Pursuing Immortality

Buzz!

The sound of the first female immortal after days of lectures excited the audience greatly. You Yu, however, frowned at this, and began to painstakingly drag the other three away from the front rows—he had personal experience with that female immortal back on Fish Mountain!

As expected, while everyone else was whispering loudly and ignoring what was going on up on the mountain, a muffled rumbling sound came out of the fog, which reached the square in no time, and amplified all of a sudden.

Boom!

The sky above the square changed color, even darkening the blazing sun a little.

A streak of golden purple divine lightning descended upon them as if it was smashing down from above the nine heavens. Like an undulating dragon circling the sky and a golden snake dancing wildly, the lightning exploded in the middle of the square with its unparalleled power.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The big square that had only been revamped recently shattered at the first contact with the lightning; the hard bluestone ground disintegrated like tender tofu. The golden snake then bored right into the ground all the way deep into the stones beneath, breaking them all.

Stone shards and dust filled the air, then fell down in a silver-gray shower.

People standing around the spot received the impact, and fell back screaming like a field of wheat being reaped. Each circle of people stumbled back onto those behind them, and like an undulating field of crops, all those around that area were on the ground.

When they looked at the spot where the lightning landed again, they saw that it had turned into an enormous pit.

“…”

A hush fell over the square.

It was especially the case with those guys that were making fun of the fairy; their smirks had frozen on their faces before being replaced by a look of horror.

In a word: sh*t!

“The transformation of thunder is a supreme skill since the ancient time…” Just then, the voice came back again as if nothing had happened, and resumed the lecture from the beginning in that indifferent tone. “The basis of its ideology lies in the theory of the interaction between the universe and men. The human body is a small universe with the head as the heaven, the feet as the earth, and the five internal organs as the five elements. The essence, the Qi, and the spirit are all connected to nature itself.

“Based on this, ancient cultivators were able to create a variety of unfathomably powerful skills. With them, one could summon wind and rain, and move mountains and seas with a snap of the fingers. The Thunder Technique is one of the most unique skills that used to prevail in our country in the Song Dynasty, and was considered the most supreme skill of all.”

As the voice went on above head, those at the foot of the mountain quietly reformed their lines.

Those that had fallen down stood back up and kept their silence. That streak of lightning had struck down with perfect strength—most of the people were scared by the power, and a few hit by the falling debris, but no one was actually injured.

“…”

Tao Yu’s face almost turned green with horror. He knew Xiaozhai’s name, but never got the chance to meet her in person. He did not understand it when You Yu pulled him towards the back of the crowd, but the fear was creeping back into him now; he was even shaking a little.

You Yu, on the other hand, was in a daze, and looked up onto the mountain as if he could see a peerless female immortal who could change the color of the sky with a single wave of her hand behind all those layers of clouds.

It was quite a while before he was himself again; he mumbled, “That was unbelievable! She is unbelievable!”

He was still undetermined before this, especially on actually becoming a pupil of the cultivation world. At this moment, he finally knew what his heart wanted.

On the other side, the priests of the monastery were equally amazed. They did not know Xiaozhai very well, both in terms of her temperament and her power. Frankly speaking, had it been themselves under the same circumstance, they didn’t think they could strike down so decisively and blow all those people to the ground.

That was one fierce lady!

***

The lecture of the sixth day took the audience on quite a rollercoaster ride.

They spent the morning in great trepidation, but the talk in the afternoon took quite an unexpected turn. Because the topic was to be on Undead Insects, they’d been simply imagining things like paranoid but passionate Miao girls with poison covering every inch of their body who would not hesitate to coax every man into drinking some mead-flavored but five-poisonous insects…

However, they did not see what was coming.

“Good afternoon, everybody. Today, I’d like to talk to you about the practice of undead insects…”

‘Wow!’

The crowd’s faces lit up at that voice. They were about to erupt into cheers when they remembered the experience this morning, which stopped them from making any noise. That was such a gentle, clear, and pleasant voice, and they felt as if they were given a new pair of ears!

For a moment there, they were utterly confused about the staff arrangement of Phoenix Mountain.

The one on the first day was obviously a true immortal—like the supreme of the supreme. The one this morning, however, was undoubtedly a femme fatale—one that would not hesitate to kill her boyfriend/sister to gain enlightenment. The one speaking right now sounded like a genuinely kind and gentle young woman.

What sort of team was that?

“Undead insects have a long history, and are a type of ancient sorcery. In simple terms, they are contaminated insects.

“Most of the undead insects are raised by undead insect masters, who would catch naturally poisonous insects, and then, with some breeding and concocting, eventually made them into undead insects. A few very powerful undead insects are refined directly from their original forms, but they are very, very rare.

“The skill is almost lost among the Miao villages, but we can’t rule out the possibility that undead insect masters are still practicing in other areas such as Yunnan, Sichuan, and Fujian, where most of the ethnic groups living there have some records on the skill of undead insects.

“There are thousands of types of undead insects, such as Toad Undead Insect, Water Demon Undead Insect, Fuma Undead Insect, Fanti Undead Insect, Wanlang Undead Insect, etc. There are more types than we could count, and countless ways to use them. It is almost impossible to guard against them.

“But you shouldn’t be worried, for unless you’re an arch-enemy—or the target of a very specific request—undead insect masters seldom take other’s lives just for the sake of it.

“Undead insects are raised inside the masters’ bodies and have to be released outside periodically. Even if you’re unfortunately possessed by an undead insect, don’t panic. Go find the person that put it on you, or a priest in the temples. They usually could take it out for you…”

“Pffft!”

The crowd almost could not hold back their retorts. ‘Just because you sound lovely doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything you said, ok? How can I not panic if I’m taken over by an undead insect!’

“Actually, with the environment nowadays, both undead insects and their masters have become so rare that I doubt you’ll ever run into one. Um, I’ll talk a little bit more about the general symptoms when one is possessed by an undead insect, just for a reference.

“Undead insects could attack people either physically or mentally.

“The physical attack usually results in extreme itchiness, dumbness, bloating, loss of appetite, a fishy taste in the mouth, vomiting of blood, facial fever, skin conditions, causeless pain, etc. The mental toxicity is generally represented by dizziness, palpitation, changing moods, illusions, etc.

“If such symptoms occur to you and cannot be diagnosed medically, there is a good chance that you’re possessed by an undead insect or the Tame Head…”

Frankly speaking, the practice of undead insect was a niche thing in the cultivation world and quite unusual. Even so, it was a part of the cultivation community all the same. Since Long Qiu just happened to be a Grass Ghost Woman, this topic was included.

She couldn’t go into the details, for that was a taboo and would offend all the undead insect masters out there. The talk was a simple introduction only, which was a minor complement to the lectures on Taoist skills this time.

Eleven lecturers had given their speeches during the past six days.

Long Qiu’s was the shortest one, but one of the most popular ones. So much so that the crowd gave her a loud applause after her final words “That’s all I’m going to talk about today. Hopefully, it has helped you in some way.”

Hence, the event came to an end in this strange atmosphere. Regardless of how the procedure was carried out, it suited this modern setting quite well.

“…”

Everyone stayed in the square after Xiao Qiu left, hoping to see if there would be any more words from the mountain.

A couple of minutes later, the voice from the first day indeed rang out again. “The lectures of these six days have covered topics of Dan, talismans, Fengshui, Sword Skills, spiritual beasts, Thunder Technique, and the undead insects. We only hope that they have helped you in forming a clear understanding of this new world.

“Whichever path you choose in the future—be it the cultivation world or the mortal one—we hope you will not live your life confused with a head more muddled than a stone…”

The voice paused a little, then said, “The lectures are over. Tomorrow, Phoenix Mountain will open its gate for the selection of pupils!”