Chapter 1 - Seed Immortal Temple.

As twilight deepened.

In the desolate wilderness.

Li Shiwu wore a tattered Daoist robe, his feet bare, iron chains polished smooth by friction clasped around his ankles. His eyes were vacant, and he was utterly exhausted.

Behind him were four young Daoists, dressed similarly, also seventeen or eighteen years old, carrying a crude sedan chair made of green bamboo on their shoulders.

Seated in the sedan chair was a sinister old Daoist with a face full of black pockmarks and a crooked mouth, named Qianyuanzi.

At this moment.

Li Shiwu vigorously shook his head, forcing himself to rally his spirits, and then managed to conjure a fawning smile before turning around.

He asked, "Master, we disciples have followed you in search of immortal destiny, traversing mountains and ridges, enduring wind and snow for a full ten years."

"I humbly ask, Master, how exactly does one become an immortal?"

In the bamboo sedan, Qianyuanzi lightly raised his eyelids and sneered, "Becoming an immortal?"

"One must have a prominent family background, a master to guide them, and a powerful protector of the Dao to become an immortal."

Hearing this, Li Shiwu scratched his chin and continued to ask, "Master, are there any other methods?"

Qianyuanzi said, "One must possess unparalleled serendipity, stumbling upon a dragon's lair or gazing upon a phoenix's nest, to become an immortal."

Upon hearing this, Li Shiwu's face was filled with worry, but he persisted, "Are there any more?"

Qianyuanzi glanced at him, his tone seemingly impatient, "One must possess extraordinary talent, achieving enlightenment with every step, and comprehending the Dao daily, to become an immortal."

At this, Li Shiwu was somewhat dumbfounded. These three methods were completely out of reach for their group of disciples.

So, he stammered, "Master, Master, your methods for becoming an immortal are indeed powerful, but they rely too heavily on background, serendipity, and talent."

"Is there a simpler, more feasible method that your disciples can learn?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Qianyuanzi seemed to take some interest.

He looked around, observing the desolate wilderness, with only Li Shiwu and four other disciples by his side.

Only then did he sigh in relief, pulling out a palm-sized, withered brown parchment scroll from beneath his Daoist robe.

Then, lowering his voice, he spoke mysteriously, "There is, my disciples, there is. Otherwise, why would your master have led you across mountains and ridges for ten years?"

"It is because, according to legend, there is a Daoist temple called Seed Immortal Temple."

"Within that temple, there is a patch of miraculous soil."

"As the saying goes, 'sow melons, reap melons; sow beans, reap beans,' but that particular soil, it can grow immortals!"

At this point, Qianyuanzi seemed extraordinarily excited, actually leaping from the bamboo sedan, throwing his arms open, and laughing uproariously at the sky.

"As long as your master finds that Seed Immortal Temple, and plants himself in the soil like a 'seed,' he can become an immortal, an immortal!"

For a moment, Li Shiwu and the other four young Daoists all stood frozen, their eyes wide with horror.

They had never imagined that the reason behind Qianyuanzi leading them to seek immortality for ten years was such an absurd and bizarre one.

Suddenly, Qianyuanzi looked over sinisterly and abruptly asked, "Shiwu, did you dream of immortals again last night?" Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

Immediately, Li Shiwu shivered, and quickly replied, "Yes, Master, yes, I did dream."

"Oh, what did you dream of this time?"

"I dreamed of 'Guanyin drunkenly beating the Buddha, and Sun Wukong ascending Mount Liang on a snowy night.'"

Qianyuanzi narrowed his eyes, "Tell me!"

The wilderness was bleak, plants swayed wildly in the evening wind, rustling loudly.

Only Li Shiwu, drenched in sweat, strenuously recounted the wildly altered immortal tales.

A moment later.

Qianyuanzi laughed loudly, "Interesting, these stories of immortal friends are truly interesting."

But in the next instant, he bared a mouth full of yellow teeth, staring at Li Shiwu, his smile inexplicably sinister.

"Shiwu, your master cannot prove that what you say is true."

"But neither can he prove that you are lying to your master."

Qianyuanzi's eyes grew colder, "Your master is not an immortal now, but if one day he truly becomes one, and ascends to the Nine Heavens Palaces, and doesn't find those immortal friends you speak of..."

"Good disciple, you should know what fate awaits you, shouldn't you?"

After speaking, he took a thumb-sized, bronze-colored earring, shaped like a toad, from his earlobe.

He casually tossed it onto the ground.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a millstone-sized, warty bronze toad.

"Croak croak..."

The toad croaked twice, then opened its wide mouth, and out came pots, bowls, plates, several rolled-up bamboo sleeping mats, a few thin blankets... one by one.

"It's getting dark."

"Disciples, set up the stove, light the fire. Your master will go hunt some livestock for the pot."

Qianyuanzi gave a few instructions, then vanished into the dim twilight.

As for Li Shiwu, he was long accustomed to such sights, merely letting out a long sigh of relief.

In fact, he was not a native of this world, at least his soul wasn't.

As for how he was reincarnated into this world? After all these years, he no longer cared.

He only remembered being kidnapped by Qianyuanzi as an infant, and raised alongside twenty-nine other babies.

After turning eight, they lived day in and day out in the wilderness, rain or shine.

Of the thirty fellow disciples, only a mere five remained.

Indeed, most of them had met their end at Qianyuanzi's hands!

Just then, a small Daoist with a pointed jaw, sunken cheeks, and a build like a monkey rubbed his arm against Li Shiwu.

He whispered, "Shiwu, this is a good chance, should we escape?" Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

"If we keep going, that old bastard will eventually kill us."

He spat, "Seed Immortal Temple, my ass! I think that old bastard has gone mad wanting to become an immortal, suffering from hysteria..."

Li Shiwu glanced at him, then lowered his head to set up an iron pot.

As he started the fire, he said, "Escape?"

"Can you remove the shackles on our feet? Or can you defeat Coffin Master?"

Li Shiwu's peripheral vision caught the bronze toad squatting nearby. He lowered his voice and continued, "Hou Qi, don't talk nonsense."

"This demon is not to be trifled with. If you dare to escape, it will bite off your head."

As for the 'Coffin Master' he spoke of, it was precisely the bronze toad.

It had low intelligence, could store objects in its belly, was fierce, and enjoyed eating steamed buns dipped in human blood, earning it the nickname 'Coffin Master'.

Normally, it transformed into a thumb-sized form and hung from Qianyuanzi's earlobe.

As a flicker of firelight rose, the desolate wilderness gradually gained a touch of human presence.

A tall, honest-looking young Daoist rumbled, "Shiwu, I really envy you for being able to dream of immortals."

"Master said that's having immortal destiny."

Hou Qi, beside him, also laughed, "That's right, just tell some immortal stories, and you can make that old bastard grin from ear to ear."

Then, he looked at another young Daoist with delicate features, a boy with a girlish face, his tone gloating.

"Oh, some people, they even warm that old bastard's bed at night."

"But what's the result? They're still like us, carrying this bamboo sedan every day, their shoulders calloused."

"Unlike Shiwu, who has it easy, just clearing the path ahead empty-handed."

That delicate-looking Daoist was named Hua Erling.

He stood up angrily and retorted, "Hou Qi, I've told you many times, Qianyuanzi has a hidden ailment, he's impotent."

"And because he indiscriminately consumed elixirs, he developed a chronic fear of cold, which is why he needs someone to warm his bed. It's not what you think at all."

Hearing this, Hou Qi remained grinning, then turned and said, "Shiwu, tell us another part of that story about Tang Sanzang toying with the Queen Mother under the moon. We love it, we want to hear more."

"Tell what? I'm not in the mood!" Li Shiwu rolled his eyes.

"Croak croak..."

Just then, Coffin Master, the toad, croaked twice, its calls exceptionally harsh in the wilderness.

The few of them quickly turned to look, only to see a crooked-mouthed old Daoist, walking with an awkward, square gait, carrying a dead monkey, slowly emerging from the night.

Seeing this, Li Shiwu immediately put on a smiling face and scurried over, his shackles clinking with each tiny step.

"Master, since we're in this desolate mountain area, how about I tell you a segment of Tang Sanzang toying with the Queen Mother under the moon, to pass the time?"

Hou Qi's eyes darted, and he also went forward, his fawning expression completely different from before.

"Father!" Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

"As the saying goes, 'a master is half a father, a disciple is half a son.'"

"You've been sitting in that bamboo sedan all day, your back must be sore, let your son give you a massage?"

Qianyuanzi chuckled, but in his hand, a half-arm-long black iron cleaver suddenly appeared.

With a flash of the blade, without any warning, Hou Qi's eyes froze, and the smell of blood instantly filled the air.

Qianyuanzi looked down at his disciple lying in a pool of blood, viciously kicked him away, then took out a few white steamed buns, dipped them in the human blood on the ground, and used them to feed Coffin Master.

Yet he laughed, "My disciple, your master also considers you half a son, but alas, who told you to be a whole one? So I could only give you one slice."

"Also, in this desolate wilderness, it's hard to find human blood to feed Coffin Master, so you'll have to do for now."

Watching the scene unfold, Li Shiwu and the others lowered their heads, their eyes filled with hatred and pity, not daring to utter a sound.

Such incidents had become commonplace over these ten years.

However, the group did not know.

In this ink-splashed night, a few miles away, a blurry Daoist temple, seemingly between reality and illusion.

Was slowly revealing its presence.