Immortality

In the main hall, Lin Chao sat in a red sandalwood chair, his gaze calm.

He was somewhat curious, and somewhat expectant.

At that moment, a fragrance drifted over. Accompanied by soft footsteps, a figure appeared before Lin Chao.

"I have long heard that the Young Sect Master of the Dan Jian Sect excels at both swordsmanship and painting. Would you be willing to paint a piece for this humble woman to keep?"

Madam Ma's voice carried a peculiar charm, making it easy for others to believe her.

It reminded Lin Chao of his own talent for persuasive speech.

Lin Chao understood such things well.

It seemed she truly had taken the Immortality Elixir he had refined, or this would not have happened.

"Certainly." Lin Chao did not refuse.

Simulating life was meant for experiencing and enjoying life.

If he charged headlong into everything without any prelude, it would be far too dull and dry.

"What would you like me to paint?" Lin Chao looked at Madam Ma.

Unfortunately, her face was veiled in black gauze, and he could not make out her features at all.

"Paint a beauty. For example, Zhuge Qingli, the foremost beauty of Beiling City." Madam Ma parted her crimson lips slightly.

Her voice carried an indescribable allure.

"I have never seen her."

Lin Chao answered calmly.

Zhuge Qingli was the foremost beauty of Beiling.

At the same time, her bloodline was exceedingly precious.

She was the daughter of Prince Pingyang of the former Han Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the Han Kingdom had fallen and Great Cang had risen. The present Zhuge Qingli could only be reduced to becoming the courtesan queen of a pleasure house.

Still, in Great Cang, that could be considered a fairly decent place to end up.

"Then paint the woman the Young Sect Master thinks is most beautiful." Madam Ma chuckled softly.

Lin Chao was briefly stunned.

After thinking for a moment, a figure surfaced in his mind.

He picked up his brush and swiftly began to paint.

Lin Chao's painting style differed from that of this era.

This era placed great emphasis on artistic conception.

Or rather, artistic conception outweighed everything else.

Lin Chao felt that he had experienced too little in life.

So far, he had only simulated life a few times, leaving him lacking in artistic conception.

Thus, he used a realistic style.

Realism required mastery of technique, and Lin Chao did not lack that.

Most importantly, his control was extraordinarily precise.

Before long, a portrait appeared upon the table.

Madam Ma leaned closer, her voice calm. "What a spirited and delicate young girl.

So this is the kind of woman the Young Sect Master likes."

Lin Chao, meanwhile, wore an intrigued expression, as if pondering something.

Madam Ma continued, "Does the Young Sect Master wish to see what sort of face lies beneath my black veil?"

Madam Ma's voice still carried that bewitching power.

At that moment, Madam Ma's expression was utterly composed, though there was also a trace of coldness.

To her, Lin Ping was an enormous threat that had to be controlled.

Ever since taking the Immortality Elixir, tremendous changes had taken place in her body.

Some of those changes were good, while others were bad.

Among them, she had gained certain special abilities, one of which was bewitchment.

It was precisely because of this ability that she had been able to live for so long.

"Do not remove the black veil." Lin Chao's voice was calm. Looking at Madam Ma, he continued, "I suppose that beneath it, your face will look exactly like the woman in the portrait."

His voice was calm, yet it was like a boulder cast into a mirror-still lake.

Madam Ma's heart jolted. The look she gave Lin Chao changed. "Who exactly are you?"

After consuming the Immortality Elixir, Madam Ma had acquired two special abilities. One of them was called bewitchment.

Her words became more persuasive and more capable of beguiling people's hearts.

Of course, against those with steadfast will, its effect would be greatly reduced.

However, when she used bewitchment, she could briefly make the other party regard her as their closest person.

That was also where her confidence lay.

Yet everyone who knew of her ability was dead.

Who exactly was this Lin Chao?

There were indeed people in this world who knew she had taken the Immortality Elixir, but absolutely no one knew about her abilities.

She had relied on this ability to survive until now.

How did the man before her know?

"Who I am is not important." Lin Chao smiled. "What is important is that I want to cooperate with you."

"Who exactly are you?" Madam Ma stared at Lin Chao like a mother hen gone mad.

"The Immortality Elixir is not true immortality.

Every so often, you must fall into slumber for several decades.

And the Immortality Elixir can extend your lifespan by no more than two thousand years.

Am I wrong about any of that?"

Madam Ma looked at the youthful boy before her, only to feel his figure becoming incomparably lofty, unfathomable and mysterious.

"Who exactly are you?" Madam Ma was overwhelmed by terror.

Her deepest secret had been uncovered, and she felt utterly terrified.

It was as though someone had stripped her bare and put her naked on display for everyone to feast their eyes upon without restraint.

Lin Chao leaned closer. "Did you fulfill what you promised Qin Kuan?"

Madam Ma's pupils suddenly contracted.

Qin Kuan!

Her memories returned to five hundred years ago.

At that time, she had still been a nun.

One day, she found a corpse in a stream.

On the corpse, she found a bottle of medicine and a letter.

The writer of the letter called himself Qin Kuan.

After reading that letter, she immediately burned it.

No one knew the dead man's identity.

Madam Ma's body began trembling uncontrollably.

Having lived for five hundred years, what sort of scenes had she not witnessed?

Yet she truly had never seen anything like today.

"I did." Madam Ma's gums trembled, her upper teeth knocking against her lower teeth as she spoke. "Back then, I went to Anjia Hollow and found that family. I only left after the two elders had lived out their natural years."

Before jumping from the cliff, Qin Kuan, the Qi Refiner Lin Chao had played in that life, had written a letter.

He had used the Immortality Elixir as payment, asking whoever obtained it to take good care of his parents from that life.

Lin Chao now felt that his first simulated life had truly been riddled with loopholes.

Or rather, Lin Chao himself had not been involved deeply enough.

Otherwise, he definitely would not have written that letter before jumping off the cliff. It could very well have placed his parents in mortal danger.

Of course, it was only during his second simulated reincarnation that Lin Chao felt he had truly begun simulating life.

And this time, it was not merely a simulation, but an experience of life.

Lin Chao awoke from his memories. "Can we cooperate now?"

In reality.

Miss Jia arrived at a courtyard house.

Inside the courtyard, a woman was watering flowers.

Wrinkles had already crept across her face.

This was something her former self would never have dared imagine.

What did wrinkles on one's face signify?

She knew better than anyone.

"Aunt Qin, do experts truly exist in this world who can hold off ten thousand alone?" Miss Jia's voice was difficult to read.