[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-watching-the-immortals-fall":3,"chapter-watching-the-immortals-fall-watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-3":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Watching the Immortals Fall",{"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},2259876,4410,"Chapter 3: This Is Cancer","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-3",3,"\u003Cp>Commoners cultivating immortality in secret are punishable by death—that is the Great Xia’s iron law, for once one cultivates, the court loses control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at first, Ji You could not communicate with them...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This world used Classical Chinese grammar, but the pronunciation was vastly different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could not understand or speak it, so he pretended to be mentally deranged, spending each day on the street posing in professional basketball dribbling postures while wearing suspenders, to avoid suspicion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scroll of immortal scripture he had found deep in Yunling was regarded by him as the foundation of his very existence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What else could one do at night in ancient times without a phone? Cultivate, of course!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gradually, he began to build a foundation in the immortal path, and after hearing the scholar on the tree recite aloud, he became familiar with the language and wished to learn more about this world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he learned from a book called “The Xia Law of Immortal Regulations” that commoners secretly cultivating immortality was indeed a bafflingly grave crime...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the only two paths left to him were these.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One: strive hard, reach full mastery of the lower three realms before turning twenty, so the Seven Immortal Sects would cry out they had found a treasure—and the court would be powerless to stop them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two: north of Yuyang County lay a mountain stronghold, inhabited by secret cultivators who despised the immortal sects and the court, and who were actively recruiting heroes to expand their influence—its prospects seemed promising, and its path to advancement relatively transparent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After much deliberation, Ji You ultimately decided to ascend the mountain next autumn and become an unrivaled bandit lord.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was simple: there were too many orthodox immortal cultivators feasting on the people’s flesh and blood—he did not wish to become yet another straw crushing families like old Qiu’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day at noon, the red sun glowed faintly as it was time for the land settlement in Yuyang County; the government office runners, holding their intimidation rods, marched in three neat rows down the street, imposing and formidable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hurry up, hurry up, don’t dawdle!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“With immortal protection this year, there are no disasters—this is a bountiful harvest. Yet our Great Xia is at war with the barbarian tribes beyond the Northern Plains, and the imperial treasury has long been empty. Thus, the magistrate has ordered: this year’s taxes must be paid in full.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the runners’ urging, thousands of households in Yuyang County opened their cellars, dragged out their prepped six-tenths grain harvest, carefully counted it, and divided it evenly into two portions, registering each.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One portion was the Great Xia land tax; the other, the immortal sect offering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A thousand years ago, during the Warring States of Qingyun, the Great Xia’s founding emperor forged his eternal dominion by making a covenant with all the immortal sects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pact stipulated that if the reclusive immortals aided Great Xia in unifying the Central Plains, the empire would annually collect extra taxes to serve as offerings to the sects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once, immortals would descend to slay demons and purge evil, even healing sick children in villages—but after Great Xia seized the Central Plains, those legends became mere operatic finales.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, Qingyun descended into doctrinal wars; each immortal sect expanded its disciples, and the annual offerings rose relentlessly, crushing the people under unbearable weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, they themselves hid deep within immortal mountains, cultivating the elusive Dao, feasting on the people’s flesh and blood, utterly indifferent to worldly affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the already numb people of Great Xia, this seemed an ancient, divinely ordained truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as an outsider, Ji You, upon first learning of the relationship between offering and being offered, had only one word in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cancer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The immortal sects, the immortal Dao, the immortals themselves—like disordered cellular tissue—they had severed society’s sustainable development and greedily drained the world’s vitality without restraint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is cancer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You stepped past the threshold of the Ji family ancestral home, watching the runners march past, and thought: well, now that this is the case, let’s eat first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Ji family of Yuyang had nominally ceased to exist; their land had been entirely seized by others. Though he no longer owed taxes, food had become a problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not just food—he had none of the basic trappings of a transmigrator: no beautiful master, no alluring senior sister, no cute junior sister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And old Qiu? His family couldn’t even scrape together this year’s tax and offering—they should have gone to his in-laws’ home this morning to borrow grain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When old Qiu served as steward for the Ji family, food and drink were never an issue. But after the Ji family fell, he had spent years borrowing grain to survive, long since drawing his in-laws’ resentment; last year, he’d even been publicly cursed—so he no longer wished to add to their burden.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the merchants on Paifang Street had once been Ji family property; he still held a modicum of face there, and could find work as a laborer at a shop to secure a full meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But just as Ji You reached the restaurant’s entrance, a clatter of hooves suddenly echoed along Paifang Street’s main road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking up, three redwood carriages, adorned with pearls and jade, rolled past, opulent beyond measure, as if belonging to a different world from the mud-brick houses on either side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the first two carriages sat an old man and a woman, both clad in gold-embroidered white robes, with luxurious longswords at their waists, faint spiritual auras flickering around them, faces expressionless, radiating an aura of immortal grace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The third carriage followed closely behind, carrying another woman, dressed in a gauzy, flower-patterned skirt, eyes like water, posture dignified, bearing a touch of haughtiness, the very image of a refined lady of noble birth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet when she caught sight of Ji You by the roadside, the woman on the carriage slightly frowned and pulled down the pearl curtain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And with that fleeting glance, the three carriages rolled past, heading toward the county magistrate’s office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It seems the Tian Shu Academy immortals have arrived to take Fang Ruoyao to Shengjing. Why didn’t Young Master Ji go with her?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Young Master Ji’s elegance naturally makes him disdain the Tian Shu Academy, such a minor sect.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You snapped back to awareness and turned to see two diners staring at him with ill-intent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two were Jia Sicong and Dong Wei, both former classmates of the original Young Master Ji.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The original Young Master Ji, while his family still held wealth, was a spoiled brat who cursed even a stray dog he passed on the street—so he had made many enemies among his peers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Sicong stepped before him: “Miss Fang departs for Shengjing the day after tomorrow. Last night she hosted a banquet at her residence—we all attended, yet we saw no Young Master Ji? Your conduct as her fiancé is heartlessly negligent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Jia brother, you’re mistaken—Fang Ruoyao broke off the engagement long ago.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shengjing was the capital of Great Xia, home to Ni Mountain Tian Shu Academy, the foremost of the Seven Immortal Sects. It was said the founding emperor himself had been a sage of Tian Shu Academy; after forging his imperial dominion, he naturally built the capital beside Ni Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Legends claimed Shengjing was extravagantly prosperous, with towering pavilions that had inspired countless literati to compose immortal works like “Ode to Shengjing” and “Praising the Capital.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Ruoyao, now chosen as a Tian Shu Academy disciple, was naturally entering school by going to Shengjing—the people of the county said she had ascended to heaven in a single step, and they were not wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ji You, don’t pretend you’re deaf.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You slumped against the counter: “Shopkeeper, this young master wants two baskets of fresh dumplings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Sicong froze, then erupted in fury: “What fresh dumplings? I already ate mine!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll eat them for you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You watched the steaming dumplings arrive and said: “You’re talking so loudly—can’t you even afford two baskets?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Sicong’s face flushed crimson: “Do you think I’m some vagrant like you? Two baskets? Even ten wouldn’t trouble me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then ten baskets—meat ones. Bring three first; leave the other seven. I’ll go home and fetch a basket to carry them off.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dong Wei stared, eyes wide, and as he pondered, he realized something was wrong—this wasn’t them teasing him for amusement; he was scamming free food.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Jia Sicong opened his mouth again, Dong Wei immediately grabbed his elbow: “Stop. He’s drooling.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the noise gone, Ji You found a window seat, picked up a pair of bamboo chopsticks from the holder, and began savoring this gift of nature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten baskets of dumplings—he ate three himself, planned to pack the rest into a basket and take them back to Qiu’s home; that girl Qiu Ru, always giddy and simple, deserved a little taste of fortune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting there, the quiet of noon slipped away swiftly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ji You checked the time; old Qiu should have returned from his in-laws’ home thirty li away, so he decided to go home and fetch the basket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as he rose, the conversation of several diners at the door caught his attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Did you hear? The third house east of Nanya River outside the city has had an incident.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What happened?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A five-year-old girl caught the eye of an immortal from Fengxian Mountain Villa—they said something about... radiant spiritual aura, boundless immortal fortune—and plan to use her as medicinal material.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When did this happen?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This morning at Chen hour—they say the father and daughter were borrowing grain at Thirty-Li-Pu...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Our county hasn’t produced an immortal in centuries—how could a little girl have such a thing as ‘immortal fortune’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How would we know what immortals think? But... the girl... ah...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(New readers, please give some follow and monthly votes—these two metrics are crucial in the early stage. I beg you...)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1658,"2026-06-19T15:28:39.995Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","fc6ca0212897b0112b36937d6fe9a0d5c0b30eb4e81870fbd5102a14cfac1f1a","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-4","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-2",430,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwatching-the-immortals-fall-cover.jpg"]