The Unruly Immortals

Hearing Gouwa's shout, with a "creak," the door opened.

Bare-chested, Gao Zhijian frowned as he looked at him, with steamy sweat cascading down his body despite the cold weather.

"Can you smell it? Today, Young Yang and his wife are steaming buns! Pork and green onion ones!"

Looking at Gouwa's sly expression, Gao Zhijian, with a bang, closed the door again.

Through the door, Gao Zhijian listened as Gouwa's complaints gradually faded away, "Ah, what a bore. Scholar Lv was more fun. I wonder where that lad has gone. Haven't seen him in so long; I actually miss him a bit."

Only when he could no longer hear any sound did Gao Zhijian turn around and steadily picked up the weighty halberd. With a low roar, he forcefully lifted it.

This Giant Halberd was made especially for Peng Longteng, and it looked so out of place in Gao Zhijian's hands, like a child riding a large horse.

After wobbling and forcefully swinging it a few times, the ground trembled, and the Giant Halberd shattered the stone slabs on the floor into pieces.

Gao Zhijian, panting heavily, looked down at his trembling hands, where blood was seeping through the cracked veins.

Gao turned and walked to the front of the house, holding a book in his hands. It was a military manual he had found on Peng Longteng's body after his death.

As he wiped blood from his hand onto it, instantly, entirely different content appeared before his eyes. It was a military cultivation method!

He stared with wide eyes and sat cross-legged, following the records in the book, and with all his mind, he gathered a murderous intent, merging this intent and following the book's steps to circulate the energy through his meridians.

Gao Zhijian cycled the energy round and round, and as he sat there, he resembled an Arhat from the temple, intimidating and unapproachable. Wisps of faint blood qi emerged from him, and his body seemed to swell slightly.

A bug happened to fly by, and as his eyes swept over it fiercely, the bug instantly stiffened and fell dead to the ground.

"Time to eat! Time to eat!!" Young Yang's shouting allowed Gao Zhijian to slowly close his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he was back to the simple and honest Gao Zhijian.

Having seen Peng Longteng's might, he always felt that this object held dangers, so he wanted to test it himself first. If it proved effective, he would tell the others.

Gao Zhijian walked to the well in the courtyard, drew up a bucket of ice-cold water, and poured it over his head. After washing away the sweat, he dressed and walked toward the kitchen.

Upon arriving, he saw everyone else eating hot porridge and fragrant meat buns, sipping and chatting without much regard for formalities, regardless of gender.

Gao Zhijian picked up a basin and used chopsticks to grab fifty buns before sitting down to eat. He didn't go for the porridge in the pot; instead, he poured a bowl of dark vinegar.

He bit into a bun, dipped the torn part into the vinegar until it was soaked, and then popped it into his mouth. He ate slowly, occasionally glancing towards the door.

As the crowd gradually thinned, Young Yang scratched his head in puzzlement, "Is Sister Chun Xiaoman not eating again?"

After a moment's thought, he covered a bowl of buns with a plate and began to carry it along with the round-faced woman, who was still scrubbing pots and washing steamers.

Upon witnessing this scene, Gao Zhijian stuffed the last bun into his mouth, downed the remaining vinegar, and then picked up the bowl of buns to head outside.

His destination was clear: the Bai Family Ancestral Hall. As he rotated the three monkeys aligned in a row, a secret door suddenly appeared before him.

Bending over, Gao Zhijian was about to enter when he saw that the oil lamps on the surrounding walls had been filled, making the previously somber staircase much brighter.

When he returned to the main hall, he saw Chun Xiaoman murmuring something under her breath. "Disciple looks up to the azure sky, masters all around. Twenty-four secrets aid me, with the iron ruler becoming lamp grass, the heavy knife turning to goose down, the core stone transforms into bubbles...."

Alerted by the footsteps, Chun Xiaoman turned around, and her eyes lit up upon seeing Gao Zhijian, "Zhijian, come quickly, did I recite it wrong? Why is there no reaction?"

Gao Zhijian took the book from her hands and examined it for a moment before passing the bowl of buns. "Eat."

Since their last encounter, Chun Xiaoman had noticed that Gao Zhijian seemed to have snapped back, and from then on, he would say a single word—as long as it conveyed his meaning to others, that was enough.

"I don't want to eat, you check the contents of the book first," Chun Xiaoman said impatiently, pushing the bowl away.

But Gao Zhijian thought otherwise, pushing the bowl back toward her, "Eat," with a look that said he wouldn't speak unless she ate.

With no other choice, Chun Xiaoman started to nibble on the bun quickly, yet she still asked, "Has Miaomiao returned?"

Gao Zhijian, who was scrutinizing the book, shook his head.

"Where has that damned girl gone, not even a letter back to me," Chun Xiaoman complained, but then something crossed her mind, and her heart skipped a beat, "You don't think she might have...."

Mid-sentence, she hurriedly comforted herself, "No, she wouldn't do anything foolish again."

Chun Xiaoman was eating so frantically and thinking such a jumble of thoughts that, unsurprisingly, she choked and started to hiccup, covering her neck.

Gao Zhijian put down the book and gently patted Chun Xiaoman's back with his broad palm to help her swallow the food.

Once she caught her breath, Chun Xiaoman turned to Gao Zhijian and said, "If it doesn't work out, let's gather everyone and search the area where Miaomiao disappeared again. I really can't rest easy without any news."

"Mhm," Gao Zhijian nodded.

As Chun Xiaoman continued to eat the bun, a dog ran down excitedly from outside with a letter in its paws, yelping, "Hey! Sister Bai has sent a letter!"

Immediately, Chun Xiaoman stood up nervously, "Where is she now? What does the letter say?"

"How would I know? I can't read," the dog, wagging its letter, handed it over to Gao Zhijian, who was standing nearby.

After that, with Gao Zhijian's explanation, Chun Xiaoman finally understood that Bai Lingmiao was fine, she was just busy with some errands in the Capital City, and would return once she finished.

"As long as she's alright, as long as she's alright....," Chun Xiaoman let out a long sigh of relief, as she had been tormented by nightmares every day during Bai Lingmiao's absence.

Gao Zhijian leaned close to the letter, inspecting it carefully for a good while before stuttering, "This... uh... this is... it's... it's... Brother Li's handwriting!" Only Brother Li would like to use charcoal to write such square characters.

"Ha ha." The dog pointed at Chun Xiaoman and laughed, "See, what did I tell you? That young couple had a spat, and you, an outsider, shouldn't meddle. Maybe you helped her scold her husband, but then the next day they make up in bed. Didn't I tell you so?"