Notes on Longevity

Chapter 106 Between heaven and earth exist immortals, and among all living things are demons.

In the twenty-fifth year of Wen Shang's reign, during the spring of Yin, the southwest of Dayan was reached.

In the low bushes on the outskirts of a town in Liangzhou, illuminated by the full moon in the night, a young Taoist priest dressed in a blue robe could be seen. He walked cautiously, a sword in one hand and a strangely shaped bronze mirror in the other, looking around carefully.

The bronze mirror gleamed with a faint golden light, but instead of reflecting the Taoist's heroic appearance, it reflected the tangled thickets of bushes.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the bushes, like the sound of some animal passing by.

Upon hearing the sound, the Taoist priest held up a bronze mirror in the direction from which the sound came, and a black snake appeared in the mirror.

"Found you! Now let's see where you run." The Taoist saw the snake's shadow in the bronze mirror, sneered, then turned the cloth bag hanging on his back to the front, put the bronze mirror in it, and immediately chased after it.

Upon hearing the Taoist's rapid approach, the snake, which had been quietly slithering away, also quickened its pace.

"Snake demon, where do you think you're going?" The Taoist priest saw that the snake was swimming extremely fast, and while chasing after it, he threw the sword in his hand, holding the hilt, at the snake.

The snake, slithering along, was startled by the sound of a sword piercing the soil in the bushes and the golden light of the sword. It then turned and tried to escape.

But the moment it turned around, the Taoist priest was already beside it. He grabbed the snake's neck with one hand, and before the snake could react, he pressed down on its head and chin with the other hand, firmly controlling it in his hand.

But that snake had cultivated for hundreds of years; how could it be captured so easily?

The Taoist's pupils suddenly contracted and expanded. He saw that the snake was glowing with purple light, and its originally small body had instantly grown many times larger, becoming enormous.

The Taoist priest was so frightened by its suddenly enlarged body that he released his grip.

The giant serpent stood upright, its dark purple scales opening and closing with each breath. Its enormous purple eyes, filled with rage, stared intently at the Taoist priest.

"Break!" But the Taoist's fear was only temporary. He had previously faced a snake demon that was a beautiful woman in human form, and had never seen its true form before. So when it revealed its true form, he was inevitably stunned for a moment.

Seeing the snake grow larger, he immediately formed a hand seal, and with two golden fingers facing the snake's body, he thrust out a sword-finger strike.

The snake, stung by the Taoist's sword strike, let out a loud hiss and its body thrashed wildly, its tail whipping around and sending the Taoist flying.

The Taoist priest was sent flying by the snake, his back slamming into a tree. He felt the same pain; he felt as if his back and waist were about to break.

He landed on the ground, enduring the pain in his body as he stood up. He felt a sweet taste in his mouth and a warm sensation at the corner of his lips; he frowned and wiped it on.

"I've been down the mountain for so long, and this is the first time I've been accidentally injured by a demon." He looked at the bright red blood on his fingers and the traces of blood he had wiped from the corner of his mouth, and snorted coldly. He never expected that his first battle with a demon would result in such an injury.

As the snake demon's pain subsided, it glared at the Taoist priest, but fearing him, it dared not approach. So it decisively turned and fled.

Seeing that it was about to escape, the Taoist priest immediately gave chase, pulling out his sword from the mud as he pursued it.

The moment the sword was drawn from the ground, the cold light shining on it fell into the eyes of the handsome young man on the other side of the bushes.

He watched as the Taoist priest chased after the snake demon, a smug and gleeful smile creeping onto his lips.

"It's so nice to reap the rewards without sowing." The young man clapped his hands as he watched them walk away and slowly followed.

In the bushes, the enormous snake demon moved slowly. Upon seeing the Taoist priest, it immediately transformed into a woman dressed in black and purple, quickly weaving through the undergrowth. The Taoist priest, seeing her in human form, stopped abruptly. He held his sword before him, muttering something unintelligible, two fingers raised while the others curled in his palm.

He made a sword shape with his fingers and placed them on the sword standing in front of him. A golden light instantly rose from the sword.

"Go!" He withdrew his sword finger and whispered to the sword in his hand. The sword immediately flew out of his hand and rushed towards the snake.

"Ah!" The sword flew out of his hand and pierced the snake demon's body in less than three breaths.

The snake demon knelt down in response, enduring the intense pain in its body, and turned back with murderous intent to block the Taoist priest who was following closely behind.

She looked down at the sword piercing her chest, then grabbed the blade without hesitation and pulled the sword from her body. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans appeared on her forehead, and blood trickled from her mouth and chest. But she couldn't care less; all she wanted was to escape.

She dragged her injured body out of the bushes and into a grove of trees.

The Taoist picked up the sword and followed closely into the grove, but the snake demon was nowhere to be seen.

The Taoist priest, unable to find the snake demon, frowned and stood there looking around with a somewhat solemn expression, but he couldn't find the snake demon anywhere, nor could he find any trace of her blood on the ground.

His footsteps were light in the bushes, the moonlight illuminating his handsome face, his playful expression never changing, as he watched the Taoist priest search for the snake demon's tracks in the woods.

There was nothing he could do; since he had already spotted the snake demon, he had no choice but to take out the bronze mirror again and look around in every direction in the forest.

The snake demon, hiding in a tree, was terrified when she saw him take out the bronze mirror and immediately ran out of the tree. She thought this would allow her to escape the Taoist priest, but she forgot that the Taoist priest also had that bronze mirror.

Upon hearing the sound, the Taoist priest put away the bronze mirror and chased after them again.

"Master, spare my life!" But no matter how fast the snake demon ran, it couldn't outrun the sword in the Taoist's hand.

Seeing that she was about to escape, the Taoist priest threw the sword out again the instant he put away the bronze mirror. The sword caught up with the snake demon in an instant, circled around from behind her to in front of her, and the tip of the sword was pressed tightly against the snake demon's eye. If she moved even slightly, it would pierce her eye directly.

"Spare me?" The Taoist walked up behind the snake demon and took a deep breath. "You killed so many people and made me chase you all night. Why didn't you think about this situation back then?"

"Daoist, this little demon didn't want to either, but I have to cultivate, so there's nothing I can do." The snake demon looked aggrieved, completely different from her fierce appearance just now. Even her words were full of lust, showing no remorse whatsoever.

“Cultivation?” The Taoist sneered. “There are so many ways to cultivate, yet you choose to suck human essence and blood and still try to justify it!” The Taoist didn’t listen to the snake demon’s explanation at all, and then took out a gourd from his cloth bag.

Upon seeing this, the young man in the bushes rushed over with lightning speed and snatched the snake demon away.

The Taoist opened the gourd bottle, just as he was about to put the snake demon inside, when a figure suddenly grabbed the snake demon and carried it away, taking his sword with him as well.

The Taoist priest's face was filled with murderous intent, and he breathed heavily with trembling breaths. He seemed to have suddenly realized something, and he roared in the direction where the man and the snake demon had left: "Xiao Changgong, you old fox, you just wait! Don't let me catch you, or I'll skin you alive, pull out your tendons, and then strike you with heavenly lightning!"

The Taoist spoke through gritted teeth, and Xiao Changgong, holding the snake demon, chuckled slyly upon hearing the Taoist's voice. But he quickly fixed his gaze on the snake demon in his arms, "Your inner core, I want it!"

Volume Two, the Chapter of Demons Begins. I originally planned to write about the martial arts world first, but according to the timeline, I'll start with this one.

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(End of this chapter)