I became an immortal in the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 64 Senior, don't you know the art of flying?
The middle-aged man remained silent.

The two young disciples looked at their senior brother kneeling on the ground, then gazed at the group of spirits in the cliff. Before them lay the kindness and care of their elders over the years; below them, in the cliff, lay a multitude of spirits, each with a different appearance. The conflicting emotions surged within them like a tidal wave.

They exchanged a glance, the one called "Sanshui".

She bowed and asked:

"This junior would like to know, Senior Uncle... why did you do this?"

Another person said, "I'd like to know too!"

Jiang She glanced at the old man kneeling on the ground, still remembering how calm and carefree he had seemed at the beginning.

"Refine the Yin Spirit, absorb essence and blood to prolong your life..."

He sighed.

"Some of them are not uncommon anymore."

Jiang She raised his hand slightly, and a gust of wind blew all the ghosts below the cliff up. He beckoned to the two boys to come over, "Ask them one by one."

With a wave of his hand, these hideous, deathly spirits lost their ghostly appearance. Their eyes, no longer unfocused, regained their senses as if someone had touched their eyes. If it weren't for their limp forms, the two would have thought they were alive.

The middle-aged man stared in astonishment, barely managing to suppress his shock.

He recalled the term "immortal" that his senior brother had just mentioned.

I thought he was a senior with profound Taoist skills, and that he was only flattering me out of fear of death and to beg for mercy.

Now this...

With a wave of his hand, he could summon all these spirits. He could restore their former sanity, awaken their spirits and restore their wisdom... He had recited scriptures to deliver the souls of the dead, but he had never seen anything like this.

Is there such a way of doing things in the world?
The spirit regained its senses, its memory still stuck on the moment before its death, and cried out in despair.

"Mother, I'm scared—"

"It hurts! It hurts! Don't peel my skin off!"

"Immortal, we have already given you the person. Whether you want the soul or do something else, it is up to you. But the gold we promised must not be less."

"Help! Help! I know I was wrong, and I will never do this kind of smuggling business again. I know I was wrong, I know I was wrong! I'll return this batch of goods right away..."

The two young disciples felt a pang of sorrow upon hearing the cries for help.

The way he looked at his senior master could never be the same again.

They opened their mouths.

"Uncle..."

The old man lay prostrate on the ground, not answering their questions. He had considered the consequences of being discovered, but he always felt it would be alright; he thought that once he had lived longer and had more time, he would take care of everything.

These casual creations, such as the Ear-Reporting God, were given away to many people. Among them, the essence and blood of the strong ones greatly aided in cultivation.

The middle-aged man gave his senior brother a deep look.

He gave the old man a final bow.

Sigh:

"Senior brother..."

After a while, he turned around.

The middle-aged man faced Jiang She, bowed, and said solemnly:

"Thank you, Immortal, for rid my Yunmeng Mountain of this evil scourge!"

Having witnessed the gruesome deaths of these ghosts, he could no longer convince himself to plead for his senior brother and continue to protect this wicked and unjust cause.

Yunmeng Mountain is a place for quiet cultivation, and it has always followed the righteous path.

The practitioner has already made their choice.

The old man's voice trembled: "Junior brother, you...!"

He didn't finish his sentence.

A tree branch pierced his heart.

The two teenagers gasped and turned their heads away. Only after the struggling stopped did they look at their deceased senior master, their hearts filled with complex emotions.

The senior master they met enjoyed sitting on the mountaintop fishing leisurely and reading popular folk tales.

Surrounded by a gentle breeze and a bright moon, I am unlike any ordinary person.

He was extremely kind to the younger generation. Every time they came, they would see many interesting little trinkets here, and he would patiently listen to them chatter about the trivial matters of cultivation. He was truly a very good person.

Only now do I realize that my senior master's time may have already come.

Only then did I realize that I had caused the deaths of so many people.

The middle-aged man walked up to the old man, squatted down, closed the old man's eyes, and laid his body flat. His voice was very low: "Thank you, senior."

At the mountaintop, the wandering spirits were transformed and vanished. Even the wind was still; mist and white clouds hung low, shrouding the mountaintop, and the crimson sun rolled through the clouds.

Looking down at the corpses below, it seemed as if they were thousands of feet away.

Jiang She sat down cross-legged, holding the cat in his arms. He stroked the cat gently and said, "You've come up the mountain to visit him, haven't you?"

The middle-aged man also gazed at the floating clouds beyond the mountains, his heart filled with complex emotions.

Stand aside.

"Yes."

He added, "If there were no seniors, my Yunmeng Mountain would also eliminate my senior brother for doing such a thing."

Jiang She asked, "Do you come here often?"

“Sometimes I would visit once every one or two years. Five years ago, after I took on these two apprentices, I started visiting more frequently, once every three to five months.”

Middle-aged people are often at a time when they have many unspoken feelings, and seeing that this person was willing to talk to them, they also poured out more of their hearts.

"It has been fifty years since I became a disciple and started practicing Taoism, and I have known my senior brother."

It is from the moment we are born until we grow old.

Jiang She said, "I see that your two apprentices like him quite a bit."

The middle-aged man said, “Senior brother… has been cultivating Taoism for many years and has always had a good temper. He has a somewhat carefree and unconventional attitude. Children also like to talk to him and feel at ease. Ten years ago, senior brother moved away from Yunmeng Mountain and found a mountain near Luoyang to live in seclusion. I didn’t know that senior brother was doing this before. I was happy for senior brother’s breakthrough.”

"Now that I think about it, staying away from spiritual practitioners was also a convenient way to prolong my life through clandestine means."

"Senior brother... wasn't like this before."

The middle-aged man spoke, recalling the early days of his cultivation in Yunmeng Mountain.

Speaking of the past, he and his senior brother, like the two disciples he had with him, often quarreled, but their relationship was very close.

The older brother was better-tempered. They would often sneak food together in the kitchen at night. When helping their master refine medicine, he was always impatient with tending the fire, finding the dust and ash heavy and pungent. The older brother always did it.

The voice gradually lowered.

At the summit, there was only a corpse, and a fishing rod not far away.

The mountain wind blew against his clothes; the mountain wind was always cold.

The middle-aged man stood up and bowed.

"We must thank you, senior, for saving those souls; otherwise, we would be restless!"

He pulled his two disciples over, and together they paid their respects to the spirit of the dead. The middle-aged man said to them, "Today is the day your master died. If tomorrow you see any heretical or evil spirits, or hear any witchcraft or malevolent spirits harming people..."

"Whether they are fellow disciples, friends, elders, or even me..."

"He should be killed as well!"

"Do you remember?"

The two disciples looked at the corpse and agreed.

The middle-aged man stared at them and said, "Even if one of you sees your companions going astray, taking lives in pursuit of enlightenment or for personal gain."

"They must not be let off lightly!"

The two disciples exchanged a glance and agreed.

They were only ten years old and did not understand why their senior master would go down the wrong path.

They have only a superficial understanding of what their elders call the "evil path," and they still have plenty of time in their lives to waste.

It's used to slack off, to show off, to pluck the feathers of the white cranes in the mountains, and to hide away from being beaten.

Whether it's reading storybooks, strolling around the county or in Luoyang, or listening to storytellers, and when they hear about gods, ghosts, and immortals, they can nudge each other and chuckle... all of these are good.

After today, there's always tomorrow.

If you missed the peach blossoms in Luoyang this year, there will be another spring.

Several people went down the mountain.

San Shui saw that the senior in blue robes did not use any magic, and the cat followed him as he walked down step by step.

She and her junior brother Chu Yi exchanged a glance.

Curiosity in eyes:

"Senior, don't you know the art of flying?"

(End of this chapter)