A Tale of Encounters with Immortals: A Peach Blossom Temple in the Martial World

A female corpse.

The corpse in the red dress is Shu Baimei.

Shu Baimei looked up at Zhang Zhengdao, then at the corpse on the ground, her face streaked with tears.

The corpse is Shu Baimei, and the female ghost is also Shu Baimei.

"Are you resenting me for killing you back then?"

Zhang Zhengdao stared at Shu Baimei.

The female ghost, Shu Baimei, was in tears and shook her head desperately.

"I...I have no heart."

As Shu Baimei spoke, she suddenly tore open the collar of her red dress, revealing sharp fingernails that gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

She looked at Zhang Zhengdao and smiled, a very sad smile.

Suddenly, she plunged her long fingernails into the snow-white skin, then abruptly split it open. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the snow-white skin of her chest, and then the cracks gradually spread…

His chest was ripped open.

"what--"

A collective gasp of surprise rippled through the room.

Zhang Zhengdao knew without turning around that Hu Yunying and Guo Lanying were behind him.

The two women covered their mouths, staring wide-eyed as Shu Baimei dug her nails into her own chest and then tore her chest open.

It wasn't as gory as I had imagined.

Shu Baimei held her wounds in her hands, looking at Zhang Zhengdao with a desolate gaze: "I have no heart."

She truly has no heart.

Inside his chest, there was a gaping hole, empty and dark.

Zhang Zhengdao looked at her: "So these past few days you dug up your own corpse, trying to get the heart out of it and put it into your own body, is that right?"

Shu Baimei nodded.

The two women behind them suddenly realized why the female ghost had been acting suspiciously these past few days; she had been pondering this matter.

"did you find it?"

Shu Baimei didn't speak, but instead lowered her head and pulled open the chest of the corpse on the ground. The heart was still inside, but it was riddled with holes.

It was pierced by vines in several places.

"I...I can't fix it."

When the female ghost Shu Baimei said this, her eyes were brimming with tears.

She originally thought that by cultivating a physical body, she could become a real person. But what person is without a heart? A person without a heart is, in fact, still a ghost.

With a wave of his hand, Zhang Zhengdao retrieved the riddled heart from the corpse on the ground. The dense aura of death, even within the Bagua formation of the peach grove, could only ensure that the corpse and the heart remained lifelike, not that they still possessed any vitality.

Zhang Zhengdao looked at the heart in his hand and sighed. The heart was ruined and useless.

Then the heart in my hand suddenly turned into a wisp of air, slowly dissipating into the air and disappearing.

The female ghost Shu Baimei stared longingly at Zhang Zhengdao.

"Don't keep the body. When the time is right, I'll make you a new heart."

After Zhang Zhengdao finished speaking, he turned around and left.

Shu Baimei's spirits lifted, and her previous sorrowful mood suddenly dissipated. She gracefully curtsied to Zhang Zhengdao and winked at Hu Yunying and Guo Lanying, who were still standing opposite her.

The female ghost was an actress.

Hu Yunying understood it at a glance.

And it even provoked me.

Haha, how naive!

Ghosts don't have hearts, and they don't even have physical bodies. This is the impression that Shu Baimei, the only ghost in this world, has of herself.

However, after consuming her own elixir and absorbing the spiritual energy from the Bagua formation, the female ghost slowly developed a solid physical body.

The torn chest just now, with its delicate skin and tender flesh, was real flesh.

I just tried it myself, and no matter how I use Taoist magic, I can't repair that heart completely. It was injured by vines full of spiritual energy, not by ordinary swords or knives.

Back in his room, he took out the Taoist books he hadn't touched for many days and began to read them again. These past few days he had been reading unofficial histories, biographies, and strange tales.

After all, he wasn't a proper Taoist priest. In the end, he was just an abnormal Taoist priest who had passed the Taoist priest examination in his previous life on Earth. Although he had memorized many classic texts, he felt that the most powerful people around him were just martial arts practitioners, so he became complacent.

I started to feel that nothing in the world could defeat me.

He turned to a page of a Taoist book and began to concentrate.

Shu Baimei looked at Zhang Zhengdao's room. The light was still on, and she could see Zhang Zhengdao's shadow on the desk, projected onto the window paper.

With a light turn, she disappeared into the night.

Turning a person into a ghost is easy; turning a ghost into a person is difficult.

Zhang Zhengdao suddenly remembered that after Shu Baimei tore open her body, there was no blood on her body.

It has a physical body, but no blood.

From a biological perspective, this explains why Shu Baimei, even with a physical body, doesn't eat. Food consumed by humans enters the small intestine, where nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream and transported to cells throughout the body, providing energy for human activities…

The heart is what powers blood circulation.

Without a heart, blood is useless. Since blood is useless, the female ghost's body has no blood. Without blood, as long as the cells can absorb energy from spiritual energy, the female ghost can do anything...

Sure enough, a good grasp of high school biology can explain this paranormal phenomenon.

and so……

How exactly can the heart be revived?

Oops, so annoying!

Head transplant, heart transplant...

Zhang Zhengdao's eyes lit up.

On Earth, modern medicine can perform heart transplants, right? And not just heart transplants, there have even been two cases of head transplants.

In this era, wouldn't that be considered Taoist magic and immortal arts by the ancients?

Heart transplant?

Source of the heart?

……

The husband still hasn't forgotten his first love and refuses to sign the consent form for a heart transplant...

My mind is a mess.

As I was thinking, I yawned and drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Zhang Zhengdao got up very early, which was unusual for him. He went to the top of Peach Blossom Mountain before dawn, sat cross-legged on the protruding rock, and began to absorb the Primordial Purple Qi as the sun rose.

It's been a long time since I've done this.

The town of Linbin was bustling with activity that day.

A middle-to-upper-class town with a dock by the water has seen nearly a thousand people flock in over the past two days. Moreover, some people have come by water and land.

The rich ride horses, the poor walk, and those in the middle rely on water.

Boats kept docking at the pier, and people came and went, the vast majority of whom were江湖人士 (jianghu figures, people of the martial arts world). Many of them were acquaintances; some had heard of their names, and some had fought with them.

When they meet, they either bow and say "I've heard so much about you" or say "It's you, I'll kill you."

But no matter how affectionate or sarcastic they were, once they reached the territory of Linbin Town, they all agreed not to fight.

Because a sign was erected both at the dock and at the entrance to Linbin Town.

"Fighting, brawling, theft, and robbery are strictly prohibited in this area. Anyone who violates this rule will be killed with a single sword strike!"

They've practically written a rule against spitting anywhere.

The nameplate is signed by Qin Shouzhong and Haitianfu.

Two of the four prohibitions have been signed, which makes this a prohibition without legal effect; even the laws of the imperial court are not as deterrent as this.

All the martial arts practitioners who came strictly adhered to this prohibition and dared not disobey it.

Yin Jue Shou Hai Tianfu and Sword God Qin Shouzhong sat facing each other at a stone table in the courtyard of Town Supervisor Sun Gaoyi. Because of Yin Jue Shou Hai Tianfu's arrival, this place had been automatically requisitioned by him.

Facing Hai Tianfu, who had the backing of a prince, Sun Zhenjian didn't utter a single word.

"If we offer the sword tomorrow, will the immortal master really accept us?"

Hai Tianfu's head was still spinning.

Qin Shouzhong had just told him his plans and even showed him the order document issued by Zhang Zhengdao, but he was still somewhat hesitant.

Whether it's a sword or not doesn't matter. People at their level don't have many people who are worthy of them drawing their swords.

The key question is, did the immortal master agree to take you in?

This is purely your own imagination!

Qin Shouzhong looked at him and nodded firmly, saying, "Old friend, we're both practically half-buried in the ground. Without a destined connection to immortality, even with your immense cultivation, you might not escape death. The path to immortality is arduous. If you hesitate even to try, how can you possibly attain a destined connection to immortality?"

Makes sense!

Hai Tianfu nodded in agreement.

Seeking immortality is not shameful; there's no need to be discouraged in anything you do. Without a firm will, even if you seek the Dao, it will be a heretical and crooked path...

At that moment, a man burst in and bowed to the two of them.

"My lords, everything is ready. The ceremonial guard, the drummers, and the flag bearers have all arrived at their designated positions. We are just waiting for the auspicious hour tomorrow to arrive so we can set off."

"very good!"

Qin Shouzhong stood up.

"Old buddy, in our first battle to seek immortality, we must give it our all, even if it means death..."

Hai Tianfu was also somewhat excited. He stood up and shook Qin Shouzhong's hand.

"We must do our best, even if it means dying nine times over."