Free Web NovelChapter 297: Chapter 296: A Rainbow Appears on Lao Mountain, Are There Really Immortals?
Seeing the phone floating in mid-air, the three girls and the family were all completely dumbfounded.
"Rude words, disrespecting the old and bullying the young," Gu Zhao said lightly. "While not a crime punishable by death, a small punishment is needed to teach a big lesson."
Hearing Gu Zhao speak, everyone present turned to look at the people in the pavilion, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief. The three girls’ eyes, however, were filled with terror.
Gu Zhao waved his hand gently. The phone that had just been hovering over the three girls’ heads shot off with a WHOOSH, leaving three afterimages as it flew toward the sea.
Among the large family, a few of the middle-aged adults stood with their mouths agape, feeling as if their entire worldview had been shattered. The old woman next to them dropped to her knees on the spot. "An Immortal!"
The next moment, the smell of urine filled the air. One of the girls had been so scared she’d wet herself, while the other two’s legs gave out, and they collapsed to the ground.
"Wow!"
The little boy and girl, however, didn’t quite grasp the situation. They just thought Gu Zhao was incredibly powerful for scaring away the three mean girls with a single move.
"Sect Leader?" Taoist Huai Yi and Taoist Tai Xian also looked at Gu Zhao, not expecting him to reveal his powers so spectacularly in public.
"Many people at Berkeley know the truth, and some Mages have even come to the country to investigate," Gu Zhao said with a smile. "But because of the great distance between our countries, not many people here believe it."
"In that case, a few more legends circulating domestically wouldn’t hurt," Gu Zhao nodded, then looked at the two children. "You two are very brave. One of you dared to point out the mistake of someone breaking the rules, and the other dared to protect their family."
"To reward your bravery, I’ll give each of you a small gift." Gu Zhao smiled faintly and slapped his gourd. Two blurs shot out from its mouth and landed around the necks of the two children.
Everyone stared intently and saw they were Wooden Tokens strung on red cords, their surfaces carved with unfamiliar Daoist Runes.
These Wooden Tokens were also a product developed by Daluo Palace. They were made of Purple Sandalwood, carved with a Celestial Spirit Talisman on the front and a Vajra Profound Talisman on the back. Their power was slightly less than the Golden Gang Bracelet and they were available in limited supply to devout pilgrims within Changping Prefecture.
The space inside Gu Zhao’s gourd was quite large, and he kept it stocked with various trinkets from Daluo Palace for emergencies. He never expected this would be the first time he’d use them.
Seeing the new ornaments suddenly around their necks, the two children looked back at their parents, unsure if they were allowed to accept them.
How could the two couples not know their children had just had a fateful encounter with an immortal? They were so eager they practically nodded their heads off. "Quick, say thank you!"
The two children turned back. "Thank you, Mister!"
Gu Zhao was speechless.
"Call me ’big brother’!" Gu Zhao pointed to himself with a finger, correcting them with a straight face.
His words made the old Daoists chuckle and relaxed the tense atmosphere. The children’s parents broke into smiles, and even the three girls weren’t quite as terrified anymore.
"Thank you, big brother!" the two children readily complied.
"There we go!" Gu Zhao nodded emphatically, then his gaze shifted to the three girls. They flinched, trembling so hard they couldn’t even manage to beg for mercy.
"In the future, mind your manners when you’re out in public," Gu Zhao said coolly.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"We know, we know!"
"We’ll remember, we’ll remember!"
The three girls nodded repeatedly, like chicks pecking at grain.
Gu Zhao grunted, then looked at the old Daoists. "Let’s go somewhere else."
Taoist Tai Xian said, "How about the backyard of Taiping Palace? There are no tourists there."
"Alright." Gu Zhao nodded, then waved his hand. The fruit, the tea set, and even the stove by the table instantly vanished, sucked into his gourd.
The next moment, Gu Zhao flicked his sleeve again, and a rainbow suddenly appeared. It traced a graceful arc from the pavilion, curved around the mountains, and vanished to the north.
The rainbow enveloped the pavilion, its seven-colored light so brilliant that everyone present was dazzled and couldn’t open their eyes. But when the light faded and they opened their eyes again, the pavilion was empty!
Everyone: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
...
"Low-Altitude Rainbow Spotted on Lao Mountain!"
"Mysterious Incident on Lao Mountain as Rainbow Lands in Taiping Palace. Could Immortals Really Exist?"
"My Roommate Said She Met an Immortal on Lao Mountain!"
The next day, several rumors appeared online. However, only one netizen happened to have captured a photo of the fleeting rainbow, and they were accused of it being AI-generated.
However, in the comment section under a related video, many netizens testified that they had also seen the rainbow. A few tourists who were visiting Taiping Palace at the time swore up and down that they saw the rainbow land inside Taiping Palace.
But the area where the rainbow landed was the Daoists’ living quarters, which was off-limits to tourists, so no one had any firsthand evidence.
But a post on a certain social media platform connected the dots with the Lao Mountain Rainbow incident.
[My three roommates went to Lao Mountain yesterday, and they’ve been acting really weird since they got back. One of them told me they met an Immortal on Lao Mountain. The Immortal gave two Magical Treasures to a couple of kids and then turned into a rainbow and flew away!]
As for the family of the two children who had been gifted the Purple Sandalwood Tokens, they kept their mouths shut after returning home. They had the children wear the Purple Sandalwood Tokens close to their bodies and didn’t breathe a single word about it to anyone.
The three girls were a different story. Although the incident was too humiliating to talk about openly, and they certainly didn’t dare post about it online to complain about an Immortal destroying their phones, but...
I mean, they’re girls, who can keep a secret? Especially one about a worldview-shattering event like this!
So, one of the girls told the roommate who hadn’t gone with them and had stayed home. The disbelieving roommate then posted it online as a crazy story, and it just so happened to line up with the rainbow incident.
Well, of course, some people accused her of just chasing clout.
But it wasn’t long before netizens from the Mongolian Steppe came to back her up.
"There might really be Immortals in the world. Last time a mine collapsed over here, an Immortal helped rescue the people inside."
"Not an Immortal, it was Daoists! A lot of the people rescued from the mine accident went to a Taoist Temple to burn incense afterward. But if you ask them about it, they won’t say anything, claiming it’s a secret. My dad is their coworker, that’s the only reason I know."
"Right, right, it was Daoists. My dad was helping at the accident site. He said he saw two old Daoists there, but he was too far away to get a clear look."
"Everyone above is full of it. That mine collapse wasn’t even serious. It was just someone trying to cook the books and using some Daoists to create a mysterious topic to divert attention."
"Huh? Weren’t the people rescued because we developed a high-speed tunnel boring machine?"
"Are you all just spreading rumors and ignoring the contributions and sacrifices of the rescue workers?"
Just as these rumors, some true and some false, were circulating online in Lu Province, Gu Zhao had already led the few Daoists back to Daluo Palace.
