You've only been cultivating for a few years, and you're already talking about cultivating

"Hmm." Qi Fei nodded. "This story allows people to see the real world, and it might be useful to you too."

He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Once upon a time, there was a cave, very deep. A group of people lived in the cave, and from birth they were chained together, unable to turn their heads..."

He spoke slowly and in great detail, describing the cave, the shadows, and the people who were locked up one by one.

After he finished speaking, he looked at the two-headed beautiful python.

Two heads, four eyes, all staring wide-eyed at him without blinking.

His face was full of confusion.

"So... what is that cave?" Chuixiao asked.

"Why are those shadows fake?" Nuanyang asked.

"Why don't they turn around and look?" the two heads asked in unison.

Qi Fei: "..."

What is all this nonsense?!

Is this his main point?

He spoke until his throat was dry, believing he had explained Plato's allegory of the cave in a clear and easy-to-understand way, but neither of his two heads understood it.

Four eyes were still staring at him blankly, waiting for him to continue.

Qi Fei had no choice but to bite the bullet and repeat himself.

This time, he put it more bluntly: "The world we see is not the real world, but a projection of the real world into our consciousness. Like the shadows on the cave walls."

"You think it's real, but it's just an illusion created by the firelight."

All four eyes remained wide open.

He still looked completely bewildered.

"So... we have projections, why can't we see the real thing?" Chuixiao asked.

"Why is what we see fake?" Nuanyang asked.

"What does the real world look like?" both mouths asked at the same time.

Qi Fei took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

Forget it.

Trying to reason with a demon is wishful thinking.

He stood up and brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes: "You all continue your cultivation here. I need to continue my journey; the caravan is waiting for me."

"Immortal Master! Immortal Master!" The enormous figures of Chuixiao and Nuanyang circled around, their faces filled with reluctance. "Are you leaving already?"

"You've explained so many things to us!" Nuanyang said hurriedly, "We haven't properly thanked you yet!"

"Yes!" Chuixiao's eyes lit up. "We want to repay the Immortal Master! Let us serve you well; we'll do anything!"

As they spoke, their faces drew closer, their eyes brimming with a mixture of anticipation and allure.

Qi Fei took three steps back.

"No, no!" He shook his head. "I don't need to be served. I'm not going to be Xu Xian!"

"Who is Xu Xian?" both heads asked at the same time.

"No matter who it is, I'm not going to do it."

Chuixiao and Nuanyang exchanged a glance, feeling somewhat aggrieved, yet unwilling to give up.

"How does the immortal master want us to repay him? Just tell us, and we will do as he says!"

Qi Fei thought for a moment, then walked to a corner of the cave, picked up a handy stone, and started scratching it on the ground.

He wrote very slowly, stroke by stroke, as if he were carving characters.

Chuixiao and Nuanyang leaned over to look, their faces pressed against the lines of text, the more they read, the more confused they became.

"Immortal Master..." Chuixiao raised his head, his face full of confusion, "Really... is this necessary?"

"Of course." Qi Fei put down the stone, dusted off his hands, and said, "Didn't you say you'd do anything?"

Nuanyang stared at those lines of text again and again, then suddenly said with full confidence, "We're doing alright, aren't we?!"

The flute player echoed those lines, saying, "Of course!"

"Yes!" Qi Fei waved his hands, that's the taste.

He shouted, "Again!"

Playing the flute: "Two heads are better than no head!"

Warm Sunshine: "But he has a head!"

Playing the flute: "Heading north!"

Warm Sun: "No! It's south!"

The words they were saying were lines from the two-headed ogre in the game from their previous life. Now, the two-headed beautiful python in front of them could also be considered a two-headed ogre.

Qi Fei nodded with satisfaction, a smile appearing on his face.

"Then I'm leaving," he said. "You all should cultivate diligently and strive to cultivate a third head as soon as possible."

He turned around and strode out of the cave.

An urgent cry came from behind: "Immortal Master! Immortal Master! When will we be able to see you again?"

Qi Fei paused for a moment, but did not turn around.

He did not answer that question.

The road is difficult, with many forks in the road.

Three thousand miles to Nanshan, the Sword Immortal's residence is nowhere to be found, will that old bastard Zhu Yixin still show up? What does his cheap mother have, he himself doesn't know either.

Who knows if we'll ever see each other again?

He raised his hand and waved it behind him.

"May you all be well!"

"Immortal Master, shall we escort you on your way?" the flute player suddenly said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the huge snake body began to move, and its two heads simultaneously approached Qi Fei, like two large millstones.

"Immortal Master, please come up!"

Qi Fei looked at the familiar forked snake head, smiled, and without any hesitation, stepped onto it.

The night wind howled as the two-headed python carried him through the mountains and forests.

The mountain road that seemed long on the way there turned out to be surprisingly quick on the way back.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the familiar camp lights came into view.

The sky was just before dawn, with a faint glimmer of light appearing in the east. In the camp, Steward Zhou was dozing around the fire, his head nodding off.

He didn't sleep soundly, and in his drowsy state, he suddenly heard a strange wind sound.

It wasn't an ordinary mountain breeze, but rather the howling sound caused by some enormous creature moving about.

Manager Zhou jolted awake and suddenly opened his eyes.

The thick fog had dissipated sometime earlier, and the sky above the camp was crystal clear. And that familiar figure stood just three steps away from him.

"Manager Zhou." Qi Fei nodded to him.

Manager Zhou was stunned for a moment, then jumped up and almost tripped over himself.

"Immortal...Immortal Master!" His voice trembled. "You're back?"

Qi Fei waved his hand: "It's alright, they've already left."

Manager Zhou stared at him blankly, his eyes filled with awe and disbelief.

He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a money pouch, which he presented with both hands: "Immortal Master, this is the ten taels of silver you paid earlier. If I had known you were an Immortal Master, I would never have accepted this money!"

Qi Fei looked at the money bag, but did not reach out to take it.

"I need to go to Ghost Mountain, and I do need a guide," he said. "Does that mean cultivators can just get guides for free? They should be paid their dues, not a penny less."

"But you also saved our caravan!" Manager Zhou exclaimed urgently. "If it weren't for you, who knows how many people would have died tonight! This is a life-saving grace!"

"It's nothing," Qi Fei interrupted him, smiling. "I can't just watch demons eat people, can I?"

The smile was faint, as if he had done something insignificant.

Manager Zhou held the money bag and stared at him blankly.

Having spent decades navigating the world, he had encountered all sorts of people: greedy, lecherous, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, and abusing their power.

But I've never seen a person or a cultivator like that before.

Aren't all cultivators high and mighty?

For a caravan like theirs, encountering cultivators is trouble in itself!