Immortal Road

Chapter 1 Shi Gandang

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Cangnan Town.

In a dilapidated mountain temple, there was a boy of fifteen or sixteen years old, who was staring at the bamboo stick in his hand and drooling, because on this bamboo stick, a plump pheasant was roasting.

This boy is the famous Shi Gandang in the village. In fact, the boy's real name is Ishikawa, but he dares to speak and do what he says. Not to mention the children in the village, even the adults praise his heroic spirit.

A few winters ago, a pack of hungry wolves came to the village, scaring people so much that they didn't dare to go out and even used firewood. Ishikawa went up the mountain with a sickle on his waist, and saw no one for three days and three nights. Just when the village thought he had been eaten by a wolf, Ishikawa came back with a one-eyed wolf head on his waist. The older people recognized him at a glance as the wolf king. Since then, no wolves have dared to come to the village, and Ishikawa has been nicknamed Shi Gandang.

"Brother Shitou, my mother asked me to bring you mooncakes." A sound like wind chimes came from outside the temple.

"Sister Qingchuan." Ishikawa threw the pheasant on the chopping board of the mountain temple and ran out immediately.

"It's a big holiday, you're not celebrating the holiday at home, why are you here?" Ishikawa said seriously, but he couldn't help but look at the half moon cake in Qingchuan's hand, and swallowed saliva in his throat.

Since Ishikawa's parents went out to collect firewood when he was six years old and did not come back, the Ishikawa family's house and several acres of Susukawa farmland have been occupied by his distant uncle. In the past few years, Ishikawa was given a bite to eat, so that Ishikawa would not starve to death, but When Ishikawa was ten years old, he was kicked out and had to stay in a dilapidated mountain temple.

"Eat it quickly!" Qingchuan put the mooncake in Ishikawa's hand, turned around and ran towards the village.

Ishikawa didn't stop him in any way. In the past few years, during every festival, Qingchuan would secretly bring some delicious food from home. Qingchuan must have been reluctant to eat this mooncake and kept it for himself. Ishikawa knew exactly what his uncle and aunt were.

This couple is considered to be the best in life. They are very prudent and considerate of their two sons. As for their daughter, Qingchuan, they are slightly better than Ishikawa. In their words, a daughter will get married sooner or later, and no matter how well-raised she is, she is still someone else's family. As long as he looks better and can find a good family, that will be all.

It's strange. Their two sons, Shi Neng and Shi Li, have evil eyebrows and crooked eyes, which are not good things at first glance. However, Shi Qingchuan has beautiful features. Although he is a little malnourished and has a thin body, it makes people look at him. , you know that this girl is a beautiful woman.

Ishikawa smelled the rich aroma of the mooncakes and chewed them slowly and carefully, fearing that his taste buds would miss any trace of the deliciousness on the mooncakes.

After half an hour, Ishikawa finished tasting the half-moon cake and licked his fingers. Ishikawa suddenly slapped his head fiercely, "Pheasant! I just forgot to let Qingchuan come and taste the roasted pheasant." ”

"Forget it, leave half of it for Qingchuan and send it to her in the evening." Ishikawa thought like this and walked towards the mountain temple.

What came into view was chicken bones all over the floor. An old man in slovenly clothes was lying on the desk, picking his teeth contentedly. In his hand, there was only a half-gnawed chicken foot. .

This pheasant is very rare and very difficult to catch. On weekdays, after Ishikawa catches it, he always has to send it to the town in exchange for some coarse grains, oil, salt and so on. But today happens to be August 15th, so I decided to bake one and try it. Unexpectedly, he was secretly eaten by this old beggar.

Ishikawa was angry in his heart, picked up a wooden stick and yelled angrily: "Old beggar, you dare to steal my pheasant, I won't beat you to death today."

"Old beggar?" The old man was startled, then couldn't help but laugh, and said: "I only saw a roasted pheasant on the desk, and no one was there, so I thought someone gave it to me specially. Yeah... I haven’t been so full for a long time!”

"You..." Ishikawa looked at the ragged old man, who was as thin as skin and bones, and couldn't help but feel sympathy in his heart. This old man was trembling and might not be able to withstand a few blows.

"Forget it, let's go, I'm going to bed." Ishikawa waved his hand helplessly. Fortunately, he still ate half a moon cake today. When he thought of the fat roast chicken entering the old beggar Hanako's belly, Ishikawa became angry. Come somewhere.

"Why don't you leave? Can't you just stay here?" Ishikawa issued an eviction order.

"I've lived here for decades. I'm used to it and I'm too lazy to leave." The old beggar stretched his legs. He actually lay down on the desk.

"You old beggar, you are so shameless. I have lived here for several years, why have I never seen you?" Ishikawa scolded angrily.

Before he finished speaking, the old beggar started to snore.

Ishikawa shook his head helplessly. This mountain temple was not his in the first place, and few people in the village came to this dilapidated place. But Ishikawa knew that this was a geomantic treasure. In winter, no matter how windy it is outside, the mountain temple will not feel cold at all. But in summer, when the heat is unbearable, it is extremely cool inside the mountain temple. Ishikawa secretly thought that this must be the blessing of the mountain god. Therefore, although the entire mountain temple was in ruins, Ishikawa kept the desk clean, but unexpectedly, this old beggar used it as a bed board.

With a gentle tug, Ishikawa felt that the old beggar was light and fluttering. Looking at the skinny body and the bulging veins, Ishikawa could not help but feel compassion. Ishikawa had lived a hard life since he was a child, and he and the old beggar were both people with the same suffering. He gently carried the old beggar to the pile of firewood where he slept, and sat down quietly beside him.

Exhale, inhale, exhale again, inhale again...

I don't know when it started, Ishikawa found that such a simple breath can bring him a special feeling. No matter how tired he is, a moment of exhalation and breathing can make Ishikawa's fatigue disappear. And Ishikawa was surprised to find that breathing like this for a long time will also greatly increase his strength. This is also the reason why Ishikawa dared to kill the wolf king from the wolf pack.

For this strange phenomenon, Ishikawa certainly would not easily tell others, but he had also found a few children to come to the mountain temple to breathe according to his method, but they did not have the same feeling as Ishikawa.

Therefore, Ishikawa believed more and more that it was the mountain god who was favoring him.

The next morning, after breathing in and out all night, Ishikawa stood up and felt refreshed.

"You're awake, so hurry up and get something to eat." The old beggar said with a smile while lying on the haystack, holding a piece of hay in his mouth.

"You're still embarrassed to ask for food. Do you know how many kilograms of corn you can get for the chicken yesterday?" Ishikawa was a little angry.

"So what? If I don't eat it, it will go into your stomach. Do you want to exchange it for corn after you roast it?" The old beggar argued.

"I'll eat it, and I won't be hungry today." Ishikawa touched his rumbling stomach. It was really painful to have a big appetite. Ishikawa had never been full since he could remember.

"Besides, we are not related, why should I care whether you are hungry or not?"

The old beggar said with a smile: "Only when you are hungry can you have the strength to travel. I don't have any strength in my body now..."

"You will leave when you are full?" Ishikawa's eyes lit up and he ran out.

Ishikawa had been breathing all night last night, and thinking all night, just thinking about how to drive this old beggar away. I didn't expect that he actually planned to leave.

As soon as he stepped out of the mountain temple, he saw Shi Qingchuan running over breathlessly, saying as he ran: "Brother Shitou, big things, big things."

Ishikawa glanced at the village from a distance. The morning smoke was lingering, and it didn't seem like there were bandits coming to collect money. He said anxiously, "Could it be that another pack of wolves is coming?"

"No... no..." Shi Qingchuan covered his waist and took a long breath before saying, "Just now, a few immortals came and said they wanted to recruit disciples and asked all the children under the age of fifteen in the village to come."

"Is it true that immortals can become immortals if they recruit disciples?" The other children might not understand yet.

What does an immortal represent? In Shichuan's impression, an immortal represents immortality and the ability to call the wind and rain.

"Then let's go quickly!" Shichuan took Qingchuan's hand and ran down the mountain.

"Here they are, as expected, I didn't make a mistake." The old beggar in the mountain temple smiled. However, looking at Shichuan's figure going away, he shouted loudly, "Wait, wait, I still have something to tell you."

Ishichuan couldn't hear it at all. He carried the out-of-breath Shi Qingchuan on his back and ran all the way. In less than a quarter of an hour, he returned to Shijia Village.

Under the big locust tree at the head of the village, the crowd was already full. Ishikawa squeezed in through the crowd with brute force.

There were several unfamiliar young men and women standing under the tree, all of them looked to be in their twenties. Next to them stood several children from the village, all of whom looked happy. It seemed that they had been accepted as disciples by the immortal.

One of the men looked around and said, "Shuilingmen abides by the agreement with Venerable Tianyun and comes here to accept disciples every twenty years. This is the tenth time and the last time..."

"Wait... and me..." Ishikawa saw that these immortals were about to leave, and hurriedly got out of the crowd.

The young man showed a trace of displeasure on his face. Obviously, he hated others interrupting his speech. But he still said, "Come over here, let me see your spiritual roots."

"Shitou is here."

"It turned out to be Shi Gan Dang, no wonder he dared to interrupt the immortal's speech."

Ishikawa walked over with expectation on his face.

The young man carefully took out a bronze mirror from his arms and gently placed it on Ishikawa's forehead. A bright light shone from the bronze mirror, and then a yellowish-brown horizontal bar appeared on the mirror.

"Earth Spiritual Root?" The young man sneered. Their Shuiling Sect was one of the Five Spiritual Sects. A hundred years ago, the Five Spiritual Sects were divided into five sects: gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Although the head of the Five Spiritual Sect was still there, he was like a puppet. The five sects took away the disciples with corresponding spiritual roots and governed themselves.

So Ishikawa, who had earth spiritual roots, was undoubtedly a waste in the eyes of the Shuiling Sect monks.

;