The shopkeeper scrambled to shovel aside the snow with a charcoal scoop.
Beneath the snow lay the stiff, frozen corpse of a man.
"Quick... quick, report this to the authorities..."
Finding a dead body right outside his shop scared the shopkeeper out of his wits.
The corpse lay sprawled face down. Even in death, his arms were stretched forward, his fingers clawing desperately into the frozen earth.
He had crawled forward with all his might, struggling to survive and trying to call out to the shopkeeper for help, but his strength had failed him just as he reached this spot, where he froze to death.
He had been only a few paces from the steamed bun shop.
Those few paces had proven an impassable chasm.
Collecting himself, the shopkeeper summoned the courage to crouch down and brush away the ice and snow from the body. Seeing the beggar's rags, he sighed under his breath. "It really is Old Qi... No wonder I didn't see him come by this morning..."
Qin Sang squeezed through the gathering crowd of onlookers and quietly slipped away.
***
The imperial palace of Guyuan Country's capital.
On this snowy night, the emperor's bedchamber remained brightly lit, radiating waves of warmth.
"Get out!"
A furious roar shattered the stillness of the snowy night.
*Clatter!*
The tray held by a palace maid and the soup bowl resting on it were sent flying by the ruler of Guyuan Country, who reclined on the dragon bed.
The medicinal broth splashed across the floor, filling the bedchamber with a pungent stench.
The maid tumbled to the ground, drenched in the dark broth. Drained of color, she fell to her knees and trembled violently.
"This servant deserves to die!"
"Your Majesty, please calm your wrath!"
In an instant, servants and attendants dropped to their knees in droves across the room.
From atop the dragon bed, the ruler of Guyuan Country yanked off the thin quilt covering him, trying to get to his feet. Yet his frail, diseased body could no longer support the effort. His torso tilted precariously, and only the quick hands of an attentive maid beside him kept him from crashing headlong onto the floor.
The ruler shoved the maid away and struggled several more times, but failed to stand.
His hair was disheveled, his appearance utterly wretched.
Sprawled across the bed like a madman, he pointed at a nobly dressed young man kneeling on the floor, shrieking at the top of his lungs:
"Go... go back to Xianglong Mountain and summon the Immortal Master! As long as... as long as he cures Zhen's illness and grants Zhen longevity, Zhen will cede half the empire to share wealth and glory with him..."
The young man in brocade robes was the current Crown Prince of Guyuan Country.
The Crown Prince crawled on his knees toward the bedside and said softly, "Father, do not fret. Your child will go to Xianglong Mountain at once to kneel and plead with the Immortal Master. If the Immortal Master does not show himself, your child will remain kneeling and never rise, until I have persuaded him to descend the mountain and cure Father's illness..."
"Longevity! Zhen wants longevity!"
The ruler slammed his hand against the edge of the bed, his eyes bloodshot, glaring at the young man with a terrifying frenzy.
Shaohua Mountain governed its domain strictly, forbidding cultivators from interfering in the mortal realm.
Furthermore, Guyuan Country was tiny and thinly populated; its ruler did not possess the stature to even enter Shaohua Mountain's sights.
The Crown Prince dared not disobey and tried his best to soothe him. "Yes, yes... Your child will surely ask the Immortal Master to bestow the way of longevity..."
"Then what are you waiting for?! Go!"
At last, the ruler was temporarily appeased.
The Crown Prince and the court officials filed out of the imperial bedchamber one after another.
With the ruler critically ill, the Crown Prince oversaw the court's affairs. He did not rush off toward Shaohua Mountain. Instead, he returned to his study and sat down, dismissing the attendants. He sat motionless on his chair, leaving brush and ink untouched, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
Just then, the door creaked open.
A draft of wind set the candlelight flickering.
A general clad in armor slipped into the room and said urgently, "Crown Prince, do you truly intend to follow His Majesty's decree and surrender half of Guyuan Country to a so-called immortal on a silver platter?"
The Crown Prince replied coldly, "Does Uncle wish for Bengong to defy an imperial decree and become a disloyal and unfilial traitor?"
"This subject would never dare!"
The general took swift strides forward, his burly frame blocking the candlelight and casting the Crown Prince's face into shadow.
"The late emperor ruled the nation through filial piety, but not through blind obedience. This subject just interrogated the imperial physician. His Majesty's illness has reached the marrow; his mind is no longer lucid, and the physician claims it is a fit of madness. As it happens, this subject became acquainted with a divine physician in the mortal realm who is renowned throughout the jianghu for using wine as medicine. He is currently a guest at my residence. He can brew a colorless, odorless medicinal wine capable of curing this affliction..."
The general's voice grew lower and lower.
After a long silence, the Crown Prince slowly closed his eyes and gave a slight nod. "Go."
***
Late at night.
The bedchamber of the ruler of Guyuan Country.
An elderly eunuch hurried inside. He looked petrified by some horrifying revelation, panic and dread writ large upon his face. He shoved the bedchamber door open, only to trip over the threshold and tumble to the floor.
"Your Majesty!"
"Wake up, Your Majesty!"
"Wake up!"
Scrambling on all fours, the old eunuch reached the dragon bed and vigorously shook the sleeping ruler of Guyuan Country.
The ruler started awake, his eyes still clouded with sleep.
The old eunuch cried out in tears, "Your Majesty, beware! The Crown Prince intends to—"
*Thwack!*
A sharp sword pierced through the old eunuch's throat from behind. The sight of the blood-dripping blade startled the ruler out of his wits, shocking him completely awake. Only then did he see that the man holding the bloody sword was his own Crown Prince!
Every trace of the Crown Prince's past deference had vanished, replaced by an expression of cold detachment.
"You treacherous son!" the ruler cried in shock and fury.
The Crown Prince tossed the bloody sword onto the floor, cast a sidelong glance at the general beside him, and strode out of the bedchamber without looking back.
The general clamped his hand over the ruler's jaw and forcefully poured the poisoned wine down his throat.
The poison took effect swiftly.
In his dying moments, the light faded from the ruler's eyes, yet he continued to mutter obsessively:
"Longevity... Zhen wants longevity..."
***
Xianglong Mountain.
The common folk resided in Xianyuan City at the front of the mountain, while those seeking immortality built thatched huts on the back mountain to live in seclusion.
In the woods stood a drafty hut riddled with gaps.
*Thud, thud, thud...*
"Brother Zuo... Brother Zuo, are you awake...?"
An unkempt man knocked on the door and called out, but received no response.
He slammed his shoulder against the door a few times, but failed to force it open, so he hurried away.
A moment later, he returned with several helpers. Joining their strength, they finally battered the wooden door open.
Inside the hut, an exceptionally gaunt young man sat cross-legged on a bed of straw. His head hung limply, and he seemed to have stopped breathing altogether.
"Brother Zuo is dead!" the man cried out in shock.
Yet what followed was an astonishing sight.
His companions showed not the slightest hint of grief; instead, they gathered around the young man with overwhelming joy.
One remarked, "Brother Zuo has ascended!"
Another added, "Brother Zuo supped on wind and drank dew, communing in spirit with the immortals, and has finally attained the fruit of the Dao."
A third looked on with profound envy. "Brother Zuo's Dao heart was steadfast, witnessable by Heaven and Earth. It was bound to move the heavens and stir the earth, summoning an immortal to receive him, allowing him to ascend to the Western Paradise and attain longevity."
It was nothing less than a raving dance of demons.
Watching from the shadows, Qin Sang shook his head. Returning to Huilong Temple, he paused in thought for a brief moment, then abruptly dispersed the mist formation shrouding Xianglong Mountain and floated away.
The thick mist that had lingered here for countless years suddenly dissolved. This unprecedented anomaly immediately threw the countless immortality seekers into a frenzy.
"The mist has cleared!"
"The immortals are opening the mountain to accept disciples!"
"Quick, up the mountain...!"
Hearing the shouts from outside, the people in the hut exchanged glances and surged out in a swarm.
Just then, the young man everyone had assumed dead suddenly jerked his head up. Shivering, he struggled to his feet, gulped mouthfuls of snow to fill his belly, and stumbled toward the mountain peak.
Yet when he reached the summit, there was only an abandoned Daoist temple. There was no immortal to be found.
As if struck by a bolt from the blue, the young man collapsed limply onto the ground.
Chapter 503