The immortal is beside me

Chapter 56 Discussion
Yizhou City, Bashu Dazhaimen Hotpot.

The store manager, wearing a tie, stood in front of the counter, pretending to count money in his hands, his eyes frequently glancing at the two figures sitting by the window, his expression as cautious as an undercover agent.

An hour ago, he suddenly received a call with a number starting with 00. A person claiming to be from the Yizhou City/// government told him in a magnetically deep voice that two important figures would be coming to the store soon, and asked him to be prepared for the reception while ensuring the normal operation of the store, and not to make any mistakes.

As a person in the catering industry, he had never seen such a scene before. For a moment, he thought that a leader was coming to inspect, so he quickly evacuated the customers and deployed the waiters and chefs, preparing them for an inspection.

Who knew that after waiting for a long time, instead of the grand welcoming team, two young men in casual clothes came.

The two of them found a seat very casually, ordered a bunch of tripe, pork intestines, beef and mutton, and started eating on the spot. It seemed as if they came here to check in based on the reviews.

But the features of these two people are exactly the same as the description on the phone. With such young faces, could they be the two powerful sons of wealthy families?
The store manager was guessing in his mind, and when he saw the two people leaning against the window and seemed to be talking, he pricked up his ears to get some clues from their words.

But after listening for a long time, he couldn't understand anything.

It's not for any other reason, it's simply because the accents of those two people are too weird.

Having run the shop for so many years and welcoming customers from all corners of the country, he was familiar with accents from all over the country. But the accents of these two people were different from those in any other part of the country.

If it weren't for the occasional words that sounded similar, he would have even suspected that the two were speaking a foreign language.

It's not his fault. After all, what he heard was a dialect from 1400 years ago, the official language of the Tang Dynasty - Chang'an dialect.

"This antique soup, served with a saucepan, needs some coriander to make it more flavorful. Brother Zhou, why don't you try it?"

"No, that thing tastes weird, I don't like it."

"Hey, after hundreds of years, your taste hasn't changed. Is coriander really that bad?"

At the table by the window, Yuan Tiangang was cooking a chopstick of tripe while smiling, "The taste hasn't changed, but the behavior has changed a lot."

He could no longer discern Zhou Qing's aura, but after their previous chess match and the exchange of ideas, he naturally understood his old friend's current state.

Half a step ahead of heaven, but slightly behind, so he tempered his mind in the worldly affairs, changed into an ordinary appearance, and walked among the mortals.

As a practitioner of Yishu, he had previously traveled the human world for hundreds of years as a mortal to comprehend the world, so he was naturally familiar with what Zhou Qing was doing now.

However, in his impression, Zhou Wuqing had always been a man of great vigour and power. Wherever he went, there would be chaos at best and collapses at worst. But now he disappeared quietly into the dust. The contrast was indeed great.

"Brother Zhou, how many days do you plan to stay in Yizhou this time?"

"I'll leave the day after tomorrow." Zhou Qing picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and said, "I have to go back to work."

puff!
Yuan Tiangang nearly choked on his own gullet. "You? Going to work?"

Although he had known from their previous exchange of ideas during the chess game that Zhou Qing was currently posing as a mortal to cultivate his mind in the mortal world—but was this the method?!
He was shocked when he found out that this person was half a step ahead of heaven and had reached a level unprecedented in ancient and modern times. But on second thought, it was also unexpected and expected.

In comparison, the word "go to work" applied to him is not only shocking, but even more outrageous than the reversal of heaven.

"Why, 'Walking in the world, studying things to gain knowledge, observing the various aspects of life, and understanding the connection between heaven, earth, and man'—wasn't that what you proposed back then? Now you don't understand it?"

"You seem to understand Yi Shu better than I do." Yuan Tiangang slowly put down his water cup. "So how are you doing now?"

"They are just trivial matters." They had known each other for a long time, so there was no need to hide anything. He told her everything he had done in recent years. As Yuan Tiangang listened to him, his strange expression gradually relaxed, and he looked thoughtful again.

"In other words, you are now serving the residents in Liangzhou."

He thought for a moment, then seemed to understand. "So, if I move there, you'll have to serve me as a resident. I'll ask the children to prepare it for me right away."

"You don't want Tianjiyuan to lose its Heavenly Master, do you?"

Yuan Tiangang chuckled and changed the subject: "You have indeed completely hidden yourself from the mortal world. Now the entire cultivation world thought you were dead, but you have forged another path in the mortal world."

"Let them think so," Zhou Qing said as he dipped his meat in the oil dish. "The world of cultivation is nothing to behold, but the Daoist intentions of these ordinary beings are infinite."

The world of cultivation has hardly changed in the past thousand years, but the ordinary people he sees are changing with each passing day.

He had witnessed the creativity of ordinary people as early as when he first saw things like computers and mobile phones. In just a few short years on earth, he had witnessed the emergence of new concepts such as artificial intelligence, which continued to grow like mushrooms after rain.

While decades might not be enough for a cultivator to comprehend a single Daoist principle, ordinary people could easily transition from cell phones to smartphones. Mortal life might be short, but this allowed them to achieve achievements no less glorious than those of the cultivators.

While most people admire the past, he revered the present. History is undoubtedly magnificent, but it is the waves at the forefront that truly drive the world forward.

"Is this what Brother Zhou thinks?" Yuan Tiangang nodded slightly. "Are you interested in discussing it? I'm all ears."

"No, no, no."

The red soup in the pot was bubbling, emitting steaming mist. Language from 1400 years ago was mixed in with the sound of boiling water. There was no discussion platform, no chess table, no scriptures, only delicious food and fine wine in front to serve as a backdrop for this discussion.

The invisible spirit of Tao spread out, and people eating in the restaurant suddenly felt a warmth spread through their bodies, as if they were basking in the spring sun.

No one could understand what the two people at the table were talking about, and no one associated it with warmth, only thinking it was the heat emitted by the hot pot in front of them.

When all the meat plates on the table were gone, the emanating Dao spirit also stopped.

"The myriad forms of life are truly mysterious and infinite."

Yuan Tiangang slowly turned the oil dish: "Cultivation is in heaven and earth, truth is in the mortal world. Cultivators come from the mortal world and should return to the mortal world. However, there are always insects in this world who follow the evil path and try to surpass all living beings and ascend to heaven in one step."

"If they are insects, just sweep them away." Zhou Qing said, "People in the world are capable of sweeping them away nowadays, so there's no need to interfere too much. If they really can't be swept away, I will take action to suppress them."

"You really haven't changed." Yuan Tiangang smiled faintly. "Speaking of which, Brother Zhou, now that you've returned to the human world, do you have any plans to contact other old friends?"

"After you left, many people have been keeping an eye on your whereabouts. Although they are now scattered across the Central Plains, the government is acting as a link between them. If you want to find them, it should be easy to find them."

"When I have the chance in the future, I will go find them." Zhou Qing said, "Who is still alive now?"

"Those descendants who followed you in conquering the Ten Kingdoms, that Khitan goddess, the boy who inherited your fire magic, and that little princess of the Great Song Dynasty. Oh, right."

"And the little bird that used to accompany you." Yuan Tiangang said, "Brother Zhou, you are now refining your soul in the mortal world. I can't help you. But that bird... maybe it can lend you a hand."

P.S. I went out today and didn’t finish writing. This is the first update. I’m writing another update and will post it later orz
(End of this chapter)