Behold the Vast Immortal Vistas in My Stead

Fang Shu looked at the figure in the apothecary hall and sighed inwardly, unsure for a moment whether he should enter the room.

But his shadow had already swayed into the room ahead of him, and Shi Hou noticed it.

The other man turned sideways and looked at Fang Shu's exceedingly young, vigorous face, a dazed look appearing in his eyes.

After a long while.

Fang Shu was the first to cup his hands. "Greetings, Senior Brother Shi."

Shi Hou seemed to realize only then, struggling to rise and return the greeting. "I dare not accept that. You are... Immortal Fang, yes? This lowly one greets Immortal Fang."

Fang Shu hurried forward to help him up, but stopped himself in time and merely made a gesture of support.

He accepted the other man's bow, then returned it with cupped hands before taking the initiative to sit beside the bamboo bed and exchange pleasantries with him.

After asking a few unrelated questions, silence fell over the room. The two were not familiar with each other, and the room seemed especially quiet.

Shi Hou noticed this. Lowering his head, he hastily explained, "Immortal Fang, please forgive me. This lowly one, this lowly one is tongue-tied. Thank you for coming to visit me, Immortal Fang. May I ask if you have any instructions for this lowly one? This lowly one will certainly obey."

His face still bore an uneasy look, as though he had long since heard about what had happened in the main hall.

Seeing his expression, Fang Shu sighed inwardly once more. He knew there was already a thick wall between them. He did not bring up what had happened during the tribulation in the main hall. Instead, his expression turned serious as he spoke of business. "To be frank, I came today both to visit Senior Brother Shi—I have long admired you, Senior Brother Shi, and only today have we truly had the chance to speak—and to ask you about something."

"Please speak, Immortal Fang."

"I heard that Senior Brother Shi has lived for a long time in the mines outside the town and possesses considerable courage and strength. As it happens, Fang will soon be making a trip to those mines, so I came especially to seek Senior Brother Shi's guidance, lest I be tricked by the people in the mines when I go out."

Fang Shu did his best to keep his tone calm.

Hearing this, Shi Hou's face showed a look of understanding. He tentatively began to give a brief introduction to the mines outside the town. "The mines outside town include abandoned mines, vile mines, and good mines, all manner of them. Fish and dragons are mixed together there. When first entering the mines, it is indeed best to have someone lead you, or else it is easy to become a target."

"May I ask, Senior Brother Shi, what distinguishes these three kinds of mines?"

Seeing that Fang Shu was listening seriously rather than merely using this as an excuse for small talk, Shi Hou's withered expression relaxed, and his speech became smoother.

He spoke at length.

"Oh, right. Although it is best to have someone lead you into the mines so you can learn the ropes, Immortal Fang must remember this: there is one kind of person you must be especially wary of. It is best to stay as far away from them as possible."

"What kind of people are they?"

The two talked for the time it took to drink two cups of tea. Shi Hou was truly an honest man. Though not everything he said was necessarily true, and Fang Shu had to take it in cautiously.

Still, Fang Shu could clearly sense that Shi Hou's words were well organized and easy to verify. Even the details held up under scrutiny; they were plainly all drawn from personal experience.

In particular, regarding the dangers of the mines that Fang Shu cared most about, Shi Hou explained a great deal, lest Fang Shu stumble into a pitfall.

Fang Shu immediately felt that coming to call on this man had truly been a wise decision!

When they had said all there was to say, Shi Hou opened his mouth, but his voice halted. He became awkward again, not knowing how to continue the pleasantries.

Seeing this, Fang Shu immediately rose and bowed to him. "Many thanks for your instruction, Senior Brother Shi!"

"I dare not, I dare not accept it." Shi Hou struggled to rise again. A few visible traces of embarrassment appeared on his poison-blackened face as he said softly, "It is I who should thank Immortal Fang. Because of a moment of greed, I nearly caused our hall to lose face. It was all thanks to Immortal Fang that the situation was salvaged in the end.

"And that one or two spirit stones... if not for them, I might still be lying in bed now."

As he spoke, the man before him had reddened eyes. He lowered his head and was even about to drop to his knees with a thud.

Fortunately, Fang Shu noticed in time. His movements were now ghostly; with a swoosh, he caught the man and pressed him back onto the bamboo bed.

He wanted to comfort him with a few words, to say that he had long respected him. He even wanted to probe indirectly, to see whether this man harbored any resentment over that day's events, whether he blamed Fang Shu for stealing his thunder.

Yet when all those words reached his lips, they turned into only one sentence. "Brother Shi, do you regret it?"

At those words, Shi Hou abruptly lifted his head. His reddened eyes looked at Fang Shu, his expression incomparably complicated.

His lips moved as though he wanted to say something, but in the end it became only a bleak, vacant smile.

The gloom of having lain bedridden for so long vanished from Shi Hou. It was as if he had returned to the main hall, to the days when he had buried his head in hard training.

"How could I not regret it? If I had not listened to that woman from Seven Fragrance Tower, I should now be like Immortal Fang—knocking upon the gate, replacing my blood, rising gloriously to become a Human Immortal. I would not speak of prolonging my years and nourishing my life, but at least I would be free of sickness and pain, shed of the mortal dust."

Shi Hou gritted his teeth as he spoke. "But what I regret most is this: why is it that the children of immortal families may absorb spiritual qi from childhood, never needing to worry about pills, while ordinary mortals like us must endure every hardship, birth, aging, sickness, and death before we can come to these immortal mountains to seek immortality?

"After finally reaching the immortal mountains, we must still sell our blood to survive, dig mines to scrape out a living, like oxen and horses.

"Brother Fang, you and I both came from the mortal world. I must mine for a year before I can study the Dao for one month, while you eat four meals a day and have to relieve yourself nine times. In such circumstances, how could I not regret it?"

His voice was repressed. "Though I, Shi Hou, was egged on by others and behaved like a fool, only I myself know that if I had not displayed my prowess during the tribulation, if I had merely sought safety at every turn, then at my age, how could I ever have another chance to rise and catch up? How could I enter an immortal sect?

"For the rest of my life, I would only become an ordinary old man in the marketplace, able to entrust immortality only to my descendants.

"I regret it! I regret being born into the mortal dust, regret having no spirit root, regret that I failed!"

Several hundred words, spoken through gritted teeth and bloody tears, came from the mouth of this plain-faced man with steadfast eyes, and the hall fell silent for a time.

The two injured men next door also abruptly opened their eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.

To be honest, Fang Shu's blood and qi churned, and his mind swayed at what he heard. Yet he forcibly suppressed all those emotions, his expression unchanged.

Shi Hou, meanwhile, seemed to have poured out all the resentment and ambition in his heart in one breath.

His body immediately hunched over, and the divine light on his face visibly turned dim and numb.

He gave a self-mocking laugh, rubbing his hands as he stammered awkwardly, "The words of a defeated dog have made Immortal Fang laugh."

Fang Shu let out a breath, his voice equally complicated. "What is there to laugh at? In this world, those who muddle through may not survive, and those who press forward rashly may not die.

"But if one does not fight, one is fated to have no hope. We likely would not even have had the fortune to see this immortal marketplace, much less speak of immortal fate or an immortal path."

Shi Hou raised his head and stared blankly at Fang Shu.

He broke into a grin, then, taut with emotion and wholly heedless of his injuries, gave Fang Shu a deep bow. "Then I ask Brother Fang to behold a broader vista of the immortal path in my stead.

"May Brother Fang's immortal path stretch wide, and may you have hope of longevity!"

Fang Shu sighed softly and finally walked slowly out of the apothecary hall.

But as he mulled over his conversation with Shi Hou again and again, he thoroughly crushed the heart willing to gamble his life that had surged up within him.

Fang Shu calculated silently, No. I have the Dao Register. Even though I was born in the mortal world and have no spirit root, I can still cultivate and seek longevity.

To him, the lesson Shi Hou's affair should teach most clearly was that he must not listen to others' incitement and must keep his Dao heart firm.

It was that once the tragedy of rash advancement occurred, it was so helpless and brutal—there would be no medicine for regret.

Fixing this lesson firmly in his mind, Fang Shu strode forward in great steps.