Immortals Really Did Exist in This World

Ignoring the pair's astonishment, Village Chief Du gazed into the distance, as though recalling the past, and continued slowly:

"That time I went to the prefectural capital, I happened to arrive just as the immortals were taking disciples... I heard the old folks there say that the immortals went to the prefectural capital to take disciples about once every few decades. But with dozens of springs and autumns between each time, a person only gets one such span in a lifetime... And it happens all the way off in the prefectural capital, so many people don't know about it...

"I thought it was mighty strange at the time too, but when I came back and told the villagers, nobody believed me. So I stopped mentioning it, and after enough time passed, even I forgot about it... If it weren't for that Lin boy... I might never have remembered it, not even on the day I went into my coffin."

Du Changsheng hurriedly said:

"Pah, pah, pah! Dad, you'll live to be a hundred. What's all this about going into a coffin? Don't talk nonsense."

Madam Hu, standing beside them, said:

"Father, has that Lin boy become an immortal?"

Village Chief Du narrowed his wrinkled eyes and smiled.

"I heard back then that immortals have to cultivate slowly. Perhaps the Lin boy is on the path of cultivation... Oh, right, didn't the Lin boy set something up at the threshing ground the other day and say a sect was recruiting?"

Du Changsheng nodded.

"Yes. We thought he was playing around at the time, and quite a few villagers went over to watch the fun."

Something seemed to occur to Village Chief Du. In high spirits, he brushed his son's hand away and strode ahead with ease.

"Hey! Dad, Dad, slow down-"

After seeing everyone off, Lin Xiao propped up the fallen courtyard gate and set it across the entrance as a screen.

Then he turned and went into Liu Yunan's room.

Inside, Widow Liu and her daughter had already helped the unconscious Liu Yunan onto the bed.

Widow Liu was wiping Liu Yunan's face and changing his clothes, which were soaked through.

Liu Shengsheng, her eyes red and swollen, was heating water in the kitchen next door.

Lin Xiao said to Widow Liu:

"Auntie Liu, let me look after him. You two should hurry and change into clean clothes and have some hot water. It wouldn't do for you to catch a chill."

Widow Liu knew her son was close to Lin Xiao. She also thought that if she fell ill, there would be no one to look after the two children, so she did not refuse.

Her eyes red and swollen, she handed Lin Xiao the cloth in her hand.

"Brother Xiao, sorry for the trouble."

Her voice was thickly nasal. Then she pointed to Liu Yunan's left shoulder and said to Lin Xiao:

"Nan'er was hurt here earlier. It looked terribly swollen to me, and that brute kicked him in the stomach too. He coughed up several mouthfuls of blood..." Widow Liu, always well-read and courteous, called Boss Liu a brute.

Lin Xiao had met Widow Liu, and because there was so much gossip, he also knew roughly what had happened in the Liu family.

Widow Liu was a woman with a scholarly air about her. Even years upon years of daily labor in the village had not buried it.

She had given Liu Yunan and his younger sister Liu Shengsheng their names.

Widow Liu had come to Xiushui Village after a disaster befell her family and separated her from them. Liu Dashu took her in, and she later lodged with an elderly person who had neither spouse nor children. In time, the two fell in love and married.

Because Liu Dashu married her instead of someone from a nearby village whose family and background he knew, he fell out with his family and split from the household.

For that reason, the Old Madam of the Liu Household greatly disliked this daughter-in-law.

She also always thought this daughter-in-law was coquettish and unlike farming folk such as themselves.

So she was very hostile toward her.

Thus, ever since Liu Dashu died, Liu Yunan and Liu Shengsheng had been raised by Widow Liu alone, with what she earned farming and taking on women's work from the town.

The old Liu household had never helped in the slightest. Instead, they came over from time to time to make trouble and take advantage of them.

In his heart, Lin Xiao held as much contempt for Boss Liu's family as he held admiration for the woman who had raised two children on her own.

After Widow Liu left the room, Lin Xiao felt Liu Yunan's injured left shoulder.

As soon as he touched it, he felt how badly swollen it was.

His face grave, Lin Xiao pulled Liu Yunan's clothes aside and looked at his left shoulder.

It looked somewhat misshapen.

The bone was very likely broken!

Lin Xiao felt anxious.

He didn't know how to set bones!

What could he do?

Oh, right!

He suddenly remembered something and hurried out of the room, shouting from the courtyard:

"Auntie Liu! Tuzi may have a broken bone. I'm going to fetch my grandpa to set it!"

With that, he did not bother taking an umbrella, but raced straight into the pouring rain.

Having already reached the Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement, Lin Xiao left afterimages in his wake as he ran.

Before long, he arrived at the Lin Household's old home.

The courtyard gate was locked.

All was quiet inside.

Clearly, the commotion at the Liu home on the east side of the village had not reached the Lin Household's old home on the west side.

Everyone at the old home had already gone to bed early.

Lin Xiao did not want to wake his eldest uncle's family, so rather than call at the gate, he chose to climb the wall.

Climbing the wall of his own grandpa's home probably didn't count as breaking the law... did it?

Old Master Lin and Old Madam Lin lived in the main room.

The door to the main room did not open directly onto the courtyard, but into the central hall.

So to enter the main room, one had to go through the central hall first.

But Lin Xiao knew his grandma always bolted the central hall door before bed, so he had no intention of going through the door.

The night was deep and still, and under the moonless sky, only the patter of rain could be heard.

To let the air circulate, his grandpa generally left the window open.

Like a thief, Lin Xiao crept beneath the window of Old Master Lin and Old Madam Lin's room.

Sure enough.

The window was open.

Lin Xiao gently pushed the half-closed window open, then nimbly climbed through.

No sooner had he gotten inside than Lin Xiao was struck.

By the feel of it, Lin Xiao recognized what had hit him: the pipe his grandpa never went anywhere without.

"Hiss- Grandpa! It's me!" Lin Xiao quickly called out, or they would wake the whole family.

"You brat, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? Have you come here to play thief?" Hearing that it was his youngest grandson, Old Master Lin lowered his voice.

Old Madam Lin, who had not yet fallen into a deep sleep, was also awakened.

"Sanlang? What brought you here at this hour? Did something happen at home?"

Lin Xiao quickly explained:

"No, no. Grandpa, Tuzi's eldest uncle broke his bone. I remembered you saying you knew how to set bones, so I came to get you to help him."

When she heard this, before Old Master Lin could say anything, Old Madam Lin nudged him and said:

"Oh dear, how did that child end up with an eldest uncle like that? Poor thing-hurry, hurry, get dressed and go help!"

By the time Old Master Lin had put on his rain cape, taken the family's medicinal wine and gone outside, he found Lin Xiao still standing by the courtyard gate.

He said urgently:

"What are you standing there in a daze for, child?"

Lin Xiao rubbed his hands together and, without answering, walked up to Old Master Lin. He suddenly bent down and hoisted him onto his back.

"Grandpa, hold on tight!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, he dashed out with his grandpa on his back.