Immortality Cultivation: Fellow Daoists, please live for two more episodes!

Changes in relationships often happen silently after a long period of time spent together.

On the night of the nineteenth day.

Zhou Youyuan was bored, so he lay on the stone bed and counted his points on bamboo tokens. This was a habit he had carried over from his previous life. Who doesn't like to count their little money?

He didn't make a sound, but just silently recited it in his mind.

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred...

There are twenty-two bamboo tokens in total, totaling one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five points. Let's flip them over and count them again...

"One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five points."

The sound came from the other side.

Pei Changgeng leaned against the wall with his eyes closed: "You've counted three times already, and it's always 1875 points. Can you please stop counting? It's noisy."

"Huh? I didn't make a sound, did I? You even heard the number clearly?"

"The sound of the bamboo tokens for 100 and 10 points clinking together is different. I knew that when you counted them a second time. Counting them a third time was completely unnecessary."

Zhou Youyuan: "..."

"Senior Brother Pei."

"Don't call me senior brother, I don't know you."

"What's it called?"

"Don't shout."

"Then I'll count the bamboo tallies more quietly from now on?"

"You'd better stop counting. Listening to you count so many times every night is wearing down the patience I've built up over the past two years."

From that day on, the two of them started talking more.

Most of the time, it was Pei Changgeng who couldn't stand Zhou Youyuan's habit and complained, and then Zhou Youyuan would pick up on it and chat for a while.

For example, Zhou Youyuan likes to crunch his pancakes, which is commonly known as smacking his lips.

"Can you chew with your mouth closed?"

"This pancake is so hard, you can't even chew it into a paste with your mouth closed."

"Then break it into smaller pieces before you eat it."

"Didn't you also only break it into four pieces?"

"That's just a habit for me, that's just your lack of manners."

For example, Zhou Youyuan liked to scratch the stone bed with his fingernails when he was daydreaming.

Stop picking at it.

"What's wrong?"

"The spot you dug into is where I use my hands to support myself when I do push-ups. If you dig a hole in it, I won't be able to hold on."

"You even have a fixed handhold position?"

"How can I guarantee that the training volume will be the same every time if it's not fixed?"

This guy isn't as difficult to get along with as the prison warden said. I wonder who he offended to be treated so badly.

……

The forty-first day, the day of absorbing essence and blood.

After finishing his arduous task, Pei Changgeng rested on the stone bed for a long time. As soon as he recovered, he had to prop himself up and do push-ups.

"You should take a break."

"It's alright."

After habitually completing one hundred and thirty repetitions, Pei Changgeng suddenly spoke:

Why did you choose to go to jail instead of earning points?

"you guess?"

"You're here for me?"

Wow, that's pretty perceptive.

That makes sense, really stupid guys can't even get through the second day at Shuiyue.

Moreover, he had no intention of hiding anything. With time running out and the task heavy, using a well-known strategy was the most efficient approach.

What if I said yes?

"Then I refuse."

"You didn't even ask me what I want you to do for me?"

"In Shuiyue, what good can come from someone going to such lengths to get help from another person?"

"That's true."

Then Zhou Youyuan shut up, remaining silent for a while. It was Pei Changgeng who couldn't sit still any longer:

Why aren't you saying anything?

"Didn't you say you were unwilling to help?"

"So you're really giving up like this?"

"Otherwise what? I don't like to force others."

This time, Pei Changgeng was genuinely surprised. He stared at Zhou Youyuan for a long time, as if assessing whether what he said was true or false.

A dry biscuit flew over, and Zhou Youyuan caught it and took a couple of bites.

Chew with your mouth closed.

"Okay, okay, okay."

To lure someone in, one must feign leniency; to retreat is to advance.

Since ancient times, both women and men who value rules have been drawn to this approach.

……

After that, Pei Changgeng seemed to get closer to him, and they would occasionally exchange a few more words.

"We've had three different jailers here. The first one was alright, the second one was the worst, taking an extra 20% when extracting money, and the third one is the one we have now. He doesn't take much, but the food is the worst."

"The guy snoring next door is called Hu San. He's at the first level of Qi Refining. He was selling fake pills before he came in."

"If you get up to use the toilet in the middle of the night, remember to take three steps to the right."

"Why didn't you remind the person who lived with you before?"

"I reminded him, I told him he should count his steps, but he didn't listen."

Zhou Youyuan pieced together Pei Changgeng's outline from these fragments of information.

This guy might be one of the few... good people in Shuiyue, but he's a principled person, even though he's a bit stubborn.

The most terrifying thing about Shuiyue is that if you honestly try to be a good person, you can't survive.

Those who can survive only have the option of being assimilated by the environment, transforming from the prey into the prey—this is the only path they can choose.

Zhao Donglai was like this, and so was Li Xiaoyu.

But this guy... might really be different.

He neither gets eaten nor eats people; he relies solely on his talent and strength to fight his way up, which is why he's dying now.

The story ended that night, inexplicably, the two confronted each other, what had started as just a casual remark by Zhou Youyuan:

"What are you counting with those scratches on your wall?"

Pei Changgeng was carving the 783rd line when he put the pebbles back down. After a long while, he finally replied, "Three hundred and twelve days."

"What?"

"A total of 1,095 days, 783 days have been carved, and 312 days remain."

Zhou Youyuan did a quick mental calculation; 312 days later would be exactly the start date of the next outer sect competition, which he had heard about.

"You're going to participate in the competition."

Pei Changgeng did not deny it: "I was third in the outer sect before I came in, and I will still be third after I leave."

"You were imprisoned for two years, and your cultivation level dropped from the Collapsed Heaven Palace to the edge of the third level. Do you really think you can still reach third place?"

"I can."

"So you really think you can get out of here alive? Your enemy will let you get out alive?"

Pei Changgeng: "...What exactly is it that you went through so much trouble to ask me to do for you?"

At this moment, the roles of offense and defense have reversed.

In fact, both sides knew perfectly well that if Pei Changgeng wanted to leave alive, he had no choice but to cooperate with Zhou Youyuan.

This is why Pei Changgeng never asked, and why Zhou Youyuan said he had given up, yet still didn't leave.

"Come closer..."

……

The ninety-third day, the day of absorbing essence and blood.

But this time, an unexpected incident occurred.

The moment the array plate absorbed the last wisp of spiritual power, Pei Changgeng hunched over, and a violent cough, tinged with blood, surged from his chest.

Several drops of dark red were splashed on the stone bed.

The jailer glanced around and said, "Hurry up. If you can't walk, crawl out. Don't delay the others."

Pei Changgeng tried to stand up by supporting himself on the edge of the stone bed, but his knees buckled and he almost knelt down again.

Zhou Youyuan stepped forward and put his arm around his shoulder.

"Don't……"

"He won't give you any extra food even if you collapse here. Besides, didn't you complain about how bad their cooking is? Hurry up and leave."

It took them almost a quarter of an hour to walk those thirty steps. When they got to the cell and put him on the stone bed, blood was still seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Zhou Youyuan tore a strip of cloth from his sleeve and handed it over: "Wipe it off."

After Pei Changgeng finished wiping, most of the cloth was stained with dark red blood.

"Throw it away."

"OK."

Zhou Youyuan took it, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into his sleeve.

Pei Changgeng closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually became steady.

Zhou Youyuan leaned against the wall and waited until the other person's breathing had completely evened out and he had fallen asleep, then he took out the strip of cloth from his sleeve.

He covered his body with a blanket and pressed a blood-stained cloth to his forehead.

Deep within his consciousness, the "Record of Sending Off the Dead" suddenly emitted a ghostly light, and the blank fourth page was turned open. Blood seeped into the paper, and the chain of cause and effect crossed the void, locking the figure on the other side of the stone bed into his destiny.

Ancient seal script manifests:

[Talent No. 4: Pei Changgeng]

[Talent: Superior Single Wood Spirit Root]

[Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Level 3]

[Technique: The Root-Piercing Technique]

Assets: None

[Remaining lifespan: 61 years]

The screen lit up, and Pei Changgeng lay on his back on the other side of the stone bed, asleep with his spine perfectly straight.

His right hand was slightly curled up, the muscle memory of body cultivation was etched into his bones, and there was still bloodstains on the corner of his mouth that had not been wiped clean.

Youyuanren No. 4 has been successfully bound.

He possesses a superior single-wood spiritual root and a cultivation level of the third level of Qi Refining. He was once among the top three in the outer sect competition.

Zhou Youyuan turned off the light screen and flipped over to face the stone wall.

Across from him was Pei Changgeng's steady breathing, and over 780 engravings on the wall were arranged under the pale light of the spirit lamp.

He muttered something under the covers:

"Brother, please."

"You absolutely must live a little longer this time."

As the saying goes...

Three months in prison forged a divine bond; a thousand marks on the wall mark the countdown to heaven.

The fourth book of Yuan Dynasty was entered into the register, and the long-lived master suffered sleepless nights.