Stealing Immortal

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Breakthrough

Today was the fourth day of Liu Tao’s seclusion. Chen Qingyang had been counting the days, figuring she should have reached some outcome by now.

When he got up this morning, the sun was already high in the sky. The three youths in the small house across the way were gathered again, cooking breakfast.

Compared to when they first arrived, they were now much more organized. Of course, the main driving force was still Zhang Ping, the youth who claimed to be from a farming family. He had the most practical experience.

Gradually, the three of them discovered that Chen Qingyang wasn’t as fearsome as the rumors suggested. On the contrary, they could sometimes sense a hint of warmth beneath his cold exterior.

This was especially true for the newcomer Lin Qingxuan. After Chen Qingyang taught him a few tricks at the Hongling Token post yesterday, his hands gradually steadied. By toiling from morning till night, he could now finish all his daily tasks.

They had started exchanging greetings and making conversation.

Just as Chen Qingyang was getting ready, the other three prepared to head out. Only Zhang Ping remained, and he was now standing at Chen Qingyang’s door.

”Senior Brother Chen, are you in a hurry this morning?”

Hearing the voice outside, Chen Qingyang pulled the door open. ”What is it? Aren’t you in a hurry to get to work?”

Zhang Ping smiled. ”To be honest, Senior Brother Chen, I did this kind of hard labor back home, and I’m still doing it here in the Immortal Sect. I’ve got plenty of strength. Even if I start a little late, I can still get it all done.”

Chen Qingyang keenly sensed that his tone carried a hint of confusion and resentment toward the Immortal Sect.

”Go on, what’s on your mind?”

”I wanted to ask you, Senior Brother Chen, will the Sect teach us Immortal Techniques after three months? I also heard that not everyone can learn them. If... if you can’t learn, will you eventually be kicked off the mountain?”

He was referring to the rule: ”Those who fail to advance by sixty are not kept.”

Beneath his reserved expression was a barely perceptible sadness. Chen Qingyang naturally figured the boy no longer wanted to stay.

”That’s right. It is.”

”SIGH!” That one sentence seemed to deflate the last bit of air the boy was holding, and a sigh escaped him. ”Actually, I’ve been through the Immortal Sect’s entrance exam twice. The first time, they locked us in a room, gave us a passage from a technique, and waited to see who could sense the Qi Mechanism first. I had no idea what a Qi Mechanism was. Anyway, I was stuck in there for three days and three nights, so hungry I was dizzy. In the end, I was thrown out.”

That passage was from the Tai Xu Energy-Introducing Technique.

Chen Qingyang had never seen it, but he had heard of it.

The Sect would gather all the youths who aspired to Immortal Cultivation. After reciting a passage from a technique, it was all up to individual ability. Those who could immediately sense the Qi Mechanism were considered to have excellent talent and would be accepted as Disciples directly, or sent to serve as Miscellaneous Task disciples on important peaks. There were even some who broke through to the First Realm of Qi Refining on the spot—Li Qianxue was one of them.

Seeing that Chen Qingyang wasn’t responding, Zhang Ping continued, ”The second exam just checked to see if our frames were sturdy, if we were hard workers, and if we still had the desire for Immortal Cultivation. And just like that, I was in.”

”So...” Chen Qingyang hesitated for a moment. ”You want to go back now?”

Zhang Ping didn’t hide it. ”That’s right,” he said directly. ”There was a flood in my village this year. They said some Flood Dragon was causing trouble. My parents were buried under the mud, and I was the only one left alive. There wasn’t a single grain of rice left in the house. I came here because I wanted to live. But I’ve thought it through now. I wasn’t fated for this life, so I shouldn’t be wasting time trying to fit in where I don’t belong!”

The wisest move in life is the clarity that comes from letting go of obsession. Clearly, the youth before him was experiencing just that.

Seeing the boy, Chen Qingyang was reminded of himself, and he felt a stir of compassion. ”How old are you?”

”Fifteen.”

”You’re so sturdily built for a fifteen-year-old. If it weren’t for the disaster, you could have learned a trade, or taken up farming and hunting. You would have had a decent life in your village. But what will you do if you go back now?”

The boy seemed to have already made up his mind. ”I haven’t had much schooling, so passing the civil exams is out of the question. I’ll join the army. Maybe I can even earn myself a house and some land!”

’With no one to rely on, it’s a near-certain death sentence. It would be incredibly difficult.’

Chen Qingyang shook his head. ”How about you hear me out?”

The boy stood up and gave a solemn, cupped-fist salute. Though his movements lacked the elegance of Li Sheng’s, they showed a sincere earnestness. ”I’m listening.”

”You’re only fifteen, and you’d be returning during a year of disaster. Joining the army isn’t necessarily a good path either. Since you’re already here, you might as well stick it out for five years. Wait until you come of age, then you can leave the mountain. In the meantime, you can learn things that will be useful to you later on.”

After thinking it over, the boy voiced his concern. ”Senior Brother, I heard the Sect punishes disciples who try to flee. At least twenty strokes with a heavy plank for the first offense, and they might even beat you to death for a second. Is that true?”

Chen Qingyang said, ”What does it matter if it’s true or not? If you’re determined to leave the mountain, then you must be prepared for the consequences of being dragged back.”

In the past, anyone who made it up the mountain showed a fanatical devotion to Immortal Cultivation. Almost no one was ever willing to leave, especially after witnessing the grandeur of the Immortal Sect firsthand.

Zhang Ping was an exception.

He bowed again. ”I understand. Thank you, Senior Brother Chen.”

’Whether he takes the advice to heart is his own business. Even if he tries to escape and ends up beaten to death on the path, that’s his own affair.’ ”Mm,” Chen Qingyang grunted.

Just as he finished speaking and was about to head to work, he heard the sound of giggling from the courtyard.

Chen Qingyang glanced over. A woman had appeared in the courtyard at some point, having seemingly floated down from above.

Dressed in pink robes, her presence in the frozen landscape was like a warm spring breeze, evoking images of bright peach blossoms and chirping songbirds on a spring day.

She looked to be about sixteen, with a playful and endearing expression. Her long hair was gathered up and pinned with a bright green jade hairpin. With her rosy cheeks, her smile was truly like a blooming flower.

Liu... Tao!

There was no need to ask. She had broken through.

”Senior Sister, you’re out of seclusion?”

He hadn’t seen her for four days, and Chen Qingyang had started to worry.

’After all, she was a crucial link on his path to Cyan Bamboo Peak.’

When the young Zhang Ping saw the girl, he assumed she was like him—a new arrival to the Immortal Sect. But when he heard Chen Qingyang call her ’Senior Sister,’ he instantly understood. This was one of the Immortals!

’So Immortal Cultivation really can make people live forever.’

After breaking through a bottleneck that had held her back for two hundred years, Liu Tao was naturally ecstatic, especially upon seeing Chen Qingyang. ”Junior Brother! Take a look! Isn’t this a huge change?”

Knowing her personality, Chen Qingyang naturally played along. ”Huge. It’s a huge change. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Covering her mouth, Liu Tao giggled. The sound had been somewhat jarring coming from her old woman persona, but now it was perfectly charming. ”Hmph, you old rascal. You’ve learned how to sweet-talk.”

”How did you find me here, Senior Sister?”

’The mountainside is huge, and there are so many Miscellaneous Task disciples.’

”It seems you underestimate the abilities of the Essence Condensation Realm. I could have just asked any Steward, and they would have had to tell me where you are.”

As she spoke, she glanced at the boy standing nearby. ”Look around. This mountainside is full of fifteen and sixteen-year-old boys. You, an old man, really stick out like a sore thumb here. Haha...”

Pleased with herself, she went back to teasing Chen Qingyang. It was her favorite pastime.

Chen Qingyang glanced at Zhang Ping, who was standing beside them lost in thought. ”You should head to work.”

Zhang Ping turned. ”Yes, Senior Brother Chen. Goodbye to you too, Senior Sister.”

...

After he left, only the two of them remained in the courtyard. Liu Tao glanced around, quickly losing interest. ”...The only decent thing here is this locust tree. Come on, hurry up and follow me up the mountain!”

Without giving Chen Qingyang a chance to object, she summoned a gust of wind that swept him, the old Miscellaneous Task disciple, up into the air.

A moment later, they landed at the Golden Peak Pill Institute.

Chen Qingyang had been tossed about the entire way. It was bad enough that his body was out of his control, but his feet couldn’t even find purchase on solid ground. It was an awful feeling. ’I hope that never happens again.’

”Senior Sister, I could have walked up here myself, you know?”

Liu Tao waved a hand dismissively. ”It’s fine. You’re just too slow, and I’m too impatient. I can’t stand waiting even for a quarter of an hour. I’ll take you to the Pill Institute’s steward office for Miscellaneous Task disciples now and get your status registered. That way, you won’t have to run back and forth anymore.”

Not having to go to the Hongling Token post anymore meant more time for cultivation or alchemy. ’Then again,’ he thought, ’my current cultivation wasn’t achieved step-by-step anyway. Time isn’t that important to me.’ ”Thank you, Senior Sister.”

They walked to the far end of the Pill Institute and finally came to a slightly larger hall. Two enormous, eye-catching pill furnaces of a brilliant gold color flanked the entrance.

”The Pill Institute isn’t very big. This is the main hall, where the administration is handled.” Liu Tao pushed the door open and led Chen Qingyang inside. The few people there all recognized her and immediately called out greetings.

”Liu... Senior Sister Liu, you’ve broken through?”

Becoming so young was the tell-tale sign of a cultivation breakthrough.

’I don’t know if they remember me, but I remember one of them. The first time I met Liu Tao, he was the one who jeered that she was an old crone. Now he’s being so deferential.’

And just like that, Chen Qingyang went from being a Miscellaneous Task disciple at the mountainside Hongling Token post to one at the Pill Institute. He no longer needed to report for labor.

「Back in the Alchemy Room」

Chen Qingyang asked about the matter that was foremost on his mind. ”When do you think you can become a Chief Steward, Senior Sister?”

Liu Tao, of course, knew what he was so anxious about. ”Tomorrow, I’ll get the Pill Institute Token for you. Then you’ll be able to enter and leave the Cloud Scripture Jade Pavilion as you please.”

’The Four Golden Peaks don’t seem to manage access very strictly. Last time I went in, they just questioned me briefly and didn’t even ask if I was an official Outer Disciple. So this time, could I get more than just pill formulas? Could I get something else?’

’Like the rest of the One-Origin Sword technique.’

”Thank you, Senior Sister. Also, about Qi Xiuyuan... could you ask around about him as well?”

True to her nature, Liu Tao found the topic to be a bit of a buzzkill and immediately grew annoyed. ”I was in a good mood! Why bring him up...? Don’t worry. I have to go pay my respects to Master now that I’ve broken through. I’ll ask about him then.”

”Good.”

After that, he naturally fired up a furnace, refining three elixirs by noon.

He gave two to Liu Tao. ”You can keep these two elixirs to stabilize your new cultivation, Senior Sister. I’ll take the other one back. We’ll keep splitting them fifty-fifty from now on.”

Liu Tao nodded lightly. ”Alright.”

”Well then, Senior Sister, I’ll be heading down the mountain.”

But Liu Tao just smiled playfully. ”What are you going down the mountain for? You’re not a Miscellaneous Task disciple there anymore. You think I can’t find a place for you to stay here?”

Chen Qingyang immediately shook his head. ”You misunderstand, Senior Sister. If a Miscellaneous Task disciple like me stays overnight in the Alchemy Room, it will surely cause trouble. You’ve just broken through; who knows if anyone is watching you now. I’m worried it would be bad for your reputation.”

Liu Tao gave a light wave of her hand. ”Fine, have it your way.”