Pursuing Immortality

Diannan, the Tao Family.

Dressed formally, the six family members had been waiting in the courtyard since early this morning with the most humble demeanor, seemingly expecting some important figure.

Uncle Tao was the most serious one. Not only because that was one of the people that had saved his life—the change in his world view was also the reason. Since he was cured by Gu Yu, he had become obsessed with the metaphysics, and held utter respect for the real cultivators.

After a little while, the 12-year-old Tao Tong couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Yu, exactly who is coming today?”

“They said it was going to be a patriarch-level figure… very capable, anyway.” Tao Yu looked a little strange when he explained, for he swore he could hear the person telling him that over the phone was, well, fighting back laughter?

No, it couldn’t be! He must have heard it wrong!

“A patriarch? Then he must be very old. Are we going to address him as grandpa?” the 13-year-old Tao Yi chimed in.

“Of course we’re going to call him patriarch first. If he’s nice, we’ll change to grandpa then,” replied Tao Tong, who was a little sharper than his sister, and apparently very pleased with his own answer.

“Nice man or not, you’re not addressing him as grandpa. Cultivators are not the same as we mortal men, so whatever his manner is, we must show our respect and avoid any unnecessary trouble,” reprimanded Uncle Tao immediately.

“Yes, Uncle!” The two kids exchanged a look and pursed their lips.

“Beep! Beep!”

Another moment passed before a vehicle finally drove into their sight, and slowly came to a stop in the yard. The six of them put on a solemn look right away. Straightening up their clothes, they went up to greet their honorable guest.

The door of the vehicle then flung open, and a pretty red high heel landed on the ground with a patter. The tip of the foot then ground into the ground slightly, and a person flew out of the vehicle like a ball of fire.

“Why, you’re all in a straight line. Doing your morning exercise, are ya?”

‘Welcome to our home, p— pffft!’

Tao Yu was going to chant his greeting, but stuffed the words back down at the look of the person—the great effort almost made him choke on his own spit, and his face all crinkled up, looking hilarious. Uncle and Aunt Tao were also utterly surprised, and looked very confused.

“Wow!” The two kids were the only ones not thinking much of it; they cried out and ran over to the person happily. “Sister Xiaojin, it’s you! We thought we’re having a grandpa coming. Why are you suddenly a patriarch?”

“Hahahaha! I’m building my reputation in this mortal world, and title makes a big part. It’s a good one, isn’t it?”

Thanks to Xiaojin’s lack of shame, she was still talking happily—anyone else would have been petrified with embarrassment. Holding one kid in each arm, she nodded at the other four, then swaggered into the house as if she owned the place.

She had been with her brother-in-law here before, so they were all old friends—there was no need for pleasantries.

The seven people soon took their seats in the living room. Tao Yu brought out the spiritual tea rewarded to him before, attentively making a cup for Xiaojin. He was observing Xiaojin unnoticeably while he was doing it, realizing that compared to last time when she was here, Miss Jin had improved significantly in her bearing. She now struck others as being an exceptionally capable woman at the first sight.

Having reached the passionless state in Metal Thunder and obtained an initial achievement in Water Thunder, Xiaojin was following her sister closely in her cultivation level. Under normal circumstances, her appearance was enough to scare people off.

How should we describe our dear girl Xiaojin? Well, she was not right in the head. One could never predict her thoughts and actions—that would be more difficult than seeing Old Gu doing it on the top.

Right now, she was all serious. After sipping her tea, she said, “Now, what’s with the mine?”

“The situation is like this. After the southwestern provinces began to suffer from all the calamities, what happened in Diannan was similar to that in Guizhou Province: forests expanded and miasma poisoned the lands. But because Diannan sits on the border, our country has made preparations beforehand. Therefore, we reacted quicker than the other places.

“As Ruili is the largest inland port in the Southwest, the government has reached an agreement with Myan to jointly uphold the peace and stability in the city. Therefore, the downtown area and the surrounding towns and villages did not suffer from too much damage.”

Tao Yu paused to organize his thoughts, then went on. “Of course, the calamity still affected many places in the province, especially the area around Ailao Mountain, which is a no-man’s-land now. A while ago, I discovered a crude stone in the trading market; it looked rather odd to me. The owner was from Xinping County, and said he grabbed the stone when he was fleeing from the calamity, thinking he could make some money out of it. Oh, here it is…”

With that, he took out a raw stone about 6-7 kg in weight. It had already been cut, revealing the creamy-white jade inside.

Xiaojin picked it up and examined the interior with her mental force. Blackish purple lightning then glowed in her palm, which wrapped around the stone like a fine net.

The Water Thunder squirmed around the stone like tiny tentacles, and the outer layer fell down in little crumbs. Seconds later, the outer shell was removed, revealing an intact jade material with an irregular shape.

“Warm jade? It’s indeed warm jade!” Tao Yu was very surprised. “Diannan hardly has any warm jade mines now, for they have mostly been depleted. We usually only have jadeite around here. I didn’t believe we had one before I cut it open.”

Jade was categorized into “cold” and “warm” ones; it mainly depended on their quality and texture.

Warm jade was fine and smooth to the touch, and had a soft, moist glisten to it. In one’s hands, it would feel cool at first, then warm up, and was very comfortable to hold. Cold jade usually referred to jadeite, which had a cooler and harder color tone.

Xiaojin played with the jade material in her hand, caressing the surface with her ten fair and slender fingers. The jade was getting warmer and warmer, and in the end, it almost felt oily to the touch, as if grease was coming out of it.

“Hm?” After playing with it for a while, she announced happily, “This is no ordinary warm jade. I think it has the effect of calming one’s mind and keeping one focused. Wearing it could help with one’s cultivation.”

“That’s great. We have another treasure, then.” Tao Yu had a deep sense of identity towards Phoenix Mountain.

“Where is that mountain?” asked Xiaojin.

“It’s close to Xinping County, although no mine has been found there before.”

“I’ll go have a look first. If there are enough reserves, you can officially purchase the right of mining.”

“Will the authorities agree?” Tao Yu was a little concerned.

“Tsk!” Xiaojin smacked her lips, and in a tone of teaching little kids, she said, “Just tell them you’re with Phoenix Mountain. The worst that can happen is you’ll have to give them a few tons every year.”

“Oh, I see!” Tao Yu smiled awkwardly. He still needed to switch out of his traditional businessman’s mindset. While they were talking, the two kids—Tao Tong and Tao Yi—were watching Xiaojin with twinkling eyes; the two had fallen head over heels for this heroic big sister.

‘You’re with Phoenix Mountain!’

‘Wow, that must be how bosses talk!’

***

Ailao Mountain was in the central region of Diannan. The mountain range ran from Chuxiong on the north to Lüchun on the south, with a total length of around 500 km. The highest peak was Damoyan ¹ Peak in Xinping County, and had an altitude of 3166 m.

Nowadays, the area hundreds of kilometers around the Ailao Mountain range was completely depopulated. Villages were deserted, and mutated beasts were found everywhere.

Somehow, in this vast wilderness, a fleet of vehicles was now driving along the empty road. Among them were jeeps and heavy-load trucks, which were carrying all sorts of exploration equipment.

The team consisted of quite a few people. All drivers and passengers were darting their eyes around, afraid of the sudden appearance of mutated beasts.

This area was a known death zone. Had it not been for the generous payment and the promise that a master would be escorting them, they would never have agreed to come. Even so, most of them were still on pins and needles, for they had no idea which of them was the supposed master.

No one was wearing a Taoist robe, and they saw no white-bearded elders. There was only a very hot chick… damn it! No one had the look!

The fleet of vehicles drove unhurriedly towards Xinping County in perfect order. Maybe luck was on their side, for everything was going smoothly. However, halfway through their journey, they heard a whistling sound in the sky.

Right after that, there was a flapping noise that seemed to come from wings. It turned out that two strange-looking birds had spotted the fleet.

“It’s the Wind-blowing Bird!” someone cried out right away, and all color drained from his face.

The bird had been long recorded in the app. It was not big, but always appeared in couples. Like the flashing boar, they also developed a skill from their mutation: they were able to produce blade-like wind, which enabled them to make long-distance attacks.

A photo of their hunting scene was even posted in the app, which showed a passenger car cut into halves.

Therefore, everyone became nervous at their presence. However, the next moment, they felt the ground shaking and saw dust rising not far away, then five or six mutated serows came into sight.

Covered in black fur, the serows had strong limbs and looked enormous in size. They were alternating between running and jumping, and each leap would take them meters closer. They were approaching the fleet at a tremendous speed.

“We’re dead!”

Everyone turned as white as sheets. With mutated animals both on the ground and above, they had no way to escape. The two birds croaked, as if trying to compete with the serows for prey. In half a heartbeat, they were above the fleet, ready to release the windy blade. Just then, there came another sound.

“Thump!”

“Thump!”

With two muffling sounds, blood gushed out of the now headless necks of the birds. Blood splashed down in a shower, pattering against the roofs and windows of the vehicles.

“Aaaaah!” a man screamed frantically. Seeing that nothing happened after that, he ventured on taking a look out of the window a couple of seconds later. Two headless birds lay by the side of the road like some garbage that was carelessly tossed away.

“Aaaah!!!” Immediately after that, the entire team was screaming. The man quickly stuck his head out of the window, and his mouth fell open at what he saw.

A gigantic ancient seal had flown ahead of them and smashed down. It then rose back up, shrank, then flew back to one of the vehicles. The serows were now a puddle of bloody mush on the ground.

“Sky… Sky-turning Patriarch!”

The man then recalled the title of that master they were told. He couldn’t help but mutter that name, and was carried away by his imagination.

***

Night, Xinping.

The small county was completely deserted. Only the bleak streets and the water in the fountain still reminded one of the people that used to live here.

Because the county was next to a mountain, the expanding forest had nibbled part of the downtown area away. Some buildings even had branches sticking out of them. They found a hotel for everybody to stay for the night. The panic from before was all gone, replaced by a great exhilaration.

The entrance of the hotel had been blocked by a column raised out of the ground, and all the windows were covered by branches as well. It was said to be a Taoist skill of the five elements. After their safety had been taken care of, they were naturally in the mood for some chit-chat, and the topic was none other than that patriarch— scratch that, that fairy.

When they heard that the chick was the master, everyone had the same reaction: WTF!!! (╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻ !!!

Holy crap! The cultivators were incredible! There was no flapping dress, but jeans and sneakers. Although that did not quite fit the image in their head, once they accepted this setting, why, they began to look forward to seeing more!

While they were discussing this in private, Xiaojin was asking Tao Yu about the area in the biggest suite of the hotel.

Tao Yu looked strangely nervous, for this patriarch was acting completely differently from when she’d first arrived at their home.

“Yo, Old Tao, how well do you know about Ailao Mountain?”

“Um, I more or less know my way around here.”

“Then tell me this.” Xiaojin suddenly moved closer and looked at him with puss-in-boots eyes. “Hehe, do you know about the treasure of Li Runzhi?”