Xiao He

Shiliang Town, the eastern end of Lantern Market Street.

A small tiled-roof house.

Steam rising from the rice mingled with the fragrance spilling from home-cooked dishes, filling the room.

"Brother Ye Sheng, now that you're an immortal, do you still need to eat?"

Sheng Yun ate in little bites, asking with curiosity all over her face.

"What immortal? Don't listen to their nonsense..."

"Besides, even if I really become an immortal someday, your cooking would still satisfy an immortal's appetite, Yun."

"Hehe." At Song Yan's praise, Sheng Yun smiled sweetly.

Before Foundation Establishment, complete Grain Avoidance was impossible.

Thus, the cultivation world also had Spirit Cuisine such as spirit rice and spirit wine, cultivated and prepared through special methods. Eating them could even increase a cultivator's spiritual power a little.

However, those were not things Song Yan could afford, living at the scavenger level of the cultivation world...

Xu Darong asked, "Ye Sheng, how long are you staying this time?"

"Not many days. At most... three."

Sheng Nian said nothing, simply eating his meal.

After the meal, the four of them cleared away the bowls and chopsticks together. Xu Darong had something to attend to at home, so he left early.

The three of them sat on the heated brick bed and chatted.

"Where did those people come from?"

Song Yan asked. Beside him, Sheng Nian shook his head, indicating that he did not know. "But... ever since Tong Chuping died in our town back then, more and more people have been coming to Shiliang Town..."

At the mention of that name, the two exchanged a look, tacitly saying nothing more.

Sheng Yun naturally noticed nothing unusual in their words.

Song Yan continued, "Reaching heaven in a single step... no one would pass up an opportunity like that."

"My talent, with Metal, Wood, and Fire Triple Spirit Roots, is only average in the Dongyuan Sect. Without Cultivation Resources, it's uncertain whether I'll ever enter the Inner Sect in this lifetime."

"If you obtain a Sheyang Sect Disciple Token, you can enter the Inner Sect directly."

"For ordinary people, that truly is reaching heaven in a single step..."

Who did not want to become an immortal?

To live forever, riding clouds and mist.

No matter how extraordinary someone was in the mortal world, even Grandpa, who had been like a living immortal, could not escape the Five Decays of Celestial Person.

They chatted until well after midnight before Song Yan rose and said goodbye.

He left Shiliang Town's market and headed back toward Qingshi Mountain.

Qingshan Thatched Cottage.

Grandpa had liked peace and quiet, so both this green mountain and the thatched cottage stood at the very edge of the town.

The mountain's night breeze left Song Yan shivering a little.

Three sticks of incense were placed in the incense burner before the grave.

"Grandpa, everything's going well for me."

An orphan by the Black Creek River, without father or mother, he had been taken in by Grandpa as a baby and raised by him.

Abandoned infants had not been unusual in those days.

Only twenty years ago had the Chu Kingdom broken free of the turmoil of war. Ordinary people's lives had yet to improve much, and countless families could bear children but could not afford to raise them.

Grandpa had never expected the child to achieve anything in the future. He only hoped he would live safely and happily, with leisure and ease, and so named him Song Yan.

He had originally been an itinerant physician. After building a thatched cottage on the green mountain, he settled in Shiliang Town.

The old man's medical skills had been exceptional. It seemed he could easily cure any difficult or obscure illness, and he was exceedingly kindhearted, often descending the mountain to offer free consultations in town without charging a fee. Coupled with his miraculous medical skill, this naturally earned him widespread renown.

Of course, the frugal life the grandfather and grandson had lived on the mountain back then had no small connection to his frequent free consultations.

Later, Grandpa passed away, and Song Yan had to go to the sect to cultivate. The thatched cottage and herb garden Grandpa had left on Qingshi Mountain could not be sold off quickly, and besides, Grandpa was buried beside the cottage.

He simply entrusted all of it to Uncle Meng to manage.

Song Yan sat by Grandpa's grave, recounting everything about joining the sect and cultivating.

"Sometimes I wonder how someone as remarkable as you, like an immortal descended to earth, could have died of illness..."

"Now it seems that even those so-called 'cultivators,' if they cannot become immortals and attain eternal life, will ultimately be nothing but a handful of yellow earth."

Song Yan sighed softly.

He had diligently studied medicine under Grandpa for ten years, then watched helplessly as the old man died before him.

The mortal world, ordinary people...

Could eternal life truly be attained?

To the north, the green mountain connected to the two lofty peaks of the Great and Little Gushan Mountains.

But Song Yan had not suddenly taken an interest in climbing mountains in the middle of the night.

After walking downhill a short while, he could hear the faint sound of a stream flowing through the mountains in the distance. This place was already near the source of the Black Creek River.

And technically, Song Yan had already left Shiliang.

Normally, no one came here.

After roughly a quarter of an hour, Song Yan followed a faint trail and slowly walked into Wuxi Valley.

The cold mountain wind made Song Yan draw his robes tighter around himself.

Mist filled the valley year-round, leaving it damp and cold. Once night fell, the chill became even more biting.

He had originally been able to see into the distance by the hazy moonlight, but upon entering the valley, he could only rely on the lantern in his hand to make out the nearby terrain.

"Snap..."

Song Yan forcefully pushed aside the damp vines, dead branches, and fallen leaves before him. A thin layer of frost covered the plants, chilling him until he shivered.

The entrance to a hidden mountain cave appeared.

Song Yan stepped inside.

With only the light of this small lantern, Song Yan's field of vision was narrow, but he was not afraid and simply kept walking forward.

Upon entering the cave, the mountain sounds abruptly faded, leaving only the faint dripping of water.

"Drip..."

"Plop..."

Occasionally, drops of water fell into Song Yan's hair.

He stopped.

Suddenly, a cold gust swept in from somewhere unknown. The flame in Song Yan's lantern flickered once, then abruptly went out.

"..."

Everything around him dissolved into darkness in an instant.

"..."

Rustle, rustle.

At some point, Song Yan felt an icy touch beginning at his left foot and gradually spreading upward.

His ankle...

His knee...

The cold, damp, slick and slippery sensation rose from below, winding around Song Yan's waist before climbing onto his shoulders.

Song Yan distinctly felt something press against his neck and rest gently on his shoulder.

Damp and cold.

"Hiss..."

A pair of blue-gold slit-pupiled eyes slowly opened beside his ear. An eerie blue light flowed around them, becoming the only illumination in the darkness.

"Xiao He..."

Song Yan spoke.

"Hiss..."

The owner of those eyes did not speak, only letting out the sort of hiss certain cold-blooded creatures made.

Song Yan sensed something unusual.

The fellow coiled around him seemed to be changing.

The cold, damp sensation against his neck was fading, replaced by the feel of human skin.

A pair of little hands hugged him from behind.

From the darkness came a childish voice affecting indifference.

"What did you come back for...?"

Song Yan could not help laughing.

He took a fire starter from inside his robes and relit the lantern's wick. Now he could just barely make out a little of the cave's interior.

A small wooden bed and a few little stools woven from bamboo strips. That was all.

Song Yan reached behind himself, grabbed the girl by the jumble of clothing around her neck, which was nearly bunched into a ball, and hoisted her up.

"Hey, you..."

"Let go of me! I... I'm a monster! I... believe me, I'll swallow you in one bite!"

Her little fists flailed, hands and feet flying with fierce vigor.

But she was not frightening.

Song Yan set her on the little wooden bed, then sat down on a small bamboo stool himself.

"I've been cultivating in the Dongyuan Immortal Sect for a year or so. Only today could I leave the mountain and make a brief visit home."

"..."

At Song Yan's words, the little girl fell quiet for a while.

But she soon puffed herself up again, folded her arms, and turned her head away.

"Hmph, what's that got to do with me?"

Fuming, she opened her little "blood-gaping maw," revealing a pair of rather sharp little canine teeth.

"Go away! Go away! Once you're gone, this place is my territory! You have no idea how happy I'll be!"

"..."

Song Yan paused.

"Yes, in a couple of days... I'll return to the sect."

The candle flame in the little lantern flickered, as though it might go out at any moment.

"..."

"...Good! Good! That's wonderful!"

"Since no one's keeping me in line anyway, I'll eat everyone who comes up the mountain, one by one, and send them to see Grandpa!"

"That way Grandpa won't be so lonely beneath the Nine Springs! Right?!"

Song Yan paid no attention to the little girl's shocking threats.

"Once I leave this time... I won't be coming back for quite a while."

Xiao He turned her head away without a sound.

But tears were already welling in her eyes. Her little mouth held them back for a long while, but in the end, she could not contain herself.

"..."

"Waaah!!!"

Aggrieved tears and snot flew across her little chubby face.

"I'm never talking to you again! You do this every time!!!"

"Boohoohoo..."

"Why... waaah..."

Snake Treasure's wailing filled the cave.

"I haven't finished yet. What's the rush?"

A sly smile suddenly appeared on Song Yan's silent face. "What do you mean, every time? This time is different."

"Xiao He..."

"Huh?"

The little girl stopped wailing.

Only her little nose kept sniffling.

"..."

"Come with me."

"..."

Snake Treasure's little eyes looked at him with a hint of suspicion.

"Really?"

Song Yan nodded.

Sniff.

"...All right, then."

With a thump, Xiao He buried her little chubby face in the front of Song Yan's robes, smearing him all over with tears and snot.

"Hehe."