorbed in the tale, pressed its heavy claw upon the leaves; realizing this, its whiskers quivered, and it gingerly lifted its paw away.

"Mountains are the yang bones, waters the yin blood. Once the earth's veins fall out of balance, mountains crumble and rivers run dry, plagues spread..."

Just as he reached this point in his discourse.

The Old Deer Mountain God furrowed his brow, when suddenly a summoning voice reached his ears.

The speaker's tone was calm, unhurried.

"Lumen Mountain Deity, please come forth for a meeting."

The next moment.

The Lumen Mountain Deity had already appeared at the Lu residence.

Before he could even raise a hand to divine the matter, seeing that it was the Lu family courtyard, he understood in an instant and felt a surge of admiration.

The Old Deer Mountain God's white beard trembled.

He bowed.

"This humble deity greets the Master."

His hair and beard were pure white, snow-white brows hanging past his ears, ancient and frail, with a face crisscrossed by furrows, yet his bearing was upright and clear. He wore a wide crane-feather cloak and cloud-patterned shoes. His garments bore embroidered patterns of pines, cypresses, and wild deer, seamless as if woven by celestial hands.

The old immortals described in ancient texts must have looked just like this.

In contrast, the elder surrounded by the two lads and Scholar Lu, clad in a blue robe with a cinnabar bead necklace at his neck and white jade at his waist, carried a hint of worldly opulence.

The Old Deer Mountain God bowed his head and asked respectfully.

"Master has summoned this humble deity—what is the matter?"

All whispers suddenly ceased in an instant. Those present had witnessed the man calling himself Jiang She casually clasp his hands and invite the mountain deity of Lumen Mountain to appear.

Before they could react.

The next moment, the old mountain god manifested in the courtyard, white brows covering his eyes, robes like an immortal, calling himself a humble deity.

His words and gestures were extraordinarily reverent.

All were stunned; the courtyard fell so silent one could hear a pin drop.

For a moment, only the gurgling of medicinal water boiling in an old earthen pot could be heard.

The lads now kept staring at the elder.

What was to be done?

Who could have imagined that this was merely a small county household, an ordinary wealthy family?

Earlier, they had calculated that this family was rich and prosperous, with generations of savings and considerable wealth. Both parents had already passed away, leaving only an old grandmother and a younger sister. The sole male heir of this generation was Lu Pei alone. Even if something seemed off about Scholar Lu, no one would investigate.

But who would have thought.

They would encounter a true immortal here!

They dared to deceive men.

But they dared not trick an immortal.

This...

Colorful clouds scatter easily; daylight gradually dimmed, the glow of sunset fading. Households began lighting lamps one by one. Beneath Lumen Mountain, dots of lamplight emerged, each home steaming evening meals, smoke rising from every chimney.

The courtyard was pitch black. No one moved, no one spoke.

The fragrance of medicinal herbs drifted from the stove, the decoction already reduced to a single bowl. The medicine lad curled up, guarding the earthen pot, greedily taking in the figures in the courtyard.

This evening.

Encountering immortal arts and seeing a local mountain deity was too wondrous and magnificent—an unbelievable immortal legend imprinted in their hearts, making these mortals' hearts pound wildly. Everyone in the courtyard stared wide-eyed, almost greedily, unwilling to blink, already planning to tell their wives and brothers when they returned, then invite relatives and friends to listen as well.

From then on, the immortal tale of this day would be passed down through generations in Xiang Prefecture and the lands beneath Lumen Mountain.

"The mountain deity is too courteous."

Jiang She said to the mountain god.

"The matter you entrusted me to investigate has yielded results." He pointed a finger toward the elder. "Scholar Lu's drastic change in temperament and his selling of fields for wealth are because of these three."

In the direction of his finger.

One lad's heart trembled, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

All earlier luck had turned into uneasy dread.

One who often walks by the river will eventually wet his shoes.

How would the immortal deal with him?

"Qingyu, why are you kneeling?" Scholar Lu asked in surprise, unable to hold back.

The surrounding crowd, still holding their breath and watching the immortal affair, saw the lad drop to his knees. Everyone understood at once.

These "Immortal Masters" and the two "acolytes" by his side—turns out they were all a pack of frauds deceiving the world for fame and profit.

Not even close to being immortal masters. They didn't even qualify as heretical or crooked practitioners outside the orthodox path of the immortal way.

Scholar Lu stood dumbfounded, unable to speak for a moment. He wasn't a complete fool; the acolyte's kneeling hit him like a splash of cold water, jolting him awake. He had been deceived...

The Old Deer Mountain God felt a faint, intangible force as Jiang She helped him rise with a single hand.

He then looked at the blue-robed elder and the three acolytes by his side. He said, "So it's the three of you?"

At this moment, the Old Deer Mountain God's expression turned extremely dignified as he gazed over with indifference, exuding authority without anger—a stark contrast to his demeanor when he had just paid respects to Mr. Jiang.

Meeting that gaze, the elder felt as if thorns were piercing his back, restless and uneasy. His body swayed, and he collapsed to the ground, the confidence in his heart instantly deflating.

Mountain gods and earth deities were figures of legend. How could they be entangled with that man called Jiang She? And with such respectful deference?

If only he had known, he would have admitted his mistake earlier, or simply not coveted the Lu family's hundred and fifty strings of coins, seeking elsewhere for extortion instead. How could it have come to this—being caught by an immortal and a mountain god, with who knows what punishment awaiting him...

The elder's face turned ashen, sweat drenching his back. "...It is, it is I. This Humble One was momentarily blinded by greed. Please, Mountain God, forgive my transgression."

Jiang She's fingers moved in calculation. He remarked from the side, "Your lifespan is forty-seven years, yet you are only thirty now. Why dress as an old man?"

The false immortal master hadn't expected the immortal to see through a person's lifespan at a glance. Hearing "forty-seven" first startled him, and then being directly called out on his age made his heart even more fearful. He stammered for a long while, not daring to refuse an answer, afraid the immortal and mountain god would lose patience. Trembling, he said, "This Humble One... This Humble One is thirty, but these days, an aged appearance is more popular and makes people more trusting. Therefore, I used glutinous rice to boil a paste and feigned wrinkles... This Humble One knows his wrongs, knows his wrongs."

"This Humble One originally planned that once Lu the Eldest joined me in cultivating immortality, I would teach him some skills, some illusion tricks, to make it... not entirely undeserved. I know deceiving people for money is wrong, but this time it wasn't a complete swindle..."

Though terrified, he still remembered to exonerate himself.

The Old Deer Mountain God looked at Jiang She. Jiang She asked, "What are your names, and how many families have you swindled so far?"

The "elder" prostrated on the ground, his tone faltering: "This Humble One is Zhang Quan, styled Zhang Zhenmei. This year I am indeed exactly thirty years old. So far, I have deceived, deceived five households."

The other two acolytes, pale-faced, suppressed their panic before the divine earth deity and stammered their confessions: "The little one is called Wang Shan, fourteen years old." "I... I am Song Baike, nominally fifteen."

Jiang She looked at the three of them, then at Scholar Lu's dazed expression, and asked, "Only five households, yet you dress so lavishly? How many copper coins did you swindle from each household?"

The "elder" Zhang Zhenmei prostrated on the ground and said, "These clothes don't cost much silver. Having them custom-made at a shop only cost five strings of coins. The white jade was bought at a pawnshop. This bead string... was from a basket of rose quartz, a common material for seal carving. Buying the stones only cost one string, plus fifty coins for the man to carefully sort them out."

He tried his best to defend himself, insisting that his entire outfit was just for show and didn't require that much gold or silver. "Stringing them together wasn't expensive either; we polished the beads ourselves..."

As Yuan Danqiu listened to his confession, the doubts in his heart were instantly resolved. He had thought this man's clothing and accessories looked strange and unusual, different from what Daoists usually wore, and completely unlike the "immortal master" attire described in books. Turns out it was a getup he had pieced together himself. To go this far in deception was indeed original and painstaking.

The false immortal master, Zhang Zhenmei, lowered his head and one by one listed the amounts he had swindled. The guests in the courtyard listened with pounding hearts, glaring angrily. The fortunes they had accumulated over half a lifetime were still less than what this fraudulent immortal master had amassed. Just the Lu family alone had been cheated out of nearly seven hundred strings of coins. If this man continued his schemes, the day he became fabulously wealthy wouldn't be far off. The only consolation was that this gang had targeted Lu the Eldest, not any one of them. Otherwise, putting themselves in his shoes, they too might have been tricked out of their family fortunes and gone off to learn immortality from a swindler.

Once the man had confessed everything, all was clear. Jiang She looked at the Old Deer Mountain God. "That's the whole story. How to deal with him—let the Mountain God make his own judgment."

The man was discovered by Mr. Jiang, and the fraud was exposed by Mr. Jiang. The Old Deer Mountain God knew his place. He said, "This was discovered by you, sir. Without you, this minor deity would have mistaken it for some unclean thing and cast exorcism spells to no avail—truly embarrassing. I ask you, sir, to make the decision."

Jiang She pondered.