Chapter 153: Immortals on Tiandou Peak

The two of them had just emerged from the Xianyuan Temple and hadn't walked far when they suddenly stopped in their tracks. As if drawn by something, they both looked up, gazing into the distance.

Summer in Mount Yishan is indeed misty and rainy; the peaks are obscured more often than they are revealed. Today, however, it was a rare clear day, and the clouds that usually veiled the distant Tiandou Peak were suddenly blown away by the wind.

Faint figures could be seen on the summit, seemingly playing chess and conversing, with a young attendant standing by, carrying a gourd on his back.

"Third Shixiong brother, look!"

The junior sister pointed in that direction and said to Lin Jue.

"I see them."

This was the second time since they had come up the mountain that they had seen the figures of immortals on Tiandou Peak.

"Third Shixiong brother, do you think those are real people up there, or just illusions?" the junior sister asked, staring blankly in that direction. "Seventh senior brother told me that some famous mountains and unique places, because of their profound spiritual aura or other inexplicable wonders, can preserve images of the past or sounds from many years ago."

"I don't know."

"If they are real people, could they be immortals?"

"I don't know."

"Third Shixiong brother, do you remember? Not long after we first came up the mountain, we also came out of Xianyuan Temple and saw the immortals on Tiandou. I told you then that they were immortals of the mountain," the junior sister added.

"Of course I remember."

"We even said that when our Daoist cultivation was higher and we had some free time, we would climb up the mountain to see them and seek the immortals," the junior sister said with a hint of regret. "But later, we never saw the immortals again, and we never went."

How could Lin Jue not remember?

It was just that compared to those two youths who had just started their cultivation and were ignorant yet full of longing for the immortals, they now possessed a not-insignificant level of cultivation and understood much more about the Dao and immortals, having even seen a True Lord from the heavens with their own eyes.

With a clearer view, their state of mind had naturally changed. They were no longer as excited and naive as they once were, mistakenly believing those two figures were truly immortals and, like the people below the mountain, obsessed with the idea of seeking them.

That simple mindset was truly nostalgic.

But they could still go and seek them.

Even if the possibility of them being immortals was slim, and even if they were immortals, they might not feel the same reverence, longing, excitement, and wonder as before, they could still go and seek them, if only to fulfill their original dream.

"Let's go today!"

"Alright!"

The junior sister's eyes lit up immediately.

It was still early in the day, and there was plenty of time before dark.

Although Lin Jue had been busy with all sorts of chores lately—repairing bean soldiers, learning spells, learning spirit-writing from the sixth senior brother, and looking for the spirit-writing immortal—he wasn't busy today, and there was no need to rush.

It just so happened that both of them were capable enough now.

Gazing at the distant summit and the ethereal clouds, looking at those two figures on the peak that seemed like immortals, they found a path and set off at a brisk pace.

The two of them, along with the fox and the cat, passed by the forest of strange peaks, walked on the top of a stone mountain shaped like a sea turtle, passed under a rock formation resembling a peacock, circled the waist of a lotus-shaped peak, and arrived at a relatively gentle side of Tiandou.

The "path that even ordinary people could climb" that the seventh senior brother had mentioned back then had never been revealed to them, but they had traversed Mount Yishan many times and could find this side themselves.

This was a nearly vertical stone slope. Even if stone steps were built later, it would likely still look like a vertical ascent straight to the heavens. At the moment, there were no steps at all; it was bare, though the mountain body had some slope, as evidenced by the weeds growing on it and the ancient pines protruding from it.

The two looked at each other, said nothing more, and began to climb.

The junior sister tucked the colorful civet into her robes and climbed in the lead, Lin Jue followed behind, and the fox brought up the rear, moving as if on flat ground.

A mountain with this kind of slope, even if only a zhang high, would make most people shrink back. But this mountain seemed endless, and it was easy to imagine that one slip would mean being smashed to pieces.

"Third Shixiong brother, be careful!"

The junior sister did not use the Stone-Crushing Technique to carve out footholds, because although the granite looked smooth, its surface was actually somewhat rough, and with the slope, they were capable of climbing it.

Occasionally, in truly steep places, there were branches protruding from plants, as if they had been placed there specifically to help them.

It was climbable, but exhausting.

Their physical strength was slowly being drained.

Time seemed to move slower and slower.

Lin Jue was surprised to find that the junior sister's stamina seemed even better than his; he couldn't help but pant slightly, yet she remained calm.

He looked up, still unable to see the summit, but could see the blue sky and clouds along the stone slope, as if that was where the slope led. And his junior sister was blocking most of the summit and the sky.

It was as if Lin Jue had only just realized—

The junior sister had grown quite a bit taller.

Perhaps it was due to their cultivation, and the fact that he had arranged their meals well in the temple most of the time, and she ate a lot, she had actually grown significantly.

The frail young girl he had met on the roadside by the master's side had long since grown up.

It was just that he had been slow to realize it.

"Third Shixiong brother!"

The junior sister reached out from the front.

"Alright."

Lin Jue was pulled up by her.

He had thought they were reaching the top, but it was only a platform halfway up the mountain, an uneven spot he had seen from afar. There was still a long way to go, and the peak was smaller and the slope steeper.

The two stopped here to rest for a moment.

Only the fox, not understanding why they were tired, watched them curiously for a while, then walked to the edge of the dangerous cliff and looked out at the rolling green mountains in the distance.

Not long after, they continued upward.

Because it was becoming increasingly steep and dangerous, the fox simply walked in front, responsible for walking on the cliff face and finding relatively gentle routes for them to climb.

The junior sister finally used the Stone-Crushing Technique.

There were indeed a few sections that were completely vertical, with neither stone steps nor handholds. Without the indentations for stepping and grabbing, no one but the little fox could have climbed them.

Without realizing it, they had entered the clouds and mist.

The view was obstructed, and the green mountains in the distance could no longer be seen.

They climbed a bit further through the blurred mist, walked along a stretch of mountain rock above the clouds that resembled a knife-edged fish back, and it seemed they were finally reaching the top.

Because the mountain body they were climbing had become very small.

And they could faintly hear voices:

"Daoist friend Qingsong, a fine move..."

"A risky move, a risky move indeed."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jue and the junior sister looked up and down respectively, both with surprise in their eyes.

Was there really someone on the summit?

After catching their breath, they continued to climb toward the peak.

When they were at the foot of the mountain, the peak had seemed to appear and disappear, but now that they had climbed here, they were surrounded by thick fog, able to see only each other; the cliffs and ancient pines further away were only faintly visible.

The fox was also no longer visible.

"Third Shixiong brother..."

Suddenly, the junior sister, who had been climbing in front, stood up straight, turned to look at him, and called out in a low voice, as if afraid of disturbing something.

Lin Jue knew then that they had reached the top.

Even though he had been prepared for this, hearing the voices now, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

Whether the immortals he had seen twice from below were real people or illusions, Daoist hermits or mountain spirits, mortals or divine beings, he would know now.

Lin Jue grabbed her hand again and gave a firm pull.

Their bodies reached the summit.

The fox was already waiting there.

There was nothing further up.

The summit was narrow and dangerous, with little space, and the clouds and mist remained thick, severely limiting their vision; they could only see themselves and the fox.

However, they only needed to take two steps to the side to see the vertical cliffs and the ancient pines growing on them. One wrong step would mean falling into the rolling clouds and the bottomless abyss.

Yet there were no immortals to be seen.

The wind blew and the mist swirled; their ears were filled with the sound of the wind, but within that sound were the clacking of chess pieces and voices:

"Daoist friend Qingsong, how many more years do you think this world can hold on?"

The voice seemed to come from the left.

The two looked at each other and took two steps to the left, but quickly encountered the cliff face.

"I fear perhaps another dozen years or so."

The voice came from the right again.

The two were surprised and went to the right to search, but saw nothing, only finding themselves back at the edge of the cliff.

The fox had clearly heard it too and was also puzzled, jumping nimbly around the mountain, searching constantly, but still could not find the source of the voices.

The colorful civet also poked its head out from the junior sister's robes, eyes wide, looking left and right.

Lin Jue stood still, only looking at his junior sister.

She looked back at him, equally puzzled.

"I fear that even if someone were to extend its life, it wouldn't be enough to add a few more years to this world."

The voice rang out from the front again.

Where did this voice come from? And from what time?

The two stopped searching and focused on listening.

"Why bother extending its life? This world is already in such a state; it is no longer the golden age it once was. In most places, the people are living in misery. What is the point of extending it by ten or twenty years? It would only be a repetition of suffering."

"But wasn't the golden age no better? It was all used for wars of conquest."

"If we hadn't fought wars of conquest during the golden age, how could we have survived until now?" The voice paused, seemingly placing another piece, and sighed. "Isn't this just like you and me?"

"How so?"

"Look, how wonderful youth was. Every day was full of joy. Everything new we saw felt interesting—spells, the mortal world—all of it. Every inch of time felt like gold. Yet at that time, we only wanted to become immortals, wanted to live longer, so we spent those golden days in bitter cultivation, seeking longevity. Now, we can barely be considered long-lived, but Daoist friend Huang Shi, look at us now—a year feels like a single day."

"A year feels like a day? It's more than that. The rise and fall of the world over a hundred years feels like nothing more than a dream."

"The wind of our youth was still more satisfying."

"But when you and I were young, how could we have come to this place to feel this wind?"

"That's true!"

"Eh?"

"Aren't there youths here now?"

Hearing this, Lin Jue and the junior sister's eyes suddenly narrowed.

Previously, they had been thinking, communicating with their eyes, wondering if this voice was, as the seventh senior brother had said, an echo of the past left by a famous mountain, an echo from history. They were even wondering which dynasty these people belonged to and how many years ago their laments had been uttered.

Hearing this, they realized—

The two of them were not in history.

They were in the present!

This voice did not come from the past.

It was happening right now!

The two turned their heads again, looking around, but still saw only thick clouds and mist.

And the voice laughed:

"Haha, Daoist friend Qingsong, tell me, did these two come to seek immortals, or to see the scenery?"

The owner of the voice seemed to be on the same summit with them, yet also seemed very far away, seemingly certain that Lin Jue and his junior sister could not find them, conversing with ease.

"Why bother? The beauty of the mountains and rivers, the magnificent scenery above the clouds, has no owner. Let us leave; do not block them from seeking immortals and viewing the scenery."

"It's a pity the game of chess is not yet finished, and the immortal fruits I picked myself are not yet eaten."

"Daoist friend, why be so regretful? There is plenty of time; we can play the game next year. As for these immortal fruits, haha, what use is it for us to eat more? Better to leave them for the fated youths, haha."

"Ah! That makes sense!"

"Hahaha..."

The two laughed, seemingly having both departed.

Lin Jue looked around in a hurry. Just as he was debating whether to say that they had not intended to disturb their leisurely game and to invite them to continue, or even to say that they could leave, the thick fog shrouding the summit was easily blown away by the high-altitude wind.

This dangerous mountain, known as the "Heavenly Metropolis," revealed its true face, along with the magnificent sunset over the distant mountains.

The two then discovered that just three steps away from them stood a stone table carved with a chessboard, with two empty stone chess bowls on it, two fruits left on top, and a few fruit pits on the ground, which were blown off the cliff by the mountain wind, bouncing away to who knows where.

The blue sky above was so vast, and ten thousand miles of green mountains lay beneath their feet.

"This..."

The junior sister was at a loss and could only look at her senior brother.

Lin Jue also stood there, stunned.

Everything he had thought before had been completely overturned.

After a long while, the junior sister asked blankly: "Third Shixiong brother, were those immortals?"

"I suppose so..."

"Are there really, really immortals on the mountain?"

"Yes..."

"But why did the immortals give us two immortal fruits?"

"Because they are immortals..."

Lin Jue recalled the tone of the two immortals and felt as if they hadn't left these two fruits for the fated youths they had met, but rather for their younger selves.

The feeling in his heart was indescribable, as if he had walked into the immortal stories he had most often heard—a chance encounter, a wonderful fate, a gift without expectation of return. He didn't even want to use terms like "True Person," "Great Power," or "True Lord" to describe them; he just wanted to say, these were true immortals.

If these weren't immortals, what else could they be called? ===== CHAPTER 154 =====