"Then let's go to Immortal Mountain..."
There were no other leads at all. As for bamboo groves... there were bamboo groves everywhere, so they might as well follow Cang Xiaoxuan's suggestion and try their luck at Immortal Mountain!
As for why that highest peak was called Immortal Mountain...
It seemed to be because... in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Princess Kaguya, a princess from the moon, had presented the emperor with an "elixir of immortality." Later, Princess Kaguya returned to the Moon Palace. Having lost her, the emperor sank into grief every day, until he eventually ordered the elixir burned atop Eastern Island's highest mountain. Thus, the mountain came to be known as "Immortal Mountain." It was not until the Kamakura period that it became the later Mount Fuji.
But... the moon... bamboo groves, Immortal Mountain?
Could it be The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter?
Fu Hua considered the clues Cang Xiaoxuan had mentioned, along with the moon's earlier abnormality, and a thought suddenly came to mind.
And if she carefully counted the time, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter took place during this period...
Could it really be The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter?
Could that qualified disciple be Princess Kaguya?
Fu Hua felt that it really was somewhat possible.
If it truly was Princess Kaguya, things would become interesting. She was the princess of the Moon Palace, and she was supposed to return to the moon...
Whether she could take her in as a disciple when the time came... even Fu Hua could not make up her mind. Though Fu Hua was revered as the Immortal Fu Hua, she herself knew... that she was not truly the same as a real immortal.
Although Fu Hua's abilities were no different from those immortals' at all, and even surpassed