After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 19

Now, speaking of the foot of the mountain, Zheng Liang’s family.

The eldest son, Zheng Dao, following his parents’ instructions, prepared to take the medicinal herbs left by the immortal to town to sell.

Zheng Dao had an honest and sincere appearance, but was actually a meticulous person.

He first went to different medical halls and medicine shops to inquire several times. After getting a clear understanding, he chose the Yun Family Medicine Shop with the best reputation to sell the herbs. Later, he also compared several types of bricks and tiles, and bought the best quality ones to bring back.

However, these tasks hadn’t taken Zheng Dao too long. The reason he had delayed until now to go up the mountain was mainly because he didn’t know where Li Chi’s residence was.

They had only heard the immortal say he lived in a desolate mansion in the nearby mountain forest, but this mountain forest was quite vast—how could they possibly find it?

Zheng Liang’s family inquired among the village elders and only then learned that many years ago, there indeed seemed to be a wealthy household living in the mountain forest, but there had been no news of them for a long time, so presumably they had long since declined.

Now it was spring planting season, and every household was extremely busy. Zheng Dao and his two younger brothers, Zheng Shu and Zheng Ji, took turns going up the mountain to search in pairs. Only yesterday had they discovered a bluestone path hidden beneath earth and rocks.

But the mountain path was difficult to traverse, and how to transport the bricks and tiles up was also a problem. An ox cart was out of the question—the wheels simply couldn’t make it up this mountain. An ox could be driven up the mountain to carry the load, though.

However, it was currently spring plowing season. Putting the ox through such hardship—never mind whether their father Zheng Liang would break their legs, they themselves felt sorry for the ox! After the three of them discussed it, they decided to carry everything up themselves.

Fortunately, there weren’t that many bricks and tiles. Divided among the three of them, it wasn’t too strenuous.

What was slightly regrettable was that this matter was for a different deity, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask Great King Yishan for help.

Although Great King Yishan couldn’t do much else, he was very good at lending strength. The people of Liquan Village could all cultivate more land than outsiders, and this was all thanks to Great King Yishan. With just three sticks of incense daily, Great King Yishan would bestow divine power—it was incredible, like taking those strength pills sold by the street performers in town!

Who knows what Great King Yishan would think if he heard this assessment.

The three followed the intermittent bluestone path, struggling forward. Every so often they had to stop and continue searching upward for where the path was.

Walking and stopping like this, even though they had set out right after the midday meal, they walked until the sun tilted westward without seeing any sign of the desolate mansion.

After losing track of the path yet again, the youngest, Zheng Ji, couldn’t help but ask, “Big brother, second brother, the path is broken up like this—what kind of shape must that desolate mansion be in? Can people even live there? Will we find it today? If it gets much darker, it’ll be hard to get down the mountain!”

“Don’t try to slack off,” Zheng Shu squinted his eyes. He had the best vision and spotted another small section of broken path ahead. “I found the road.”

Zheng Dao grabbed Zheng Ji and pulled him along. “The one living there isn’t a mortal, but an immortal. Hurry up and walk faster, maybe we can still return earlier.”

“I think immortals would still prefer incense offerings more,” Zheng Ji muttered. Left with no choice, he could only stretch his sore shoulders and continue walking up the mountain with his back basket.

The three brothers gradually made their way up the mountain, feeling somewhat uneasy in their hearts.

Earlier, they had thought that even if a family had lived in the mountain forest long ago, they probably wouldn’t live too deep or too far in. There were monsters in the mountain forest after all!

Therefore, they hadn’t thoroughly explored the entire route, and relying on their general familiarity of the mountain forest, they had simply entered directly.

Who would have thought that after walking for so long, they still hadn’t seen any sign of the desolate mansion. If night fell, it really would be difficult to descend the mountain…

Before they had walked much further, the three suddenly saw a person floating down from ahead, moving with light and swift steps, landing before them.

“Imm-Immortal Maiden!” Zheng Dao said. He recognized her—this was the young woman who had been by the immortal’s side.

Ding Qin smiled slightly. “I’m not an immortal maiden. My name is Ding Qin, and I’m the High God’s divine messenger. The High God said guests were coming and told me to come down to welcome them. It must be you.”

Seeing them carrying such heavy loads, Ding Qin said, “Let me help you.”

“No need, no need!” The three Zheng brothers hurriedly waved their hands.

This was a divine messenger—how could she do such rough work? Moreover, even if she weren’t a divine messenger, Ding Qin appeared to be just a young girl!

“Really, there’s no need! We can carry it… Huh?” The three Zheng brothers shifted their shoulders.

With just a gesture from Ding Qin, the back baskets on them suddenly became much lighter, as if they were carrying empty frames!

Ding Qin smiled. “Let’s go.”

…..

On the mountain.

In Li Manor, after Ding Qin left, the monkeys remained in the courtyard.

They didn’t dare to play around wildly, but they were also terribly bored, so they made the few monkeys crouching on the wall who couldn’t get in their objects of spectacle, pointing at them and chittering with laughter.

Several monkeys were embarrassed and angry, baring their teeth and grimacing, but they couldn’t compete with the many monkeys in the courtyard. One small monkey with two tufts of white fur on its face looked toward the old monkey and chattered pitifully.

It was the old monkey’s great-great-grandson, the cleverest and most mischievous. Seeing his great-great-grandson, the old monkey chittered a few comforting sounds, telling it to keep crouching obediently on the wall and not run around.

The little monkey pouted, its eyes rolling around, scheming who knows what.

Li Chi looked at the monkeys in the courtyard—hanging all over the trees, beside tables, on the eaves. They couldn’t leave but were bored to death, so they just pushed and shoved each other, ready to cause mischief at any moment.

Li Chi couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. After thinking briefly, he sat cross-legged under the corridor and beckoned to the old monkey.

The old monkey hurried over, its two monkey eyes staring intently at Li Chi.

“Sit,” Li Chi said to the old monkey, then slowly drank a mouthful of monkey wine from the pot.

The wine was richly fragrant, clear and mellow, with wisps of spiritual essence seeping into his heart—truly a rare treasure.

The old monkey imitated Li Chi and sat cross-legged. Li Chi then said, “Since I’ve accepted your wine, I’ll also tell you something about the path of cultivation.”

The old monkey was overjoyed, but it also possessed a rare bit of calm, so it restrained itself and didn’t become agitated.

Li Chi began to speak.

Although he had no memories, during this period of cultivation he had gained considerable insights, and guiding this old monkey who had not yet transformed into a demon was still possible.

Li Chi only thought this, but didn’t notice that Hou Li had also sat cross-legged nearby, listening attentively, becoming more and more delighted the more he heard. The little mouse lay on his knee, equally immersed.

Li Chi’s lecture was plain and not particularly interesting, not even as good as the teachers in school who at least had question-and-answer interactions with students. At most, he paused in the middle to give the old monkey time to digest and contemplate.

The monkeys with insufficient spiritual intelligence couldn’t understand and found it boring, gradually becoming restless and wanting to sneak away.

The old monkey anxiously chittered, wanting to force these monkey children and grandchildren to stay in the courtyard to listen to the teachings, but was stopped by Li Chi.

“Each has their own karmic fate. Let them go,” Li Chi said.

His expression was calm and undisturbed. The old monkey didn’t dare to act presumptuously and could only let these little monkeys sneak away one by one.

In the end, only the old monkey, three large monkeys, and four small monkeys remained in the entire courtyard. The little monkey with the white-furred face on the wall also remained crouching there—whether it truly understood or stayed out of filial devotion, not wanting to leave the old monkey, was unclear.

The old monkey sat quietly listening to the teachings, its eyes often deep in thought. The large monkeys occasionally looked confused but also often seemed to gain understanding.

The four little monkeys played around on the side, occasionally stopping to listen to a few sentences when they rested, though who knew if they understood. They were probably close to the white-faced little monkey on the wall—when they had wanted to leave with the monkey group earlier, it had chased them back.

Now that most of the monkey group had left, these few little monkeys didn’t dare venture into the mountain forest alone, so they could only stay here and wait to leave together with the old monkey and the large monkeys.

Li Chi paid them no mind, sitting cross-legged under the corridor, quietly lecturing on the Dao.

A gentle breeze arose, the old tree stood serene, illusory ripples appeared on the pond, and a large silver fish lay quietly by the pool’s edge.

……

After following Ding Qin up the mountain, this was the scene the three Zheng brothers witnessed.

An immortal lecturing on the Dao under the corridor, a group of monkeys sitting quietly in attendance.

Standing at the courtyard gate, the three Zheng brothers momentarily didn’t dare enter, afraid of disturbing them.

Li Chi already knew they had arrived and said to the monkeys. “That’s all for today.”

The old monkey and large monkeys glanced at the three brothers with their back baskets, rose and bowed to Li Chi, then left with the little monkeys.

“High God,” Ding Qin’s clear voice rang out, “these are the guests you mentioned, right?”

Zheng Dao hurriedly bowed. “The immortal bestowed medicine, which we dared not keep for ourselves. We heard you reside in a desolate mansion, so we exchanged it for bricks and tiles as an offering.”

“Thank you for making this trip,” Li Chi said peacefully.

Zheng Dao hurriedly insisted it was their duty and not difficult at all.

But the karmic threads had already shown their experiences these past few days—the money obtained from exchanging the medicinal herbs left that day had all been converted into bricks and tiles and carried up the mountain, and they had even delayed several days of spring plowing for no reason.

“Your water containers are empty, aren’t they?” Li Chi asked.

“Ah? Yes!” Zheng Dao answered respectfully, somewhat puzzled. After walking for so long and sweating profusely, the bamboo water tubes that he and Zheng Shu carried had long been drunk dry. Only third brother Zheng Ji’s bamboo tube still had half a tube left.

Then Li Chi beckoned with his hand, and the bamboo tube on his back flew over.

Li Chi opened the bamboo stopper, poured all the spiritual wine offered by the old monkey into it, then tossed the bamboo tube back into Zheng Dao’s back basket. “Share it when you return, and don’t sell it again.”

Seeing them agree, Li Chi looked at Ding Qin and smiled. “This divine messenger of mine may often go down the mountain in the future. I hope you will look after her.”

“The sky is darkening today, so I won’t keep you any longer. Return early.” Li Chi waved his sleeve at them.

The three Zheng brothers only felt clouds and mist swirling before their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, they had already reached the foot of the mountain.

Zheng Ji was both excited and amazed, staring blankly at Liquan Village bathed in the setting sun not far away, murmuring, “A true immortal indeed!”

Zheng Dao was also experiencing this for the first time. After recovering for a moment, he suddenly said, “Oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Zheng Shu asked.

“We forgot to leave the bricks and tiles.” Zheng Dao said urgently. He removed his back basket, but when he looked inside, he froze.

The bricks and tiles in the back basket had disappeared at some point, leaving only a bamboo tube lying alone inside.