"You're not dreaming, my child!" The woman caressed Ying's hair. "Before we tell more about us, why don't you tell me who you are and where you're from. How old are you? And what did you do around here?"
"My name is Ying, from the Yue Kingdom. I am seventeen years old. I was about to be sent to King Fuchai of Wu as a tribute!" said Ying. "Some bandits plundered our troupe, and they captured me. I didn't want to be humiliated. I resisted, therefore they killed me."
"Yes, I saw you when you resisted, and when the man stabbed his sword on your stomach!" said the woman. "I was a bit too far; therefore, I couldn't arrive on time to save you. But apparently, I came at the right time!"
"We are the chosen immortal people!" said the man. "We're born into this world without parents. Many of us live under other peoples' care. Until one day, we accidentally died, and then we're resurrected. Then we just realized that we're immortals."
"You are seventeen years old when you died and resurrected. Even a thousand years or ten thousand years from now, you will still have your seventeen years old body and face! Isn't that great for a beautiful girl like you?" The woman giggled, "How I wish I died earlier! Therefore, I could get the youth and beauty like you!"
"Stop it, Ling!" said the man. "Then how could I marry you if you have the look of a seventeen years old woman while I have the look of a fifty years old man?"
Both of them looked at each other with such a loving expression and smiled. For a moment, the woman and the man forgot that they're not alone.
"So you're saying that from now on, I will be forever like this, and I can't die?" asked Ying.
"Kind of!" said the man. "We are immortals. We can't die unless our head is chopped off, and our heart is removed and destroyed. Our hearts are not made of flesh and blood. Only other immortals could destroy our hearts."
"Come with us!" the woman said. Ying nodded. Although she was confused, she didn't see any other option but to follow the couple.
The couple took her to their hut. "From now on, you will stay here until you finish your training!" said the woman.
"Training? What training?" asked Ying.
The woman looked at her. "We will train you with sword skills, martial arts, and other things that you need to have to continue your life. You will live for thousands of years! You need skills to survive!"
"I...I confused!" said Ying.
"You don't have to be confused!" said the woman. "Now that you know what you are. Life will be easier for you!"
"How?"
"At that time, when I was resurrected, I was a housewife — living with my husband, who took another wife because I couldn't bear a child. Then my husband's second wife was jealous of me. She did a lot of things to harm me. Until one day, I accidentally stumbled into a bear trap. Instead of helping me or called for help, she pushed me further, and I fell into a bear trap and died. You were lucky because I was around and be able to help you right away! At that time nobody helped me. I resurrected, but then my body was stuck on a big spike. I was neither dead nor alive. I don't know how many days I was there. Until one day, there was a man who found out my body on the bear trap pit. He was my neighbour from the same village. He and his friend lifted my body from the pit and removed the spike from my body. But then, when I opened my eyes, they were scared to death and left me alone in the wood," the woman laughed.
"I didn't know what to do. I didn't even believe that I was still alive. I ate fruits and mushrooms or anything I could find on the wood. I walked back to my village, and they're all were scared to death. My neighbour told everyone that he saw me dead on the bear trap pit. How can someone is still alive after one's body torn in a bear trap? I looked more miserable than you just now! When my neighbour pulled out the spike from my body, the spike was as big as this.," the woman made a gesture and showed a spike as big as a rice bowl.
"I thought that having my intestine spilt out was bad!" Ying said in a low voice. "I had never thought someone had a worse experience than me!"
"And I had two spikes, one on my throat, and one on my stomach! My clothes are all covered with blood!" said the woman – Madame Ling. She sighed and paused for a while. She still remembered those all vividly.
"What happened after then?" asked Ying.
"They thought I was a ghost. And the villagers, including my husband and his families, drove me away from the village. For days I walked through the woods and forests. But then I realized that no wild animals want to attack me or have an intention to kill me. I met a pack of wolves, and instead of attacking me, they were kind of afraid of me. Until one day, I saw a hut in the middle of a forest. The man and his wife, a young couple with two little children, welcomed me and gave me food and shelter. I told them I had no place to go. I told them I was willing to work on the field or do anything to be able to eat and have a shelter! So I worked for them. Day by day, they grew older. Even their two children got married and grew older too. But I didn't grow old at all. My face, my strength, my health, didn't decline or showed any ageing." The woman laughed.
After a paused, she continued: "The couple who were my employer then took suspicious of me. Then I began to ponder and questioned what I am? Am I a ghost just like what my neighbour and villagers said about me? Did I really die on the bear trap pit? Therefore one day I decided to go back to my village. It was eighteen years after I left it. Many of the villagers had died ever when I revisited the village. I visited my husband's house. I saw him old, fragile and dying. Even his second wife, who was twenty years younger than me, looked much older than me. I secretly met my husband, and he was scared to death. He screamed and called me a ghost. So once again, I ran away."
"I was devastated. I knew that it was not a dream. And because I knew that I better not go back to my employer, once again, I travelled to find another place where I could live. Then I met a man. His name was Shuang. He knew that I was an immortal; the chosen people. But he didn't want to tell me that. Instead, he was using me!" Madame Ling sighed.
"When Shuang found me and treated me well, I fell for him, and I married him. He was a rich merchant. From a miserable forgotten wife, I became the wife of a rich merchant. Shuang treated me nicely. But he used his immortality to do so many bad things. We moved from place to place every fifteen years to avoid people's suspicion since we didn't grow old at all. I asked Shuang so many times why he and I didn't grow old. He didn't want to answer me. He robbed, killed, and plundered to get his wealth. Shuang was immortal too, so even sometimes, when he plundered something, and he got killed. He always came back home alive. I didn't feel at peace of what he did. But I didn't know what to do. Besides, he loved me and treated me nicely. Until a few hundred years ago, he worked for Di Xin – the King of Zhou. He helped Di Xin to do all of the evil things. Horrible things that I couldn't think of."
"I read books about him! He was an evil ruler!" said Ying.
"He was evil…as his surrounding peoples were also evil!" said Madame Ling. "His wife, Consort Daji, was an evil immortal! It took Mister Yao, and some other two immortals to kill Daji and Shuang!"
"So it means….there are some evil immortals too?" Ying asked.
"Unfortunately, yes!"
"To make the story short; because of the battle between Di Xin and King Wu of Zhou, then I got to know my current husband, Yao. He's the one who told me that I was immortal, the chosen people. From Yao, I know the reason why I was an orphan: because immortals are not born from flesh and blood. We don't have any parents. It's The Supreme Deity created us with his own hands. As immortals, we won't be able to have any children. We can not die and will be forever young or forever old. It depends on when you died and resurrected. And as immortals, we have the tasks to help the humankind and not doing evil. We immortals, we have advantages that we don't grow old. Physically we are healthier and smarter than other humans. Being immortal means, we could dedicate our time to study and invent things that are useful for humankind — helping the rulers to create a peaceful world. Being immortal means, we have more responsibilities. But it is a beautiful, meaningful life!"
"But I am just a weak girl, what can I do?" said Ying. "You saw how I even couldn't kill the bandit, although I manage to stab him with my sword!"
"That's because you're not trained yet. That's why I brought you here! I have to train you and equip you! Just like one day, you also have to train and equip the other young immortals!"
"But what's the point of living forever? My father had passed away, and my mother doesn't want to see me again! If I'm an immortal, one day, I also would have to see Minister Fan passed away…," said Ying mumbled.
"You might not understand your task for now. But someday, you will know!" Madame Ling said. "Everyone, mortal or immortals, has their destinies that they have to fulfil!"