The immortal is beside me

Chapter 125: Thirty Years of Fame and Dust, Eight Thousand Miles of Journey and Clouds and Moon

"Yue Pengju"

Zhou Tong looked at the child in front of him, and there seemed to be a blazing fire dancing in those childish eyes.

In this era where scholars and officials are supreme, he has not seen such eyes for many years. For a moment, he seemed to have relived the spirit of the prosperous Tang Dynasty that overlooked the world a hundred years ago.

It turns out that there are real warriors in this era.

"Immortal?"

The phoenix squatting on the roof saw him stand up, and a hint of surprise flashed in its golden eyes, and then it immediately realized what he was thinking.

'Do you really want to teach him the technique?'

The voice in the spiritual platform showed a hint of anxiety: "Immortal! Your foundation is already damaged. You should retreat and rest as soon as possible. You shouldn't bother with these trivial matters! Besides, he is just a mortal now and cannot inherit your inheritance. What's the point of teaching him some marginal skills?"

"There are still some remnants of the rebels in the north that have not been pacified. I need to stay here for a while." Zhou Tong replied, "Even if it's just a small contribution, it won't take much effort to teach them a little."

He casually broke off a branch and, as the child stared in surprise, placed his hand on his waist.

"Stand straight, straighten your spine, keep your elbows straight, push the bow with your forearm, and gather all the nine strengths into the string, only then will you be able to break it with one blow."

The ten-year-old child was slightly startled, then he realized that the immortal master was giving him instructions, and hurriedly adjusted his posture and breathing according to what he said.

Half an hour later, another feather arrow shot out, and this time the arrowhead penetrated into the tree trunk half a foot deeper.

"Not bad." Zhou Tong glanced at the feather arrow on the tree trunk. "Just practice like this, first shoot at trees, then shoot at metal and stone. When you can shoot the feather arrow without gold, you will be considered to have mastered it."

The child hummed forcefully and looked at him straight, with an inexplicable expression in his eyes.

Since Huizong took office, the trend of emphasizing the importance of literature over martial arts has become increasingly pronounced. In some areas, the strictest practices have even been banned. Finding a renowned martial arts teacher in such an environment is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Although he had only received instruction once, he had already sensed the extraordinary qualities of this person.

"Excuse me, Master, where are you? Can I continue to consult you in the future?" he asked cautiously.

"I don't have a fixed place." Zhou Tong shook his head. "But the wine in Tangyin is good. I come here every first day of the month to drink a bowl."

The child's eyes lit up slightly.

In the following years, a boy with a bow on his back appeared outside the tavern in Tangyin.

On the first day of every month, the boy would appear outside the tavern, holding his weapon and waiting quietly, waiting for a gun-wielding figure to sit outside the tavern and show him his newly learned archery skills.

Apart from the techniques, there was not much communication between the two. He did not ask Zhou Tong about his origins in detail, but from the spear in his hand and the blood that appeared from time to time on his body, he could tell that he must have experienced many battles.

At first, when Zhou Tong was in a good mood, he would occasionally talk to him about the situation outside and the battlefields he had seen, but as time went on, he spoke less and less, and only gave necessary instructions and no more words.

He was tired, so tired that he didn't even have the heart to talk.

Yue Fei saw all this. He didn't know what made the immortal master so tired, so he just practiced archery even harder, from the hottest days of summer to the coldest days of winter.

Until one day, a feathered arrow streaked across the sky and sank into the rock with a clang, leaving only the tail feathers exposed outside the stone.

"Master! I have reached the point where I can drink the golden feathers."

The young man, who had grown into a full-grown man, put down his longbow and spoke to him in surprise. Then he turned his head and the second half of his words suddenly weakened.

Sitting at the table, Zhou Tong supported his face with one hand, his eyes slightly closed, his face drooping, and he was breathing slightly.

For a moment, he suddenly felt that the man in front of him had become extremely old, as if invisible cracks had appeared in his body, revealing the traces of countless years of wasted time.

But the next moment, when he came to his senses, he saw that the person sitting at the table was clearly a handsome young man.

The young man stood there holding the bow, watching him silently.

"Immortal Master."

Hearing the call, Zhou Tong slowly opened his eyes. A tall young man was sitting opposite him at the table, his armor shining silver in the sunlight.

"I have successfully enlisted as a brave soldier. Next, I will go to Xiangzhou to clean up the bandits. I will set off in a few days."

He held up the wine bowl with both hands and said, "Thank you for your guidance over the past ten years, Master. I'm not good with words, so I'll offer this wine as a token of my gratitude for your teaching."

As he spoke, the wine in the bowl reflected a resolute face, full of vigor and vitality.

"No need to express your gratitude." He picked up the wine bowl in his hand. "I will be leaving soon. This is my last taste of Tangyin wine as a farewell."

"Really? You're leaving?"

Yue Fei held the wine bowl and seemed to ponder for a while.

"I've heard rumors that you are an immortal."

In reality, he didn't need any rumors to realize it. Ten years had passed, and he had grown from a child to a young man, but the man before him hadn't changed at all.

Seeing that there was no change in Zhou Tong's expression, he had verified his guess.

"After you leave this time, will you ever return to the human world?"

"Of course I will." Zhou Tongdao, "It just takes some time."

Will it take some time? Yue Fei lowered his head.

He had heard that immortals would occasionally retreat to the mountains to meditate and attain enlightenment, often staying there for dozens or even hundreds of years. In terms of a mortal's lifespan, this departure often meant a final farewell.

The two men sat in silence. After a while, Yue Fei slowly lifted the bowl and held it before him. "Then, allow me to offer this wine as a farewell to the Immortal Master." His voice suddenly rose. "When you return to the human world, please do me a favor—I hope your name will be recorded in history."

Zhou Tong was slightly stunned, and suddenly the figure of the man opposite him became blurred. He seemed to see the child with fiery eyes ten years ago again.

After a long silence, he suddenly laughed softly. This was the only time he smiled in decades.

"That's good," he said. "Then I will look for your name in the annals of history."

The two smiled at each other, clinked their bowls together, and drank it all in one gulp.

"After that, I returned to Liangzhou and found a place for seclusion. I spent two hundred years to stabilize my foundation and then look for a breakthrough."

Zhou Qing leaned against a chair on the side of the street, looking at the people passing by and said, "For hundreds of years since the end of the Tang Dynasty, I've been stuck in too many corners, leaving many hidden dangers in both my state of mind and my foundation. Only when these problems reached a critical point did I have to retreat and rest."

"I took many detours to address those hidden dangers and missed many things. You shouldn't make the same mistakes I did."

Xiao Yao sat beside him and listened to him. Zhou Qing's narration was calm throughout, but she could still detect a hint of vicissitudes between the lines.

Two hundred years, even by the standards of a cultivator's retreat, was a staggeringly long time, equivalent to half the lifespan of some lower-ranked cultivators. As a fellow powerful being, even though Zhou Qing didn't elaborate, she could imagine the complexity and difficulty involved.

Thinking about what happened in the Central Plains during those two hundred years, she vaguely understood what he meant by "missing a lot of things."

"So, Brother Zhou, are you trying to persuade me not to take action and fight against those people of the Eternal Emperor this time?" Xiao Yao asked.

"There is nothing wrong with war being your path, but you should not take things to extremes."

Zhou Qing said, "Things are different now than they were during the Song Dynasty. You don't need to fight a desperate battle. If you can't win even after trying your best, come to me for help. I will be your retreat."

"I never thought Brother Zhou would say such a thing." Xiao Yao's eyebrows arched, and a different light seemed to flow in her pupils. "So, Brother Zhou is confident that he can rival the power of Changshengtian?"

"After I came out of seclusion, I already fought against those people of the Heaven." Zhou Qing said, "Their achievements are not as great as mine."

Xiao Yao was suddenly startled. Suddenly, she seemed to see Zhou Tong's pride and fierceness again. It was just a few simple words, but she felt like she was being looked down upon.

He once fought against the people of heaven.
According to the time Zhou Qing mentioned, he had already left the country during the Song Dynasty. So, the person he fought against at that time was...
Xiao Yao pondered for a moment and spoke again.

"The situation this time may be different from what Brother Zhou saw a thousand years ago."

"Back then, the Jin, Jurchen, and Mongols took turns marching south, each gaining ground while the other declined. But this time, it was as if they had received a unified command, and all the tribes were moving simultaneously."

"There has never been such a precedent in history. This is likely the direct result of Changshengtian's will. Compared to a thousand years ago, His interference in the human world seems to have reached a higher level."

Zhou Qing raised his head and glanced at the distant horizon.

"It doesn't matter. It's all the same."

A few days later, in the top-floor office at the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Bureau headquarters.

A gray-haired man was sitting in front of a sandalwood table, flipping through the documents on his computer page by page.

His name is Wu Xihe. He is the executive director of the Beijing Environmental Sanitation Bureau and the general manager of the national environmental sanitation bureau system. In the context of the extraordinary system, this position is equivalent to the Minister of War. In the true sense, he can leverage the power of an entire country with just one word.

And now he is doing just that.

The internal landline on the long table rang. Wu Xihe picked up the call and heard a low voice of reporting from the other end of the phone.

"General Administration, satellite monitoring shows that a large-scale spiritual power reaction has occurred on the northern border. The Changshengtian forces have begun to take action."

Wu Xihe's brow furrowed slightly. Since a month ago, extraordinary incidents had been occurring frequently across the country, forcing sanitation bureaus everywhere to operate at full capacity. Among the thousands of operational reports, the three characters "Changshengtian" appeared with particularly high frequency. Since then, headquarters had been on high alert, keeping a close eye on the situation at the border. And now, their suspicions had been proven true.

After a thousand years, the people carrying the faith of the grasslands once again led their horses south. However, this time, it was not the Song Dynasty that stood in the Central Plains, but a country called Hua.

"How is the enemy distributed?" Wu Xihe asked in a deep voice.

"Currently, we can confirm that twelve forces are approaching China from different directions. The simulated images have been sent to you."

The electronic screen on the table flashed, displaying a map of half a rooster. From head to tail, twelve marked arrows were slowly approaching the border from all directions. In real terms, these arrows spanned a distance of approximately ten thousand kilometers.

"Based on the estimated route of action, we have already dispatched additional personnel to various border checkpoints. Cooperative sects such as Jiuli and Qingluan have already responded, and some neutral sects have also expressed their willingness to provide personnel, but..."

He paused. "According to the latest deductions from the Tianji Academy, the enemy's forces contain an ominous star. It's speculated that this could be a being above the level of a Divine Transformation, posing an extremely high threat. We're currently unable to pinpoint the powerful being's exact location, but we know they're roughly in the outer northeast. Special attention is required."

Above the level of incarnation?

Wu Xihe's brows furrowed even more. Compared to the twelve invading forces, these four words caught his attention even more.

In the battle between monks, the effectiveness of human wave tactics is minimal. An extraordinary powerful person is enough to reverse the entire battle situation. There is no other solution but to use chess to meet the general chess, so that a powerful person of the same level can compete with him.

"What do the various strategic levels say?"

"Except for the 'Heavenly Master,' all strategic-level personnel within the territory have been stationed at the corresponding border checkpoints," the voice on the other end of the line said. "However, just a few hours ago, we received a reply from the 'Fire Saint.'"

When Wu Xihe heard the word "Fire Saint", he was slightly startled, and his frown relaxed a little, as if this name was the cornerstone of his peace of mind.

"Has the Fire Saint returned to the territory?"

"Yes. He has completed his mission to suppress Fusang and has also received news about Changshengtian."

"He said he would take action this time."

(End of this chapter)