Centennial Birthday!

Qing Province.

At the foot of Coiling Dragon Mountain lies Peach Blossom Village.

Peach Blossom Village consists of several dozen households, with houses scattered in an orderly fashion. Many peach trees are planted throughout the village, and as it is currently spring, the blossoms are in full bloom; clusters of pink petals make Peach Blossom Village look like a veritable paradise on earth.

In a small courtyard on the east side of the village, beneath a thick, ancient peach tree, Li Qingshan lies on a recliner, leisurely sipping wine from a yellow-skinned gourd.

Widow Wang, who lives at the west end of the village, may have an average appearance, but she is well-endowed and possesses a great talent for brewing wine; her rice wine is sweet, crisp, and carries a unique flavor.

"One hundred years old, tsk tsk... I wonder if I'll live long enough to see Gouwa pass the provincial examination?"

Li Qingshan mutters to himself.

His cloudy eyes are filled with deep reflection.

He must be the worst-off transmigrator in history, right?

Orphaned since childhood, he wandered the world alone.

At eighteen, he encountered an immortal who offered to take him as a disciple. He was ecstatic, convinced that his transmigrator's golden finger was finally arriving.

The plan was simple: enter the immortal sect, cultivate the Dao, slaughter his way to the top, transcend tribulations, and become an immortal sovereign!

But reality dealt him a ruthless slap.

He was tested and found to have no spiritual roots; he was completely incapable of cultivation.

It was as if the heavens were playing a cruel joke on him. Where was the protagonist's treatment? Where was his golden finger?

Unwilling to accept his fate, he spent his life as a mortal, hoping to defy the heavens and change his destiny.

He studied hard, hoping to earn a degree, but failed the examinations time and again.

He tried to go into business to earn silver, only to be extorted by corrupt officials until he went bankrupt.

He tried to invent things—glass, soap, perfume—but as a liberal arts student, he was completely clueless.

Then came the end of the dynasty, and the world fell into chaos. Heartbroken, he wandered to Peach Blossom Village, married, and had children. A hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Looking back on his life, he has achieved nothing.

His wife passed away thirty years ago, and his son and daughter-in-law departed ten years before him.

Now, he is all alone, relying on his only grandson, Li Yun, for companionship.

Fortunately, his grandson is promising; he passed the county examination three years ago and is now studying hard at the prefectural school, hoping to pass the provincial examination.

Because of this, Li Yun couldn't even make it back for Li Qingshan's hundredth birthday.

Though it was called a hundredth birthday celebration, it was quite simple. The villagers of Peach Blossom Village are incredibly honest and hold Li Qingshan in high regard. They gathered to set up a few tables of food and wine to celebrate his birthday and share in the good fortune, as a centenarian is a rare sight in this era.

Shortly after seeing the guests off, Li Qingshan felt quite exhausted. He lay back on his recliner, closed his eyes to rest, and felt quite at ease.

"Grandpa Qingshan, Grandpa Qingshan..."

Just then, an eleven or twelve-year-old girl ran into the courtyard, drenched in sweat, struggling to carry a basket of fruit, looking very excited.

She wears her hair in braids, has a round face, and her large, dark, liquid eyes are especially lively.

"Er'ya, why are you here?"

Li Qingshan opens his eyes and smiles at the girl before him.

The girl is Widow Wang's daughter. Her formal name is Zhou Taoyao, a name Li Qingshan gave her, and her nickname is Er'ya.

"Grandpa Qingshan, I picked a basket of wild cherries on the mountain today. They're so sweet, you have to try some!"

Er'ya wipes the sweat from her forehead and, as if presenting a treasure, holds the basket of crystal-clear wild cherries out to Li Qingshan.

"Wild cherries? That's a rarity. Let me have a taste... Mmm, truly sweet. Thank you, Er'ya!"

Li Qingshan smiles, picks two, and pops them into his mouth. They are tart, sweet, and refreshing—a unique flavor indeed.

He dotingly ruffles Er'ya's little head.

Er'ya says happily, "Grandpa Qingshan, today is your hundredth birthday. I didn't know what to give you, so I brought you this basket of wild cherries. I wish you to live to be a thousand years old!"

"Live to be a thousand? Wouldn't that make me an immortal?"

Li Qingshan jokes with a smile.

"Grandpa Qingshan, aren't you an immortal already? You're exactly like the immortals in the storybooks! Grandpa Qingshan, can you tell me the story of the Monkey King wreaking havoc in the Heavenly Palace again today?"

Er'ya says with admiration.

Her father died when she was young, and Widow Wang raised her with great difficulty. Li Qingshan often helped them out, so Er'ya has been close to him since she was a child; in Li Qingshan's heart, she is like his own granddaughter.

The yellow-skinned gourd at Li Qingshan's waist was actually found by Er'ya on Coiling Dragon Mountain a year ago and gifted to him.

"The Monkey King wreaking havoc in the Heavenly Palace? Haven't you heard that a dozen times already!"

Li Qingshan laughs.

Er'ya and many of the village children love to gather around Li Qingshan to hear his stories, especially the one about the Monkey King. Many of the children are obsessed with it, listening to it over and over again.

"I haven't heard enough! Grandpa Qingshan, please, I'm begging you..."

Er'ya clings to Li Qingshan's arm, acting spoiled.

"Alright, alright, alright, Grandpa will tell you!"

Li Qingshan took a sip of wine to moisten his throat, his aged voice echoing through the small courtyard: "It is said that in the Eastern Victory Divine Continent, there was a kingdom called Aolai. The kingdom was near the great sea, and in the sea, there was a famous mountain called Flower Fruit Mountain..."

Soon, many children arrived in the courtyard, gathering around Li Qingshan.

A gentle breeze blew, and peach blossoms drifted down from the old peach tree, carrying a faint fragrance that also carried Li Qingshan's voice to a great distance.

The next day.

"Immortals have come! Immortals have come to our Peach Blossom Village!"

Someone in the village shouted excitedly.

At the village entrance, two figures floated in mid-air—a man and a woman, standing upon long swords with their robes fluttering, looking just like beings from the heavens.

Before long, many people from Peach Blossom Village arrived at the entrance. Looking at the two figures floating in the void, their eyes were filled with awe, and they knelt down one after another to pay their respects.

"Two Immortals, may I ask what business brings you to our Peach Blossom Village?"

The village chief asked cautiously.

"Have all the children in your village between the ages of ten and eighteen come out. If they are found to have spiritual roots, they may return to the mountain with us to cultivate, join our Spring Autumn Sect, and practice the Dao!"

The male cultivator in green robes said with some impatience.

"Yes, yes, yes..."

The village chief bowed respectfully, though he could not hide the look of surprise in his eyes. Had their Peach Blossom Village actually stumbled upon a fated encounter with immortals today?

He had traveled abroad before and had heard of immortals taking on disciples, but he never expected it to be the turn of Peach Blossom Village today.

"Village chief, what is a spiritual root?"

"What kind of place is the Spring Autumn Sect?"

"What does it mean to practice the Dao? Does it mean becoming an immortal?"

The surrounding villagers gathered around the village chief, asking in hushed tones.

"Stop with the nonsense! Hurry and bring your children here. This is a fated encounter for our Peach Blossom Village. If your child is chosen, they could become an immortal, so why aren't you going yet?"

The village chief quickly scolded them in a low voice, fearing he might displease the immortals.

"Become an immortal?!"

All the villagers were instantly stirred into a frenzy.

They scrambled to run home, bringing their children back to let the immortals see if they possessed that thing called a spiritual root.

If they could become immortals, that would be truly extraordinary!