The Unruly Immortals

In Niuxin Village, Gao Zhijian's fingers, firm as cast iron, easily parted the solid packed earth, leaving behind one mark after another.

"What are you drawing?" Chun Xiaoman frowned as she looked at Gao Zhijian squatting on the ground. "Why don't you write characters instead? I've also learned some writing at the private school recently."

Gao Zhijian glanced at her and shook his head before continuing to draw.

"Hey! What do you mean by that, are you looking down on me?" Chun Xiaoman said, pushing him with some force.

Feeling her palm on his back, Gao Zhijian pursed his lips, stifling a laugh, and shook his head before burying his head back into his drawing.

"Is this a snake? Were you a snake medicine vendor before?"

"Dragon!" Gao Zhijian said in a deep and forceful voice.

As his fingers slid across the ground, a huge coiling dragon appeared before Chun Xiaoman; then his fingers swiftly moved, sketching a seated person below the dragon.

"Emperor!" Gao Zhijian pointed at the figure and then started drawing heaps and heaps of gold ingots beside him.

Afterward, he drew a series of smaller figures lined up next to the seated figure. When he got to the end and drew another one, he smacked his own palm vigorously. "Me!"

"You're the Emperor's son?!" Chun Xiaoman's eyes widened in shock.

However, in response to her question, Gao Zhijian nodded and then shook his head vigorously. "Don't... don't... don't... don't know!"

"How can you not know? What in the world is going on?"

"May... may... may... maybe... it's... it's fake!"

"Didn't you say this was your past? How can it be fake now? By the way, have you talked about these things with Li Huowang? What does he think?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Gao Zhijian hesitated for a moment, glanced at Chun Xiaoman, then drew an adult figure beside the character that represented him with his finger.

The adult's face seemed to be covered with something, obscuring their features, and he carried three swords on his back.

When Gao Zhijian bit his finger and used the blood to dye the clothing of the Taoist figure red, Chun Xiaoman immediately understood what he meant to convey.

"Is this Li Huowang?" There weren't many people in the world who wore red Taoist robes, she recognized him at a glance.

After Gao Zhijian nodded vigorously, he then wrote a large 'Wu' character on his own forehead with his finger.

"I recognize this character; it's the 'Wu' from one, two, three, four, five, and it's the simplest. Does that mean you were five years old that year?"

Gao Zhijian nodded vigorously again and pointed at the swords on the back of the character representing Li Huowang, then forcefully crossed out the little character that represented himself.

"Uh... Li Huowang killed you? Killed you when you were five years old?" As Chun Xiaoman uttered these words, even she started to hesitate.

"Mhm." Seeing Gao Zhijian actually nod in response, Chun Xiaoman suddenly felt her head spinning.

"Li Huowang killed you, so how are you still alive? And how is it that he killed you as a child?"

"May... may... may... maybe it's fake!" he said, drawing another character to represent himself, adding armor to it and also a cart beneath it.

Subsequently, Gao Zhijian drew a crowd surrounding him, thrusting their long spears towards him.

"You.... died again? Why can't I understand?"

"Chaos...." Gao Zhijian patted his head forcefully, "Chaos!" Gao Zhijian's movements became rougher.

He then drew several more death scenarios for himself, including drowning, burning to death, and even hanging.

In the end, he gave up on drawing people entirely and instead took out some charcoal to sketch out masses of blackness. As the black circles on the ground increased, a hint of fear gradually emerged in Gao Zhijian's eyes. The more black circles he drew, the deeper the fear in his eyes became.

Finally, when the round sturdy arm drew a large black circle that completely enveloped everything, Gao Zhijian seemed frightened by his own drawing and abruptly jumped up, retreating several steps.

"Gao Zhijian.... are you alright? Should we get a doctor to take a look at you?"

As Gao Zhijian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, a smear of black also ended up on his face.

He shook his head slightly, carefully walked over, picked up a clump of earth, and stepped on it, firmly pressing the blackness into the ground with his foot.

Afterward, he used charcoal to draw a little figure on the back of his hand to represent himself, then with that same hand symbolizing himself, he dug through the trampled earth and pushed aside the blackness, eventually revealing the large piles of Silver Sycee he had drawn earlier. "Money!"

From the base of that pile of Gold Ingots, he drew a line straight to Chun Xiaoman's feet. "Take!"

"No, no, no, let's just wait for a bit. This has become about more than just money. Draw more clearly; I'm starting to feel muddled too," said Chun Xiaoman, feeling her mind turned upside down by Gao Zhijian's confusion.

"His intentions are quite clear," a voice came from the door. The two turned their heads to find Zhao Wu leaning on a crutch.

Seeing the scene, it seemed Zhao Wu had witnessed everything Gao Zhijian had drawn.

Zhao Wu approached them, looking over the scene that was unrecognizable from before. After a moment of thought, he said, "According to his drawings, Gao Zhijian must have been a high-ranking noble in the past, hence the abundance of silver in his household."

"Those various methods of death likely represent the risks associated with that status. However, if it ever came to the point of utter desperation, he would be willing to accept those risks and use his former identity to help us find a way to survive."

After speaking, Zhao Wu turned to Gao Zhijian and asked with a serious expression, "I guess that's what you're trying to say, right?"

Gao Zhijian stared blankly for a moment, then emphatically shook his head without giving Zhao Wu any face. "I...I...I am the...Em...Em...Emperor!"

A sigh of helplessness appeared on Zhao Wu's face, "You're the Emperor? And then Brother Li killed five-year-old you? Then you came back to life? And then you died again? And finally, Master Danyang caught you?"

"There's no five-year-old Emperor in Da Liang. If you're going to make up stories, at least make them believable."

"Besides, didn't you keep your past from telling Brother Li because this narrative has problematic inconsistencies? You were five years old, so how old was Brother Li, then? He isn't even older than you."

Zhao Wu's words pained Gao Zhijian, who began to slam his fist into his forehead resolutely. After a few hits, the palm hitting his head turned into a fist. "Chaos...Chaos!!"

"Hey, Gao Zhijian, don't do that!" Chun Xiaoman quickly grabbed him. "Once this natural disaster is over, Lv's Troupe can go out and make money again. You don't need to worry about finances!"

Gao Zhijian slowly calmed down, casting a complicated glance at the two who distrusted his narrative, then clenched his fists and turned to leave.

"When Brother Li returns, should we tell him about his wild rants?" Zhao Wu, leaning on his crutch, spoke up.

Watching Gao Zhijian's retreating back, Chun Xiaoman nodded with a complex expression.

"I think it's better to tell him. He has seen more and knows more than us; perhaps he could learn something about Gao Zhijian's background."