Immortal Travel of Longevity

It was noon. Rain last night had brought some coolness, taking away some of the intense summer heat.

Chen Changsheng was practicing calligraphy when he suddenly felt something and looked toward a certain direction.

He closed his eyes and focused his senses.

He sensed that the three Copper Coins had already scattered to different places, no longer in the hands of the Monk Returning Heart.

Lihua turned his head to look at Chen Changsheng, blinking. “Good Human Chen, looking at something nice?”

Chen Changsheng snapped out of it. “Nothing much,” he replied.

“Oh.” Lihua agreed, then turned his head back and curled up to sleep.

Underneath his sleeve, Chen Changsheng’s fingers kept flicking and counting.

His brow furrowed deeper, and the flicking of his fingers grew faster and faster.

A long, long time passed…

Snap.

A crisp snap came from the fingernail on his index finger as it cracked and broke cleanly.

The sound startled Lihua awake.

Lihua woke up and looked at Chen Changsheng again. Seeing the broken fingernail, he asked, “Has Good Human Chen not been sharpening his claws properly?”

Chen Changsheng snapped back to attention abruptly.

“What?”

“Sharpening claws,” Lihua repeated, extending his own paw to demonstrate. “Lihua always needs to sharpen them, that way claws don’t break so easily. Good Human Chen clearly hasn’t been sharpening yours.”

“Oh, is that so…” Chen Changsheng answered faintly.

Lihua paused slightly. He raised his head, sensing that Good Human Chen seemed a bit off.

“You seem all full of xinshi chongchong?” (Xinshi chongchong means preoccupied, burdened by thoughts)

Chen Changsheng asked, “Is that an idiom Ruyi taught you?”

Lihua nodded. “Mmm. ‘Heart affairs heavy-heavy’. Ruyi often says you are ‘heart affairs heavy-heavy’, and never tell anyone.”

Chen Changsheng seemed dazed for a moment. “I… am sometimes not good with words,” he said.

“Really?”

“Mmm.”

Chen Changsheng let out a breath. He stood up. “The sky isn’t good today, but I think the fish in the lake will be surfacing. I want to go fish, Lihua. Do you want to come with me?”

“Fish?”

“It’s like last time, when I hooked you.”

“But Lihua is a cat.”

“The principle is the same.”

“Principle?” Lihua repeated.

It seemed he didn’t understand.

Chen Changsheng smiled. “So, will Lihua come?”

“Will there be fish to eat?”

Lihua’s thoughts were always simple.

“Yes, if we catch them.”

“Then Lihua will go!”

Chen Changsheng chuckled, then picked Lihua up to leave.

“Lihua can walk himself! Good Human Chen holding Lihua will make you fat!”

“It rained last night, the ground is muddy. It’d be dirty and hard to wash.”

“Lihua doesn’t get dirty.”

“Will get dirty.”

Lihua blinked. “But Lihua doesn’t want to get fat.”

“Just this once. Won’t make me fat.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Then Lihua won’t walk.”

Chen Changsheng carried him all the way out of Qingshan City.

Outside Qingshan City was a lake called Marsh Water Lake. It wasn’t far, but the path was difficult – a rugged mountain trail, made muddy by last night’s rain.

The man and the cat walked for a long time, still on the mountain path.

“Are we there?”

“Not yet.”

“Are we there now?”

“Soon.”

Lihua’s chattering was frequent, but his occasional questions made Chen Changsheng feel less alone – a very good thing, something he liked at the moment.

After walking for roughly half an hour, they finally reached Marsh Water Lake.

Before them was a lake embraced by green shade. It wasn’t overly large, but neither was it small. Perhaps because of the rain, the lake water was somewhat murky, but they could still make out fish occasionally breaking the surface.

“So pretty!”

Lihua stared at the lake. “Even prettier than your Cloudtop Manor!”

Chen Changsheng asked, “Cloudtop Manor isn’t nice?”

“Mmm. Cloudtop Manor doesn’t have anything. The Mortal World is better.”

“Then we’ll come more often in the future.”

“Okay~”

Chen Changsheng looked around the lake, spotting a patch of bamboo nearby. He snapped off a piece to make a fishing pole.

The fishing line and hook he formed from his Magical Power.

He found a relatively dry spot near the water, sat down, and cast the line.

Lihua curled up on Chen Changsheng’s crossed legs and gazed out at the lake surface.

He watched curiously, muttering, “Can a fish really be caught like this?”

Chen Changsheng nodded. “Yes.”

“Lihua wants a try too!”

“Your paws can’t hold the pole.”

“Lihua wants to fish.”

Seeing Lihua’s persistence, Chen Changsheng agreed. He broke off another bamboo pole, made a fishing rod, and stuck a tree branch into the ground. That way, Lihua wouldn’t have to hold the rod with its paw.

Lihua crouched before the fishing rod, its eyes full of light.

“Lihua’s fishing rod.”

“Yes, Lihua’s.”

“When will fish bite?”

“Don’t know…”

They just had to wait slowly.

But Lihua probably didn’t have the patience for that.

“No fish yet.”

“There will be soon.”

“Still no.”

Chen Changsheng smiled helplessly and said, “Fishing requires a calm mind. Otherwise, the fish will notice.”

“Not let fish know?” Lihua asked.

“That’s the idea.”

Then Lihua hid behind a tree. Its sneaky look was really funny.

“Calm your mind, not hide.”

“Oh…”

One person and one cat stayed by the lake, quietly watching the fishing rod in the water.

Chen Changsheng’s eyes were looking, but his mind wasn’t on the fishing rod in the lake after all.

He just couldn’t calm down.

Lihua occasionally glanced at Chen Changsheng. It noticed today’s Good Human Chen looked different. His face wasn’t as good as in previous days.

It seemed like he’d run into some trouble.

Chen Changsheng thought about those three Copper Coins.

Some things might seem like luck, but more often than not, they seemed really meant to happen.

‘Is he watching me?’

Chen Changsheng looked up at the sky. He felt it had to be the reason. Otherwise, why would he break a nail doing divination? That was probably the only answer.

Maybe everything he said and did was under the watch of the Heavenly Dao.

His goals, his thoughts…

This feeling of being watched made Chen Changsheng uneasy.

The Copper Coins getting lost partway seemed like a warning from Heaven and Earth, telling him not to keep prying into these things.

Such a clear sign!

If this were true, the so-called Heavenly Secrets being a mess… that was probably just how it looked on the surface.

This brought Chen Changsheng pressure like he’d never felt before.

If it really was this way… how could the Underworld be built? If it really was this way, what was the point of working hard all these years, only to be destroyed by the Heavenly Dao in the end?

Chen Changsheng frowned. He hadn’t looked like that for a long time.

Seeing Good Human Chen’s mood seeming worse, Lihua asked, “Is Good Human Chen sick?”

At Lihua’s words, Good Human Chen slowly calmed down.

He let out a breath and said, “I am not sick.”

Lihua nodded and said, “If sick, eat grass. Otherwise, you don’t get better.”

“Eat grass?”

“Ruyi said that.”

“You mean herbs.”

“Maybe yes.”

A little smile appeared on Chen Changsheng’s serious face. He said, “I’m fine, Lihua. Don’t worry.”

Lihua blinked and said, “Okay then…”

“Hmm.”

“So when do we catch fish?”