[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-eternal-green-immortal-sovereign":3,"chapter-eternal-green-immortal-sovereign-eternal-green-immortal-sovereign-chapter-6":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Eternal Green Immortal Sovereign",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2270014,4432,"Chapter 6: Zhu Family","eternal-green-immortal-sovereign-chapter-6",6,"\u003Cp>Say it again: killing is easy; the hard part is killing without a sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui had lived too long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once a person is bored, they do all sorts of things—including chemical experiments. As a man from the modern world, extracting ricin was simple for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With master and disciples living in close quarters, poisoning was even easier. He knew Ma Yang’s habits so well he wasn’t even worried about accidentally harming Wang Zhao.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Yang wanted to kill him, so he had no choice but to kill Ma Yang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Blame it on bad luck.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deep night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smoke curled through Li Rui’s room, steam rising.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lay in a large wooden tub filled with hot water, squinting, leaning back comfortably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Herbs are expensive, but nothing else is wrong with them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cells deep within his body, once dried by the passage of years, became plump and vibrant again; his dull, shriveled skin even regained a luster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His martial bones acted like an endless engine, squeezing every drop of medicinal power, his strength growing at a visible rate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Martial training was not unlike fitness in his past life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both emphasized three parts training, seven parts nourishment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That “nourishment” wasn’t just daily food—it included medicinal tonics too. But herb prices in the city kept rising, forcing Li Rui to risk the black market. Fortunately, this trip’s haul would last a month—worth it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Days passed one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The brutality of his martial bones grew ever more apparent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had it not been for his loose outer robes, who would have guessed that a seventy-year-old man like Li Rui had developed a body of hard muscle?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui hunched his back, hands clasped behind him as he ambled toward the kitchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He greeted everyone familiarly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Frankly, he had watched every person in this household grow up—he understood the Zhu family better than even its master, Zhu Ping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, Old Li.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Li Rui walked, he heard Yang Yong’s voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong sized him up, clicking his tongue: “Old Li, tell me the truth—did you steal some ginseng?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What the hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since Old Li started training, he’d gotten younger and younger. A man over seventy looked more energetic than this sixty-year-old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Zhu household, rumors spread that Old Li had eaten the peach of immortality from the God of Longevity and would live to ninety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unbelievable. The turtle in the Zhu family pond was barely eighty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Li Rui ignore him, Yang Yong hurried two steps forward: “Old Li, if you’ve got a secret recipe, share it with your brother, huh?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A woman’s face, a man’s kidneys.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At his age, even if he went to the brothels, and a woman stripped naked and lay in bed, he’d just stare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He counted on Li Rui for some potent rejuvenation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui glanced at Yang Yong: “You know that old turtle in the Zhu pond? Boil it—guaranteed to reverse aging.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong immediately hesitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Zhu’s master found out he’d stolen the turtle, he’d be beaten to death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not worth it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Yang Yong seriously considering it, Li Rui laughed in annoyance and kicked him: “You’re always thinking about what’s between your legs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong chuckled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a guard, like Li Rui, with no family or home. Most of his silver went to brothels, but over the years, as he aged, he’d become a wax spear—looks good, useless in battle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We’re all lowborn; who cares about propriety and shame? Live one day of pleasure at a time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As far as he knew, back in the early days, Old Li had visited brothels more than anyone else in the Zhu household.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui had long entered the sage state of desirelessness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he first crossed over, he’d delighted in feudal cultural industries; now, he was in sage mode.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Women?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They only slow down my draw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, Old Yang, got any stronger cultivation methods?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong perked up: “You’re not even done with the Eight Section Brocade?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui: “Trying to live a few more years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“.” Yang Yong rolled his eyes: “I do have one, but it’s troublesome.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, he made a gesture of weighing silver in his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How much?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At least this much.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong held up eight fingers: “And that’s still the internal price from the martial school.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eight taels?!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui sucked in a sharp breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heartless merchants!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The martial schools in Qinghe had colluded to monopolize the market. To learn martial arts, unless you had family training, you had to go to a school—and tuition was terrifyingly high. Most families couldn’t afford it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d spent every last coin on herbs. He simply didn’t have eight taels now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A single copper coin can humble a hero.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Li Rui could only give up. The Eight Section Brocade was still usable. He’d save up and think again later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke with Yang Yong, the sound of firecrackers erupted outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong frowned: “It’s not a festival or holiday—why are they setting off firecrackers?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui answered: “The eldest master’s son is back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing it was Zhu Yue, the Zhu family’s eldest son, Yang Yong’s eyes flickered with envy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rumor had it that when Zhu Yue was born, a divine bird brought good tidings. He was gifted from childhood: learned characters at one, composed poetry at three, began martial training at five, entered the ranks at ten, and at fifteen caught the eye of a master from Huaqing Sect in Anning Prefecture, who took him as a disciple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire Zhu family took pride in him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of it was made up by the Zhu family.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Rui had been there. No divine bird—just a parrot Zhu’s master usually paraded around. “Learned characters at one”? Nonsense. Zhu Yue, at one, was still chasing birds behind Li Rui’s heels—he didn’t know a single character.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was true he became a disciple of Huaqing Sect—but not because a master noticed him. Zhu’s master paid for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Yong: “They say Huaqing’s masters are like immortals. That master rode across the Qingshui River when he came to Zhu’s house—literally walking on water.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Li Rui didn’t argue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because he’d been there that day too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He still remembered the old Huaqing master’s water-walking technique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the old man left, Li Rui had jumped into the river to check. It wasn’t like Qiu Qianzhang’s trick of hiding stakes underwater—it was real, genuine skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huaqing Sect was a major martial force in Anning Prefecture—even the government showed it deference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nothing like the martial schools and gangs of Qinghe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To put it plainly: within a hundred li of Huaqing Sect, even Anning’s officials needed written permission to enter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But timing-wise, he didn’t think it was due yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the other end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A clatter of hooves sounded at the Zhu household gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Four elegantly dressed, noble-looking youths and maidens rode fine red horses to the Zhu gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A tall, handsome young man turned and said: “We’re here—this is my home. Senior brother, junior brother, junior sister, for your stay in Qinghe, you might as well stay here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’re all guests—we’ll follow Elder Brother Zhu’s arrangements.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another youth, slightly older, nodded with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young man was Zhu Yue, the Zhu family’s prodigy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those with him were all disciples of Huaqing Sect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1220,"2026-06-19T22:01:09.077Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","12d672666d2cc19760932ae84add85f6eab81bf6ab8b2ae6f4dac3f70bd7c0ee","eternal-green-immortal-sovereign-chapter-7","eternal-green-immortal-sovereign-chapter-5",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Feternal-green-immortal-sovereign-cover.jpg"]