Pursuing Immortality

Basically, like Uncle Sam, Goryeo was having trouble sorting through an equally disorganized religious system.

The country was known as a “museum of world religions” for a reason—so many religions were present that it was almost impossible to keep track of every single one of them. Among those, Buddhism and Christianity were the mainstream faith, while the domestic Cheondoism and cults also had a considerable number of followers.

However, none of those was of much use when the new era began. As it turned out, the ancient Shamanism was the one to save the day.

Shamanistic culture in Goryeo was relatively well-preserved. More importantly, it was recognized as a legitimate religion by the authorities—unlike its cousins in this country who could only carry out their activities underground.

Nine countries sent their representatives for the lecture, including Goryeo, Nippon, Viet, Siem, Malaya, etc. All of the delegations had the same staff arrangement: a diplomatic personnel who could speak Chinese and a cultivator from the individual countries.

“Mr. Park, you’re making things very difficult for us here. This is an event organized by a non-governmental organization, and we’re only here to assist. It is not our place to make the decision for the host without asking for their permission.”

Right now, an official of the BIMAUP was explaining to the representative with a polite smile—what language he was using in his head was a different story.

That Mr. Park with narrow eyes and a square face always smiled before he spoke. In a rhythm specific to their language, he said, “I understand what you’re saying perfectly, but we have come all this way because of our admiration for the Chinese culture and capable masters. We do hope you can give us a chance to get more involved in this event so that we don’t feel we’ve come this far for nothing.”

Well, well…

With the change of the world, some people apparently had grown smarter. The old “this is ours, that is ours, the entire universe is our invention” style of speech was no longer in use.

Instead, they swallowed their pride and used nice words, ready to listen to any advice.

“Well… I am very sorry, but we really are not in liberty to agree to that.” The official was running out of excuses.

While the two sides were going back and forth in the living room, representatives of the other countries sat in their chairs, looking completely unaffected. They got to ride along if the request came through; if not, Goryeo was the one getting all the blame. How convenient was that!

The bargaining went on forever, and it did not seem that they would reach an agreement any time soon. As a result, the Shamanistic sorcerer in colorful clothes, with a piece of black clothes wrapping around his hair and a thick bamboo stick in his hand, became very impatient.

He did not understand Chinese, but could tell that the negotiation was not going smoothly. Bolting to his feet, he began to chant in a strange dialect while thumping the floor with his bamboo stick.

“Thud! Thud!”

“Thud!”

The bamboo stick hit the ground, making a muffled sound, which began to affect the atmosphere of the room as if a strange wave of sound was spreading out.

The cultivators of the other countries turned a little paler at this move. The sorcerer’s behavior was not exactly aggressive, but it was obviously expressing a negative emotion…

‘Sh*t! Have you gone crazy, shut up on your backwater mountain? Do you have any idea what this place is?’

“#$%^&! *&^!”

After knocking a few times, and seeing that the official of the BIMAUP still wasn’t giving in, the sorcerer became even more disgruntled, and thumped even harder.

Bang!

“Who the hell is making all the noise?” Just then, the front door opened, and a figure strode in. “What’s going on?”

“Miss Jiang…” The official was never so happy to see her before. However, before he could greet Xiaojin, he was knocked to the side by Mr. Park. The fellow walked eagerly to Xiaojin’s side, eyes shining. “Oh my God. I have heard so much about you! It’s such a pleasure!”

“And who are you?”

“Oh, I am the special representative of the Republic of Goryeo.” He emphasized the full name of his country to remind the others that he was a formal diplomatic persona. “We have made this special trip just to listen to the lecture of Perfected Man Gu. However, we are rather sorry about the agenda of the lectures. We are wholeheartedly looking forward to learning more from you. If we could attend the internal commu—”

“Get out!”

‘Huh?’ The interruption came so sudden that Mr. Park thought he had heard it wrong. “I beg your pardon?”

“Get you a*s out of here!”

‘!!!’

His face darkened at this. He was still the representative of a country if nothing else. How could anyone insult him like that?

“Miss Jiang, we’re here on an official visit. With your impolite words, we could— Aaaaaah!” he screamed when his feet suddenly left the floor—the young woman had lifted him off the ground. “What are you doing? What are you doing?”

“Impolite my a*s! We’ve been polite enough… And you!” Reaching out with her left hand, she grabbed that sorcerer. Then, carrying a man in each hand as easily as holding two chickens, she flew out of the manor to the edge of the formation.

Thump! Thump! The next moment, the two unwelcomed men landed face down on the other side.

‘Shhhhhhhhh*t!’ The officials of the BIMAUP watched with slack jaws. ‘Can it be done this way? She really did it!’ They were used to playing with words and going through formalities, hiding daggers in their every smile while exchanging nice words. Rarely did they do anything this straightforward.

Xiaojin found such things utterly tedious. She then returned to the living room and glanced around. “Any more problems?”

“…”

No one made a sound.

“Good! We’re holding a lecture on Phoenix Mountain. Consider it a blessing that you get to hear it at all. Anyone not ok with that can just shut up and leave!”

***

June 8th, before dawn.

Daytime was longer in the summer, and the day usually began to break just after four in the morning. However, that was not happening yet. The dark sky was pressing down like a piece of smothering tray cloth that had been steamed hot.

To be honest, in his days staying in Baoshan, You Yu did not have a single good night of sleep.

It was so hot! Sweat was trickling down his body even if he just lay still on the bed, making his skin wet and sticky. When he finally fell asleep, he would be woken up by the heat four of five hours later.

He had almost gotten used to such life. However, what woke him up today was not the heat, but the noise.

“Vroom!”

“Beep! Beep!”

“Keep up! Don’t fall behind! Watch out for the pitch!”

“Damn it, hold your flashlight steady! I can’t see the road!”

“Mhm…” You Yu mumbled, still swimming in his dream. He was only aware of a tiny noise coming from somewhere, which was quite an annoyance.

He was more awake a moment later, and the tiny noise grew louder. In the end, he could hear the voices clearly, which was resonating in the entire town.

“Move faster! We won’t be able to get a seat!”

“Give way, or I’m running over you!”

“Like hell! Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Xiao You, Xiao You, are you up yet? Come on!” You Yu jolted, now fully awake at the calling of Tao Tong and Tao Yi. A voice then flashed across his mind: today, June 8th, it’s happening!

‘Sh*t!’

He bounced out of bed, skipping both washing up and changing his clothes. Grabbing a backpack he’d prepared last night, he ran out in a hurry.

“Finally! We’re late!” Tao Yu was kind enough to wait for him despite being torn with anxiety.

“I’m so sorry! I overslept!” You Yu apologized in a hurry.

With everyone on board, the vehicle started, and they moved slowly towards Bai Town. It was only until now that You Yu got to see the scene outside.

The small town seemed to have become alive.

People were streaming out of every farmhouse, apartment building, and bungalow in groups of twos, threes, fours, sevens… they soon arrived at the same main road.

Tension, anxiety, agitation, yearning… all kinds of emotions filled the heart of these people coming from every corner of the country. The throng of people moved forward under the dark sky, like a current that was gathering momentum as it flowed on.

It was noisy and chaotic at first, but quieted down a little a while later. People became silent; they looked around in silence as more and more people joined in.

Most of them were purely strangers, but they were all heading in the same direction.

Without knowing it, a strange devotion was coming out of their hearts; it spread out from every individual, then manifolded, and gradually formed a quiet but powerful force field.

“…”

You Yu stuck his face to the window and stared blankly outside. This scene would remain in his head for many years to come.

They set out at three o’clock, and the 20 km road took them a whole two hours.

It was five o’clock now and bright enough outside. The downtown area of Bai Town was even more crowded, and the city was almost paralysed. They went through so much trouble and had to ran on their feet to finally make it to the square.

The square was quite sizeable. With the old tourist facilities removed, there was even more room now, but it was still not big enough.

Quite a few people had slept on the square the previous night, and mattresses were scattered all over the ground. Those that managed to take a good spot gloated, and the look on people’s face grew sourer as one moved further back from the front rows. Those that got stuck in the city looked as miserable as those squeezing along the Great Wall during the seven-day National Day vacation.

“There are so many people!”

You Yu couldn’t help but be amazed by the crowd around him. No one even dared sit down, for that would take much more space than standing up, which would definitely win the person a good kick in the a*s. He then opened his backpack and took out some bread and cookies, asking, “Brother Tao, you haven’t eaten, have you? Want some snacks?”

“We’re fine. And I don’t think you should eat anything, either.” Tao Yu took out a bar of chocolate and handed it to him. “Eat this if you’re hungry… oh, and don’t drink anything.”

“What’s wrong with that?” You Yu was baffled.

“Just look around. Do you think you can make it to the toilet?” Tao Yu lowered his voice and moved closer. “To tell you the truth, I’m wearing diapers.”

“…”

That was a little too much information for You Yu, and it took him a while to digest. Ok, he was young and inexperienced. Tao Yu had a point.

“Brother, look! They’re filming it!”

Just then, Tao Tong found something interesting, and beckoned at the others. They followed his finger and saw that the government had set up cameras on high platforms on three sides of the square, ready to record the lecture.

“Tsk! Shame on them! How dare they film Mr. Gu’s lecture!” Tao Yi said contemptuously.

“Don’t say that. Mr. Gu must have foreseen this. Since he didn’t stop it, there must be a tacit understanding,” said Tao Yu.

They chatted on in low voices, and it was soon morning. As the time approached, the crowd grew more and more agitated. At 7.50, the agitation turned into restlessness, and there was murmuring everywhere.

“Is the Immortal coming or not? He won’t stand us up, will he?”

“Don’t ask me. Well, there’s no rostrum or microphone. They didn’t prepare anything!”

“I care more about if I can understand rather than if he will come.”

“Same here!”

“Hey, it’s eight o’clock!” someone shouted suddenly, and silence swept across the crowd of tens of thousands of people all the way from the mountain foot to miles into the back. No one made a sound.

Everything was holding the same posture, straining their necks, standing on their toes, and staring at a spot behind the fog where the mountain gate was.

One second, two seconds… ten seconds…

Boom!

An overpowering pressure rushed out at that moment, soon running all the way through the square. The crowd shuddered in unison, all flustered. Some with weaker minds even went pale, broke into a cold sweat, and almost collapsed to the ground.

No one showed up, but a god-like voice rang out from the top of the mountain, and reached everyone as if it was right beside their ears.

“It is time! Let’s begin!”