Chapter 9: Xiao He
Shiliang Town, east entrance of Lantern Market Street. A small tile house.
Steam from cooking rice, mixed with the fragrance of home-cooked dishes, filled the room.
“Brother Yesheng, now that you have become an immortal, do you still need to eat?”
Sheng Yun asked with her face full of curiosity, taking small bites of her food.
“What kind of immortal? Don’t listen to their nonsense…”
“Besides, even if I truly become an immortal in the future, Ah Yun’s cooking skills can still satisfy an immortal’s appetite.”
“Hehe.” Facing Song Yan’s compliment, Sheng Yun smiled sweetly.
Before Foundation Establishment, one could not completely achieve fasting.
Therefore, in the cultivation world, there were also spirit rice, spirit wine, and other spirit foods cultivated and made using special methods. Cultivators who consumed them could even slightly increase their spiritual energy.
However, that was not something someone with Song Yan’s level of scrap-collecting lifestyle in the cultivation world could afford…
Xu Darong asked, “Yesheng, how long will you stay this time?”
“Only a few days at most, perhaps three days.”
Sheng Nian said nothing and simply continued eating.
After the meal, the four of them cleaned up the dishes and utensils. Xu Darong had matters to attend to at home and left early.
The three of them sat on the heated brick bed and chatted.
“Where did those people come from?”
Song Yan asked. Sheng Nian beside him shook his head, indicating he did not know. “However, ever since Tong Chuping died in our town back then, more and more people have been coming to Shiliang Town…”
Hearing this name, the two exchanged a glance and tacitly said nothing more.
Sheng Yun naturally could not sense the oddity in their words.
Song Yan continued, “Rise to the heavens in a single step… no one would let go of such an opportunity.”
“With my aptitude of metal, wood, and fire triple spirit roots, I am only of average talent in the Eastern Abyss Sect. Without cultivation resources, it is uncertain whether I can step into the inner sect in this lifetime.”
“If one can obtain the Shaiyang Sect disciple token, one can enter the inner sect directly.”
“For ordinary people, it truly is rising to the heavens in a single step…”
Who would not want to become immortal?
Longevity and eternal youth, riding the clouds and mist.
No matter how remarkable the mortal world, even a grandfather like a living immortal could not escape the five decayings of heaven and man.
Late into the night, Song Yan stood up and took his leave.
Walking out of Shiliang Town’s market, he made his way back toward Green Stone Mountain.
Green Mountain, thatched cottage.
Grandfather loved tranquility, so whether it was this Green Mountain or this thatched cottage, they were located at the very edge of the small town.
The evening mountain wind made Song Yan shiver.
Three sticks of incense were placed into the incense burner before the grave.
“Grandfather, I am doing well.”
An orphan by the Wuxi River, with no father or mother, he had been picked up by his grandfather and raised since childhood.
Abandoned infants were not uncommon in that era.
The State of Chu had only emerged from the turmoil of war and chaos twenty years ago. The lives of ordinary people had not yet improved, and there were countless families who could give birth to children but could not afford to raise them.
Grandfather had not expected this child to achieve anything great in the future; he only wished for him to be safe and happy, with leisure and contentment. Thus he named him Song Yan.
He had been an itinerant physician. After building a thatched cottage on Green Mountain, he settled in Shiliang Town.
The old man’s medical skills were superb. It seemed that no difficult or complicated ailment could resist his touch, and he recovered them all with ease. Moreover, he had a kind heart and often went down the mountain to the town to provide free medical consultations, charging no fees. Combined with his miraculous medical abilities, his reputation naturally spread far and wide.
Of course, back then the grandfather and grandson lived frugally on the mountain, which was also closely related to his frequent free consultations.
After Grandfather passed away, Song Yan had to go to the sect to cultivate. The thatched cottage and herb garden left by Grandfather on Green Stone Mountain could not be sold quickly, and besides, Grandfather was buried beside the cottage.
He simply left everything to Uncle Meng to manage.
Song Yan sat on Grandfather’s grave and recounted everything about entering the sect to cultivate.
“Sometimes I think, someone as remarkable as you, like an immortal descended to the mortal realm, how could you have died of illness…”
“Now it seems that even those so-called ‘cultivators,’ if they cannot become immortals and attain longevity, are ultimately nothing but a handful of earth.”
Song Yan sighed softly.
Following Grandfather, he had diligently studied medicine for ten years, only to watch helplessly as the old man died before his eyes.
Mortal men and women in the mundane world…
Could they truly attain longevity?
…
To the north of Green Mountain lay two towering peaks, Great Solitary Mountain and Small Solitary Mountain.
But Song Yan had not suddenly developed any mountain-climbing enthusiasm in the middle of the night.
After descending the mountain for a short while, one could hear the faint sound of a stream flowing through the mountains in the distance. This area was already near the source of the Wuxi River.
And where Song Yan was now, in theory, was already outside of Shiliang.
Ordinary people would never come here.
After about a quarter of an hour, Song Yan followed a faint path and slowly walked into Wuxi Valley.
The cold mountain wind made Song Yan tighten his robes.
The valley was shrouded in mist year round, damp and cold. At night, the chill became even more piercing.
Originally, he could still see far with the hazy moonlight, but once he entered the valley, he could only rely on the lantern in his hand to see the nearby terrain.
“Snap…”
Song Yan pushed aside the damp vines, dead branches, and withered leaves before him. These plants were covered with a thin layer of cold frost, freezing him until he shivered.
A hidden cave entrance appeared.
Song Yan stepped inside.
With only the dim light of the small lantern, Song Yan’s vision was very limited, but he was not afraid, simply continuing to walk forward.
Upon entering the cave, the sounds of the mountains abruptly vanished, leaving only a few faint dripping water sounds.
“Drip…”
“Thud…”
Occasionally, water droplets fell, landing in Song Yan’s hair.
He stopped his footsteps.
Suddenly, a gust of cold wind swept in from somewhere. The flame in Song Yan’s lantern flickered for an instant, then abruptly went out.
“…”
Everything around him instantly melted into darkness.
“…”
Rustling sounds.
At some moment, Song Yan felt a cold touch gradually creeping upward from his left foot. His ankle…
His knees…
This cold, damp, slimy, and smooth sensation wound its way upward from below, coiling around Song Yan’s waist, then climbing up to his shoulders.
Song Yan clearly felt something pressing against his neck, lightly resting on his shoulder.
Damp. Cold.
“Hiss…”
A pair of blue-gold vertical pupils slowly opened beside his ears. A strange blue glow flowed around the eyes, becoming the only light in this darkness.
“Xiao He…”
Song Yan spoke.
“Hiss…”
The owner of these eyes did not speak, only producing the hissing sound that cold-blooded creatures make.
Song Yan felt something strange.
This creature coiled around him seemed to be undergoing a transformation.
The cold, wet sensation on his neck was fading, replaced by the touch of human skin.
A pair of small arms embraced him from behind.
In the darkness came a young but deliberately cold voice.
“What are you coming back for…”
Song Yan couldn’t help but smile.
He took a fire starter from his chest and relit the lamp wick inside the lantern. Now, the inside of the cave could be vaguely seen.
A small wooden bed, a few small stools woven from bamboo strips, and nothing more.
Song Yan reached behind and grabbed the tangled mess of clothes balled up around the little girl’s neck, lifting her up.
“Hey, you…”
“Let me go! I… I am a monster! I… believe it or not, I will eat you in one bite!”
A pair of small fists waved about, arms and legs flailing with vigor.
But it was not frightening.
Song Yan placed her on the small wooden bed and sat down on a small bamboo stool.
“I have been cultivating at the Dongyuan Immortal Sect for a year and a half. Today I was finally able to come down the mountain and return home temporarily to look around.”
“…”
Hearing Song Yan speak, the little girl was quiet for a while.
But soon she gathered her courage again, crossed her arms, and turned her head away.
“Hmph, what does that have to do with me!”
She opened her “big bloody mouth” in a huff, revealing a pair of rather sharp little tiger teeth.
“Go away quickly! Go away! Once you leave, this place is mine! How delightful that will be!”
“…”
Song Yan paused for a moment.
“Mmm, in two days… I will return to the sect.”
The candle flame in the small lantern flickered, as if it might go out at any moment.
“…”
“Good! Good! That is really good!”
“Since no one is looking after me anyway, I will eat every last one of those people climbing the mountain and send them to see Grandfather!”
“That way, Grandfather won’t be so lonely in the underworld! Right!?”
But Song Yan paid no attention to the little girl’s outrageous threat.
“This time… once I leave, I won’t be back for a while.”
Xiao He turned her head away without saying a word.
But tears were already swirling in her eyes. Her little mouth held back for a long time, but ultimately could not hold back.
“…”
“Wah!!!”
Grievous tears and snot flew across her chubby little face.
“I will never talk to you again! You are always like this!!!”
“Boohoo…”
“What are you crying for… waaa…”
The cave echoed with the snake child’s wailing cries.
“I haven’t even finished speaking, what is the rush?”
On Song Yan’s silent face, a sly smile suddenly appeared. “What do you mean always like this? This time is different.”
“Xiao He…”
“Huh?”
The little girl’s wailing cries stopped.
Only her little nose was still sniffling.
“…”
“Come with me.”
“…”
The snake child’s little eyes regarded him with a hint of suspicion.
“Really?”
Song Yan nodded.
Sniffle.
“…”
“Alright then.”
Xiao He thunked her chubby little face into Song Yan’s chest, getting tears and snot all over her.
“Hehe.”