My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting

The rain slashed down like white arrows. One paper umbrella was nowhere near wide enough to shelter them both, so Bai Lingshui floated up with a dancer's poise and parked her trim hips on his massive shoulder. Now the umbrella covered them both.

She peered ahead. "Big guy, your name's Dian Wei, right? And you tell people to just call you Bubba?"

"Yup. How'd you know?" he asked, playing dumb.

"Good. We're skipping the brothel. Go left; my place is this way."

"Okay. I'm bein' good," he rumbled, and followed her lead.

The two bypassed the gaudy pleasure houses and stopped at an unremarkable courtyard home. There were plain walls, a roomy yard, and a spotless floor.

Li Yuan sniffed the air: nothing but the clean scent of rain and wood. No traps, no poison.

Supper was simple farmhouse fare. There were no grand slabs of meat, just fresh greens, pickles, or clay-braised chicken, but every bite was delicious. Whoever cooked had the hands of a kitchen Immortal. No scantily clad beauties burst in to ply him with wine, either.

Quality service, Li Yuan thought approvingly; the White Lotus Cult clearly tailored the experience.

Afterward. Bai Lingshui did the dishes herself. She stripped off the ornate gown and the teasing silver dress, swapping them for a village girl's blue-on-white work clothes. The homespun cotton hugged her curves even better than silk; innocent on the surface, a quiet smolder underneath.

Li Yuan sat beneath the eaves. Red chilies and cured meat strips dangled overhead, exactly like the porch back in Gemhill County. For a heartbeat he pictured Yan Yu inside that kitchen, and a gentle warmth settled over him, though the barrier between their worlds still stood, clear as glass.

Water splashing stopped. Bai Lingshui hurried out with a wooden basin, scurried through the drizzle toward the well to rinse the suds away. Li Yuan nudged her aside, flicked the bucket down, hauled up a full barrel, and set it by her feet.

She perched on a low stool, long legs bracketing the basin, ladling water over the bowls. "I play music for strangers all night, then come home and scrub my own dishes," she said lightly, a hint of drear hiding in the tone. "Running myself ragged, earning next to nothing…do you look down on me?"

The stats floating over her head still read fifth rank, so Li Yuan wasn't fooled. He said nothing, just sank down beside her, one branch in each fist, absent-mindedly tracing blade moves in the air.

Bai Lingshui sneaked a glance, found no reply, and let the silence stand. A man willing to share quiet had already stepped one foot closer; no need to rush.

Now for the second test, she thought, and waited.

The rain tapered off, and a bright moon spilled silver onto every puddle.

In the distance, a broad-shouldered figure strode their way, radiating furnace-heat that warped the cool night. He had short hair, eyes like lightning, and carried a crook in his hand as he herded half a dozen sheep along the road.

Inside the courtyard, Bai Lingshui, still clutching Li Yuan's arm, was explaining something in a low, coaxing voice, setting the stage for whatever came next.

"All martial arts under heaven sort themselves into nine ranks," Bai Lingshui explained, "but a man is more than his rank. The temple master of the Holy Tree Temple, Qing Hancheng, is fearsome yet still not the peak. If you truly seek the strongest, head south; someone there dwarfs even him."

Li Yuan shook his head like a rattling drum. "Ma says you finish your rice one mouthful at a time. The south's too far! I'll thump Ah Qing first."

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Footsteps crunched outside.

A short-haired giant strode in, steam rising from his skin. A 2,855~7,228 hovered above his head. This was the toughest opponent Li Yuan had encountered in Silkfloss Province so far, fiercer than Gu Xuejian herself.

"That's my brother, Bai Douqi. He just brought the sheep home." Bai Lingshui tugged his sleeve. Then with a mischievous tilt of her head, she asked, "Tell me, is your Daisy anything like our sheep?"

Li Yuan rattled his head again. "Nope, mine's got two rumps."

"I meant the wool, silly. Plain white, nice and fluffy."

Li Yuan's eyes lit up.

Bai Douqi penned the flock; Bai Lingshui dutifully introducedBubba.

Li Yuan scooped up a lamb and started petting it.

Moments later. Bai Lingshui joined in, cooing, "I like stroking them, too."

Li Yuan rolled his eyes.Great, what a coincidence that your brother has sheep too. Trying to boost my affection meter, huh…?

The poor 0~1 lamb bleated helplessly while the brute and the enchantress fluffed her coat.

"Fight my brother," Bai Lingshui suddenly said. "It's for your own good. If you can't beat him, forget Qing Hancheng. Qing Hancheng will kill you.

Li Yuan laughed. "You're real nice. Show me the road, then sic your brother on me."

Just as he finished speaking, he sprang upright with asnapand charged across the yard to face his new opponent.

Bai Douqi's muscles writhed like old root-vines, cords bunching and slithering beneath the skin. He was unmistakably a brawler of the Red Lotus Cult.

The White Lotus scouts, Red Lotus enforces, and the Green and Black Lotuses pump out soldiers back home. Seems like they've had their whole system set up for a while,Li Yuan thought.

Toe to toe now, Bai Douqi bared his teeth. "Show me what you've got."

Li Yuan scratched his head, grinning, and lunged. His blade qi spread everywhere yet silent. Two fingers slid together to form the Tranquil Sea Blade.

For Bai Douqi the courtyard vanished. An ocean rose, rolling in perfect hush, Li Yuan a hazy sea-god within the waves. No gale, no spray. Yet immensity pressed from every direction, crushing the Red Lotus to dust.

He knew quality when he saw it.

Those two fingers shimmered, then became a blade, one that held an entire sea.

The blade hadn't even arrived and already Bai Douqi's destructive aura was scattering like dry leaves. Sweat drenched him. He lifted an arm, muscles bulging, attempting to counter.

Li Yuan blurred and closed the gap. Two fingers tapped the spot between Bai Douqi's brows. No pain, just the weight of a mountain poised but mercifully unfallen, power reined to the last grain.

Time froze, then quiet buzzing followed.

Li Yuan slid his fingers upward as though wielding a barber's clipper, shaving off a neat tuft of hair. Strands drifted before Bai Douqi's stunned eyes and settled into the wet earth.

"Booooring! So boooooring! Aggh!" Li Yuan threw his head back. He clutched his skull, howled like a wounded wolf, and bounded onto the roof tiles.

Bai Douqi stood soaked through, unmoving. Several heartbeats later his lungs finally unclamped and he gulped for air, chest pumping like that of a drowning man.

After witnessing the exchange, a flicker of genuine fear flashed across Bai Lingshui's eyes for the first time.

Bai Douqiwas a cover name. The man she had summoned was her field partner. His real name was Han Tong'er, the strongest among the Red Lotus Cult elders and only half a step from fourth rank.

Anyone who could crush him had tobefourth rank. Could that big lunk really be fourth rank? And an unaffiliated wanderer at that?

She glanced at the bald giant sulking on the rooftop, knees hugged to his chest. Then she turned to her partner. "You look exhausted. Turn in early tonight. I'll keep our guest company."

With a light bound she joined Li Yuan on the tiles. A normal man's brain would have screamed,These two aren't ordinary.

However, Li Yuan wasn't playing a normal man. He wasBubba.

Settling beside him, she murmured, "Sorry. I really thought my brother could—"

"Hmph!" The bald man turned away with a wounded sniff.

First time I've met a man like this…Bai Lingshui half-laughed, half-sighed.He probably practiced one of those train-until-your-brain-turns-simple cultivation technique manuals.

Martial arts lineages like this weren't exactly unheard of.

Tugging his sleeve from behind, she apologized again, "Truly sorry. Tomorrow I'll take you to the Holy Tree Temple. Qing Hancheng is far stronger than my brother."

"That's more like it," the big fellow grumbled, placated at last.