VHSTS CH1

Dark clouds rolled, like thick ink smudging the horizon. Within the leaden strata of clouds, lightning shuttled back and forth like silver snakes, seemingly about to bring down a heavy downpour. The air held a silence frozen solid as ice; there was not a trace of wind, as if even the flow of water had stagnated.

Dozens of young boys and girls dressed in coarse linen garments walked along a rugged mountain path. They kept their heads down, hurrying forward relentlessly, as if some terrifying beast was chasing them. They didn’t even dare to look back.

“Hurry up! The time is almost up!”

“Only two ke¹Ke (刻): A traditional Chinese unit of time equal to 15 minutes (one quarter of an hour). left.”

Such voices rang out everywhere in the group. These young children were so anxious that their faces were covered in sweat. They constantly quickened their pace, wanting to traverse this mountain path, yet the road seemed endless, with no destination in sight.

All around them were towering cliffs soaring into the clouds, with only a single narrow path threading between the sheer rock faces for these children to walk on. Soon, many young girls collapsed from exhaustion, but even more gritted their teeth and struggled onward.

“Rumble—”

A bolt of lightning, as thick as a water vat, struck straight down, smashing onto the mountain path at the front of the group and blasting a deep crater into the ground. The rumble of thunder in the sky grew louder and louder. Blinding flashes of lightning illuminated heaven and earth, causing the tall boy walking at the very front to tremble in fear.

“I’m not going! I’m not going! If that lightning strikes down, I’ll die!”

“I’m not going either! I don’t want to cultivate immortality anymore, I don’t want to join Taihua Mountain, I want to end the trial!”

“I want to end the trial too!”

As long as they uttered the words “end the trial,” a silver light would flash across their bodies, and they would quickly disappear from the mountain path. The others, meanwhile, hurried forward to continue their own trial.

Taihua Mountain, the number one sect in the cultivation world, opened its gates every ten years to accept children under the age of fifteen from all over the world for a trial. As long as they passed three trials, these ordinary children would earn the opportunity to enter Taihua Mountain, and perhaps even ascend to the heavens in a single bound, becoming the immortals revered by mortals.

In the three trials of Taihua Mountain, the first two were without danger. However, in this final trial, the “Path of Thunder,” children lost their lives during every intake. These lightning bolts were real. With the mortal bodies of these children, being struck meant certain death. Furthermore, crossing this “Path of Thunder” had a time limit. If they exceeded the time, it would still count as failing the trial.

With only the final ke remaining, only thirty-one children were left on the Path of Thunder.

They were a little over a li²Li (里): A traditional Chinese unit of distance equal to roughly 500 meters (about half a kilometer or one-third of a mile). away from the finish line, but the thunder and lightning in the sky were growing fiercer. Every bolt that struck shook the heavens and the earth, seemingly capable of cleaving right through a mountain.

A little girl in the middle of the group turned pale with fright and timidly said, “Chen-gege, let’s give up, alright? This lightning will strike people to death…”³Gege (哥哥): Older brother. Often used by younger girls toward an older male childhood friend or someone they look up to

Walking in front of her was a youth of about fourteen. Hearing her words, he turned to look at the girl.

The youth wasn’t particularly handsome, but he had pleasant features. A shrewd light flashed in his eyes as he looked at the little girl before him with a bizarre expression. Finally, he suddenly laughed, “A-mei⁴A-mei (阿妹): Little sister. The prefix A- (阿) is added to names or familial terms to express warmth, intimacy, or affection., you’re too timid. Don’t worry, we can all become immortals. Just hold my hand and keep walking forward.”

The little girl wanted to say something more, but seeing the youth’s determined gaze, she had to swallow her words back down.

Sooner said than done, just as they continued moving forward, a thick bolt of lightning rumbled and struck down straight toward the youth. The girl trembled in fear, but somehow she mustered all her courage, suddenly stretching out her arms to block the youth, shouting, “Chen-gege, look out!”

The lightning was less than ten meters away from the girl. However, the girl failed to see the youth she was protecting behind her curl his lips into a knowing smirk. His eyes were full of triumph and anticipation, as if suppressing something that was itching to break free.

Yet, just as the lightning was about to strike the girl, a blue-green sword light tore through the void!

The sharp sword energy clashed with the ferocious lightning, sending silver sparks flying. The sword light was cold and ruthless, piercing through the thunder. The mighty blue-green sword gleam rippled outward, the shockwave knocking all the children on the mountain path backward to the ground, and the lightning vanished completely in an instant.

All thirty-one of them widened their eyes, staring in horror and awe at the person who had suddenly appeared in mid-air.

Between the sheer cliffs thousands of feet high, an immortal dressed in white with wide sleeves stood amidst the countless flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder, looking down indifferently at the group of trial-takers slumped on the ground.

Phoenix eyes and long eyebrows, a straight nose and thin lips. The narrow corners of his eyes tilted up slightly, diffusing softly like ink wash, making all the children hold their breath, not daring to gasp. His black hair, windless, danced fiercely in the air. Behind him were silver snakes of lightning, yet this person nonchalantly used his own body to block the tens of thousands of thunderbolts. And all he did was lower his eyes, looking at these children with a tranquil gaze.

Truly noble and unworldly, handsome and elegant to the absolute extreme!

Another brutal and savage bolt of lightning struck down. He flipped his hand and raised his sword, shattering the menacing lightning into pieces. The silver longsword danced a stunningly beautiful sword flourish in the air, then gradually shrank into a streak of silver light, darting with a swish right between the person’s eyebrows, leaving behind a silver patterned mark.

On the entire Path of Thunder, no one dared to make a sound.

The trial’s time limit had long passed by now, yet no one thought of this issue.

Not long after, three cultivators dressed in white robes flew over in a hurry. Seeing that person, they immediately bowed and called out, “Luo-shixiong.”⁵Shixiong (師兄) / Shidi (師弟): Senior martial brother / Junior martial brother. In cultivation sects, seniority is usually determined by who joined the sect or became a master’s disciple first, rather than strictly by age.

Luo Jianqing nodded lightly, acknowledging the three. Then, he turned his head to look at the children on the Path of Thunder. After scanning the area, he quickly spotted the trial-takers who looked like a brother and sister.

Seeing this, a cultivator beside him immediately whispered, “This youth is named Li Xiuchen, fourteen years old this year, with an ordinary spiritual root⁶Spiritual Roots / Gengu (根骨): Literally “root bone,” referring to a person’s innate physical and spiritual aptitude for absorbing qi and cultivating immortality (ranked here with 1st-grade being top-tier talent).. This girl is named Liu Xiaoxiao, nine years old, and her spiritual root is considered third-grade.” He paused, then added, “Luo-shixiong, we don’t know what went wrong with the Path of Thunder today. The difficulty suddenly spiked. If you hadn’t arrived early, I’m afraid this little girl would have innocently perished here.”

Taihua Mountain opened its gates every ten years, but they couldn’t recruit disciples every time. Although a third-grade spiritual root couldn’t compare to a first or second-grade one, it still meant having more potential for cultivation than an ordinary person. Logically speaking, she was qualified to enter Taihua Mountain to cultivate.

Hearing this, Luo Jianqing’s gaze drifted lightly over the brother and sister before he turned his head away and opened his lips, “I happened to be returning to the sect, it was just in passing. The matter of the Path of Thunder still needs your careful investigation. There must not be any further mistakes.”

His voice was like celestial music playing, the clash of strings and jade—deep, pleasant, and moving.

The three immediately nodded and accepted the order.

A moment later, Luo Jianqing departed on his sword, vanishing from the Path of Thunder in the blink of an eye.

With his departure, it was as if the whole world reverted to its original state, devoid of that intimidating and oppressive aura.

Liu Xiaoxiao swallowed hard, tugging at Li Xiuchen’s sleeve, and cautiously said, “Chen-gege, that big sister is so beautiful. Immortals… are immortals all this good-looking?”

Li Xiuchen’s face was as dark as deep water. He did not answer.

The girl didn’t notice Li Xiuchen’s unusual state and continued, “Is that pretty sister someone from Taihua Mountain? Chen-gege, we must join Taihua Mountain. She saved us, we need to thank her.”

“Let’s go,” Li Xiuchen said coldly.

Liu Xiaoxiao gasped, “Chen-gege, you’re gripping too hard. You’re hurting me.”

Li Xiuchen slowly loosened his grip on the girl’s hand. He first turned to glance at the little girl beside him, then took a step and continued walking forward. The girl had absolutely no idea what was wrong. She muttered to herself, “Has Chen-gege not recovered yet?” before hurriedly following him.

— Wrong! Everything was wrong!

The little girl would never know that her life was originally meant to end here, blocking that bolt of lightning for her favorite Chen-gege.

The Path of Thunder was supposed to act up, its difficulty sharply spiking. The ordinary-rooted Li Xiuchen was supposed to be almost struck to death by the lightning, only to be saved by his childhood sweetheart, Liu Xiaoxiao. Liu Xiaoxiao would perish, and Li Xiuchen would wail and howl in agony. This scene would be witnessed by the Taihua Mountain cultivators, who would decide to make an exception and accept this ordinary-rooted youth into their sect.

— The above was the plot at the very beginning of Seeking Immortality.

Three years ago, Li Xiuchen was not yet named Li Xiuchen. An accident caused him to transmigrate into Seeking Immortality. When he realized he had transmigrated into Li Xiuchen, he was beside himself with excitement.

Li Xiuchen! The protagonist of Seeking Immortality! Possessor of a super invincible golden finger! Simply the child of destiny!

For three years, he lived obediently according to the plot in his memory, and then brought his neighbor’s sister, Liu Xiaoxiao, to participate in the Taihua Mountain trial. He had long been prepared to sacrifice this little girl to allow himself to enter the sect.

But why was everything wrong now? Where exactly did the problem occur?

Why had Luo Jianqing appeared now!

At this moment, the white-clad immortal who had been mistaken for a “big sister” had long flown away from the Path of Thunder and truly stepped through the gates of Taihua Mountain. The shixiong and shidi around him greeted him warmly, and he responded gently to each one. His handsome face carried a genial smile, beautiful like a woman, a visage like spring flowers, radiant and soft.

However, after Luo Jianqing stepped into his own room, he abruptly waved his sleeve, slamming the door heavily shut.

The smile on his face vanished without a trace in an instant. With cold eyes, Luo Jianqing turned his head to look at the nearby desk. He narrowed his eyes, and a thick book quickly flew into his hand. On the cover of that book were two bold and vigorous characters —

Seeking Immortality

Luo Jianqing, the head disciple of Taihua Mountain’s Yuxiao Peak, the closed-door disciple of the number one person in the cultivation world. Because of his jealousy and hatred for his shidi Li Xiuchen, he betrayed the sect and became a demon lord of a generation. Years later, Luo Jianqing was hunted down by a mob led by Li Xiuchen. After ten full days and nights of fierce battle, he died under Li Xiuchen’s sword. It could be said he got the death he deserved, to everyone’s satisfaction!

But now…

Luo Jianqing chuckled lightly and curled his lips. He gazed with indifferent eyes at the two glittering gold characters on the book.

“I, Luo Jianqing, have returned.”

_____

Footnotes:

• 1
  Ke (刻): A traditional Chinese unit of time equal to 15 minutes (one quarter of an hour). ↩︎
• 2
  Li (里): A traditional Chinese unit of distance equal to roughly 500 meters (about half a kilometer or one-third of a mile). ↩︎
• 3
  Gege (哥哥): Older brother. Often used by younger girls toward an older male childhood friend or someone they look up to ↩︎
• 4
  A-mei (阿妹): Little sister. The prefix A- (阿) is added to names or familial terms to express warmth, intimacy, or affection. ↩︎
• 5
  Shixiong (師兄) / Shidi (師弟): Senior martial brother / Junior martial brother. In cultivation sects, seniority is usually determined by who joined the sect or became a master’s disciple first, rather than strictly by age. ↩︎
• 6
  Spiritual Roots / Gengu (根骨): Literally “root bone,” referring to a person’s innate physical and spiritual aptitude for absorbing qi and cultivating immortality (ranked here with 1st-grade being top-tier talent). ↩︎