Who Let Him Cultivate Immortality

The old horse was fortunate. Before it made a lifelong commitment to the brown mare, Meng Jingzhou paid and took away both the old horse and the carriage.

“No, no, no, it shouldn’t cost so much to stay in the stable.” The stable boy objected.

“What about the feed? Don’t you want payment for that?” Meng Jingzhou was puzzled, as the old horse had long since finished the premium feed it was brought, and he thought the horse had become desperate enough to start eating regular feed.

The stable boy shook his head: “Your horse didn’t eat anything.”

“Huh?” Meng Jingzhou was confused. He stroked the old horse’s mane and asked, “Have you been fasting?”

The old horse snorted but didn’t respond.

How could a horse talk?

Meng Jingzhou threatened fiercely: “If you don’t answer, you’ll never get feed again!”

After a long standoff between man and horse, the old horse still didn’t respond, and Meng Jingzhou gave up, guessing some things.

He thought about how smoothly he had left home initially; even his sister knew he was going to run away, so the rest of the family must have known too. Yet, no one stopped him, not worrying about him getting into trouble at all.

Excluding the possibility that he wasn’t their biological child, the only explanation was that they knew he was safe.

Now, the answer was obvious; the horse pulling the carriage was the biggest security.

He just didn’t know how strong the old horse was, but it must be quite powerful to be able to protect him.

Meng Jingzhou complained: “If you’re so strong, why didn’t you stop Eldest Senior Sister from getting on the carriage?”

He still remembered how he naively treated Eldest Senior Sister as a fellow examinee, letting her on the carriage, claiming he had obtained the original questions for the sect entrance exam.

It was embarrassing to the extreme.

If only the old horse had stopped Eldest Senior Sister, then none of this would have happened.

The old horse glanced at Meng Jingzhou as if looking at a fool.

…

Before leaving, Lu Yang made a point to notify Head Catcher Wei. Wei was not surprised by their departure.

What cultivator truly runs a barbecue shop for life? It was just a novelty, and once that wore off, they would close up shop.

“What a pity, we’ll never taste such delicious barbecue again,” lamented Head Catcher Wei. “I was hoping to catch some people at your shop to help me get promoted to chief catcher.”

Wei figured catching three more demonic cultivators would get him to the chief catcher position.

“It’s good that you’re leaving. Yanjiang County might not be peaceful recently.”

“What do you mean?”

Wei spoke softly, “You can’t tell anyone else this.”

“I understand.”

Lu Yang trusted Wei’s character: “You know about City Governor Li, right? Now there are rumors saying that to get promoted, City Governor Li colluded with demonic cultivators. Whether they were rogue demonic practitioners or from a demonic sect is still uncertain, but their cultivation level must be high, or they wouldn’t have been able to cooperate with City Governor Li.”

“Li’s body was found on Song Mountain. Head Catcher Fang speculates that there was a conflict of interest between the demonic cultivator and City Governor Li. With Li dead and the demonic cultivator still at large, it indicates the demonic cultivator’s cultivation is higher than Li’s, who was only a step away from the Nascent Soul Stage. Just think how high the demonic cultivator’s cultivation must be!”

Lu Yang shrank his neck: “Such a ruthless demonic cultivator!”

“So, it’s good for you to leave. Yanjiang County seems peaceful, but who knows where demonic cultivators might be hiding, right beside you and me!”

Lu Yang agreed: “Indeed.”

…

Barbarian Bone reluctantly bid farewell to the barbecue shop. The glory of barbecuing from his tribe would not be carried on by his generation.

Two ghosts were jubilant, celebrating that they no longer had to barbecue day and night.

…

Before departing, Tang Yunsheng saw the three off, reminding them that infiltrating the Dao Seeking Sect would be fraught with difficulties and to proceed with caution.

Lu Yang reassured him, “Don’t worry, elder, we three will definitely not let the organization down. We will surely infiltrate the Dao Seeking Sect, steal secrets, and shine for our Undying Sect.”

On the carriage, the old horse pulled the vehicle neither too quickly nor too slowly. It seemed to move at a leisurely pace, but actually covered a great distance with each step, involving profound knowledge of space.

The three men chatted about the Undying Being inside the carriage.

“Look, our names are also in the notebook, Undying Being Lu Yang, Undying Being Meng Jingzhou, Undying Being Barbarian Bone,” Lu Yang laughed, finding it interesting to see their names in the demonic cult’s notebook.

It was evident that the cult was very dedicated to reviving the Undying Being, as he could find everyone he knew in the notebook.

“What do you think the Undying Being’s real name is? Mendeleev? Socrates?”

Meng Jingzhou chuckled: “Maybe it’s a shameful name, like Dog Egg or Leftover Dog, too embarrassed to say it out loud, so it’s hidden, only referred to by titles.”

“It could also be a name from our barbarian tribes.”

The three showed no reverence for the Undying Being, ignoring Tang Yunsheng’s advice to guess the immortal name once a month and casually guessing names.

“Let’s keep it down. What if we actually guess the Undying Being’s name?” Lu Yang cautioned, as it was still uncertain whether the Undying Being was friend or foe. The claim that the Undying Being protected humanity was just the Undying Sect’s side of the story, not entirely reliable.

“How about this, from now on we refer to ‘Undying Being’ as ‘Undying Maiden,’ so even if we accidentally say the right name, the Undying Being won’t be resurrected.” Lu Yang suggested.

“Lu Yang makes sense. I agree,” Meng Jingzhou raised his hand in agreement.

Barbarian Bone thought Lu’s consideration was thorough.

After a while on the road, the three felt hungry and stopped the carriage under a small grove of trees to eat something.

The grove shielded them from the annoying sunlight, creating a tranquil atmosphere with faint bird chirps in the distance, making them relax involuntarily.

Meng Jingzhou spread out a tablecloth, Lu Yang took out pots and pans along with fire-starting talismans, and Barbarian Bone summoned the ghosts.

Just half a day into unemployment, the two ghosts were summoned back by Barbarian Bone to resume their old job, skillfully starting to barbecue.

Meng Jingzhou took out a cookbook and a bunch of bottles and jars, pushing them all towards the ghosts: “Don’t make barbecue this time, change the taste, follow this cookbook.”

Lu Yang and Barbarian Bone looked on, wondering why he always carried a cookbook with him.

The two ghosts had to start from scratch, deciding to begin with the simplest dish: fried eggs.

Not hardworking in life, they became diligent after death.

The three had no intention of taking Fasting Pills. Why eat those when they could enjoy delicious food?

“Tang Yunsheng guessed the Undying Maiden might be from your barbarian tribes. Are there similar legends in ancient barbarian lore?” Lu Yang asked.

Barbarian Bone shook his head: “I’ve heard from elders that ancient barbarians fought against heavens and could battle immortals, but I’ve never heard of an immortal being born from our tribe.”

“It’s strange about that relic, too. It recorded the greatness of the Undying Maiden but didn’t bother to write down the Undying Maiden’s name?”

Meng Jingzhou analyzed logically: “Think about it, in ancient times everyone had imposing titles and names. Before a battle, they would announce their names. Imagine the Undying Maiden coming forward and saying ‘I am Undying Being Li Dog Egg,’ oh no, it should be ‘Undying Maiden Li Dog Egg.’ That would have lost half the battle’s momentum right there!”

“The Undying Maiden definitely wanted to erase such a dark history!”

Lu Yang also laughed: “Maybe the name was too cute and lacked deterrence, like ‘Undying Maiden Yellow Bean’ or something.”

The four words of ‘Undying Maiden Yellow Bean’ seemed to touch the mechanisms of fate, altering the heavens and earth. An incomprehensible force hovered above the three men, forming a silhouette.

The previously relaxed old horse instantly became alert, positioning itself in front of Meng Jingzhou and staring intently at the power in the sky.

The three swallowed hard.

It seemed they had stirred up something big.

(End of the chapter)