My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting

Far from the Holy Tree Temple, in a sleepy market town, Bai Lingshui was hurrying back with a wax-paper bundle. Inside the bundle was half a pound of beef for Li Yuan's supper. She felt eyes on her, drifted closer to an alley, and brushed shoulders with a stranger who slipped her a note.0

She opened it later: nothing but chaotic stripes. Her pupils tightened. Thatmesswas the top level White Lotus Cult cipher reserved for emergency orders to elders. The single line read—0

"Qing Hancheng is one of us."0

Her brow furrowed; she crushed the paper to dust.0

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Time slipped by.0

Jing Baikou never sent out therefusal. Refusing meant admitting the temple master had seen the challenge.0

Saying nothing let them claim he'd never looked at it, softening the blow to the Holy Tree Temple's prestige.0

Rumors were fed instead.0

"The temple master is in seclusion." "An outer gate lackey lost the letter." "Since when may a mountain nobody challenge the temple master?" …0

Bai Lingshui didn't dig deeper after learning the revelation.0

Qing Hancheng might belong to the Lotus Cult, but the big brute belonged toher. Let them fight, what of it?0

The temple master was far too strong to be killed by a single swing, and with that hidden affiliation she could always call a halt if things soured.Even demons respect the Buddha's robe; surely he wouldn't slay Li Yuan outright.0

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Mid Autumn night, a full moon hung over Flying Swallow Terrace0

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the platform, waiting till the moon set and dawn bled through the peaks. Around him, hidden masters also waited.0

Dawn bled through the mountains, yet Qing Hancheng never came.0

Then came the questions, followed by the answers.0

"The temple master is still in seclusion." "Oh, the letter? It must have gotten lost."0

Even Bai Lingshui had not foreseen this flat refusal. Li Yuan felt something twist inside. He still had family inside the city stronghold; hehadto look.0

She approached him, breathless and flustered, swearing she'd done everything possible. He knew she spoke the truth. Yet he upended the table with a crash, slapped the shutter wide, and howled with grief and betrayal.0

"You lied to me! LIED!"0

Then, like a meteor, he shot through the window and was gone in a blink.0

Bai Lingshui leaned out, eyes red, shouting, "Bubba! Bubba!"0

Only empty sky answered.0

Fists clenching and loosening, Bai Lingshui spun and left. She would track him down, apologize, and coax him back no matter what.0

Days passed.0

Every informant she owned reported back. The big brute had vanished. Some said he'd blundered into a ghost domain; others, that he'd slipped into pathless mountains. Either way, the common theme was that he'd stumbled into a place that men rarely returned from. Where could she even start looking?0

Frustration hit like a hammer; for the first time in years, Bai Lingshui felt no desire to fulfill her duties.3

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Li Yuan, meanwhile, had holed up deep in the mountains, then changed hideouts again and again, each deeper than the last, until not even the Lotus Cult's shadow could follow him.0

After making absolutely sure no one had tailed him, he produced a whitewood casket. A moment's thought, then he slipped several strands of Bai Lingshui's hair inside.0

The ghastly pale box reacted at once. Its joints fused shut, the grain darkened to the color of bone, and the whole thing went rock-hard like a coffin that had finally found its corpse.0

Li Yuan exhaled and began the interrogation.0

"Everything you know about Qing Hancheng, spill it."0

No answer came.0

He tried again. "Why did Qing Hancheng refuse the duel?"0

Bai Lingshui's voice floated out. "I don't know."0

So the questions had to be more specific.0

"Your position in the Lotus Cult?"0

"White Lotus Cult, Saintess."0

"A Saintess is…?"0

"An elder. Elders are called Saintess or Princess."0

Li Yuan pressed on. "Besides being the temple master of the Holy Tree Temple, what else is Qing Hancheng?"0

"An inside agent for the Lotus Cult."0

His pupils shrank.Well, that's a surprise.0

"Why would the Holy Tree Temple's temple master play double agent?"0

"I don't know."0

Li Yuan kept asking question after question. And thanks to the generous harvest of hair, the casket answered for a good long while.0

When strategy topics dried up, he veered into Bai Lingshui's past. Shockingly, the enchantress' tragic childhood hadn't been a lie. She had been sold by her family, and her brother did bring her back their ashes…only the brother wasn't Bai Douqi but another man, long since dead.0

Then the whitewood casket reached its limit. Box and hair powdered to ash and scattered in a breeze.0

Li Yuan rose, muttering, "Time to pull Ping'an out. The Holy Tree Temple isn't safe. Breaking through into fourth rank can wait."0

His muscles sloshed beneath the skin; moments later he looked like the blandest passerby alive.0

Next he contacted Wang Heran, leader of the Black Cloaks. The man left the city stronghold to handle outside affairs at the same hour every day, making contact a breeze.0

Within hours, Wang Heran had forged papers and ushered Li Yuan through the Holy Tree Temple's first gate as an ordinary retainer of the Black Cloaks.0

Ever since Li Yuan's last letter, Yao Jue had wandered the first gate every few days—ostensibly for tea, in truth hoping for news. The once-slim maid was now a rising star, commander of the third gate's eastern defenses and their fearless troops.0

It was late autumn. She still had those famous legs, outlined by white trousers, a brocade coat hugging a figure now more noblewoman than servant. Hair coiled high, she strode with brisk authority.0

That day in one of the Black Cloaks' teahouses, someone slipped her a folded note. Her eyes stayed calm as a deep well. She rose, walked to a hidden chamber, and stepped inside.0

Candlelight revealed a man in a chair. Her composure shattered.0

The white hair, gone. The wrinkles, gone. He looked exactly as he had on his wedding day.0

"Master…" The still lake in her eyes rippled into peach-blossom waves. She threw herself at him.0

Wang Heran bowed out discreetly.0

Yao Jue clung to Li Yuan, her little-sprite charm making him laugh and squirm. Unlike Cui Huayin, who treated beauty like a blade and the Dao as her heart, Yao Jue had only ever wanted this one man. Many a lonely night she'd met him only in dreams.0

Li Yuan read the longing plainly. He loosened his belt, hung their clothes on a stand, and swept her up. Her fair white legs, still covered in soft beige boots, dangled and swayed like ripe peaches on the branch each time he shifted his grip.1

She lay prone on the couch, and Li Yuan moved in.0

The yearning that had smoldered through their long separation finally caught fire.0

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A good while later, Yao Jue appeared languid and glowing. She sat before the mirror, idly combing her hair.0

When every strand was in place, she slipped back to Li Yuan's side, eyes sparkling.0

"Master, for you to come back like this, somethingbigmust have happened, hm?"0

"You know it's serious and you're still acting like that?" he teased.0

"A woman must stayalertin a crisis," she replied, deliberately using thefirsttone foralertinstead of the proper fourth, turningcalmintored-hot.0

Li Yuan could only shake his head.0

She tittered. "I only play the minx for you, Master. You're the one man in my life. If I don't show this side to you, who else deserves it?"0

This girl could give that White Lotus enchantress a run for her money,Li Yuan thought.Quick-witted and dependable. Looks like I trusted the right person.0

He dropped his voice. "Qing Hancheng has secretly thrown in with the Lotus Cult. He may gut everyone here, or purge dissenters and drag all of the Holy Tree Temple under the Lotus Cult's flag."0

The news struck Yao Jue dumb. The lively mouth went mute.0

"Impossible… That makes no sense."0

"I didn't believe it either," he said, "but the source is iron-clad. Bottom line, I'm getting our people out. That means you, Ping'an, Huayin, and Shuixiang. If I can, I'll also try to snatch the Holy Tree Temple's life chronicle and manuals so you can keep training."0

Yao Jue managed a shaky smile. "If you really mean to rescuefamily,four of us won't be enough."0

Li Yuan's eyebrows shot up. "That rascal went and found himself a wife?"0

She raised three fingers.0

"Three?"0

Yao Jue nodded. "Two babies already born, the third wife is still carrying."1

"Since when do martial artists marry at all, much less three times, and still find time for kids?" Li Yuan asked, incredulous.0

The sudden promotion to grandfather made him sweat.2

Yao Jue giggled. "Ping'an says cultivation is too easy. He wanted to crank up the difficulty, so he chose themarry-and-raise-childrenhandicap to challenge himself."3

"..." Li Yuan was struck speechless.0

"Seven years ago, right after your first letter, he broke into fifth rank," she went on. "Now he's nearly at the cusp of breaking through; he's condensed five strands of source blood. He keeps complaining that if you hadn't beaten him up so much back when you were sixth rank, he might have advanced even faster. He grumbles, but he's grateful. He claims life is boring because every trick outsiders could use to kill him is something you've already done before."1

That little brat…Li Yuan laughed softly, then glanced at the woman beside him. Her 1,210~1,280 put her firmly in fifth rank. It was also clear that she didn't have the boost of a spirit artifact.0

"You and Huayin have both broken into fifth rank as well, haven't you?"0

"I was hoping to surprise you. It seems like our family can live together with each other for a long time now." Yao Jue stretched, pleased. "The third gate is drowning in resources. I've been riding on Gu Xuejian's coattails, tagging along on sorties.0

"Huayin's the real prodigy, though. She broke through four years ago, made elder, and now chills the room just by walking in. You might not recognize her. As for me, I only recently broke through at the turn of the year. Trouble is, the few weaponsmiths we do have are wracking their brains to forge fourth rank weapons to fight the Lotus Cult, so…no spirit artifact for me yet."0

Li Yuan chuckled. "A woman of my household doesn't go without a proper weapon. If the weaponsmiths won't oblige, I'll forge you one myself."0

Yao Jue hopped up, bowed like a nimble dove, and laughed. "I knew you were the best! I can only repay you by sharing your bed tonight."0

"I'm not stepping into the third gate," he said, waving her offer away.0

"Then we'll sleepoutsidethe city.0

"I've heard Ping'an will head out for training in two days. He always stops at my manor first. Follow him, and once you're far enough you can reveal yourself and have your father-son reunion.0

"As for Huayin and Shuixiang, they're both on missions against the Lotus Cult right now. Neither is in the city stronghold."0