In the imperial study, Emperor Jing Hong and his trusted ministers began drafting the “immortal’s descent” incident.
“Heaven, moved by Your Majesty’s benevolence, has bestowed blessings and virtue. To preserve peace under heaven, Your Majesty specially dispatches Princess Pingning to serve the immortal…”
A sudden strong wind arose, making the windows rattle noisily. The Prime Minister, who had planned to flatter His Majesty and diminish Princess Pingning’s merits in the declaration to the realm, gave a shudder in his shoulders. Clutching his beard that was swaying left and right in the wind, he changed his words: “The immortal, seeing Princess Pingning’s countenance as purely善 and bearing an immortal connection, ferried Princess Pingning to immortality. Princess Pingning grew up at the knees of the Emperor and Empress, her face like a golden jade maiden. The Emperor and Consort loved her dearly. Now with profound blessed connections, His Majesty is greatly pleased and specially establishes the Temple of Immortal Maiden Pingning to pray for blessings for Princess Pingning and for the family, nation, and realm…”
The wind immediately stopped. Aside from the blown-open windows, it left no trace of having been there.
The monarch and ministers in the room secretly breathed sighs of relief. Emperor Jing Hong gave a dry cough: “Order the Ministry of Works to repair the tomb of the former dynasty’s emperor and empress. Consider it me helping Princess Pingning fulfill their blood kinship bond.”
“Your Majesty is magnanimous and generous.”
Emperor Jing Hong smiled on his face but sighed inwardly. What could he do? He feared that if he didn’t handle things properly enough, heaven would send down punishment, implicating the realm and state altars. Forget it, forget it. A great man can bend and stretch. An emperor who wants face is not a good monarch.
Anyway, after thousands of years, who would still know clearly whether he and Princess Pingning actually had father-daughter affection? If words were spoken enough and recorded more in the history books, more people would believe it.
At this moment, Kong Hou didn’t know that Emperor Jing Hong, who was once lofty and even made her somewhat fearful, was racking his brains to establish a connection with her. She obediently lay on Wang Tong’s shoulder, secretly looking down below, but unfortunately, it was pitch black below and she couldn’t see anything.
Suddenly she saw a silver gate open not far away. Could this be the gate to the immortal palace?
Wang Tong looked down at the quiet little girl in his arms and pulled the cloak on her body a bit tighter: “Once we cross this gate, we’ll be in our Lingyou Realm.”
The moment they passed through the silver gate, Kong Hou felt her body become ethereal for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, the silver gate had already disappeared. A waning moon hung in the sky, and the stars were exceptionally brilliant. The night wind blew across her cheeks, carrying some coolness, but it wasn’t cold.
What shocked her most was that there were actually carriages in the sky! Red lanterns hung on the carriages, and the tinkling bells were extremely pleasant to hear. Kong Hou couldn’t help but take several more looks. The carriage quickly disappeared, and she looked to the left somewhat disappointedly. Several people were floating in the air—some stepping on swords, some stepping on strange weapons, and there were even people stepping on… winnowing baskets and hoes?
The middle-aged man stepping on a winnowing basket noticed Kong Hou’s gaze and immediately smiled as he squeezed over: “Fellow Daoist, have you brought your junior to the mortal realm for some fun? This year is the rare Ten Thousand Stars New Year’s Eve that comes once in a millennium. Why not buy a box of pastries to take back for your junior to try?” As his words fell, he took out a wooden box from his body. Inside were arranged full pastries, and magically, these pastries actually glowed, looking just like stars in the sky.
Wang Tong looked down at Kong Hou, whose face was full of curiosity, and hesitated for a moment: “How much?”
“Three spirit stones per box, five spirit stones for two boxes.”
Wang Tong stared at the pastries in the middle-aged man’s hands for a long while, then shook his head: “No need.” After saying this, disregarding the middle-aged man’s shouts, he held Kong Hou and quickly flew away. Only when the middle-aged man could no longer be seen did Wang Tong land on the ground. He released Kong Hou from his embrace and held her hand, saying: “Things outside aren’t clean. You currently have no cultivation whatsoever—eating them would be bad for your body.”
“Mm.” Kong Hou nodded emphatically, deeply believing the immortal’s words without doubt. She lifted her head to look ahead. In front was a tall city gate with the two characters “Yong City” carved on it. These two characters emitted dazzling light in the night.
What shocked Kong Hou most wasn’t these two characters, but the brilliantly lit street behind the city gate, and the carriages, flat boats, and people flying in the air.
“Immortal, is this… the place where immortals live?” Kong Hou opened her eyes wide, looking up at a gorgeously dressed beauty flying over her head, fantasizing that one day she too could fly about like these immortals.
Flying was the dream of many children. Kong Hou was no exception.
“There are no immortals here. This is Yong City of the Lingyou Realm.” Wang Tong held Kong Hou’s hand and walked through the tall city gate, truly bringing her into this world.
The coming and going pedestrians, the bright candlelight—this place was like the capital at its most prosperous, but the carriages and flat boats in the air that could fly made Kong Hou soberly realize this wasn’t the capital.
“Here there are ordinary mortals whose aptitude is ordinary and cannot cultivate. There are also those with special meridians who have stepped onto the great path of cultivation.” Wang Tong had never brought along a child and didn’t know how to interact with children. Seeing that Kong Hou seemed very curious, he just directly explained it like this.
“This is the legendary cultivation world, and I’m not the Immortal Elder you speak of, just an ordinary cultivator on the great path of cultivation.” Wang Tong thought of how Kong Hou fantasized about an immortal coming to fetch her, and seeing her look at him with worship, his heart softened. “I owe you a karmic debt. If you have the aptitude for cultivation, I will take you as my disciple.”
“If one can cultivate, can one become an immortal?” Kong Hou’s eyes were dazzling in the night.
No! In the Lingyou Realm, no one had ascended to become an immortal in nearly a thousand years!
“Of course.” Wang Tong squatted down and touched the little girl’s head. “As long as you cultivate earnestly and maintain a proper dao heart, there will be a chance to ascend.”
This wasn’t deceiving a child—this was kind encouragement from an elder.
Considering that Kong Hou had just arrived in the cultivation world and was curious about everything, Wang Tong held Kong Hou’s hand and walked very slowly. Kong Hou saw that some flowers could move without wind, some animals could speak in human language, and there were even parrots that could spit water.
Halfway through their walk, Wang Tong discovered that Kong Hou had looked several more times at a chubby rabbit, so he said: “This kind of ordinary rabbit isn’t very suitable as a pet. In the future, if you don’t plan to take the path of beast taming, it’s best not to keep pets—they easily distract you.”
Kong Hou withdrew her gaze and shook her head: “Won’t keep pets.”
Licking the corner of her mouth, this rabbit looked both fat and lean—it should taste very good when roasted. Last year, a consort in the rear palace threw a tantrum and smashed a rabbit to death. She had wanted to pick it up to roast and eat it, but who knew those palace maids and eunuchs moved even faster than her? She didn’t even touch a single rabbit hair.
“So obedient.” Wang Tong patted Kong Hou’s head, feeling refreshed and invigorated. This future final disciple of his looked very worry-free at first glance. What her aptitude was like was no longer important—what mattered was obedience.
Kong Hou’s appearance made him have new expectations for the creature called children.
But after walking a few steps, he discovered Kong Hou was still staring at the rabbit. After an internal struggle, he rubbed her head and said: “If you encounter something you truly like, just go buy it.”
His future disciple was still small. Occasionally indulging her wishes was fine. Besides, rabbits only ate grass and didn’t cost much in rations.
Kong Hou just shook her head: “Won’t buy.”
“You silly girl.” Wang Tong squatted down and looked seriously at Kong Hou. “Children have the right to be willful. When you grow up later, this master won’t indulge you anymore.” He rummaged about on his body and took out two spirit stones, placing them in Kong Hou’s hands. “Go on.”
Gripping these two warm green stones in her hand, Kong Hou shook her head and proactively held Wang Tong’s hand: “Master, I won’t keep rabbits.”
“Then keep a puppy?” Wang Tong pointed at the puppy in the cage beside them. “This dog looks better than the rabbit.” Though dogs were more costly in rations, if his little disciple liked it, he’d just endure it.
Kong Hou still shook her head. She placed the spirit stones back in Wang Tong’s palm and pointed at a sign not far away: “Master, let’s buy this.”
Wang Tong turned his head to look. Over there was a roasted meat stall with writing that said “Roasted Rabbit Meat Twenty Jade Coins Per Rabbit”—the price was only one-fifth of a live rabbit.
Only then did Wang Tong understand. So his little disciple had been staring at the rabbit not because she wanted to keep a pet, but because she wanted to eat meat. He stuffed one spirit stone back into Kong Hou’s hand and magnanimously waved his hand: “Go buy it.”
Soon Kong Hou returned carrying two roasted rabbits. Because she was cute-looking and sweet-mouthed, the stall owner also gifted her a roasted chicken wing.
“Master, for you.” Kong Hou smiled as she handed the fatter rabbit and the chicken wing to Wang Tong. After Wang Tong took the roasted rabbit, she also returned the sixty jade coins the stall owner gave as change to him.
“So delicious.” The somewhat hungry Kong Hou took a big bite of rabbit meat, sniffed, glanced at the complimentary chicken wing in Wang Tong’s hand: “The stall owner is a good person.”
“Mm.” Wang Tong smiled without telling Kong Hou that among the jade coins the stall owner gave as change, two were counterfeit. He stuffed the jade coins into his pocket, rolled up his sleeves, and lowered his head to gnaw on the rabbit meat.
On the rare Ten Thousand Stars New Year’s Eve that came once in a millennium, Kong Hou, having just arrived in the cultivation world, finally got to eat a whole roasted rabbit. She looked up at the beautiful sky, feeling joyful. The cultivation world was truly wonderful.
“This is for you.” Wang Tong held the roasted chicken wing before Kong Hou. “I don’t like eating this.”
“Thank you, Master.” Kong Hou opened her mouth wide and bit down on the chicken wing Wang Tong offered, her oil-stained face showing a brilliant smile.
Looking at this smile, Wang Tong thought that such a beautiful and obedient child—never mind eating chicken wings, even if she wanted to eat peacock wings or phoenix wings, he would fight desperately to get them for her.
The only problem was, even if he fought with his life… he couldn’t get them.
Boom.
A violent explosive sound suddenly came from the sky. Kong Hou was badly startled. Wang Tong, unable to care that his hands had oil on them, reached out to embrace Kong Hou: “Good disciple, don’t be afraid. This is setting off fireworks for New Year’s Eve.”
At this point, regardless of whether Kong Hou actually had the aptitude for cultivation or not, Wang Tong was already calling her his disciple.
Kong Hou looked up and saw many beautiful stars appearing in the sky. These stars danced and leaped in the sky, finally transforming into star rain and falling from above. She reached out to catch them but discovered these stars were only illusory light without substance.
Countless people on the street cheered jubilantly, creating an extremely lively scene.
The stars twinkled for a very long time, and Kong Hou watched for just as long. In all her years of growing up, she had never seen such a beautiful sight. She just didn’t understand why the three characters “Green Water Pavilion” kept flashing in the sky as well.
“This year’s stellar illusion spectacle was paid for by Green Water Pavilion. Truly worthy of being a famous pill-making sect—such a grand gesture.”
Hearing others’ words, Kong Hou suddenly understood. So people who cultivated immortality, like mortals, also placed great importance on reputation and fame.
When the disciple who received Wang Tong’s message and came to meet him found Wang Tong, he saw his master with white hair but youthful face squatting in a street corner with a little girl, gnawing on rabbit meat with oil all over his hands, completely without any dignified appearance.
Seeing this scene, the disciple was deeply worried. Had Master failed his heart tribulation, unable to cultivate to the great Nascent Soul stage, and so was now giving up on himself in despair?