Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 395 The Path to Immortality

The swaying in the carriage gradually subsided as the carriage entered the official road.

Zhou Da asked from outside, "Madam, would you like to stop and rest?"

"No need," Wei Yiran said. "Uncle Zhou, let's get going."

There was a moment of silence outside the curtain.

"……yes."

The sound of hooves rang out again, stretching southeastward.

Wei Yiran lowered her eyelashes and turned her hands, which were folded on her knees, over so that her palms faced up.

Those hands were fair and slender, with well-proportioned joints.

The only keepsake her mother left her was a pale green jade ring, strung on a red cord and worn on her wrist. At that moment, the ring rested against her pulse, warm and slightly cool.

She looked down at the ring.

In his letter, my grandfather said that although Qingyang Valley was not a sect of the Immortal Alliance, it was still one of the most prominent sects in the area. There was a Nascent Soul stage expert in charge of the sect. If one could become an inner disciple, one would have a chance to embark on the path of cultivation.

Spiritual practice.

Wei Yiran's knowledge of this word came entirely from books and rumors.

It wasn't that there were no cultivators in Tianjing City. There were envoys from the Immortal Alliance stationed in the capital, the villas of various sects and aristocratic families located in Tianjing, and countless independent cultivators coming and going…

But these people are all too far away from her.

Those people had flowing robes, a faint aura emanating from them, and their feet never touched the dust when they walked. When they spoke to others, their eyes were always slightly raised.

They never gave ordinary people a second glance.

Wei Yiran was still just an ordinary person.

In the eyes of those immortal masters, the daughter of the general's family and the only granddaughter of Marshal Wei were no different from the old man selling pancakes on the street or the soldiers checking travel permits at the city gate.

But now she has to beg them to take her in.

She was going to join the "immortal sect" she had never seen before, to meet those immortal masters who never looked down on mortals, to kneel before them, kowtow, offer tea, and call them "Master".

Wei Yiran slightly clenched the fabric on her knees.

It was just a fleeting moment.

The next moment, she released her hand, flattened her palms again, and overlapped them as before.

This is the path she chose.

No, it wasn't even her choice.

It was her grandfather who chose it for her, it was her father who chose it for her, it was the destiny that this general's mansion had been destined for since she was born.

She simply walked up.

At this moment, the sound of hooves pounded across the official road.

Outside the carriage, Zhou Da suddenly exclaimed "Eek!"

Wei Yiran raised her eyes.

"Uncle Zhou?"

"...It's nothing." Zhou Da's hoarse voice squeezed in from the gap in the curtain, tinged with confusion. "It's just that I think I saw a figure by the mountain path just now."

"A shadowy figure?"

"Alas, perhaps this old servant's eyes are playing tricks on me." Zhou Da chuckled self-deprecatingly. "I can't quite get the focus on this scarred eye, please don't be offended, Madam."

Wei Yiran did not press the matter further.

The carriage continued on its way.

The trees on both sides of the official road gradually faded. Autumn was in full swing, and the leaves that should have turned red had turned red, and those that should have turned yellow had turned yellow, spreading out in layers, like someone had spilled paint all over the mountain.

In the distance, the outline of the Cangyun Mountains was faintly visible in the morning mist, like an ink mark that had been dormant for thousands of years.

Wei Yiran stared at the ink mark and suddenly remembered the old books she had read in her childhood—

The "Qianyu Zhi: Mountains and Rivers" records: The Cangyun Mountains stretch for over 800 li, their shape resembling a dragon. The mountains are home to many mythical beasts and herbs, and legend has it that ancient immortals ascended to heaven from here.

She asked her father, "Where do immortals go after they ascend to heaven?"

The father did not answer.

He simply patted her head and said, "In this world, there are some things you have to find the answers to yourself."

The carriage turned a corner.

Qingyang Valley is still eight hundred li away.

Chapter 395, "The Path to Immortality," is now available! Read it now!

Tianjing City had completely disappeared into the depths of the morning mist.

Wei Yiran withdrew her gaze, lowered her head again, and gently turned the jade ring that was attached to her pulse point once.

"Uncle Zhou," she said, "once you get into the valley, don't argue with anyone."

There was a moment of silence outside the curtain.

"...This old servant understands." Zhou Da's voice was very low. "Don't worry, Madam."

rest assured.

Wei still did not respond.

She simply tucked the ring back into her sleeve and straightened her folded hands.

Outside the carriage, the horses' hooves crunched the fallen leaves on the official road, making a soft, crisp sound.

………………

At noon, the carriage stopped for a rest at a simple teahouse beside the official road.

It was called a teahouse, but it was really just a few wooden pillars supporting a drafty thatched roof. Under the roof were three or five crooked tables and stools, the tabletops marked with knife marks, worn and stained with grease over the years. The tea master was a hunchbacked old man in his sixties or seventies, carrying a blackened copper kettle, refilling water for passing merchants.

Wei still did not get out of the car.

Zhou Da ordered a bowl of coarse tea under the awning, then took out two dry biscuits from his satchel and slowly chewed them with the tea. His gaze never left the blue-curtained carriage, like an old wolf crouching beside its prey.

As the tea server refilled the water, he glanced at the man in the direction of his gaze, grinned to reveal a few broken teeth, and asked, "Old customer, are there family members in the carriage?"

Zhou Da did not respond.

The old man didn't seem to care and said to himself, "These days, there aren't many people who dare to take their female relatives on the official road."

Zhou paused for a moment while chewing the biscuit.

"What do you mean?"

"You're from out of town, aren't you, old customer?" the tea server asked in a low voice, his cloudy eyes darting around. "If you continue southeast along this official road for another sixty li, you'll cross the boundary marker of Tiannan Prefecture. That territory is ruled by the immortal sects. Qingyang Valley, Hehuan Sect, Zidian Sect… which one is easy to deal with?"

Zhou Da's thumb slowly traced the chipped edge of the teacup.

"What level of cultivation do those disciples have?" he asked.

"Hey, old customer, you've hit the nail on the head." The tea server shrank his neck. "They're just some Qi Refining stage cultivators, the lowest of the low in their sects. But so what? They're Immortal Masters. What can a mortal merchant caravan do? Sue the authorities? The Prefect of Tiannan Prefecture has his own brother-in-law working as an outer sect steward in Qingyang Valley."

Zhou Da remained silent.

He swallowed the last bite of the cake, picked up the teacup, and drank the now-cold coarse tea in one gulp.

"Another bowl, please," he said.

The tea server refilled the water as requested, and the chattering gradually faded into the distance.

Inside the train carriage.

Separated by a green curtain, only a few scattered snippets of conversation could be heard from outside.

Wei Yiran lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously playing with the jade ring tied with a red cord on her wrist.

She remembered how her father saw her off at the gate of the mansion before she left.

That morning, the sky was just like today, hazy and overcast, as if covered with a layer of dust that couldn't be wiped away. Her father stood under the porch, not saying much, but simply taking a small jade talisman from his sleeve and placing it in her palm.

"In the event of extreme danger," the father said, "crush this talisman."

She looked down at the jade talisman.

The talisman was no more than half an inch square, with a warm and smooth texture, and a faint spiritual light flowing through it. She couldn't recognize what grade of magic artifact it was, nor did she know where her father had obtained it.

The father offered no explanation.

He just stood there, like a mountain that had finally reached its twilight years.

"Go ahead," he said.

So she went.