No abstraction, no cultivation

Chapter 157 The Real Immortal

Behind the water gate, unexpectedly, it was still the same village!

The same houses, the same streets, and the same octagonal well.

It was as if they had not crossed the water gate. Xu Shun looked around and saw a faint mist in the distance of the village. He could not see far away, as if the village was right in the clouds.

Behind him was the octagonal well, and he and Taoist Cucumber came out of the well behind them.

"This is..." Xu Shun looked at a few old men under a tree not far away.

They arrived at the real village.

The old man saw that the two of them looked frightened, but he did not run away.

"This is an area that someone has mirrored using his spiritual power. It's very mysterious!" Taoist Qinggua's eyes flashed with spiritual light as he looked at the area carefully.

"Fellow villagers, we are not bad people!" Xu Shun looked at the old men and said gently.

He knew that these people were specifically guarding this well.

If enemies come, they will be the first to die, and this will serve as a warning to the villagers.

"You are..." said one of them, an old man who looked quite energetic and was about sixty or seventy years old.

He had a thin face and was wearing gray-blue clothes that were patched but neat and clean.

"We are his companions!" Xu Shun said, "He told you, right? Only his companions can come in here!"

Several old men looked at each other, still keeping their guard up, because they felt that Xu Shun and the other two were nothing like that man.

The man looked at them and laughed from the bottom of his heart.

Xu Shun looked at them and said, "The spring breeze blows thousands of willow trees, and the six hundred million Chinese are all like Shun and Yao! Did he tell you?"

The thin old man heard this poem, looked at Xu Shun, and said slowly: "The red rain turns into waves as it pleases?"

It can be seen that he seems to be literate, and these old men are led by him.

When he suddenly heard this poem, Xu Shun knew that he might have guessed it right.

After a moment of silence, Xu Shun sighed and said in a hoarse voice: "The green mountain is deliberately turned into a bridge!"

He already knew that the man just now was his fellow villager.

His fellow villager, who came from the fairyland, did not slaughter mortals like other exiled immortals, but fought with other exiled immortals to protect a group of mortals. He even gave up his life to keep the secret.

He felt very upset and regretted not recognizing his fellow villager earlier.

But which of the banished immortals he had seen was not cruel and insane?
He never imagined that one of his fellow villagers was also a banished immortal!

There are actually some fellow villagers who have become immortals but still stick to their original intentions!

So rare!

And he actually missed such a person!

"You...are you really the companions of Chen Xianren?" After hearing the poem recited by Xu Shun, the old man believed that Xu Shun and the others were the companions of Chen Xianren.

"Of course! Of course we are companions!" Xu Shun said with a hint of sadness: "We are late."

When the old man heard Xu Shun say this, his face suddenly turned gray. Not only him, but also several old people around him suddenly collapsed.

"I knew it, I knew it... Immortal Chen asked us to come here and hide. He said he would go to meet the enemy..." Tears as big as beans rolled out of the old man's eyes.

The other old men were also grief-stricken.

Taoist Qinggua then asked, "Do you know that he is an immortal?"

"Of course." The old man looked at Taoist Qinggua strangely, as if asking, you are his companions, why don’t you know that he is an immortal.

"He should have told you." Xu Shun continued, "We got separated."

He guessed that they got lost.

There was a door and a password, which was obviously for the fellow villager's companion. "Yes! He said so!" Hearing Xu Shun say this, the old man said: "Chen Xianren said that he and you were separated."

"Come, come, come inside and sit down!" The old man felt that Xu Shun was the companion of Chen Xianren, but Qinggua Taoist was not.

After chatting for a while, the old man found out that these people had no ill intentions, so he took Xu Shun and Taoist Qinggua to a remote courtyard.

"This is where Immortal Chen lives." said the old man.

Xu Shun looked at this ordinary courtyard with three houses. Apart from being cleaned immaculately, they were no different from ordinary houses.

Standing in the yard, he thought of the old house he visited in his previous life.

The inexplicable emotion made him unable to help but say: "Old Chen was born in a poor family, I didn't expect that he has maintained such a habit for so many years."

At this moment, he seemed to see the overlap of the past and the present, and the overlap of people in the past and people in the present.

Times are changing, but some things remain the same.

When the old man heard Xu Shun say this, his eyes lit up and he said, "Isn't it?"

"He came to the village and helped us beat back the people who bullied us, treated our illnesses, helped Old Lady Liu repair her house, and cleaned the well so we could drink clean water."

"He also taught us how to raise chickens and ducks, and taught the children in the village to read. We are all very grateful to him."

"We saw him perform magic, and we thought he must be a god who saves people from suffering!"

"Although he repeatedly denies that he is a deity, we all know that he is a deity..." the old man muttered to himself:

"Is he a deity? Don't we know?"

A strange emotion filled Xu Shun's chest, causing him to continue, "He just did what he was supposed to do!"

"Yes, yes, yes, Immortal Chen always said that he did what he should do!" The old man was finally sure that Xu Shun must be Immortal Chen's companion.

He let down his guard and began to tell Xu Shun about what Chen Xianren had done in the village.

Every little thing is a small thing, but every little thing is done to help others without asking for anything in return, as if Chen Xianren regards himself as a member of the village.

The people in the village treated him as a family member and respected him very much.

"Mr. Chen always says that the world is too chaotic. He can't take care of so many people and can only take care of the people in one village. One day, when his companions arrive, they can change the world..." said the old man.

When Taoist Qinggua heard this, his expression changed slightly.

"Of course, there will be such a day!" Xu Shun said with a smile.

That day will come.

The two chatted a lot, and finally the old man asked someone to bring some fruits and then left.

Speaking of fruits and vegetables, what good things can there be in the village?

Just some wild fruits and radishes.

This is the best in the village!

Xu Shun got up and checked the rooms. On a table, he found Chen Xianren's relics.

It was an ordinary square box, about an inch long and half an inch wide.

After opening it, there was only a note and a folded flag inside.

Xu Shun spread out the flag. The flag was very red and was embroidered by someone stitch by stitch.

There was only one sentence on the note:

"I can't go on any further, you keep going!"

"Chen Wentao!"

Xu Shun's tears suddenly burst out.

　Just for this little bit of vinegar, I made dumplings. (Chen Wentao, Shangbenma)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)