Chapter 34: Simulated Immortal Life

Could Senior Brother also be involved with the incredibly beautiful Senior Sister Youqin?

Inside Lan Ling'e's thatched hut, Li Changshou's only official junior sister sat cross-legged on a futon behind a low table, holding a steaming teacup. A flurry of thoughts raced through her mind.

To her left, the ice-cold beauty Youqin Xuanya, who had just arrived, sat kneeling with her eyes closed, resting and quietly waiting for Senior Brother to appear.

To her right, Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu was sprawled on the table, softly snoring, looking severely sleep-deprived.

The atmosphere was slightly awkward.

How was it that they were both here to see her Senior Brother? Senior Brother had only gone to North Continent once to gather herbs, and now he was 'targeted' by both female Qi Refiners who had accompanied him then? If the experience conference a year from now meant Senior Brother went out again, wouldn't her place be too small to accommodate everyone then?

Lan Ling'e sighed faintly, utterly baffled by what made her Senior Brother so appealing. He was clearly so cautious and afraid of death; how could any other woman besides herself possibly take a liking to him...? What's more, the one on her left was the most dazzling star among their generation of disciples.

However, if she thought about it carefully...

“Senior Sister Youqin is truly beautiful, so charming even when she sits down. If I were Senior Brother, I definitely wouldn't be able to resist her charm. Uh, no, that's not right. Senior Brother probably just likes...”

Lan Ling'e turned her head to look to her right again, as Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu was lying sideways on the table, and thus... Then, Ling'e looked up and saw the bronze mirror behind the door, and she couldn't help but palm her forehead. She'd still have a chance to develop further in the future, wouldn't she? Probably.

Setting aside the matter of Senior Brother, as the host of this thatched hut, Lan Ling'e felt she couldn't let the atmosphere remain so awkward.

“Senior Sister Youqin,” Lan Ling'e asked with a small smile, “What brings you to our Little Qiong Peak?”

Youqin Xuanya opened her eyes and replied softly:

“After returning to the mountain last time, I was punished to reflect behind closed doors at Potian Peak and haven't had the chance to thank Senior Brother Changshou. Today, I just woke up from meditation and only then realized my punishment period was over. So, with Master's permission, I came to Little Qiong Peak to formally thank Senior Brother Changshou.”

Lan Ling'e couldn't help but tilt her head. “What did my Senior Brother do... that's worthy of your thanks, Senior Sister?”

“He saved my life,” Youqin Xuanya said, gently pursing her lips and slightly nodding, a faint glimmer in her bright, jewel-like eyes. “And it was twice.”

Lan Ling'e blinked... That very expression Youqin Xuanya had was one Lan Ling'e often saw on her own face when she thought of Senior Brother while looking in the bronze mirror! Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu alone was already putting immense pressure on her, and now Youqin Xuanya had suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

Lan Ling'e couldn't help but palm her forehead, her young heart at times crying out in indignation, at times filled with poignant sorrow. She felt utterly unwell. Indeed, she still had to use any means necessary to secure Senior Brother quickly, lest complications arise from delay.

“Hm? Xiaoya, what are you doing here too?” Jiu Jiu suddenly asked groggily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.

Youqin Xuanya respectfully repeated what she had just said, stood up to greet Jiu Jiu, and after receiving Jiu Jiu's permission, sat down again.

Then, Jiu Jiu looked at Lan Ling'e again, covered her mouth with a small yawn, and asked, “Has the large array in the back been opened?”

Lan Ling'e quickly replied, “Not yet, Aunt-Master Jiu. Senior Brother seems to be refining pills or cultivating. I just tried calling him with a communication talisman, but there was no reply.”

“Alright then. It was clearly the scheduled time for pill refinement... Perhaps he had some insight.”

Jiu Jiu looked at Lan Ling'e, then glanced at Youqin Xuanya, as if something suddenly occurred to her, and smiled: “Since Xiaoya is also here, Ling'e, let's play that game!”

Lan Ling'e quietly asked, “Which one are you referring to, Aunt-Master?”

Jiu Jiu's eyes grew even brighter. “The one we played with your Senior Brother last month! Didn't you say that was Little Qiong Peak's signature activity?”

“Of course, that's fine, Aunt-Master, please wait a moment,” Lan Ling'e said, lightly tapping her fingers. She pushed the low table in front of her towards the door, immediately creating a large empty space between the three of them. She took out a clean beast hide from her storage dharma artifact and spread it out in front of them. A long 'cloud path' was drawn on the hide, divided into small squares, with many mountains and lakes depicted along the way.

Lan Ling'e asked, “Senior Sister Youqin, would you like to play too?”

Youqin Xuanya hesitated slightly, looking at the 'map' with a hint of confusion.

Jiu Jiu added from the side, “Little Changshou made this; it's quite interesting.”

Upon hearing this, Youqin Xuanya immediately nodded and replied, “If it is Senior Brother Changshou's masterpiece, please by all means let me join in.”

“Senior Sister, please look. The rules are written here.”

Following Lan Ling'e's finger, Youqin Xuanya immediately saw familiar handwriting and read aloud softly:

“Path to Immortality, also known as 'Simulated Immortal Life,' 'Immortal Realm Monopoly'... Participants place their representative wooden figures at the starting point of the Immortal Path, use dice to roll points and move their figures forward. Each landing spot triggers various events on the Immortal Path. At the start, each person receives three hundred spirit stones, represented by numbers. The first to reach the immortal endpoint wins, or if participants wish to end the game, the winner is determined by who has the most spirit stones. Note: No immortal sense or spiritual sense may be used to probe the various treasure chests, nor may any magical power be used to control the dice.”

After Youqin Xuanya finished reading, Lan Ling'e had already placed several colorful wooden boxes to the side. The boxes contained many square cards with various labels on them. Then, Lan Ling'e took out three small colorful wooden figures and placed them at the start of the cloud path, producing a six-sided die. Everything was now ready.

Youqin Xuanya had never seen such a setup before and was immediately a little confused.

Jiu Jiu laughed, “We'll play once and you'll get it, Xuanya! Come on, let's start! I'll roll first!”

Lan Ling'e quickly said, “We need to play rock-paper-scissors to decide the rolling order.”

“Alright, alright, you two youngsters have no respect for elders or care for the young! Rock-paper-scissors it is then!”

Youqin Xuanya watched the somewhat uninhibited Aunt-Master Jiu and Lan Ling'e, who was primly lecturing her. Although slightly unaccustomed to such antics, she still cooperated by playing rock-paper-scissors and lining up to roll the dice. She even won the rock-paper-scissors.

Youqin Xuanya went first, rolled a five, picked up her small wooden figure, moved five steps forward on the cloud path, and saw the label beneath the figure's feet.

‘You performed excellently while sweeping the sect's entrance steps and received a reward of twenty spirit stones from a senior sect member.’

“Senior Sister, write '+20' after your spirit stone count!”

“Oh, alright,” Youqin Xuanya complied, already roughly understanding the rules.

Jiu Jiu, standing by, picked up the die, blew on her palm, and carefully rolled it down. Seeing the die settle on ‘three,’ Jiu Jiu grinned. Her figure moved three steps forward, landing on a square marked with a purple five-pointed star.

“Quick, bring the purple treasure chest! Draw a card, draw a card!”

Lan Ling'e handed over the purple box. Jiu Jiu reached inside and fumbled around, quickly pulling out a wooden card.

“Good stuff, good stuff! Ling'e, it's your turn, quick, roll! Roll a Great Golden Core for your aunt-master!”

Youqin Xuanya carefully examined the wooden card, seeing four large characters on the front: 'I am the same'. On the back were two lines of explanation:

‘Automatically triggered after the current participant completes their action. The owner can forcibly copy any other participant's earnings for this round.’

“My turn! Humph humph!”

Lan Ling'e rolled a two, landing on a blank square with no gain.

Jiu Jiu immediately looked disgusted, holding the wooden card towards Youqin Xuanya, and exclaimed, “I am the same! What the heck, I finally drew this card, but it's only twenty spirit stones.”

Youqin Xuanya also couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle, then naturally picked up the die and rolled. This time, it triggered a random event, and she drew a bamboo card from a blue wooden box.

‘Found Good Fortune: You found your lifelong Dao Companion and held a banquet. You may collect one hundred spirit stones as congratulatory gifts from each of the other participants.’

Jiu Jiu and Lan Ling'e immediately complained profusely.

Youqin Xuanya, however, praised softly, “May I see these cards? Senior Brother Changshou truly has ingenious ideas.”

The two, whose enthusiasm was high, had no choice but to pause the game and show Youqin Xuanya the bamboo, wooden, copper, and jade cards from the various boxes, one by one. There were twelve types for each of the four card categories: 'Skills,' 'Positive Random Events,' 'Negative Random Events,' and 'Treasures.'

Such as...

‘This is too hard for me: You reflect on your arduous cultivation journey, lamenting how difficult it was to achieve your cultivation, and are overcome with sorrow. To console you, others each give you fifty spirit stones.’

‘Enlightenment: Move forward one space.’

‘Obsessed with Sundries: You neglected cultivation due to your obsession with poetry, songs, dance, and leisurely activities, thus losing your next two turns to roll the dice.’

‘Grand Bluff Card: You activated the Dao spell 'Grand Bluff Art,' successfully bluffed your previous target, and gain two hundred spirit stones or one random treasure from them.’

And so on...

“Did Senior Brother Changshou make all of these?” Youqin Xuanya asked with astonishment, while the two beside her could only nod repeatedly to confirm.

“Stop looking, Xiaoya, let's continue quickly!”

“Yes, Aunt-Master, your disciple was a bit distracted. This item is truly extraordinarily interesting.”

“Tsk tsk, watch me! Haha, another card draw! Appear, ‘I am the same’!”

“Aunt-Master Jiu, you can't cheat.”

“Of course not! Do I need to cheat against you two youngsters?”

Gradually, the thatched hut was filled with joyous laughter, and the previous awkwardness had long vanished.

It was evening.

Li Changshou, who had just broken through a minor realm by glancing at the upper volume of the Formless Scripture, strolled out of the forest. Having been in his secret chamber, he had now stabilized his aura so that no one would detect any flaws.

From afar, he heard laughter coming from the thatched hut, and his spiritual sense detected Youqin Xuanya's presence.

Trouble... Why are they here?

After thinking for a moment, Li Changshou quietly turned around and walked back to his alchemy room. The joyous laughter from behind drifted after him on the wind.

Jiu Jiu's laughter was rather unrestrained. “Hahaha! I am the same! Your aunt-master is rich, rich!”

Youqin Xuanya's laughter was very reserved, and it was rare to hear her complain. “Alas, I am truly unlucky; your disciple is obsessed with sundries again.”

As for Lan Ling'e, who had become the winner of the round, she smiled triumphantly and said to the two of them, “This is too hard for me; I'm collecting spirit stones now.”

Li Changshou couldn't help but chuckle softly. He activated the outer array formation, thinking that he would be heading to the East Sea in a few days. He should go check his reserves again. With Aunt-Master Jiu Jiu's assistance over the past few years, he had refined many poisonous pills capable of killing True Immortals. He would also need to process these poisonous pills later, turning them into poisonous powders or liquids for convenience in combat. Although they wouldn't be useful this time, it was always best to be prepared.