Then Saw the Ghosts and Gods of the Three Realms

"Everyone, clear the way, clear the way—"

A middle-aged doctor was dragged in, one hand clutching his medicine box tightly.

"Doctor Luo, come quickly and take a look at our Grand Matriarch."

The Lu Family Grand Matriarch had already been fed a pill by the household servants. Doctor Luo, middle-aged and hastily summoned, took a few breaths to steady himself before his breathing evened out.

His fingers rested on her wrist, brow furrowed, and after a few more detailed questions about her condition, he learned she had been angered by her own descendants. His face darkened, and he shot a glance at Lu the Eldest.

Lu Pei was standing respectfully at the old man's side.

He looked toward the physician, lips pressed tight, as if hoping the doctor could cure his grandmother.

The doctor pressed on a certain acupoint near her ribs, then pulled out a needle case. He ordered the Lu Family servants in the courtyard to stand in a human wall around the Grand Matriarch as he performed acupuncture.

With the doctor present, the courtyard naturally revolved around the Grand Matriarch's health.

The guests gathered together, standing in the yard, watching the doctor's back as he worked, watching the Lu servants scurry back and forth to decoct medicine.

Now and then, they glanced at the three—the immortal master and his two child attendants.

All sorts of thoughts churned in their minds.

Once the Lu Family old matriarch had finished receiving her needles and the doctor had given his instructions to the servants, Yuan Danqiu finally spoke.

"Just now, the child mentioned exhaling breath to form flames. Might you be willing to demonstrate it for us in person?" Yuan Danqiu's gaze was fixed intently on the old man, his tone quite respectful.

The old man lifted his chin slightly.

"It seems that if I don't show you today, you won't let this matter rest."

Scholar Lu, standing nearby, looked nervous.

"Immortal Master, there's no need for that. It's only a hundred and fifty strings of cash—I can pool together with my classmates..."

The old man smiled faintly.

"Let them see it. What harm is there?"

"If you please."

"Behold—"

The courtyard in the county town was not small. The Lu Family servants moved the Grand Matriarch's chair farther away. The guests all stepped back, clustering together as they stood.

Jiang She and Li Bai stood beneath the large locust tree.

Meng Haoran and Yuan Danqiu also retreated a few steps, standing by the tree, waiting for the old man to breathe fire. Li Bai watched with rising interest, a mischievous impulse stirring in his heart. He reached out and tapped Meng Haoran and Yuan Danqiu on the back, one after the other.

He wanted to know—now that he had been enchanted, and outsiders could not see him or Young Master Jiang's traces—

Could he still touch people?

Meng Haoran and Yuan Danqiu felt someone pat them and turned around together to look.

But all they saw was an old locust tree behind them, a few withered leaves on the ground, and ants busily carrying things.

No one was there.

Was it a dream?

Or...

Yuan Danqiu examined the area carefully, confirming that there really was no one. He exchanged a glance with Meng Haoran, then looked up at the lush locust tree and said, "Perhaps a cicada on the tree pissed."

"Probably so."

Meng Haoran nodded.

The two did not dwell on it. They turned back and focused their attention on the old man's demonstration of the Daoist art.

Hearing "cicada piss," the playful smile on Li Bai's face froze.

Jiang She couldn't help but smile.

Li Bai pretended to watch the child attendant in the distance chanting a spell, while the old man stood with his hands behind his back, his blue robes snapping in the wind. Ignoring Jiang She's recent laughter, he voiced the question that had been on his mind.

"Earlier, Young Master Jiang, did you notice anything unusual? Why did you say that these people not befriending the Prefect was a wise move?"

Jiang She's smile faded. Since Li Bai was asking seriously, he couldn't keep teasing him.

He thought for a moment.

"Please close your eyes, sir."

"Huh?"

He had the other close his eyes.

With a finger to the eyes, one can see the ghosts and gods of the three realms.

Li Bai only felt a faint trace of warmth. He didn't know what kind of spell this was, and thought a flying insect had been plucked from his eyelid. When he opened his eyes, he saw a hanged ghost dangling from the locust tree, its face pale and green, its tongue horrifically long. He was startled.

"This...!"

He choked, speechless.

One breath passed.

He opened his eyes wide.

Before Li Bai's eyes, ghostly shadows flickered, absurd and eerie. All manner of green-faced specters wandered within the courtyard. A thin layer of faint green light enveloped the grounds, presumably the blessing of the Old Deer Mountain God.

"How strange..."

Li Bai was dumbfounded.

But Jiang She pulled him, directing his gaze toward the old man.

In the distance.

As the old man exhaled, he truly breathed out a flame.

A long, narrow tongue of fire blazed in an instant, turning to ash in the wind.

A plume of green smoke rose straight up.

The surrounding crowd—guests, the physician in the courtyard, the medicine apprentices, servants, and maids—all cried out in shock, exchanging glances, utterly astonished.

Before the fire died out.

Everyone's faces were flushed red, their eyes filled with wonder and longing. As the flames blazed and cast a crimson glow, the guests and servants gasped in awe, their praises pouring forth.

"A true master indeed!"

"Immortal teacher above, please accept my bow!"

"Such a sublime art exists in this world! The immortal teacher's cultivation is profound—impressive, impressive! We are in awe..."

"Lu the Eldest is truly blessed..."

Even Yuan Danqiu, who had been opposed all along, now wore an expression of amazement.

Li Bai stared, looking again and again.

Yet he could not understand what the guests were praising. Even his friend Danqiu Sheng had been deceived, his face full of wonder as he watched the old man stand with his hands behind his back.

He suddenly recalled the "breath-turned-flame" he had just witnessed.

Where had it gone?

"This is..."

"It must be trickery," Jiang She said. "Deceiving this Scholar Lu isn't entirely false—after all, having such a means of illusion can already be called a technique."

"No wonder the Old Deer Mountain God's exorcism was useless. It was a man-made calamity."

So it was a charlatan.

Using illusions to fool people.

A mountain god could expel evil arts and know of ghosts and spirits, but not the human heart.

Naturally, his spells were useless.

No matter how much he chanted incantations, he could not change a heart set on swindling money.

Li Bai's gaze turned strange. He stood with Jiang She, watching from afar as the "immortal teacher" exhaled, his acolyte guarding the ritual, while the crowd around them gasped in awe, their eyes full of reverence.

The guests praised endlessly, the servants held their breath, wide-eyed, joining in the admiration.

A medicine apprentice tending the stove and decoction tilted his head to look, got singed by a spark, hissed in pain, yet still stared without blinking, muttering to himself.

"There really are immortals in this world..."

Hearing this, a strange sense of pride welled up in Li Bai's heart.

Even the flickering ghosts and wandering souls in the courtyard no longer seemed so terrifying.

"So it was like this..."

"So it was nothing more than this..."

He looked again at his friend Yuan Danqiu's astonished face and found it amusing.

When the old man straightened up again, the "breath-turned-flame" ended. The courtyard fell silent for a few breaths, the guests still immersed in the "immortal art" they had just witnessed.

Jiang She rose.

Stepping around the dead ghost hanging from the locust tree, he said to Li Bai:

"Let's go. It's our turn to step forward."

To resolve the matter the Old Deer Mountain God had entrusted to them.

Li Bai also ducked his head, shuddering as he skirted the hanged ghost. Out of mischief, he deliberately pressed the ghost's tongue against Yuan Danqiu's neck.

He followed after.

Composing his expression, straightening his robes, cap, and sash—after all, he was about to appear before others alongside Young Master Jiang She, so his bearing must be graceful and free.

Yuan Danqiu felt a chill on his neck and touched his back.

Still no one there.

This Lu Family is sinister.

Frowning, he shifted a foot to the side, pulling Meng Haoran several paces away.

Gazing at the old man in the courtyard and the two servant boys, Yuan Danqiu murmured to himself.

"Is he truly an immortal master?"

"How could an immortal master act like this?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than he heard a familiar voice.

"Sir, cease this deceitful trickery!"

"I know a reclusive master, willing to compete in arts with you. What say you?"

A zhang from the old man's side.

Suddenly, from below upward, two figures materialized.

The hour was late; the Golden Crow dipped westward, dragging its afterglow. Countless winds and clouds churned in the sky, and under the twilight's dusky light, everyone present watched as the two figures walked forward step by step, gradually solidifying.

Strolling at ease, ethereal and transcendent.

As if they were immortals.

It seems this book is starting to gain readers—moved qaq.