An immortal voice

"What were you discussing just now? Sorry, I shouldn't ask. I've always been an outsider..."

Meng Yuan always slipped into persuasive patter without realizing it.

"All right, all right, stop putting on that act in front of me!" Pei Liuguang laughed, clutching her stomach. "Little Daoist, come feel my white deer. It hasn't had much appetite these past few days, and its temper has been terrible."

"She wants to find a stag. Stop riding her. You're holding up her family line all day long!" Meng Yuan said.

"Then what am I supposed to ride?" Pei Liuguang asked.

"Are your feet just for looking at?" Meng Yuan was speechless.

"Haven't you been sneaking looks at them?" Pei Liuguang planted her hands on her hips. "Every time I go wash my feet in the stream, you come looking to discuss the Dao. Even Yuyin told me to watch out for you!"

"Judging a gentleman's heart with a petty person's mind! I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the moon shone into the ditch instead." When someone suspected you, splash dirty water on them first. This was the voice of Meng Yuan's experience.

"You really are thick-skinned! Turning around and accusing me!" Pei Liuguang grinned.

After they had bickered for a while, Pei Liuguang finally got to business. "Little Daoist, haven't you always been curious about what's behind the door? That's what our three families were discussing. We'll take you to have a look today."

"We should have gone ages ago. You've wasted so much of my time for nothing!" Meng Yuan dropped the act.

"Exactly!" Pei Liuguang thoroughly agreed. She stared at Meng Yuan. "Little Daoist, your face has turned pale. You don't look like a harvest hand anymore. You really look like an ox-nosed Daoist now!"

"Spend long enough in a hall of fragrant orchids, and naturally all filth fades away. Lately, I've also been discussing the Dao with a fairy so often that my vulgarity has left me," Meng Yuan said with a smile.

After over a month in the valley, Meng Yuan had long since nursed his dark face into a pale one, becoming a pretty boy who could rival that white deer. The only difference was that the white deer had someone to ride her, while Meng Yuan had no one to ride him.

Of course, Meng Yuan was a moral gentleman and had no intention of getting involved with other families' girls. But in his previous life, and the life before that, he had built his fortunes through women, so he always slipped into persuasive patter without realizing it.

"You really do say the nicest things!" Pei Liuguang was delighted by his flattery. "They just don't sound very true."

Meng Yuan led the deer while Pei Liuguang called, "Giddyup!" and the two arrived before the Immortal Mausoleum.

Pei Huasheng and Bai Xingshuang were already waiting. After listening to a few more admonitions, the four entered the Immortal Mausoleum together.

Upon seeing the Sword Qi Bottle, Meng Yuan marveled for a while at immortal methods, then asked how Chen Yucheng had died. Pei Liuguang explained the matter of the Bronze Candle Stand in detail.

Meng Yuan promptly exclaimed in wonder again and again, loudly praising the marvels of immortal methods and offering a few opinions of his own.

Pei Huasheng asked whether Meng Yuan wanted to see the candlestick. Not yet fully confident that he could overcome the Sword Qi Bottle, Meng Yuan put it off until another day.

"The little Daoist has such a tiny bit of courage," Pei Liuguang said with a laugh.

"That is wisdom, not cowardice," Pei Huasheng rebuked her. Seeing that Meng Yuan had no intention of going farther inside, she said, "Settle down here with peace of mind from now on. These mountains and waters are lovely. This is a place of gathered spiritual beauty chosen by an immortal. In time, you may make some progress."

Meng Yuan agreed at once.

In truth, Meng Yuan was in no hurry. He excelled at the Prolonged Battle Method and was best at enduring bitter struggles. In his previous life, he had spent decades wearing away at Chen Yuyin, in bed and out. These few moments made no difference.

After leaving the Immortal Mausoleum, Meng Yuan built another small hut and settled in for a long stay.

Every day, Meng Yuan diligently practiced internal cultivation. In his spare time, he chatted idly with Pei Liuguang and Bai Xingshuang.

Pei Liuguang was lively and restless, innocent and carefree, and Meng Yuan liked seeking her out to play.

A year passed. Bai Xingshuang went out once, brought back some books, and also visited Chen Yuyin.

Another half year passed, and the peach blossoms bloomed again.

Confident that he could get past the Sword Qi Bottle, Meng Yuan sought out Pei Huasheng.

"You're still young. You haven't married or had children. Why take the risk?" Pei Huasheng counseled him.

"You won't let me leave. Who am I supposed to have children with?" Meng Yuan asked with a smile.

"What do you think of Liuguang?" Pei Huasheng smiled kindly. "In the past, most of us from the Three Surnames only came to guard the mausoleum in our forties or fifties. Later, too many people died, and there weren't enough of us, so we began sending the younger ones. But it inevitably delayed their marriages, and even led to that embarrassing affair between Shuang'er and Yucheng..."

Pei Liuguang was lovely in both looks and temperament, better than Chen Yuyin by who knew how much.

"I'd like to take a look inside the Immortal Mausoleum first." But Meng Yuan wanted to see what lay beyond the Bronze Candle Stand before he could agree.

Pei Huasheng nodded. She summoned Pei Liuguang and Bai Xingshuang, gave them a few instructions, then had Pei Liuguang accompany Meng Yuan.

The two entered the Immortal Mausoleum and bickered for a while.

Then Pei Liuguang took out the red bees, lit a torch, and explained in detail how to pass the trial.

Using the red bees to observe the Sword Qi, Pei Liuguang was about to go first when Meng Yuan held her by the shoulder.

"Stay close!" Meng Yuan caught her hand and stepped into the Sword Qi Bottle's range.

He had gone in and out countless times in his previous life. Now, with his internal cultivation accomplished and the route thoroughly familiar, he passed the Sword Qi Bottle in a few quick moves.

"You're amazing! You know the way like you're going home!" Only after landing did Pei Liuguang's eyes widen. She said happily, "Every day I live from now on is a free bonus!"

Seeing Meng Yuan immediately release her hand, she grinned and bumped his shoulder with hers. "You're actually quite a nice person!"

The dim luminescence made the cavern seem all the more deep and shadowy.

The girl's face was already like a peach blossom, and here, in this place, she looked even lovelier when she smiled.

"Let's go, little gentleman!" Pei Liuguang no longer called Meng Yuan little Daoist.

The two entered the passage, and before long, they saw the Bronze Candle Stand again.

The candlestick had stood here for untold years. A little dust had settled on it, and it had witnessed the fall of many members of the Three Surnames.

The two looked at the candlestick without speaking for a long time.

"Just looking is enough." Pei Liuguang cradled her sword. "You're not really planning to test an immortal's methods, are you?"

"Liuguang, thank you for caring about me. If I fall here, be sure to bury me beneath a peach tree. I remember when I first met you, the peach blossoms hadn't opened yet, and you were sitting in the tree. Compared with the peach blossoms, you were..." Meng Yuan had unconsciously slipped into his patter again.

"All right, all right!" Pei Liuguang planted both hands on her hips and grinned. "You always say things that make people happy, but never do anything that makes people happy."

"I've never said anything like that to Chen Yuyin." Meng Yuan was exceedingly thick-skinned.

"That's because she isn't easy to sweet-talk," Pei Liuguang said with a laugh.

After they bantered for a while, Pei Liuguang gave him a few more reminders, and Meng Yuan made to step forward.

Before he could take a step, Pei Liuguang caught his sleeve.

"Little Daoist, people only get one life." Pei Liuguang was no longer grinning. Instead, she was very serious, with even a touch of tenderness.

"Precisely why I cannot spare either day or night." With that, Meng Yuan held the Turning Wheel stone disc in his mind and approached the candlestick step by step.

Soon, he came within fifty paces of the candlestick.

Meng Yuan let nothing distract him, keeping the Hundred-Life Reincarnation in his mind. He saw the wheel turning slowly, as though it had been doing so since time immemorial.

His body felt sluggish, and countless thoughts rose in his mind.

He wanted to sleep with more women, wanted greater wealth, wanted to wield greater power...

He wanted Dayong and his eldest niece to be happy and well, wanted to see Chen Yuyin grit her teeth and endure, wanted to see Pei Liuguang smiling every day...

The thoughts multiplied, until at last only one remained.

This thought spanned three lifetimes and refused to leave Meng Yuan's heart: immortality.

Imperial dominion, beauties who could topple cities-none could compare to living on and enduring forever.

This thought grew stronger and stronger, yet Meng Yuan did not deliberately suppress it. He kept only the Turning Wheel in mind.

Sure enough, Meng Yuan did not succumb. Instead, he advanced step by step.

Heaps of white bones lay beneath his feet, but they could not bar a heart set on advancing.

After an unknown stretch of time, Meng Yuan reached the candlestick, raised his hand, and pressed it onto the flame.

There was no pain in his palm, yet the flame had gone out.

At once, Meng Yuan felt light and relaxed all over. That sluggish sensation had vanished completely.

At the end of his previous life, Meng Yuan had visualized the Turning Wheel and escaped the illusory dream. Now that he had tried it, it had indeed worked!

"If I encounter methods like this again, I'll silently recite the Turning Wheel..." Meng Yuan rubbed his chin and gazed at the candlestick.

"Little Daoist..." Pei Liuguang stared, dumbstruck. This single flame had tormented generations of the Chen, Pei, and Bai families until they hovered between ecstasy and agony, killing countless people. Yet this Daoist outsider had simply snuffed it out.

"Come here." Meng Yuan smiled and beckoned to Pei Liuguang.

After generations of restraint, Pei Liuguang was instinctively afraid. But seeing Meng Yuan unharmed, she still lifted her foot and walked forward, one step at a time.

"It really is fine!" Pei Liuguang reached Meng Yuan's side, grabbed his sleeve, and bounced about like a little deer.

Without saying much more, the two looked together at the stone door behind the candlestick.

Then they reached out at the same time and pushed the stone door open with all their strength.

Within lay deep darkness, like a black serpent with its eyes closed and mouth open, ready to choose someone to devour.

"There are no suns or moons in the mountains. To think guests should arrive."

A faint voice drifted from within, dry, hoarse, and halting, weak and breathless, yet unmistakably male.

The immortal wasn't dead?

Wasn't the Peach Blossom Immortal supposed to be a female Daoist? Why did the voice sound a little like a man's?

Meng Yuan and Pei Liuguang exchanged a glance, both puzzled.

But at this moment, hearing the immortal speak, the two still boldly laid their hands on their sword hilts.