Chapter 45: Ascending to Immortality
The beggar appeared to be sound asleep, yet his expression carried a trace of pain.
They still needed to wait for Qin Ying, so Li Qingfeng gently nudged the beggar.
“Uncle, wake up… Uncle!”
“Cough cough…”
The beggar woke up, issuing dry coughs from his mouth. His cloudy eyes opened, yet his gaze remained vacant as he continued to slump on the ground.
“Uncle, why are you lying here? Are you… a villager?”
Li Qingfeng pointed toward Peach Blossom Dock in the distance.
The beggar slowly turned toward him, his expression still vacant, staring at him just like that.
“Uncle? Do you know what happened in Peach Blossom Dock?”
“Peach Blossom Dock…”
The beggar finally spoke, yet his mouth kept repeating mumbled, incoherent words.
“Immortal’s village…”
He grew more agitated as he spoke. His brows and expression suddenly twisted in pain, his entire filthy face scrunching together.
He struggled to climb up from the ground, his mud-covered hands slapping against the characters on the stone tablet.
The two of them took several steps back, exchanging a glance. “A madman?”
At some point, tears began streaming endlessly from the corners of his eyes. His breathing grew rapid, and he coughed violently.
“Cough cough…”
He lost his balance and collapsed forward.
“Hey!”
Li Qingfeng was startled and quickly stepped forward, probing with spiritual energy.
“Nothing serious. He exhausted himself and fainted.”
“Strange…”
Li Qingfeng felt something sinister about this matter. His hands instinctively touched the “cleaver” at his waist.
From here to Peach Blossom Dock, there was still a short stretch of road leading into the village. Song Yan looked ahead and saw farmland on both sides of the path.
Yet for some reason, these nearby fields had long been left fallow. Not to mention farmers tending the crops, there was not even a silhouette of someone cutting grass.
Li Qingfeng suddenly looked up. “Senior Sister Qin has returned.”
A cold-colored rainbow descended. Qin Ying did not stop for a step, passing straight through the stone tablet at the village entrance and heading toward Peach Blossom Dock.
“The nearby villages all show no abnormalities. Junior Sister Qingqing must be trapped here.”
Song Yan and Li Qingfeng followed Qin Ying as they walked into the village entrance.
“Hm?”
“…”
Stepping into the village, the three of them gradually slowed their pace, then came to a halt.
On a spring afternoon, the villagers moved about freely. The fish market along the river was quite lively.
A countryside scene brimming with vitality.
“This…”
Before coming here, Li Qingfeng and Song Yan had already prepared themselves mentally for many things.
Rivers of blood, corpses stretching for miles…
They had never imagined that everything in this village would appear completely normal.
They released their divine sense to scan the area. These villagers showed no abnormalities whatsoever. Every one of them was robust and strong, their vital energy full and vibrant, without any fluctuations of spiritual energy.
The villagers who walked past them and the fishermen along the shore chatted casually, paying no attention to the three strangers at the village entrance.
Li Qingfeng frowned and transmitted his voice to Song Yan and Qin Ying.
“Senior Brother, Senior Sister, does Peach Blossom Dock have martial arts instructors?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s one thing for adult men to be strong and robust with full vital energy…”
Li Qingfeng said, “But how is it that everyone in Peach Blossom Dock, from the elderly to the weak to the women and children, all appear to have such vigorous vital energy…”
As Li Qingfeng spoke, Song Yan nodded. It truly was so.
This was rather peculiar.
In the village, an elderly man walked slowly toward the three of them. Following beside him were several villagers, both men and women.
“Honored immortals, have you come upon hearing of the joyful occasion in our village, to share in the celebration?”
Joyful occasion…
A middle-aged man beside him stepped forward and bowed. “My son takes a bride tonight. The banquet begins at the hour of the Rooster. Since you have come, why not stay and share a cup of celebratory wine?”
Qin Ying withdrew her divine sense, her brows slightly furrowed. She did not respond to his words and directly asked, “Have any of you seen a female cultivator?”
“Female cultivator?”
The old village chief and the middle-aged man exchanged confused looks, asking around and whispering among themselves.
Then they shook their heads.
“In reply to the honored immortal, we have not seen one…”
“There is however a Daoist lord from Jiangyun Prefecture who also plans to attend the wedding feast, but…”
They looked around but could not find the person. “This Daoist lord likes to wander about. At this moment, who knows where he has run off to.”
Song Yan and Li Qingfeng felt increasingly that the people of this place were bizarre.
Several young, vigorous men beside the old village chief gazed at Qin Ying’s graceful figure, the lustful gleam in their eyes completely unrestrained.
Whether it was their imagination or not, every villager in Peach Blossom Dock who looked at the three of them carried a hint of excited anticipation.
Such subtle details might ordinarily be difficult to notice. But compared to other villages and towns where mortals would kneel and kowtow upon seeing cultivators, calling them “honored immortals”… in contrast, the people before them were truly “audacious beyond measure.”
“If the three honored immortals do not disdain our humble home, why not accompany me to the Jiang residence? Tonight, that immortal of the Jiang family will also attend!”
Immortal?
Song Yan frowned and glanced sideways,just then, catching Li Qingfeng’s suspicious gaze.
Before coming here, they had not heard that any renowned or named rogue cultivator or offerings were stationed nearby.
“Is this some kind of fraudulent great immortal or shaman who claims to commune with spirits?”
In some remote villages, such charlatans who proclaimed themselves to have spiritual connections or to be immortals descended from heaven were quite common.
Qin Ying said nothing and strode forward.
The two of them followed behind as the villagers enthusiastically crowded around, putting on a display of warm hospitality.
“That young master of the Jiang family truly has remarkable fortune.”
“Not only did Immortal Jiang verify that he possessed immortal qualities and accept him as a disciple, but peach blossoms also fell from the sky, and he met his destined celestial maiden.”
“Sigh, why don’t I have such fortune…”
Li Qingfeng suddenly laughed and familiarly patted the shoulder of the person speaking beside him, putting on an air of camaraderie. “Some people are simply born lucky. We shouldn’t be envious. Everyone has their own fate, and wealth is determined by heaven, wouldn’t you say?”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
“Brother, I couldn’t help but overhear you mention Immortal Jiang… who might that be?”
Li Qingfeng chuckled slyly. “I’ve been cooking over that broken Daoist temple for so long I can’t stand it anymore. If someone could introduce me, help me get in with this honored immortal, it would be better than being a lonely ghost haunting the mountains, wouldn’t you say?”
“Hahahaha, brother, you’re a straightforward fellow…”
The man laughed heartily and slapped Li Qingfeng’s fleshy waist and back, wearing an expression that said “easy enough, easy enough.”
“Speaking of this Immortal Jiang, he is truly remarkable.”
“In the past, he went to the immortal mountains and Daoist sects, seeking the Dao and pursuing immortality. But that sect was blind to his potential, claiming he had no aptitude for cultivation, and actually expelled him.”
“Later…”
When it came to this Immortal surnamed Jiang, the villagers talked endlessly, recounting every strange tale and anecdote as if they were treasures.
“This Immortal Jiang is that formidable… Where is he?”
“Immortal Jiang usually meditates and cultivates at Incense Burner Peak. He rarely descends the mountain. Today, you honored ones have truly come at the right time!”
Incense Burner Peak was located to the south of the village, a small hill.
Qin Ying did not pay much mind, but having walked all this way, her divine sense at the early Foundation Establishment stage had already covered most of Peach Blossom Dock.
There were no spiritual energy fluctuations whatsoever…
The only thing that could be called peculiar was what Li Qingfeng had mentioned—the villagers’ vital energy. Yet it did not reach the level of being problematic.
The Jiang residence appeared to be a prominent household in the countryside. Its courtyards and halls stood out prominently among the surrounding mud-brick and tile-roofed commoner homes.
The wedding banquet was to begin in the evening, and at this moment, everyone in the village who had nothing to do was helping out.
Tables and chairs were set up for the grand feast.
Behind the house in an open area, someone was slaughtering livestock. This was probably the bloodiest scene the three of them had witnessed in this village so far.
“Come, come, come. The three of you, please sit here for now. I still have some matters to attend to. Please rest here a moment.”
“Er Lengzi, what are you dawdling for? Come quickly and attend to our guests.”
“Oh.”
The youth wore coarse hemp clothing with his trouser legs rolled up, his expression somewhat vacant.
He brought a pot of hot tea and set it before the three of them.
Song Yan and Li Qingfeng, as outer disciples, saw that Qin Ying had taken a seat, so they sat down together.
Their Foundation Establishment senior had not spoken, so of course they simply followed along.
This was especially true for Song Yan, who had personally faced the might of a Foundation Establishment powerhouse. He placed complete trust in his senior sister.
“Guests, this is our Jiang family’s specially prepared spirit tea. Please enjoy.”
“Oh?”
Spirit tea…
Song Yan had never even tasted such a thing at the Dongyuan Sect.
Song Yan examined it carefully. The tea looked identical to ordinary tea leaves, yet it carried a strange fragrance when smelled.
“Immortal Jiang developed the formula for this spirit tea. Drinking it daily can calm the mind, brighten the eyes, and enhance one’s aptitude!”
Though the youth appeared vacant, when he spoke of this, the look in his eyes suddenly became fervent.
“Drinking it daily?”
Li Qingfeng automatically disregarded the mortal’s claim about “enhancing aptitude” as sheer fantasy.
“Brother, no matter how wonderful this spirit tea is, drinking too much of it would make it hard to sleep at night…”
“The agricultural work in the village seems neglected. What is the reasoning behind drinking this tea every day?”
Li Qingfeng scratched his head in bewilderment, and the youth looked equally baffled.
He seemed to find Li Qingfeng’s question very strange.
“Of course, it is to follow Immortal Jiang’s method, together with all the fellow villagers in the village…”
The youth’s expressions and movements were sluggish and stiff, yet the eyes that stared at the three of them were shot through with bloodshot veins.
“To ascend and become immortals!”