Unintended Immortality

As evening approached, the rain fell heavier than it had during the day. It drummed dully on the oil-paper umbrella, a sound that brought a sense of calm.

Song You walked slowly, lost in thought.

The trick on Mati Mountain was truly ingenious. Even with his level of Daoist cultivation, he had only seen the small path and the pavilion but hadn't noticed the mysterious principles within. He felt that whoever had arranged it must have considerable expertise.

Of course, it was not necessarily so.

Every kind of magic in the world each has their own mysterious principle, much like the countless fields of knowledge and professions. Who can master them all?

Especially in this age of inaccessible information, once one’s knowledge and experience reach a certain level, further progress truly requires seeing with one's own eyes, spending time, and using one's heart to comprehend. Even immortals of a thousand years wouldn't claim to fully understand all the world's arcane arts. Moreover, Song You had only been here for a little over twenty years. There were many methods in the world that he didn’t know, nor were they recorded in Hidden Dragon Temple.

Having profound cultivation skills doesn't mean being able to understand the principles behind all things. Cultivation is cultivation, knowledge is knowledge, experience is experience, and level of attainment is level of attainment. Even an old immortal could be confused by a small trick they've never encountered before.

This is logically consistent and also profoundly mysterious.

However, Song You thought of one person…

A few days ago, he had discussed the Swallow Immortal with Qingyangzi.

He had asked Qingyangzi about it.

This Swallow Immortal was said to have resided in Anqing for an unknown number of years. Qingyangzi had only met him once, but his master's master had drank several cups of tea with him.

They had also chatted about the Swallow Immortal Pavilion outside the city.

In fact, there was also a Swallow Immortal Temple outside the city.

The Swallow Immortal was said to have been already in Anqing before the establishment of Zoujiao Temple. At that time, he already had considerable cultivation skills. Even if he hadn’t lived a thousand years, he must have lived at least eight hundred. But everything has its end. Nowadays, the growth of his cultivation no longer matched his declining health. Facing the limit of his lifespan, the old Swallow Immortal had no choice but to extend his life by turning to the Divine Dao and seeking incense and offerings.

Although becoming a god didn’t guarantee immortality, as long as there were incense and offerings, he could extend his life for another day.

Decades ago, Xuzhou experienced a severe drought and not a single grain was reaped. The Swallow Immortal performed magic to protect the livelihoods of the people in Anqing. Although it wasn’t totally good weather for crops, it was better than the surrounding counties. When the grain ran out later, he transformed into countless swallows, transporting grain in their beaks from official storehouses elsewhere, saving many lives.

The people of Anqing, grateful for his deeds, built a temple and a statue for him.

This was the Swallow Immortal Temple outside the city, which now served as common lodgings for jianghu people.

The temple had a lot of incense, offerings, and donations, but the Swallow Immortal appeared in a dream, instructing the temple's administrator to buy less incense and lamp oil. He was told to use the money instead to repair roads for the people, as well as build pavilions to provide shelter for passers-by.

He could be said to be really working hard to gather incense offerings.

Unfortunately…

The Swallow Immortal, in taking grain from the official storehouses at that time, might not have necessarily offended the court, but it was certainly not something the court approved of. Such cases could never be officially sanctioned. As a result, he was never conferred the title of god by the court.

Being an anomaly after all, he likely wasn’t accepted by the Heavenly Palace either.

One governed the earthly world and the second governed ghosts and gods. The two combined with the result that the Swallow Immortal’s fame remained confined to Anqing. Even in nearby Lingbo, there wasn't a single temple dedicated to him.

If it weren’t for his thousand years of cultivation and the hearts of the people of Anqing, he would likely have been labeled as a nefarious deity long ago.

“A thousand-year-old great demon...” Song You couldn’t help but sigh.

How many thousand-year-old demons were there in this world?

Don’t underestimate the significance of a thousand years.

In the world’s rumors, there were often mentions of ancient thousand-year-old demons, but aside from a few plants and animals that naturally live long enough to occasionally become demons, most are exaggerations and unfounded rumors. Just as the gods and immortals in the world were all said to have lived for eons, actually most have only been worshiped for a few centuries. Note that if you go back one or two thousand years from the Great Yan dynasty, there was already no recorded history. Many of the gods worshiped by people back then have vanished into history.

The gods people revered at the moment, disregarding their divine power and abilities, were mostly younger than the Swallow Immortal.

Song You felt extreme pressure when he thought of this person.

It wasn’t about cultivation or magic skills.

Firstly, a thousand years of age doesn’t equate to a thousand years of cultivation or attainments. Secondly, cultivation and attainments don’t always translate into combat ability. In fact, most gods in the Heavenly Palace were civil officials.

It was the sheer weight of a thousand years in itself.

Humanity has come this far through mutual support, with an instinct to respect the elderly and care for the young. Even a virtuous emperor on an outing, when meeting an eighty-year-old man, would respectfully call him “elder.” The thousand-year-old ancient cypress trees planted along Jinyang Road were instinctively respected for their longevity by many people, and the authorities had even enacted laws to protect them. How much more respect would be given to an elder who had witnessed a thousand years of history and hardships?

This pressure was essentially a kind of respect.

And this Swallow Immortal Terrace was likely connected with him.

But with such a figure in Anqing, why hadn’t the water demon in Lingbo been dealt with long ago?

While pondering this, he suddenly heard a voice yell behind him. “Hey, Daoist priest!”

It was a rough female voice.

Song You and the cat immediately stopped and turned to look at the same time.

Through the misty rain came a figure.

She was clad in hemp clothing with her hair loose, and holding a long saber. Her face was no longer covered up, revealing a somewhat round, goose egg-shaped face with eyes in which the black and white were distinct.

“Greetings, Heroine Wu.”

“What a coincidence.”

“Quite.”

“You're here? I thought you hadn’t come. I looked for you for a long time but didn’t find you.”

“We stood far away.”

“My eyesight is good.”

“We were quite far.”

“How was it? Did you enjoy it?”

“It was eye-opening.”

“Hehe...” The woman grinned, walking alongside them. “If I had known you were watching, I would’ve gone up to let you witness my skills.”

“I saw many of your fellow disciples. They’re all top martial artists, so I can imagine your prowess.”

“They're not quite as good as me.”

“Impressive.”

Song You complimented, then paused and asked, “This bluestone terrace is well-made, with even a yin-yang symbol in the middle. It must have taken a lot of effort and money? However, why is it called ‘Swallow Immortal Terrace?’”

“Heh! I just asked my master today!”

“I'd like to hear the details.”

“It wasn’t built by humans.”

“Then by...”

“They say that in the past when jianghu people first chose this place as the location for their gathering, it was just a flat piece of land when they came for the gathering. By the second gathering, someone claiming to be a descendant of the Swallow Immortal came. He said the Swallow Immortal was moved by the heroic spirit of that group of jianghu seniors, and wished to build a platform here for them to use for future exchanges and duels. He only wished that they would remember the Swallow Immortal’s gift and offer two sticks of incense when they came and went.”

As the woman spoke, she glanced back at the platform at the foot of the mountain by the river. “The jianghu seniors heard this and agreed, only half-believing such a good offer. Thereupon, the place would change night by night, changing by a layer each time. After forty-nine days, the Swallow Immortal Terrace was completed.”

“Miraculous.”

“I thought so too...” She suddenly frowned. “Hey, why do you Daoist priests have a thing for numbers like forty-nine and eighty-one? Why do things always take that long?”

“Most of us do as we please, not sticking to such numbers. Things take as long as they take, and numbers are just numbers. But when people pass on rumors, they find these numbers pleasant and mysterious. Perhaps some Daoists themselves wanted to use these numbers to tell people, or maybe they were following the habits of predecessors, or for some other reason, so...”

Song You smiled.

“Oh...” The woman nodded repeatedly as she drew out the syllable.

The rain from the sky did not stop, and her hair was already wet, sticking to her face. Her clothes were also soaked through, and clung to her body, yet she seemed completely unaware, simply strolling forward. She neither disliked being rained on nor had any issue with Song You holding an umbrella. Only when the rain bothered her in some way would she either shake her head, wipe her face, or purse her mouth to blow a puff of air, resolving the inconvenience and moving on.

Seeing this, Song You couldn’t help but ask, “Want an umbrella?”

She waved her hand, smiling, “Jianghu people are their own sky. Why use an umbrella…”

Her carefree grace in that instant made Song You look at her several times, even slowing his steps.

***

Back at the ancient temple with green tiles, rain fell on the bamboo grove.

Song You returned the umbrella to the young boy respectfully, “Thank you for the umbrella.”

“No need to thank me...” The boy folded the umbrella, speaking very maturely despite his youth, “Master has grown old and prefers staying in the temple, brewing and drinking tea. We never go out on rainy days, so the umbrella was stored unused for a long time, almost rotting away. It’s better that you use it. It even saved me the trouble of taking it out to sprinkle water on it.”

Such words were really comforting.

Song You couldn’t help but smile, “It must be fate that I used it.”

“Indeed...” The boy also smiled, a stark contrast to the cold demeanor he showed to jianghu people a few days ago.

Just as the boy was putting away the umbrella, he suddenly remembered. “Senior Daoist Brother, are you not going out tomorrow?”

“I will be going out.”

“Won't you need the umbrella?”

“I guess that it won't rain tomorrow.”

“That would be best. Tomorrow I can go up the mountain to look for mushrooms. It's already the second month, not sure if they've sprouted.” The young boy didn’t doubt him either and only put the umbrella away, heading back into the house. “Senior Daoist Brother, come quickly to eat dinner.”

After dinner, Song You returned to his room.

He lit the oil lamp and spread out some hemp paper.

Song You had originally intended to ask Lady Calico to help grind the ink. However, seeing her alone on the bed, deeply engrossed in some imaginary battle with the air and having so much fun with so little effort, he could not bear to disturb her. Instead, he took the ink-stone outside to catch some rainwater under the eaves. He took the ink-stick and patiently ground it himself.

Dipping the brush in ink, he paused to gather his thoughts before writing.

The ink he used was also Congealed Fragrance Ink.

Though it was the finest quality ink, as expensive as gold, he didn’t intend to keep it as a collector’s item. He continued to use it daily, or rather, he considered he was collecting it in another place.

Suddenly, the cat jumped onto the table. “Daoist priest, what are you writing?”

“Noting down some things.”

“What things?”

“Beginning of the second month in the second year of Mingde, arrived in Anqing County, Long Commandery, Xuzhou. Coincidentally encountered a grand jianghu event, the Great Liujiang Gathering...”

“What’s this?”

“Something I’m writing.”

“Why write it?”

“So I know I have walked through this world.”

“Mm...” The calico cat moved closer to the paper for a look.

Though she obviously couldn’t read, she still wanted to look. Not only did she look, but she even used her paw to nudge Song You's hand to stop him from blocking her view.

It was really hard to write this way.

But what else could he do?

***

After finally finishing, he went to blow out the lamp, and discovered that the oil in the oil lamp was nearly gone. He hadn’t planned on using so much.

Though oil lamps were expensive, if used for such purposes, it was worth it.

“Lady Calico.”

“What is it?”

“Time to sleep. We need to get up early tomorrow.”

“What for?”

“We’re going to Mati Mountain.”

“To watch those people fight again?”

“To meet the Swallow Immortal of Anqing.”

“Is it a swallow?” The calico cat immediately got close to his face, so close that her nose and mouth almost touched his face.

“A thousand-year-old great demon.”

“A thousand years?”

“Yes.”

Silence.

The calico cat gradually calmed down.

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