Just before Xin Xiu stepped through that door, she truly hadn't imagined that immortals actually existed in this world. Transmigration was one thing, but the existence of immortals was something else entirely.
What did immortals look like? This question occupied her mind as she stepped through the doorway.
The farming and domestic life storyline she hadn't had a chance to explore was left behind without hesitation. As the white light faded, Xin Xiu looked up to see a azure sky with white clouds. Looking down, she found herself standing on a green leaf.
It was an enormous lotus leaf spread across the surface of a river, with a huge white and pink lotus flower gracefully resting at its edge. These gigantic lotus flowers and leaves covered an entire lake, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Suddenly feeling as if she had entered the land of giants, Xin Xiu tugged at her dusty cloth skirt, wondering to herself if she had become Alice in Wonderland.
"Wow! Such... such big flowers!" A little girl's childish voice made Xin Xiu turn to look.
Where there had been nothing behind her moments ago, now stood a little girl with two small pigtails and chubby cheeks. She looked to be about seven or eight years old, her mouth agape in astonishment as she gazed at her surroundings. With two missing teeth, she looked quite adorable.
Just as Xin Xiu opened her mouth to speak, a little boy materialized next to the girl. He was about the same age as the girl, a chubby little fellow. Standing side by side, they looked like a pair of plump golden boy and jade girl figurines.
"Wow! What a big leaf!" The boy exclaimed in the same tone of wonder as the girl.
One after another, several more people appeared on the giant leaf.
A skinny little beggar a head shorter than Xin Xiu, a aloof young girl in a pretty dress, a haughty young master wearing a golden lock and jade pendant, a simple and dull-looking dark-skinned village girl, a boisterous one-armed youth who looked around excitedly like a human monkey, and finally—a little boy in split-crotch pants who started wailing as soon as he appeared on the giant lotus leaf.
Xin Xiu crouched in front of the crying boy in split-crotch pants and a little undershirt, examining him closely.
"...Little one, are you even three years old?" she asked.
The little boy quieted down when she leaned in, his big bright black eyes brimming with tears that streamed down his cheeks like two little rivers.
He started whimpering again, though not daring to cry loudly.
Now there were nine people standing on the lotus leaf—four boys and four girls, plus one little beggar too dirty to determine their gender. Xin Xiu looked around and realized she was the oldest one there. She thought to herself, if Ling Zhao Immortal could so casually make people into immortals, then weren't these nine children, seemingly plucked at random from all corners of the world, chosen a bit too carelessly?
The nine individuals had vastly different personalities and backgrounds. Some were panicked, others excited. Being strangers, they kept their distance from each other, their eyes darting around as they took in their surroundings.
Xin Xiu thought: A guide should appear right about now.
As if on cue, a large bird gracefully flew down from the sky. It looked to be about the size of a helicopter. It landed at the edge of the lotus leaf, and a young man leapt down from its head, landing in front of the group. He scanned the crowd and said, "Everyone's here."
Xin Xiu observed that the young man wore flowing robes and had a perpetual smile on his face.
According to international convention, smiling eyes usually meant the person was not to be underestimated.
"Nine of you this year! Master must have felt that we were short-handed at Mount Shuling, to choose so many new junior brothers and sisters," he said with a kind and benevolent smile.
"I am your senior brother Cai Xing..."
The plain-looking village girl suddenly let out a yelp and fell to her knees, trembling. "Immortal! You're an immortal, you're Ling Zhao Immortal!"
"Oh, no need for that." Cai Xing crooked his finger, and an invisible force helped the village girl to her feet. He continued smiling and explained, "I'm not Ling Zhao Immortal. The Ling Zhao Immortal you've heard of is the founding immortal of our Mount Shuling, our grand-master. As for me, I'm a disciple of Li Ming Immortal, who is the thirty-second disciple of Ling Zhao Immortal."
He waved his hand and added, "Actually, I'm just like you. I was also casually chosen by our grand-master during his birthday celebration a hundred years ago. I've been cultivating for a century now."
"A hundred years? So you're over a hundred years old? But you don't look old at all, you only look a bit older than us. Have you already become an immortal?" the haughty young master asked eagerly.
Cai Xing clasped his hands, "Ha, I'm far from becoming an immortal. I've just learned a bit of magic, that's all. I'm not quite an ordinary person anymore."
Realizing that this guide was very approachable, everyone gathered around him and began asking questions all at once. Xin Xiu was about to join them when she noticed the pitiful three-year-old at her feet, still on the verge of tears. She picked him up and carried him over to the group.
"Immortal, what kind of magic can you do? Can you move mountains and fill seas? Can we learn magic too?"
"Don't call me Immortal, just call me senior brother. As for moving mountains and filling seas, well, if it's a small mountain or a small sea, I might be able to give it a try. Of course you'll learn magic, that's why you're here."
"Immortal, where are we? Weren't we chosen by Ling Zhao Immortal to become immortals? Isn't this the Celestial Court of the immortal realm?"
"Please, don't call me Immortal, just senior brother will do. The idea that being chosen by Ling Zhao Immortal makes you an immortal is just a misunderstanding in the mortal world. Becoming an immortal isn't so simple. Grand-master has merely accepted you into our Mount Shuling. This is Mount Shuling in the spirit realm, different from the mortal world, but it's not the Celestial Court or immortal realm. Ha, there's no such place as the Celestial Court or immortal realm, those are just made up in stories from the outside world."
The group of young children all sighed in disappointment. Cai Xing maintained his perpetual smile, but Xin Xiu couldn't shake the feeling that this smiling senior brother had some tricks up his sleeve.
"Senior brother, you said we were chosen by grand-master. How did he choose us?" Xin Xiu asked.
"Don't call me Immortal, call me senior brother... oh, you already did. Good girl." Cai Xing rubbed his nose and smiled, "Of course grand-master didn't choose randomly. In the mortal world, many temples are dedicated to our grand-master. Each has a spirit-gathering tree. Children's names are written on red ribbons and tied to these trees. Grand-master then chooses those with affinity to our Mount Shuling from among the millions of red ribbons. Usually, he selects once every hundred years, choosing only children under sixteen. In the past, he would only choose one or two at a time. This time he chose so many, it looks like things are going to get lively around here."
Xin Xiu: "I see."
What do you mean it's not random? This is completely random!
It's like a Weibo lottery draw. Tying a red ribbon is like reposting Ling Zhao Immortal's lottery Weibo post. When the time comes, Ling Zhao Immortal randomly selects a few lucky geese from the reposts to come cultivate... Does this mean she's a Weibo lucky koi?
Xin Xiu felt a bit conflicted. Her luck had always been poor; she had reposted at least a hundred Weibo lottery posts without winning once. Who would have thought she'd become a little lucky koi here?
"Then... Immortal, does this mean I can never go home?" the chubby little jade girl asked, her lips quivering.
Senior Brother Cai Xing patted the chubby girl's head, his face full of kindness, "Don't call me Immortal, call me senior brother. You silly child, why would you want to go back? Grand-master only chooses children whose families don't want them or who no longer have a home."
Of the nine children, apart from Xin Xiu and the oblivious three-year-old in her arms, the rest fell silent. Then, they burst into tears. Even the incredibly haughty young master and the aloof pretty girl in the dress couldn't hold back. Their reddened eyes and choked sobs hinted at untold stories.
No, there was one more child who wasn't crying. It was the one-armed chatterbox youth who had been running around since he arrived. Xin Xiu had seen him earlier, sprawled at the edge of the lotus leaf trying to scoop up water, shouting excitedly about fish in the lake. Now he had somehow made his way to Cai Xing's bird mount, stroking its feathers with a big smile on his face. "This big bird has such beautiful feathers! I want one too!"
Amidst the chorus of sorrowful crying, his chicken-like clucking laughter seemed particularly annoying.
In fact, Xin Xiu had also been admiring that large bird for quite a while. It was truly beautiful, like an enlarged kingfisher with dazzling feathers that sparkled in the sunlight. To be honest, she wanted one too.
"Little brother, don't be so hasty," Xin Xiu called out to the one-armed youth. "There might be even more beautiful birds later. Let's look around some more before deciding, okay?"
The young boy asked her with a naive expression, "Why can't we have them all?"
Whoa—this kid was sharp.
Xin Xiu found herself convinced and nodded in agreement, "You make a very good point."
Seeing the two of them suddenly discussing the beautiful large birds, the chubby girl who had been sobbing earlier chimed in with a tearful voice, "Wah... I want such a beautiful big bird too."
"I want one too," the village girl said meekly.
Though the others didn't say anything, their hopeful little eyes spoke volumes. Xin Xiu waved her hand, "As long as we cultivate, why worry about not having birds? Forget birds, if we dare to dream, even dragons and phoenixes aren't impossible!"
Being children, they couldn't stay upset for long and were easily distracted.
"Wow, there are dragons and phoenixes too?"
"I want a dragon now, not a bird anymore."
"I still want a bird. Having one dragon and one bird like this would be great!"
Cai Xing, seeing everyone start to touch his large bird: "..."
He walked over to the bird, shooing away the children, and smoothed its fluffy feathers. Hugging the bird, he joked, "Don't you all get any ideas about my little Cui. I've raised her for decades, you know. We're attached, and she can't live without me."
The big bird pecked him hard, and Xin Xiu swore she heard the sound of her senior brother's skull colliding heavily with the bird's hard beak. She half-expected to see a fountain of blood spurting from Cai Xing's head, but after a while, no blood appeared. She felt a bit disappointed and thought, "As expected of cultivators, their skulls are indeed hard."
Cai Xing coughed and shook his sleeves. "Alright, little junior brothers and sisters, you'll be staying here for the next year. Consider it a small test for entering our Mount Shuling. We'll meet again in a year."
He finished speaking and quickly prepared to leave on his bird, but suddenly his robe was grabbed tightly.
Cai Xing looked back, "This junior sister, your speed is truly impressive."
Xin Xiu held onto him firmly, "Senior brother, wait! You haven't explained many things clearly. Are you really leaving like this?"
Cai Xing shrugged, "Can't be helped. Everyone goes through this. I can't explain too much, you'll understand gradually as time goes on. After all, you have plenty of time."
Xin Xiu said, "Oh, well, I just have one question then."
Cai Xing sighed, "Alright, I'll answer one more question."
Xin Xiu asked, "Since the Grandmaster brought us here, will our families receive any compensation?"
Cai Xing looked at her, "Do you want them to receive compensation?"
Xin Xiu shook her head honestly, "No."
Cai Xing laughed heartily, waving his hand to free his robe. He leapt onto his flying bird and soared into the clouds, leaving behind these words: "If you don't want them to have compensation, they won't. If you do, they will. Our Grandmaster is watching over all this karma and morality."
The nine ordinary mortal children, just stepping onto the path of cultivation, stood at their starting point on the map, unsure of what to do next.
Xin Xiu looked down at the group of little ones, "Well then, everyone, it seems our first step in cultivation is to get from here to the shore." She pointed to the faint shoreline in the distance.
The little beggar looked around but said nothing.
"Huh? How do we get there?" The chubby boy puffed out his cheeks in frustration.
"I know how to row a boat, but there's no boat here," the village girl said timidly.
"I can't swim, wah~" The chubby girl wiped her eyes, whimpering.
"Let's find a bird to fly us there," the arrogant young master suddenly suggested.
"Hah, where would you find one? Even if you did, it wouldn't pay attention to you," the aloof girl sneered.
"Why don't we try riding fish!" The one-armed boy was already letting his imagination run wild.
Xin Xiu held a child with one arm and patted the one-armed boy's shoulder with the other, "Yang Guo, you really have a wild imagination. I like it. Why don't we try riding fish then?"
The one-armed boy, delighted at being praised, danced with joy. However, he scratched his head with his right hand, somewhat confused, "But my name isn't Yang Guo."
...
Cai Xing rode his kingfisher into the blue sky. In an instant, the bird beneath his feet grew smaller and smaller until it was no bigger than a thumb. With a chirp, it landed on his shoulder, while he himself became like a wisp of smoke, leaping out of a basin-sized jade bowl.
"He's out, Cai Xing is out."
"Junior Brother Cai Xing, how was it? How are the new junior brothers and sisters this time?"
Around the large jade basin placed in the center of the Cloud Pavilion, several men and women were either sitting or standing, all watching the miniature world inside the basin and the nine little figures with great interest. They casually greeted Cai Xing.
Cai Xing squeezed in to sit by the jade basin and looked inside, shaking his head with a smile: "The Grandmaster probably thought we disciples were getting too old to be interesting, so he found some amusing little ones. Come, come, the new junior brothers and sisters will be staying in this World in a Basin for a year. Let's see what they do."
