Notes on Longevity

Chapter 125 The Black Cat's Past Remains a Mystery, the Mountain God's Past Untraceable

This was a question that both She Li and the other two were very curious about. They couldn't understand why an ordinary family would keep a demon as a pet. Moreover, it seemed to be protective of its owner.

“Indeed.” Zhou Ziping nodded and smiled. “This black cat has been here since I was born, and I estimate it’s over a hundred years old.”

Zhou Ziping spoke the truth.

"You were here when you were born? Over a hundred years old? So that means this cat was actually raised by your father?" Yang Shouren found it very unbelievable.

However, She Li and Xiao Changgong felt something was wrong. Logically speaking, it would take at least three hundred years for a demon to transform into a human, but Zhou Ziping said he was only a little over a hundred years old, which was unreasonable.

“No, that’s not it,” Zhou Ziping continued. “It’s true that my father owns this cat, but he didn’t raise it from a kitten. He found it.”

"We found it?" She Li and Xiao Changgong asked in unison.

That makes a bit more sense. After all, we don't know the exact size of the thing we found.

But that doesn't make sense. How could a cat with a spiritual connection be picked up like that?

“Yes, my father found it in the capital. It could already transform into a human form back then,” Zhou Ziping explained. Yang Shouren listened, nodding as if he understood.

However, She Li and Xiao Changgong felt something was very wrong. That meant that he had already cultivated for three hundred years more than a hundred years ago, which would make him four or five hundred years old.

"Didn't you ask how big it was?" She Li didn't bother to think too much and just blurted it out. After all, they had lived together for so many years, surely she must have asked. Besides, how could a demon that could already transform into human form be picked up like that? There must be something wrong with that.

“I asked it, but it doesn’t remember.” Zhou Ziping said with some difficulty, “It was almost dead when we picked it up. My father is known for his kindness, so he took Blackface to find the mountain god, and that’s how it was saved. Since then, it has been with us.”

"I see." The three nodded. Some of their doubts were resolved. But why was it injured in the first place?
"By the way, Grandpa Zhou, what's the background of the mountain god here?" She Li had heard of him before, including when Xiao Changgong mentioned him, but he had never seen him.

“This mountain god is a thousand-year-old tree,” Zhou Ziping said proudly.

"An ancient tree?" Xiao Changgong frowned upon hearing this. "It's extremely difficult for a tree to cultivate to the status of a mountain god. Just the time required is enough to endure."

"Is it that green tree on the mountain opposite?" Yang Shouren recalled that before they came down the mountain, they looked at that little bit of green on the other side of the mountain together.

“That’s right,” Zhou Ziping said with a smile. “Since this mountain god came to this place, he has protected this land and ensured peace and good weather for hundreds of years. However, this mountain god has a strange temper.”

Zhou Ziping felt a deep respect for the mountain god when he spoke of it, but he also felt somewhat helpless when he talked about the mountain god's temper.

"Coming to this place? That means He wasn't always here." The three of them, including She Li, became more and more confused, wondering why this village was so strange. There was a cat demon they had picked up, and now a mountain god who had come to this place.

"As for why He came, I don't know either; that was hundreds of years ago," Zhou Ziping said helplessly.

"What does His strange temper mean?" She Li asked curiously.

"This mountain god has a very good temper and is very approachable. Whoever has a problem can go to him and he will do whatever he can."

Zhou Ziping was speaking when Xiao Changgong interrupted him, frowning so much his face hurt: "Old man, isn't this contradictory? You just said he had a strange temper, and now you say he's approachable. Isn't that a contradiction?"

Zhou Ziping smiled and said to Xiao Changgong, "Just listen to what I have to say."

She Li, who was standing to the side, couldn't stand it any longer. She took out a gourd from the cloth bag next to her, uncapped it, placed it on the table with the mouth of the bottle facing Xiao Changgong, and warned him: "If you interrupt again, I'll lock you in the gourd."

Xiao Changgong rolled his eyes, then continued to eat his steamed bun and drink his porridge while listening to them talk.

Sitting next to Zhou Ziping, Zhou Yanliu, who had been eating, looked up at the gourd next to She Li with great curiosity. He wanted to ask, but after thinking about it, he continued to eat.

"Then why did you say he had a strange temper?" She Li asked Zhou Ziping.

"Aren't you asking too?" Xiao Changgong was eating when he heard She Li's words and immediately looked up at him.

She Li tilted her head, looking at him with some impatience, and patted the gourd.

Seeing this, Xiao Changgong had no choice but to lower his head again, muttering to himself: You'd better keep this gourd safe, or I'll smash it for you one day.

“This mountain god is perfectly fine during the day, but he becomes a completely different person at night,” Zhou Ziping continued.

“He cannot hear any loud noises at night, otherwise he will kill people.”

"kill?"

"Yes, and for no reason at all."

"Why is this?"

She Li was completely baffled; why were the answers changing so frequently?

"Nobody knows, but after that incident, our area adopted the rule that you can't speak loudly at night," Zhou Ziping sighed.

She Li felt overwhelmed by the conversation; he rubbed his forehead, racking his brains, and couldn't even eat.
-

Time flies, and it's already afternoon.

She Li and the others were busy in Zhou Ziping's courtyard. Yang Shouren was practicing his sword.

Xiao Changgong followed behind Zhou Yanliu. He looked at the dark-faced man in Zhou Yanliu's arms, then at Zhou Yanliu himself, and said apologetically to Zhou Yanliu, "Young Master Zhou, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that about the mountain god. It was just a slip of the tongue."

However, Zhou Yanliu ignored Xiao Changgong, put down his stern face, and played along with him.

Xiao Changgong apologized because after breakfast, he heard Zhou Ziping talk a lot about the mountain god and admired him from the bottom of his heart.

"That's right. I used to know a mountain god. We were on good terms, so I often called him 'old guy.' It just came out of my head; it wasn't intentional."

Zhou Yanliu ignored him and refused to listen to his apology, so he had no choice but to state his reasons directly.

"You also know a mountain god?" This time, Zhou Yanliu finally listened to him.

“Yes.” Seeing that he was finally listening to him, Xiao Changgong quickly bowed and apologized, “Little fox really didn’t mean it, please forgive me, Young Master Zhou.”

She Li sat to the side watching Xiao Changgong apologize to Zhou Yanliu, thinking to herself, "Am I seeing a ghost? This guy actually apologized to a child?"
"Alright, I'll forgive you since you're so sincere." Zhou Yanliu's eyes darted around, secretly plotting something. "Then can you tell me about the mountain god you know?"

“No way.” Xiao Changgong refused without thinking. After realizing what he had said, he hurriedly explained, “He told me that I shouldn’t talk about him with other people.”

"Then why did you tell me you knew the Mountain God?" Zhou Yanliu asked, frowning.

"I'm just apologizing to you! But you won't talk to me, so I had no choice but to bring up this old man." Xiao Changgong's tone and the way he addressed the mountain god had changed, showing that he genuinely admired the mountain god he knew from the bottom of his heart. As for why, only he himself knew.

"Alright, then I forgive you." Seeing that Xiao Changgong was sincere in his apology, Zhou Yanliu readily forgave him.

Seeing this, Xiao Changgong smiled and thought to himself: I never thought I would apologize to a child.

"By the way, what's the Taoist priest's gourd for? Can it even hold you?" Zhou Yanliu said to Xiao Changgong, but his eyes inadvertently caught sight of She Li, so he asked Xiao Changgong.

Actually, he wanted to ask at the breakfast table that morning, but he held back when he remembered his grandfather telling him not to talk while eating or sleeping.

Xiao Changgong glanced back at She Li, who had also been watching them. He then turned to Zhou Yanliu and said, "You should ask him about this. I have no right to tell you on his behalf."

"Why?" Zhou Yanliu asked, puzzled.

“Because it’s his, not mine,” Xiao Changgong said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanliu glanced at She Li, but immediately looked away when he saw her eyes. Perhaps it was because he had spoken rather harshly to Xiao Changgong that morning, and she was clearly somewhat frightened.

Xiao Changgong also noticed this, so he pulled Zhou Yanliu to She Li and said to him, "This child wants to see your gourd."

She Li frowned upon hearing this, "Why are you looking at the gourd?"

"I heard you say this morning that you were going to put him in there. I was just curious how such a small gourd could fit a person inside."

Zhou Yanliu spoke his mind, and She Li smiled upon hearing this. He said to Zhou Yanliu, "This is for catching demons."

"Catching demons?" Zhou Yanliu became even more interested. He looked at She Li with delight and continued to ask, "Then do you also know magic? I heard that Taoist priests who can catch demons also know magic."

She Li smiled and nodded without saying a word.

Zhou Yanliu released Xiao Changgong's hand, ran to She Li, looked at him sincerely, and asked, "I want to learn too. Can you teach me magic?"

“That won’t do,” She Li replied with a smile.

"Why...it hurts!" Zhou Yanliu had just said "why" when he felt a sharp pain in his head.

"What are you thinking about, kid?" Zhou Ziping had just returned from outside when he saw Zhou Yanliu clinging to She Li. Just as he approached to hear what she was asking, he overheard this question. He immediately gave Zhou Yanliu a flick on the head.

She Li and Xiao Changgong secretly smiled when they saw this.

Zhou Yanliu turned around and saw his grandfather's angry face. He immediately ran away. If he didn't run now, it would be too late, or he would get a beating.

Watching Zhou Yanliu run away, She Li asked Zhou Ziping, "Children this age should still be in school, right? Why is he always at home?"

“This child has no interest in studying and spends all his time following the mountain god, listening to the mountain god tell him stories.” Zhou Ziping also expressed his helplessness when talking about Zhou Yanliu.

"What about his parents?" Xiao Changgong asked Zhou Ziping, looking at Zhou Yanliu who was playing with the dark-faced man.

“His parents run a successful business, and they will take him away when they come back in a while. They say he has no interest in studying, so they will take him into business with them. It will be better for him than to spend his whole life in this field.”

“That’s true,” She Li nodded in response.

"By the way, do you know what the mountain god's name is?" She Li suddenly asked.

Zhou Ziping shook his head upon hearing this, "Nobody knows, and we've never seen Him mention it to anyone. We usually just call Him the Mountain God."

"I see." She Li was very curious about this mountain god, especially wanting to know why he came here and why he had such a strange temper.

(End of this chapter)