"Ascend to Immortality"

The beggar seemed to be sleeping soundly, yet his expression held some pain.

Since they had to wait for Qin Ying anyway, Li Qingfeng gently nudged the beggar.

"Uncle, wake up... Uncle!"

"Cough, cough..."

The beggar woke with dry, rasping coughs. His cloudy eyes opened, but his expression remained vacant, and he still sat slumped on the ground.

"Uncle, why are you lying here? Are you... from this village?"

Li Qingfeng pointed toward Peach Blossom Hollow nearby.

The beggar slowly turned toward him, his expression still vacant, and simply stared at him.

"Uncle? Do you know what happened in Peach Blossom Hollow?"

"Peach Blossom Hollow..."

The beggar finally spoke, but he kept repeating indistinct words.

"Immortal's Hometown..."

He grew more agitated as he spoke. Pain suddenly twisted his features, contorting his entire filthy face.

He struggled to rise from the ground, slapping his mud-covered hands against the lettering on the stone tablet.

The two stepped back a few paces and exchanged a glance. "A madman?"

At some point, tears had begun streaming from the corners of his eyes. His breathing grew rapid, and he coughed violently.

"Cough, cough..."

Losing his balance, he toppled headfirst.

"Hey!"

Startled, Li Qingfeng hurried forward and probed him with spiritual power.

"Nothing serious. He exhausted himself and fainted."

"Strange..."

Li Qingfeng kept feeling there was something sinister about this. His hands unconsciously went to the "cleaver" at his waist.

A short stretch of road still lay between them and Peach Blossom Hollow. Song Yan looked out over the cultivated fields on either side.

Yet for some reason, these nearby fields had long lain abandoned. Never mind farmers tilling the soil-there was not even anyone cutting grass.

Li Qingfeng suddenly looked up. "Senior Sister Qin is back."

A cold-colored rainbow descended. Without pausing a step, Qin Ying passed straight by the stone tablet at the village entrance and headed toward Peach Blossom Hollow.

"There is nothing unusual in the neighboring villages. Junior Sister Qingqing should be trapped here."

Song Yan and Li Qingfeng followed Qin Ying into the village.

"Huh?"

"..."

Once inside, the three gradually slowed their steps before stopping altogether.

On that spring afternoon, villagers came and went, and the fish market along the river bustled.

It was a picture of thriving village life.

"This..."

Before coming here, Li Qingfeng and Song Yan had braced themselves for all sorts of things.

Rivers of blood, corpses stretching for miles...

They had never imagined that everything in the village would be perfectly normal.

A sweep of Divine Sense revealed nothing unusual about the villagers either. Every one of them was strong and healthy, brimming with Qi and Blood, without any fluctuations of spiritual power.

The villagers walking past them and the fishermen on the bank chatted about everything under the sun, paying no attention to the three unfamiliar faces at the village entrance.

Li Qingfeng frowned and sent Song Yan and Qin Ying a voice transmission.

"Senior Brother, Senior Sister, are there martial instructors in Peach Blossom Hollow?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It would be one thing for the grown men to be strong and healthy, with abundant Qi and Blood..."

Li Qingfeng said, "But why does everyone in Peach Blossom Hollow, old and weak, women and children alike, seem to have such vigorous Qi and Blood...?"

At Li Qingfeng's words, Song Yan nodded. It really was the case.

That was rather strange.

An old man slowly approached the three of them, accompanied by several villagers, both men and women.

"Immortal masters, did you hear about our village's happy occasion and come to share in the good fortune?"

A happy occasion...

A middle-aged man beside him stepped forward and bowed. "My son is getting married tonight. The feast begins a quarter past the hour of the Rooster. Since you are here, why not stay for a cup of wedding wine?"

Qin Ying withdrew her Divine Sense, her brows slightly furrowed. Rather than answering, she asked directly, "Have you seen a female cultivator?"

"A female cultivator?"

The old village head and the middle-aged man looked bewildered. They asked around, whispering among themselves.

Then they shook their heads.

"In answer to the immortal master, we have not..."

"There is, however, a Daoist master from Jiangyun Prefecture who will also be attending the wedding feast, but..."

They looked around but saw no sign of him. "That Daoist master likes wandering about. We have no idea where he has gone now."

Song Yan and Li Qingfeng increasingly felt that the people here were uncanny.

Several young, strong men beside the old village head gazed at Qin Ying's graceful figure, making no attempt to hide the lust in their eyes.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but every villager in Peach Blossom Hollow seemed rather excited when looking at the three of them.

Normally, such small details would have been hard to notice.

But thinking of other villages and towns, what mortal dared not kneel before a cultivator? Who did not address them as exalted immortals?

By comparison, these people truly had "gall enough to swallow the heavens."

"If you three exalted immortals do not mind, why not accompany me to the Jiang Household? Tonight, the Jiang Household's immortal will be attending too!"

An immortal?

Song Yan frowned and glanced sideways, meeting Li Qingfeng's equally suspicious gaze.

Before coming, they had heard nothing of any known Rogue Cultivator stationed here as an Attendant.

"Could it be some charlatan playing at gods and ghosts, some spirit medium or the like?"

In more remote villages, there were plenty of frauds who claimed to commune with spirits or to be immortals descended to earth.

Qin Ying said nothing and started walking.

The two followed behind her as the villagers crowded around enthusiastically, all warmth and hospitality.

"That Jiang lad truly has tremendous good fortune."

"First True Person Jiang discovered his aptitude for immortality and accepted him as a disciple, then peach blossoms of romance fell from heaven, and he met his destined goddess."

"Ah, why don't I have that kind of luck...?"

Li Qingfeng suddenly laughed and gave the speaker beside him a familiar pat on the shoulder. "Some people are just born lucky. No use envying them. Everyone has their own fate; wealth and honor rest with heaven. Wouldn't you say?"

"Ah, that's well said."

"Brother, this True Person Jiang you mentioned... who is he?"

Li Qingfeng chuckled. "I've had enough of tending fires and cooking in that shabby Daoist temple. If you could introduce me and help me latch on to this exalted immortal, it would beat being a lonely ghost haunting the mountains, wouldn't it?"

"Hahahaha! You're an honest fellow, little brother..."

The man laughed heartily and patted Li Qingfeng's fleshy waist and back, looking as though it would be no trouble at all.

"Now, this True Person Jiang is someone truly remarkable."

"Years ago, he went to a Daoist sect in the immortal mountains to seek the Dao and immortality. But that sect had eyes yet could not recognize a pearl. They claimed he had no aptitude for cultivation and actually threw him out."

"Later..."

Once the villagers began talking about this exalted immortal surnamed Jiang, they poured forth an endless stream of strange tales and anecdotes, recounting them as readily as treasures in their own homes.

"This True Person Jiang is that impressive...? Where is he?"

"True Person Jiang usually cultivates in quiet on Incense Burner Peak. He rarely comes down the mountain. You certainly picked the right day to come!"

Incense Burner Peak was a small mountain south of the village.

Qin Ying paid little attention. By now, as they walked, her early Foundation Establishment Divine Sense had already covered nearly half of Peach Blossom Hollow.

There were no fluctuations of spiritual power...

The only thing that could be called strange was the villagers' Qi and Blood, just as Li Qingfeng had said, but even that was not enough to constitute a problem.

The Jiang Household appeared to be a wealthy local family. Its courtyard and buildings looked particularly grand among the earthen walls and tiled roofs of the surrounding homes.

The wedding feast would begin that evening, and everyone in the village with nothing else to do was helping out.

Tables, chairs, and benches were laid out for a lavish feast.

Someone was slaughtering livestock in the open space behind the house. This was probably the bloodiest sight the three had encountered in the village so far.

"Come, come, you three, take a seat over here. I still have some things to attend to. Please rest here a while."

"Erlengzi, what are you wandering around for? Hurry over and look after our guests."

"Oh."

The youth wore coarse hemp clothing with his trouser legs rolled up, his expression somewhat wooden.

He brought over a pot of hot tea and set it before the three.

Seeing Qin Ying sit down, Song Yan and Li Qingfeng, the two outer disciples, sat as well.

Their Foundation Establishment senior had said nothing, so of course they would simply follow her lead.

Song Yan, in particular, had faced the might of a Foundation Establishment cultivator and trusted his senior sister completely.

"Honored guests, this is our Jiang Household's specially made Spirit Tea. Please enjoy."

"Oh?"

Spirit Tea...

Song Yan had never even tasted it in the Dongyuan Sect.

Looking closely, Song Yan found the tea no different from ordinary tea leaves, though it gave off an unusual fragrance.

"True Person Jiang devised the recipe for this Spirit Tea. Drinking it every day calms the mind, brightens the eyes, and improves your aptitude!"

Though the youth was wooden, a sudden eagerness entered his eyes when he mentioned this.

"Every day?"

Li Qingfeng automatically disregarded the mortal's fantastical claim about "improving aptitude."

"Young brother, however fine and wonderful this Spirit Tea may be, drinking too much might keep you awake at night..."

"The village's fields seem untended. What is the reason for drinking tea every day?"

Li Qingfeng could make neither head nor tail of it, while the youth looked even more bewildered.

He seemed to find Li Qingfeng's question very strange.

"Why, naturally, it is to follow True Person Jiang's method, together with everyone in the village..."

The youth's expression and movements were dull and stiff, yet the eyes fixed on the three were bloodshot.

"To shed our mortal shells and ascend to immortality!"

Thank you to readers [wusuizou2004], [Moved by What I See], [gentayer], [120721164051958], [Mystic Sage Break], [Riding Alone Beyond the Dust], [Stroke by Stroke], [A Taoist Wandering the Mortal World], [Apples Pomegranates Plums Lychees Pears], [Lightning Whirlwind Sky-Splitting Frost Slash], [Trees Every Day], and [Su Going All Out] for your monthly tickets! Thank you all for your recommendation votes! Thank you so much!!!