[Departure begins, fellow cultivators, proceed with caution!!!]

As dusk deepened.

In the desolate wilderness.

Li Shiwuwu, clad in a tattered Taoist robe, walked barefoot, with worn-out iron chains around his ankles. His eyes were vacant, and he was utterly exhausted.

Behind him were four young Taoists dressed similarly, around seventeen or eighteen years old, carrying a simple sedan chair made of green bamboo on their shoulders.

Sitting on the chair was a sinister old Taoist with a face full of dark moles and a crooked mouth, named Qian Yuanzi.

At this moment.

Li Shiwuwu shook his head vigorously, forcing himself to stay alert, and managed to pull out a flattering smile before turning back.

He asked, "Master, we disciples have followed you in search of immortal fate, traversing mountains and enduring the elements for ten whole years."

"Forgive my boldness, but I wish to ask, how exactly does one become an immortal?"

On the bamboo chair, Qian Yuanzi lifted his eyelids slightly and sneered, "Become an immortal?"

"Only those with a heavenly lineage, guided by a master, and protected by powerful beings can become immortals."

Hearing this, Li Shiwuwu scratched his chin and continued to ask, "Master, is there any other way?"

Qian Yuanzi said, "With unparalleled fortune, one who stumbles upon a dragon's lair or a phoenix's nest can become an immortal."

Upon hearing this, Li Shiwuwu looked troubled and, unwilling to give up, asked again, "Is there anything else?"

Qian Yuanzi glanced at him, his tone seemingly impatient, "With extraordinary talent, one who gains enlightenment with every step and comprehends the Tao daily can become an immortal."

At this, Li Shiwuwu was dumbfounded. These three methods were completely out of reach for him and his fellow disciples.

So, he stammered, "Master, your methods for becoming an immortal are indeed powerful, but they rely too much on lineage, fortune, and talent."

"Is there a simpler, more feasible method that can open our eyes?"

Upon hearing this, Qian Yuanzi seemed to become interested.

He looked around, seeing only Li Shiwuwu and the other four disciples in the desolate wilderness.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out a palm-sized, withered brown sheepskin scroll from under his robe.

Then, lowering his voice, he spoke mysteriously, "There is, my disciple, there is. Otherwise, why would I have taken you across mountains for ten years?"

"It's because there is a temple in the legends, called the Seed Immortal Temple."

"In that temple, there is a piece of miraculous soil."

"As the saying goes, 'plant melons, get melons; plant beans, get beans,' but that soil can grow immortals!"

At this point, Qian Yuanzi seemed unusually excited, jumping off the bamboo chair, spreading his arms, and laughing up at the sky.

"As long as I find that Seed Immortal Temple and plant myself as a 'seed' in that soil, I can become an immortal, become an immortal!"

For a moment, Li Shiwuwu and the other four young Taoists were all stunned, their eyes filled with shock.

They had never imagined that the reason behind Qian Yuanzi's ten-year quest for immortality was so absurd and bizarre.

Suddenly, Qian Yuanzi looked over sinisterly and spoke abruptly, "Shiwuwu, did you dream of immortals again last night?"

Immediately, Li Shiwuwu shivered and quickly replied, "Yes, Master, I did dream."

"Oh, what did you dream about?"

"I dreamed of 'Guanyin drunkenly beating the Buddha, Sun Wukong climbing Liangshan on a snowy night.'"

Qian Yuanzi squinted his eyes, "Tell me!"

The wilderness was desolate, the vegetation swayed wildly in the twilight wind, rustling.

Only Li Shiwuwu, sweating profusely, was earnestly recounting the wildly altered immortal story.

A moment later.

Qian Yuanzi laughed, "Interesting, these stories of immortal friends are truly interesting."

But in the next instant, he bared his yellow teeth, staring at Li Shiwuwu with a strangely sinister smile.

"Shiwuwu, I can't prove that what you're saying is true."

"But I also can't prove that you're lying to me."

Qian Yuanzi's eyes grew cold, "I'm not an immortal now, but when I truly become one and ascend to the nine heavens palace, if I don't see those immortal friends you mentioned."

"My dear disciple, you should know what fate awaits you, right?"

After saying this, he took off a thumb-sized, bronze-colored earring resembling a toad from his earlobe.

He casually tossed it to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a millstone-sized, warty bronze toad.

"Croak, croak..."

The toad croaked twice, then opened its mouth wide, spitting out pots, pans, a few rolled-up bamboo mats, and some thin quilts...

"It's getting dark."

"Disciples, start the stove, light the fire, I'll go hunt some livestock for the pot."

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Qian Yuanzi gave a few instructions and then disappeared into the dim twilight.

As for Li Shiwuwu, he was long accustomed to such scenes and merely let out a long sigh of relief.

In fact, he wasn't a native of this world, at least not in soul.

As for how he reincarnated into this world? After so many years, he no longer cared.

He only remembered that as a swaddled infant, he was kidnapped by Qian Yuanzi and raised alongside twenty-nine other infants.

By the age of eight, they were living in the wilderness, braving the elements.

And out of thirty fellow disciples, only five remained today.

Most of them had perished at the hands of Qian Yuanzi!

At this moment, a young Taoist with a sharp, monkey-like face nudged Li Shiwuwu with his elbow.

He whispered, "Shiwuwu, this is a good chance, should we escape?"

"If we keep going, we'll end up dead at the hands of that old man."

He spat, "That Seed Immortal Temple is nonsense, the old man has gone mad wanting to become an immortal..."

Li Shiwuwu glanced at him, lowered his head, and set up an iron pot.

As he lit the fire, he said, "Escape?"

"Can you remove the shackles on our feet? Or can you defeat Lord Guan?"

Li Shiwuwu's eyes swept over the bronze toad squatting nearby, and he lowered his voice, "Hou Qi, don't talk nonsense."

"This ghostly thing is not to be messed with. If you dare to escape, it will dare to bite your head off."

As for the 'Lord Guan' he mentioned, it was the bronze toad.

It wasn't very intelligent, could store items in its belly, was fierce, and liked to eat steamed buns dipped in human blood, earning it the nickname 'Lord Guan.'

Usually, it was thumb-sized and hung on Qian Yuanzi's earlobe.

As a flicker of firelight rose, the wilderness gradually gained a bit more life.

A tall, honest-looking young Taoist said in a booming voice, "Shiwuwu, I really envy you for dreaming of immortals."

"Master said it's called having an immortal fate."

Hou Qi, standing nearby, also laughed, "Yeah, just tell some immortal stories, and you can make that old man laugh his head off."

Then, he looked at another young Taoist with delicate features, who looked more like a girl, and spoke with schadenfreude.

"Oh, some people, huh, even warm that old man's bed at night."

"But in the end, they're just like us, carrying that bamboo chair every day, with calluses on their shoulders."

"Not like Shiwuwu, who just clears the path ahead with empty hands."

The delicate-looking Taoist, named Hua Erling, stood up angrily and said, "Hou Qi, I've told you many times, Qian Yuanzi has a hidden illness and can't be with people."

"And because of taking the wrong pills, he has a cold intolerance, so he needs someone to warm his bed. It's not what you think."

Hou Qi, still grinning, turned to Li Shiwuwu and said, "Shiwuwu, tell us that story about Tang Monk teasing the Queen Mother under the moon again, we love it and want to hear more."

"Tell what? I'm not in the mood!" Li Shiwuwu rolled his eyes.

"Croak, croak..."

At this moment, the toad Lord Guan croaked twice, its sound piercing in the wilderness.

The group quickly turned to see a crooked-mouthed old Taoist, stepping in a strange manner, carrying a dead monkey, slowly emerging from the night.

Seeing this, Li Shiwuwu immediately put on a smile and ran over in small steps, the chains on his feet clinking.

"Master, in this desolate mountain, shall I tell you a story about Tang Sanzang teasing the Queen Mother under the moon to entertain you?"

Hou Qi's eyes twinkled, and he also went up, his flattering expression a stark contrast to before.

"Father!"

"As they say, a master is like half a father, and a disciple is like half a son."

"Sitting in that bamboo chair all day must have made your back sore, let your son give you a massage?"

Qian Yuanzi laughed, but suddenly, a half-arm-long black iron Chopping Knife appeared in his hand.

With a flash of the blade, without any warning, Hou Qi's eyes froze, and the smell of blood filled the air.

Qian Yuanzi looked down at the disciple lying in a pool of blood, kicked him away viciously, then pulled out a few white steamed buns, dipped them in the blood on the ground, and fed them to Lord Guan.

He laughed, "Disciple, I also consider you half a son, but unfortunately, since you're a whole one, I can only give you a slash."

"Also, in this desolate wilderness, there's no human blood to feed Lord Guan, so you'll have to do."

Watching the scene before them, Li Shiwuwu and the others lowered their heads, their eyes filled with resentment and pity, but they dared not make a sound.

And such incidents had become commonplace over the past ten years.

However, the group was unaware.

In the ink-black night, a few miles away, a blurry temple, seemingly between reality and illusion.

Was slowly revealing its presence.