[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-book-of-strange-tales":3,"chapter-the-book-of-strange-tales-the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-608":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Book of Strange Tales",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":12,"novelImage":21},{"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},2317888,4532,"Chapter 608: Are There Immortals in This World?","the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-608",608,"\u003Cp>The sky was dazzling with stars, hanging thick and wide, and through the temple’s open roof, faintly drifting sky lanterns could be seen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the temple, darkness reigned; the withered trees stood silent. Besides the Daoist seated beneath the tree and the well-behaved fox crouched beside him, there seemed to be another blurred figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know how many years you’ve spent here?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue smoothed his robe, placing it neatly on his knees, and spoke as if to himself:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“More than two hundred years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After your death, how many years passed—I’ve forgotten. Luo Gong traveled from north to south, unified the realm, became emperor, and founded a dynasty called the Yu Dynasty. The Heavenly Lord once above the Nine Heavens was replaced by the Northern Zi Xu Emperor, known as Zi Di.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thinking of it now, so much has changed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even I attained true cultivation and took four disciples. Now, as a great adept, three of my disciples have become immortals.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shadowy figure, once flickering, fell still.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here, the Floating Pool Divine Lord protected him, and the incense offerings from Zi Yun County, Mo Du Mountain, the three neighboring counties, and pilgrims drawn from all corners continuously sustained him—even if he did not absorb the incense as divine power, it still anchored his spirit, preventing it from being worn away by time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The Yu Dynasty lasted over two hundred years. Now, another dynasty has risen—one with countless heroes, no less remarkable than Luo Gong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Zi Di has abdicated.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yet the Nine Heavens have not chosen a new Heavenly Lord. Instead, the Monitoring Heaven and Subduing Demon Emperor and the Southern Jade Mirror Emperor each hold half the incense of the mortal realm and half the authority of the Nine Heavens. Ultimately, who will prevail may depend on time and the collective choice of mortals and their emperors.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, do you know who the Monitoring Heaven and Subduing Demon Emperor is?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He is an old acquaintance of yours.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It is Nan Tian Shi—Nan Gong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you were to revive now, ha—if you cannot cultivate, still, because of this connection, you could become a true Heavenly Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue paused, then continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have unlocked the method of ‘Life and Death Creation’—a supreme divine art—and through it, became a great adept. Later, I further unlocked the path of ‘Altering Talent and Rewriting Fate’—another great divine art. Now is the time I should fulfill my old promise. But after calculating the celestial patterns and mortal changes, I see this is a new dynasty, a new year, and tomorrow at sunrise will be the perfect moment. If you wish for greater talent, you must wait one more night.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shadow in the dark stirred slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm? You wish to hear what happened in these two hundred years?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So much has changed!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fortunately, there is still a long night ahead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue now felt no haste. He sat down in the darkness beneath the tree and began to speak slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if recounting old memories to a longtime friend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky lanterns above drifted higher, growing faint and small, nearly indistinguishable from the countless glittering stars across the mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The stars slowly turned, stretching into lines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Light began to rise in the east.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dew had soaked the Daoist’s robe; a frost had settled on his hair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides ‘Life and Death Creation’ and ‘Cosmic Creation,’ I have since unlocked ‘Moving Stars and Replacing Constellations’ and ‘Inverting Yin and Yang.’ My divine arts have grown ever greater. But looking back, since leaving Shu Village, this night of a city, a day’s journey, the turning of sun and moon, the towering mountains and distant roads—Dao is hard to seek, immortality endless, life hard to prolong. Yet what I miss most is that time back in…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, a rooster crowed; dawn pierced the night from the east.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue smiled faintly and stood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Purple qi flowed from the east; the mystery of heaven and earth gathered here. To die and be reborn, to alter talent and rewrite fate—all of it belongs to this new dynasty and this new spring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the statue behind him blinked open its eyes for an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An old friend, reunited after many years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One composed, one dazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even “as if across lifetimes” understated the passage of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world was destined to gain one true Heavenly Master.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unaware, decades passed again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deep in Yishan, atop Tiandoufeng, clouds swirled endlessly—truly worthy of its name, “Heavenly Capital.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the clouds, three immortals sat together, chatting idly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the table: two plates of immortal fruits—original Dan Guo and Yuan Qiu Immortal Fruit—a wine flask of plain green bamboo, and wine cups made of inverted wind-bell flowers, filled with Thousand-Day Immortal Wine. The three immortals had forgotten all worldly sorrows, raising their cups, laughing amid the clouds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Has the Langtou Mountain Lord been re-enshrined?” asked the junior sister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. He was originally deposed due to Zi Di’s stubborn attachment—yet he committed no great sin. Now that heaven and earth have changed, our Emperor remembers his virtue and diligence, his merits in subduing demons, and has proposed reinstating him as the Mountain God of Langtou Mountain.” Yue Zhao Yuan Jun said, “The Monitoring Heaven and Subduing Demon Emperor will not object.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems the current dynasty holds a favorable view toward deifying demons and natural spirits born of heaven and earth,” the junior sister remarked. “Even our third brother’s household spirit seems to have been granted a divine title.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ha! Sister, you’ve secluded yourself too long,” Lin Jue said, holding a wind-bell flower cup brimming with fine wine. “You don’t know who the founding chancellor beside our dynasty’s first emperor was?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who?” asked the junior sister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That founding hero rose to fame young, brilliant beyond measure, aiding our emperor to conquer the realm. Rumor says he was a celestial spirit incarnated on earth. His father was a master of go; southern legends claim he once played a game of go with heaven itself—and won a hundred years of life, eternal youth. Thus, he still lives. Rumor also says his mother was no mortal, but a spirit creature.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Him…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The junior sister instantly understood, her heart stirred with wonder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, a faint sound came from beside them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fox and the colorful raccoon dog, both bowing over their wind-bell flower cups, instantly turned their heads toward the swirling clouds below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“S-Someone’s coming…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fox, drunk, spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The three exchanged glances, unconcerned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t need him to remind them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had already faintly heard the sounds below: clothing brushing against small trees, shoes scraping stone walls, pebbles falling—and two voices speaking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother, be careful!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m fine! Just watch yourself!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother, do you really think there are immortals on this mountain?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know. But our master and senior brothers say people once saw immortals right here on Tiandoufeng! Just now, when the wind blew the clouds apart, we saw figures on the mountain!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A boy and a girl—their voices young, still unbroken. They sounded like mountain novices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Lin Jue and the junior sister, the voices instantly filled them with nostalgia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, they were lost in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother…” the junior sister, eyes brimming with memories, asked, “Do you remember the two immortals—Qingsong and Huangshi—from Tiandoufeng back then?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you remember what they said?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Vaguely.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lin Jue’s thoughts were pulled back instantly; echoes of the past rang in his mind—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Look, how wonderful youth is. Every day brims with joy; every new thing feels wondrous—whether magic or mortal affairs. Every moment feels like gold. Yet back then, we only dreamed of becoming immortals, of living longer, so we spent those golden days in harsh cultivation, chasing longevity. Now we’ve achieved longevity, but Huangshi, look at us now—each year feels like a single day.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not just a year like a day—the rise and fall of a hundred years in the world feels like a single dream.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The wind of youth was still sweeter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But when we were youths, how could we have come here to feel this wind?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that parting, Lin Jue never saw them again. He did not know if they still dwelled in Yishan, or if they still lived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even when they first met, he and his junior sister were too young, too low in cultivation, and now, even after all these years, they could not tell whether those two were human immortals, mountain demon immortals, or ancient spirit creatures nearly divine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Zi Di sent troops to purge Yishan, they were never seen. After Lin Jue attained true cultivation, he returned to Yishan many times, yet never deliberately sought them out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, he knew many ancient hidden beings in the mountains preferred not to be disturbed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second, he did not wish to know whether they had perished, whether they truly were “immortals.” In his heart, to this day and beyond, they would forever remain two immortals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sigh, brother, though we’ve attained true cultivation, our skill grows daily, our power rising—you’re nearly a true immortal among immortals, and I shall soon become a great adept of the world—but whenever I look back, I still feel the most beautiful, most cherished years were those few on Fuxiang Peak.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sister, you said this same thing inside the Heavenly Lord’s illusion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Still want to say it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do I not feel the same?” Lin Jue shook his head. “But if we had stayed in those days, how could we have reached this point—to sit here, feeling this wind atop Tiandoufeng?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the voices from below rose again, noticeably lowered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother, I hear someone… someone speaking.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I hear it too…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are they immortals?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On Tiandoufeng, deep in the clouds, all three turned their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two figures climbed to the summit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two eager novice Daoists, perhaps in their teens—slightly younger than they had been—climbing the mountain in search of immortals, breathless, faces flushed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they reached the top, they turned their heads, scanning everywhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But their eyes saw only clouds—no trace of immortals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, the junior sister felt a sudden heaviness in her chest, almost suffocating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What could weigh down even an immortal? Time. But the weight time imposes is not only what it takes from you—it is what it adds: the weariness, the changes it brings, all of which vanish forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At its root, what makes even immortals feel this heaviness is their own former selves—before they became immortals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She fell silent, then suddenly asked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Brother, do you think these two who came today seek immortals—or merely the view?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, the two novices were startled again, frantically searching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The summit of Tiandoufeng was narrow and steep; with clear skies, one could see it all at once. Even with clouds, a few steps would reveal the entire peak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet they could not find the source of the voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voice’s owner seemed to stand with them atop this mountain peak, yet also far away; seemed to share the same moment in time, yet came from a fleeting instant centuries past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why bother?” Lin Jue’s voice sounded just then. “The rivers, mountains, wind, and moon—these scenes of clouds and heights belong to no one. Let us leave. Do not block others from seeking immortals and admiring the view.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s a pity we only just got halfway through our talk today. These two plates of immortal fruit are mine—I grew them, and rarely have I grown them so well, yet we didn’t finish them. The wine still has two sips left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Freedom and ease are best. Perhaps ending here is fine.” Lin Jue spoke as he watched two young Daoist acolytes wander past them, bewildered, like seeing his former self. “As for these immortal fruits and fine wine, what use is it to eat more? Better to leave them for some young soul touched by fate—perhaps they’ll help the boy catch one more strand of youthful wind.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, he laughed twice and stood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The junior sister’s eyes brimmed with memory; she rose too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Master Jiang followed them to their feet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fox and the colorful fox turned their heads, fixing their gaze on them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wind swept through, scattering the mist atop Tiandoufeng and dissolving the several figures on the peak into nothingness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>",2046,"2026-06-20T14:45:38.319Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","5947fc599ac690b88af034a7ee63b59b3f1e0fbf80d4fd6ae7234d4383598e5c",null,"the-book-of-strange-tales-chapter-607","https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-book-of-strange-tales-cover.jpg"]