A Mere Two Taels of Flesh

P.S.: No melodramatic romance plot, so read with ease. The early plot is a tiny bit slow; I beg for a little patience. Many thanks.

"Father, Mother... can Yue Li really avenge you?"

A sigh drifted from the lakeside beyond a remote mountain village.

A slender figure was reflected in the water, yet she possessed skin like ice and bones like jade, her features clear and ethereal.

Beneath her bright eyes lay a tear mole. Even dressed in coarse hemp cloth, she could not conceal the picturesque beauty of her features.

The girl was named Su Yue Li. She had transmigrated here three years ago.

This world was vast and boundless. Cultivators could move mountains and overturn seas, and with a single thought, stir the stars and rivers.

Unlike other transmigrators, Su Yue Li had no cheat ability. Burdened by a blood feud, she had fled and lived in a remote little village.

And she had transmigrated into a girl.

Yes, her little brother was gone, but if she could cultivate immortality, what did this mere two taels of flesh matter?

Otherwise, at the bottom of this cultivation world where human lives were as cheap as grass... without strength, beauty was a calamity, leaving one as fish on the chopping block.

"Ah Li, I knew you'd be here."

Su Yue Li was still lost in thought when a young man's voice sounded behind her.

It was Shen Qing'an from the village. Supposedly, his father was a merchant from a major city who had placed him with the village chief's family to avoid disaster. He also had a younger brother named Shen Huai'an.

Shen Qing'an's gaze immediately fell upon Su Yue Li's arm. Two days ago, he had heard that she had gone into the mountains to practice her fists and beaten both hands bloody, leaving him unable to sleep soundly all night.

Now that he saw her wounds were nearly healed, he felt much more at ease.

He said irritably, "You're a girl. Why do you keep fighting and getting yourself covered in injuries every day?"

Su Yue Li glanced at him without replying.

Anyone would want to cultivate immortality and practice martial arts. Without strength in this world, one was no different from an ant. If an immortal wanted you dead, then you had to die.

Shen Qing'an and his younger brother had arrived in the village the same year as her. Though they were rather talkative, Su Yue Li knew in her heart that they had helped her greatly over the past three years.

"Get to the point."

Seeing that she did not speak, Shen Qing'an's expression suddenly turned solemn. He lowered his voice. "Come with me. Immortals have come to the village, and they're testing Spiritual Bones at the entrance."

"Testing Spiritual Bones? Now?"

At those words, Su Yue Li's eyes brightened.

Had the turning point of her fate finally arrived? Given that she had nothing at all right now, she would most likely test as having a Heavenly Bone.

"Let's go! I'll definitely have a Spiritual Bone!" Su Yue Li encouraged herself and dashed toward the village entrance.

Shen Qing'an followed behind her, secretly sighing.

He did not share Su Yue Li's fervor for immortals. He only knew that immortals regarded mortals as grass.

Testing one's Spiritual Bone was like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate, but geniuses were as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river. Once one entered the immortal sect, there would be endless fighting and killing.

In his view, it was enough to earn money and live a peaceful life with the person one liked.

Yet as he watched Su Yue Li's smiling eyes curve into crescents, the corners of his lips rose unconsciously.

Along the way, Su Yue Li was in an excellent mood. She turned to Shen Qing'an and said, "Once I test positive for a Spiritual Bone and become an immortal, the first thing I'll do is grant you a few immortal pills! Later, I'll carry you through the skies on a sword. You'll be eating well and drinking well, guaranteed."

Shen Qing'an had helped her greatly since coming to the village. If she became rich and powerful, it was only right to share the fortune.

At her words, Shen Qing'an's steps halted.

He quietly looked at that radiant, pretty face beneath the sunlight. Her girlish features were cool and pale, like the moon in the mountains falling into water.

A faint ripple did stir in his heart, but what he felt more was complicated and heavy.

He hoped Su Yue Li would get what she wished for and no longer suffer in this remote village.

But immortals and mortals walked different paths. They belonged to two utterly different worlds. The moment Su Yue Li stepped onto that path, a gulf of life and death would immediately be drawn between them.

After a moment, he withdrew his gaze and shook his head. "I'm afraid of heights. I'm not flying."

"If you truly become an immortal, you'll live for hundreds or thousands of years. Just don't forget what this old bag of bones looks like by then. I hear immortals are the most heartless."

Su Yue Li smiled, her eyes curving. "You're so sure you don't have a Spiritual Bone?"

Shen Qing'an said nothing more. He did not need a Spiritual Bone. He only wanted an ordinary life.

Before long, the two arrived at the village entrance.

The children preparing to test their Spiritual Bones, along with their families, had already packed the entrance so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Su Yue Li swept her gaze around. The villagers' faces were filled with excited smiles, and discussion buzzed everywhere.

"Niuwa, make sure to bang your head hard when you see the immortal master! If you get picked as an immortal attendant, our old Li family's ancestral graves will be smoking!"

"Second girl, you too. If you have a Spiritual Bone and get chosen, keep your head down low! Immortal masters have terrible tempers, so don't anger one!"

"As long as we can enter an immortal sect, even sweeping floors will do! At least we'll be able to scrape together a bowl of longevity rice steeped in immortal aura!"

All sorts of emotions intertwined on the villagers' faces. At the outermost edge of the crowd, Shen Qing'an's younger brother, Shen Huai'an, was waving.

The brothers' bone structure was strikingly similar, with sharp jawlines. Unlike Shen Qing'an's detached indifference, Shen Huai'an possessed an innate, stubborn refusal to admit defeat.

But one look was enough to ensure no one would mistake them for each other.

The instant he saw Su Yue Li, Shen Huai'an's eyes lit up.

"Sister Yue Li!"

Shen Huai'an hurried over and pulled a paper parcel from his robes, stuffing it into Su Yue Li's hands.

"Meat buns I just bought." Shen Huai'an stared into Su Yue Li's eyes, his gaze burning. "They just came out of the steamer. I tucked them against my chest and ran all the way back, so not a bit of wind got through. Eat them while they're hot."

Shen Qing'an, walking half a step away, paused slightly.

Looking at his younger brother's faintly flushed face, he lowered his head to glance at the small handful of wild fruit clenched in his rough palm.

He had secretly picked them on his way back to the village, originally intending to give them to Su Yue Li to quench her thirst.

He pressed his lips together, then tucked the hand holding the wild fruit back into his sleeve. He even stepped half a pace back, yielding his place to his younger brother.

Su Yue Li held the buns, having long expected it. The two brothers had taken great care of her.

She smiled with curved brows. "Thank you. Once I test positive for a Spiritual Bone, I'll definitely repay you double."

Shen Huai'an was about to say something else when a sudden sense of pressure descended from above.

"The Azure Moon Sect is accepting disciples. All who test positive for Spiritual Bones shall have the chance to embark upon the immortal path!"

Su Yue Li looked up. Two cultivators in azure Daoist robes looked down upon the crowd, their expressions indifferent.

The villagers all dropped to their knees and kowtowed repeatedly.

"Immortals, real immortals have come! Thank you, immortals!"

"Immortals, how do we test whether we have Spiritual Bones?"

"Yes, yes! The day my Niuwa was born, thunder and rain came crashing down. His Immortal Bone must be extraordinary!"

"..."

The villagers were beside themselves with excitement. Their discussions and questions came like cannonballs, making the two cultivators frown tightly.

"Silence!"

The cultivators grew annoyed and casually waved a hand. A wave of pressure spread out, immediately making everyone's legs tremble. Only then did the crowd fall silent, their faces filled with panic.

Su Yue Li watched the scene, her gaze blazing.

So this was a cultivator. This was power...

To mortals like them, they were no different from ants in the other party's eyes. A single thought could determine life or death.

Su Yue Li secretly clenched her fists. No matter what, I must set foot upon this immortal path!

"Cultivation depends on aptitude, also known as one's Spiritual Bone. They are divided into Mortal Bones, low-grade, high-grade, Immortal Bones, and the Supreme Heavenly Bones that appear only once in a thousand years."

With his hands behind his back, one of the cultivators spoke as he lightly stamped his foot, causing a formation to begin circulating.

"Those under twenty years old, step forward to test your spirit."

At the mention of the age limit, quite a few villagers at the back of the crowd clenched their fists eagerly.

If not for the life-threatening pressure lingering in the air from before, they would have rushed forward no matter what to take a gamble.

The testing began, and the young people of the village eagerly lined up to step forward.

The first person stepped onto the platform, but the pillar of light remained deathly still.

"No Spiritual Bone. Leave."

More than a dozen people went up in succession, yet there was still no response at all. The cultivators' eyes grew increasingly impatient.

Not until the twentieth person stepped up did the pillar finally emit a faint trace of white light.

"Mortal Bone."

The crowd stirred. Over the next half hour, the village youths were tested as though being sifted through a sieve. In the end, only three Mortal Bones emerged, along with the blacksmith's second daughter, who tested as having a Low-grade Spiritual Bone.

Soon, it was Shen Qing'an's turn. He stepped onto the formation, but there was still no response.

Shen Qing'an did not seem especially disappointed or shocked, as though he had long known this would be the result.

He lifted his foot, turned, walked down from the high platform, and returned to Su Yue Li's side.

"It's your turn."

Shen Qing'an looked at Su Yue Li's slightly nervous profile. A faint smile touched his lips, and his voice was very soft. "Go on. I hope you have a Heavenly Bone."

Shen Huai'an also encouraged her from the side. "Sister Yue Li, you'll definitely have a Heavenly Bone!"