Stone Village.
A pudgy boy sprinted toward the dilapidated mountain god temple, panting so hard his face had gone red.
“Mud Monkey!” he shouted between gasps. “You home or not?”
By the time he reached the temple, a scrawny boy in coarse hemp clothes had appeared at the entrance, eyeing the frantic fatty with open confusion. What could possibly have him running like his life depended on it?
“I’m here, Fatty. What happened?”
The little fatty didn’t bother explaining. He seized Mud Monkey by the wrist and hauled him toward the village.
“Talk while we run – there’s no time!”
As they ran, the words tumbled out of him: “Mud Monkey, this is our lucky day. Immortals have descended on Stone Village to recruit disciples!
Any child between eight and fifteen can take part in the selection. If you’re chosen, you enter an immortal sect to cultivate. You could become a lofty immortal someday!”
The thin boy froze mid-stride, staring at the fatty in disbelief. “Fatty – immortals actually exist?”
He couldn’t bring himself to believe it. He’d heard the old legends, sure, but they were only legends. Real immortals? It had to be a swindle.
The fatty answered without a shred of doubt: “They’re immortals, no question. I saw them with my own eyes – they flew down from the sky, clouds swirling around them. If that’s not an immortal, what is?”
His expression swelled with pride. He was a person who had seen immortals now.
If even Fatty said so, then it had to be true.
Mud Monkey’s eyes lit up. If an immortal chose him – wouldn’t that mean no more beatings? No more going hungry?
He broke into a full sprint toward the village.
The little fatty fell behind almost immediately, hollering at his back: “Mud Monkey, wait for me!”
The two of them ran into the village one after the other.
At the village entrance, the crowd pressed together in layers, three deep on every side. At the front stood several dozen children who met the age requirements, all gathered in a cluster.
Anyone chosen would not only enter the immortal sect to cultivate – they would also receive a hundred taels of silver.
Three figures in white robes stood at the center of the village entrance, their bearing extraordinary, their expressions cold. The gray-haired village chief hovered beside them, careful as a servant, not daring to breathe too loudly.
He would never dream of offending immortals. Forget a mere village chief – even the ruler of the Zhao Kingdom would greet an immortal with full courtesy.
The young man in the center addressed the old village chief.
“Village Chief of Stone Village. You activated the Heavenly Grace Token. Per the established accord, the Taixuan Sect will conduct one free test for your village. Any child found to possess Spiritual Roots will be taken into the Taixuan Sect to cultivate.
However, Village Chief, do not hold great hopes. Spiritual Roots are not so easily found. Should none appear, the karmic debt between Stone Village and the Taixuan Sect will be considered settled.”
The Heavenly Grace Token carried the karmic weight of a sect Elder. If that karma went unresolved, it would weigh heavily upon one’s cultivation.
Once the token was activated, no matter where the holder might be, the immortal sect was bound to appear, fulfill the request, and settle the debt.
The old village chief understood this well. Decades ago, he had rescued a wounded middle-aged man.
After recovering in Stone Village, the man left behind a single token and told him: should the day come that Stone Village needed an immortal’s aid, a special method could be used to activate it.
Then he departed, vanishing into the sky.
Only after years of quiet inquiry did the village chief learn it was called the Heavenly Grace Token – also known as the Seeking Immortal Token. It was the way cultivators repaid kindness owed to the mortal world.
Activating it would summon immortals to recruit disciples – a chance at immortal fate.
He had guarded it jealously all these years. But now his granddaughter had just turned ten, bright and gifted beyond her peers. He intended to stake everything on this chance – to see whether she might walk the path of cultivation and rise above this mortal life.
The old village chief bowed his head respectfully. “Immortal Master Wang, this old man understands.”
Immortal Master Wang judged the time was right and asked, “Are there any remaining children who meet the requirements?”
Two faces surfaced in the old village chief’s mind – one, a child driven from Stone Village under particular circumstances; the other, the boy he’d sent to fetch him. Neither had returned.
A shame to miss them, perhaps. But the thought vanished as quickly as it came. He could not make the Immortal Masters wait for two children of no consequence.
What mattered most was his granddaughter.
“Please, Immortal Master, test the children of Stone Village.”
The young man inclined his head. “The testing begins now.”
Just as Immortal Master Wang was about to begin, two small figures shoved through the crowd.
“Wait – we’re here too!”
The villagers erupted in murmurs the moment they saw who had appeared, especially the thin one.
“That’s the little plague-bringer, Lu Qinghe. Wasn’t he driven out of Stone Village? He lives in the mountain god temple – how does he dare show his face here?”
“Three years of drought the moment he was born. Two years ago he got his own parents killed. A walking curse. Does he actually think he can become an immortal?”
One middle-aged woman – loud, coarse, and vicious – shrieked above the rest: “Little plague-bringer! Who let you into Stone Village? You were cast out. You’re not one of us anymore!”
Lu Qinghe turned his gaze on the woman.
Young as his eyes were, something cold and sharp flickered in them.
This shrew bore him a blood grudge. Madam Lu-Wang – his father’s sister-in-law, his aunt in name. One year ago, his parents had gone into the mountains to gather herbs. They met a wild beast. They never came back.
Madam Lu-Wang had not spared him a single bowl of rice. Instead, she seized on his youth, stripped him of his family’s home and fields, and left him with nothing. Nowhere to go but the crumbling mountain god temple beyond the village edge.
Lu Qinghe’s voice rang out, sharp and clear: “You venomous hag! To steal the home and farmland my parents left me, you slandered me as a curse and drove me from the village.”
“And today – in front of the Immortal Masters themselves – you dare block them from testing me?”
Madam Lu-Wang exploded like a cat with its tail crushed underfoot. She screeched: “Little plague-bringer! Spitting blood and lies! You think I won’t rip that mouth right off your face?”
Lu Qinghe knew he couldn’t out-shout this woman. No one in the village would speak for him – if they would, he’d never have ended up in that temple in the first place.
But he also knew he could not retreat. Not now. This was his chance to live. If he let it slip away, the poisonous woman would only come down on him harder.
And life in the mountain god temple – each day was borrowed time. No food, no provisions, wild beasts prowling nearby. He did not know how many more days he had.
His eyes darted. He dropped to his knees before the three Immortal Masters.
“Immortal Masters, please – grant me justice! This woman is black-hearted. When my parents perished, she seized everything they owned and cast me from the village.”
He laid out his story before the three of them, every word clear.
Madam Lu-Wang’s face twisted with fury when she saw him actually daring to appeal to the immortals.
“You little beast! You dare slander me before the Immortal Masters? You must be tired of breathing!”
She lunged forward, reaching to drag Lu Qinghe away. Whether there was a chance for him or not, she would never allow this boy to form any connection with the immortals.
If he did – there would be no place left for her.
“Silence.”
A flash of white light.
The shrew was hurled backward, tumbling across the dirt, blood spilling from her mouth. She lay in a wretched heap.
But there was no anger in her eyes – only naked terror.
This was the power of immortals. Taking her life would cost them no more than a passing thought.