After the stubborn siblings had finally pried the gates open, both were once again left dumbfounded. There was only an ordinary courtyard before them, the paradise from before had completely vanished without a trace.
The two siblings searched every nook and cranny inside and outside the house, but there was no one to be seen. Everything from before seemed like just a dream, and Fatty Zhang had disappeared just like that. They didn’t even know where he went.
“Second Brother, Second Brother, where did you go…” Lu Xuexin cried.
Miao Yi stood there, blaming himself for quite some time before noticing the red stone branches and gem leaves in his little sister’s hands. His spirits lifted, and he comforted Little Lu, “Little Sister, don’t cry. Little Brother has found a good master. He will be fine.”
Big Brother’s words were always more reliable than Second Brother’s. She wiped away her tears and sobbed, “Big Brother, how do you know that?”
Miao Yi pointed to the red stone branches and gem leaves in her hands and explained, “If he really was a bad person, he wouldn’t have given up this other immortal herb.”
There was some sense to his words, so she asked again, “Where did they take Second Brother to?”
Miao Yi couldn’t answer this question...
In the middle of a wasteland, dozens li away from the Ancient City, the Yellow-Robed Immortal and Fatty Zhang stood face-to-face with each other. One had a big smile on his face, while the other was filled with suppressed frustration.
A gust of wind blew, fluttering the wild grass. The dust on the Yellow-Robed Immortal was blown away by the wind.
The hair on his head, the skin on his face, his clothes, and the long sword that he carried on his back were slowly being blown away into dust. He looked like he had been covered in a layer of soot, which was slowly being removed by each gust of wind, revealing the true face underneath it.
The dust was whisked away from his body, revealing an old, bald, kind-faced monk, his eyebrows two long strands that reached his chest. He looked thin yet energetic, and his deep eyes were brimming with vigor.
The robes he wore on him, were clean and as white as snow, with black satin decorating the edges. A gorgeous, interlocking cloud pattern was embroidered in gold upon the black satin. There was a purple nine-petal lotus flower faintly glowing in between his brows. Overall, he exuded an air of indescribable extravagance. It was obvious that he had a gentle and kind appearance, but he also had an air of nobility, akin to that of a grand ruler, which made him seem like an emperor within the monks.
Fatty Zhang was staring at him in bewilderment as he stuttered, “You’re a monk?”
The old monk gave him a benevolent smile. “I am afraid that the Celestial Nation does not welcome the idea of the Buddha Nation accepting disciples from inside their realm. Thus, I have to hide my true form. From being separated by thousands of li, to meeting here as master and disciple, this is indeed fate.”
Fatty Zhang immediately shook his head and waved his hands, “We are not fated to each other, it really is not fate.”
The old monk laughed and asked, “If this is not fate, then how are you able to hear my unique Sanskrit? This is more than just being fated.”
“I don’t want to be a monk. I like eating meat and drinking alcohol. I like pretty women, I still want to have a wife…” Fatty Zhang panicked as he backed away. He had never in his entire life once thought of becoming a monk. It was too terrifying. He turned around to run, and shouted violently, “Big Brother, help me!”
“Fool, there are countless people in this world who have long dreamed of becoming my disciple.”
The old monk sighed. The golden cloud pattern embroidered on the black satin of his collar suddenly came to life, moving like a snake. The cloud flew out from the robe and circulated around the old monk rapidly, who stood with his palms together. It gradually grew bigger until it became a huge, golden, phantom flood dragon, binding the old monk and soaring up into the sky.
The flood dragon flew around, wriggling about and swooping downwards, chasing after the frightened and fleeing Fatty Zhang. The dragon picked him up and flew back towards the sky as if it were pleased with itself, before quickly disappearing into the horizon with the both of them in tow…
Around the same time, Miao Yi led Lu Xuexin into the crowd and arrived at a richly ornamented residence with a courtyard.
He actually couldn’t tell which clan was the best, or which clan was inferior. When he arrived, he could see that quite a number of people had gathered around the residence. Miao Yi overheard from the people around him that the red-clothed celestial maiden, who had earlier stood on top of the city wall, was well-respected amongst immortals. She had later flown into the building, causing everyone to come flocking there immediately.
An Immortal who could garner respect from all other Immortals, was naturally not an ordinary one. Miao Yi regretted letting Fatty Zhang meet that Yellow-Robed Immortal, otherwise both brother and sister would be able to take care of each other. But it was already too late for regrets now.
The two siblings walked up the steps leading to the gate, but were stopped by the Immortal standing guard.
Miao Yi quickly signaled to Little Lu to take out the sparkling red branches and gem leaves. This high quality immortal herb instantly lit up the gatekeeping Immortal’s eyes.
Someone among the crowd shouted, “Isn’t that Zhang family’s eldest son and youngest child? Did they acquire the immortal herb?”
Unlike the Yellow-Robed Immortal who was picky about his disciples, as soon as the immortal herb was shown, someone immediately came over to take Little Lu into the residence. However, they refused to let Miao Yi, who wanted to send her off, go in and instead blocked him outside.
For his sister’s sake, Miao Yi bowed and smiled, “She is my sister, can I send her in and have a few words with her?”
The gatekeeping Immortal extended his arms and blocked him with an expressionless face. “Stand down!”
At the same time, Little Lu yelled from inside, “Big Brother, come in as well!”
The little fool still had not noticed that her brother had only two immortal herbs with him. If it was the sneaky second brother, he would have immediately realized what was happening by now.
Miao Yi quickly waved his hands, “Little Sister, you go on ahead, I’ll go and see if I can find Second Brother.”
“Big Brother, I will wait for you!” Little Lu’s voice appeared diminished behind the closing door, before she was taken away.
“Little Sister, please take care of yourself!”
Miao Yi tried his best to sound cheerful and laughed happily when he shouted from the other side of the gate. He hoped that his laughter would be able to give his sister peace of mind.
He turned around, facing a crowd who looked at him enviously. Miao Yi pursed his lips, eyes red from almost crying, and maintained his smile. He walked down the steps with a grin and proudly told everyone. “That’s my sister. She’s become an Immortal, along with my brother too. Both my younger brother and sister have become Immortals.”
He was rarely a show off, but he couldn’t stand not letting everyone know about the good news right now. He wanted those neighbors from the street to know that the orphan from the Lu Family and the orphan from the Zhang Family would be spending the rest of their lives with a happiness that was unattainable by a mortal.
But he missed the hidden sarcasm in the glances of the gatekeeping Immortal.
Some familiar faces from the same street pulled Miao Yi aside and asked, “Has little Zhang also become an Immortal?”
Miao Yi nodded with a heavy heart.
A few more familiar faces butted in and asked, “So you went into the Boundless Secular World and got the immortal herb?”
Miao Yi nodded again.
“How many did you pick up?”
Miao Yi proudly lifted up two fingers, “Two.”
One of them was shocked and said, “Only two? The eldest Zhang, did you not leave one for yourself?”
Miao Yi patted on his chest and laughed. “No worries, the Boundless Secular World hasn’t closed yet, right? There’s still a chance.”
Even though he said that, he would not go back inside again. Because once was enough for him to understand how dangerous the place was, and it wasn’t as if he could meet another person like Yan Beihong, who could help him avert disasters, every single time. As one delved deeper, the environment became even crazier when it came to grabbing and snatching treasure. Going back inside was no different than seeking for one’s doom. It was sheer luck that he even managed to come out alive that time.
“Tsk tsk, Lu Family and Zhang family got lucky, they were able to adopt a good son. They didn’t die for nothing!” one of them exclaimed with admiration.
Miao Yi grinned from ear to ear and accepted everyone’s congratulations, his face was about to be paralyzed from smiling...
Inside the courtyard of the richly ornamented residence, Little Lu was led to the backyard and stood on top of a rune-painted jade plate.
Three cultivators stood outside the jade plate and formed a triangle. At the same time, they invoked an art and focused their transcendence energy onto the jade plate to assess her aptitude for cultivation.
Only common people would think that they could become an Immortal simply by obtaining treasures from the Boundless Secular World. They would not mind spending some resources to train those who were qualified. But no one would waste their resources on those with no aptitude. Those would be sent to do menial jobs.