Li Dazhi was by no means a faint-hearted person.
He secretly made a crossbow and, by ambushing at night, he seriously injured several bully leaders. Then he employed the strategy of letting the tiger fight the dragon, causing the town's two gangs of thugs to fight each other. He added fuel to the fire, and fished in troubled waters.
In the end, Li Dazhi gritted his teeth and spent most of his savings to bribe the local officials and constables. He cleaned out those thugs and, seizing the opportunity, recruited a dozen young henchmen to expand his business empire.
The townspeople were all too happy to applaud.
A few months later, Li Dazhi became the richest man in town and bought a three-section mansion in the town.
There was still some remnants of slavery in this cultivation world, so Li Dazhi specially asked someone to buy seven or eight young female slaves who were good-looking and slender.
This was certainly not for his own pleasure;
He was already of age, and that kind of interest had long faded. Moreover, he didn't want to betray the memory of his child's mother who had passed away years ago.
But his son Li Ping'an was still young.
Li Dazhi had everything planned out: when Li Ping'an returned from his unsuccessful search for immortality, he would let his son live a life of luxury and find several beautiful women to extend the Li family line.
Just then, Li Ping'an, who had been gone for nearly ten months and had sent back ten letters, appeared in front of Li Dazhi, haggard but excited, and pulled him onto a strangely-shaped beast-drawn carriage, heading straight for Wan'an City over a hundred miles away from the town.
It was a misty, drizzly afternoon.
Li Dazhi watched as Li Ping'an pushed open the double doors with force and saw, inside, two neat rows of maids, female slaves, and old nannies, as well as the dozens of burly guards behind them.
This group of men and women shouted in unison:
"We have seen the master!"
"What is this?"
Li Dazhi couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"Dad."
The elegantly dressed Li Ping'an came up with a grin:
"Starting today, all these are yours, a token of my filial respect to you."
"No!"
Li Dazhi grabbed Li Ping'an and turned to look at the onlookers, asking quickly in their native dialect:
"Did you commit a crime? How did you get all this?"
"You think too small."
Li Ping'an's handsome face was filled with triumph.
"Dad, you're thinking too small... Let's talk about this when we're alone."
Li Dazhi looked puzzled. In his daze, he had become the master of this mansion.
As the night fell and all was quiet, father and son chatted in the backyard's secret chamber, where Li Ping'an finally explained how he had made his fortune.
Li Ping'an said with a laugh:
"I thought about how, in our hometown during the times of the Two Jin, Sui, and Tang dynasties, many scholars sought official positions by first mingling with a reputation for cultivating the Dao, taking what is called the 'little path to the southern peak.'
"I've inquired about this with the town's officials. Dad, you set up a stand, dealt on the side, got up early, and worked till late to earn some hard cash. Yet later, you fought thugs and recruited gangsters.
"Why didn't you just open a fish stall to sell fish?
"When I went up the mountain in search of immortals, I met some monks stationed in secular areas outside the Immortal sects. By easily quoting some sentences from 'Dao De Jing,' 'The Book of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity,' and the 'Inner Canon of Huangdi,' didn't those monks start treating us differently?
"I drank with them, discussed life, talked about dreams, and always managed to get a few bottles of elixir pills that could prolong life and heal the sick for commoners."
Li Dazhi frowned and said, "Couldn't you keep the life-extending elixir pills for yourself instead of selling them? Selling them, isn't that slapping Master Chen in the face?"
"How could I sell them."
Li Ping'an laughed and said:
"I took these elixir pills and went to the secular world to find officials, deliberately revealing some of the fragrance of the pills. The local officials came sniffing over.
"The officialdom here is all called the Immortal Dynasty, all remotely controlled by external forces of the cultivation world.
"Now, I've become great friends with the two deputy mayors of Wan'an City. I already gave some elixir pills as gifts during our first meeting. They reciprocated, took me to some gatherings of influential figures, and that's where I sought out some power and wealth.
"After making a fortune, I quickly gathered some worldly rarities and elegant wares, sending them to the monks on the mountain to maintain relations. Master Chen and I have also become closer by the day, look..."
Li Ping'an then took out two more bottles of elixir pills.
"Dad, keep these. The blue pills will prolong your life, and the green pills will restore your masculine vigor!"
Li Ping'an spoke earnestly:
"Aren't you always urging me to get married and have children? I will be cultivating later, but if you like children, why not create a few more yourself? I have no objections to you remarrying and having a second child!"
"Pah! You rascal!"
Li Dazhi also forgot whether it was because he was embarrassed or because he couldn't swallow his pride that he chased his twenty-four or twenty-five-year-old son around the house with a shoe in hand.
Li Dazhi naturally understood that his son had arranged all this so he could retire in peace.
His son being more capable than himself made Li Dazhi proud from the bottom of his heart.
But the thought of his son soon departing to pursue immortality, possibly not seeing each other for decades, and the possibility of dying alone, inevitably saddled his heart with a sense of helplessness...
Alone in a foreign land, one doubly misses their kin on festive days.
Alas!
What's the difference if one travels through time or not? In the end, one is just a lonely old person left behind.
"Master, the road ahead is blocked."
Li Dazhi collected his thoughts and looked up to see a sea of people ahead, with children being pulled along by their elders, all heading towards the Ascension Platform in the center of the city.
Near the Ascension Platform, Li Dazhi instantly recognized that familiar figure.