Chapter 1: The Immortal Master Chooses an Apprentice
Gujing Village, Nancunkou, the spring sunset has filled the western sky.
Next to the winding stream stood a little girl, about seven or eight years old. She stared blankly at the rippling stream, her thin body motionless, and she had been standing there for an unknown amount of time.
"Xiao Ling'er, you're here to watch the stream again, hurry up and go home, it's getting late!" An old woman in indigo linen clothes, carrying a wicker vegetable basket, passed by her and greeted the little girl back with a smile.
Go home.
"I know, thank you, Granny Yu." The little girl turned around and said with a sweet smile, her childish voice full of crispness.
Yun Ling glanced at the stream again. It was still as clear as before, without any abnormalities.
She slowly turned around and walked towards her home in the village. The bright sunset dragged her figure into an elongated shape, making her look even more lonely.
"Hey, what a smart little girl, you look at the stream every day, and you are almost crazy." The old woman also walked towards her home. After taking a few steps, she seemed to have thought of something, and wrinkled her eyebrows, which were already sparse and invisible.
He shook his head and sighed: "Hey, what a pity, what a pity!"
Yun Ling has become accustomed to the sighs of the villagers, because her life experience is not a secret in Gujing Village.
An orphan whose biological parents are unknown - she was picked up by her adoptive parents by this stream.
At that time, the adoptive parents had been married for many years, but they still had no children of their own.
On the early morning of February 18th eight years ago, her adoptive father found her entangled in willow branches by the stream at the entrance of the village. He thought she was a child given to him by God, so he took her home to raise her.
The name Yun Ling comes from "the stream is cool and cool", and he treats her like a parent.
Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Within half a year, the adoptive mother became pregnant.
After ten months of pregnancy, their biological daughter Yun Lian was born, and three years later the adoptive mother gave birth to Yun Jin, the eldest son of Yun.
Everyone in the village said that it was Yun Ling who brought good luck and blessing to the Yun family and his wife, which led to the birth of a biological child.
However, people's hearts are inherently biased in appearance, and there are always differences between closeness and distance.
As the children grew up, Yunmu's love was all focused on her two biological children, and she became increasingly alienated from her. What was left was just a matter of face.
Yun's father is the wife of a private school in the village. His family is quite wealthy compared to ordinary villagers. The small courtyard with blue bricks and black tiles is very conspicuous in the south of the village.
When Yun Ling arrived home, the family was already preparing dinner in the main room.
"Dad, mother, I'm late."
In fact, she was not too late, it was not yet time for dinner.
It's probably because Yun Lian was fussing about being hungry again and urging breakfast to be served.
"Ling'er is back, let's sit down and eat." Father Yun said with a faint smile.
"Sister, sit down." Yun Jin moved the bench he was sitting on and made a seat next to her. He pushed a small bowl of rice on the table towards her and said, "Sister, eat."
"Hmph, you have to be attentive to every meal." Seven-year-old Yun Lian rolled her eyes at her younger brother and was very dissatisfied with Yun Jin calling her Yun Ling's eldest sister.
If her parents hadn't adopted Yun Ling, she would have been the eldest daughter of the family and Yun Jin's only sister.
"Lian'er, don't talk when you eat or sleep." As a master, Yun's father paid great attention to the children's etiquette and rules.
"Be good, listen to your dad and eat more. Mom made the fish specially for you today." Yun Mu said softly, and gave Yun Lian and Yun Jin each a piece of sweet and sour carp.
Yun Ling was immersed in eating fried vegetables. Suddenly there was a piece of fish in the bowl. When she looked up, she saw Yun's father who had just taken away his chopsticks.
She ate it silently, but her father still loved her.
It has to be said that under the education of Father Yun, although the children of the Yun family are young, their dining etiquette is still good.
The dinner ended in silence.
After dinner, she was about to help Yunmu clean up the dishes, but Yunfu called the three siblings into the study.
"Ling'er, Lian'er, Jin'er, tomorrow is the Spring Equinox. Have you heard about the major events announced in the village in the past few days?" Father Yun asked.
"Dad, is what the village chief said true? Will the village really come to the village tomorrow to choose an apprentice?" Yun Lian looked excited.
"Dad, is it really like what brother Xiaoyu said, that when you become an immortal master's apprentice, you can fly around like a bird?" Yun Jin is also very curious. Song Xiaoyu is the child of the next door neighbor and often plays with Yun Jin.
.
"Yes, the immortal will come tomorrow, and today I will tell you about the immortal's selection of disciples."
"Our Gujing Village and the surrounding villages all belong to Xuanling Mountain. Xuanling Mountain is a fairy mountain. Immortals come down to our village every fifteen years to accept disciples. Anyone under the age of fifteen in the village can take the test and find out if they have any
People with immortal talents can be accepted as disciples by immortals."
"Dad, have you also tested it?" Yunlian asked again.
"I've taken the test, but unfortunately I don't have the qualifications. There were five immortal disciples in our village thirty years ago, and there were only three in my generation fifteen years ago." Father Yun smiled slightly.
He continued: "Our Gujing Village is close to the Fairy Mountain and is nourished by the Fairy Mountain. It has only been decades since there were so many immortal disciples, and they are even rarer in other places."
"I tell you this in advance to let you know early that whether you can be selected by the immortals is determined by your talent. If you can't be selected tomorrow, don't cry and force yourself."
Yun's father had set up defenses for his children in advance. The village chief had also warned the villagers from door to door before, lest the children would cry and cause the immortal to be unhappy.
According to the ancestral teachings in the village, it is taboo to offend the immortals.
"Dad, how do immortals measure things?" Yun Lian asked.
"Dad was young at the time and doesn't remember very clearly. You will know tomorrow of course. Lian'er and Jin'er went to talk to your mother, while Ling'er stayed behind."
Father Yun waved to Yun Lian and Yun Jin, sending these two unfinished children away.
Yun Lian pouted and wanted to continue asking. She didn't dare to disobey Yun's father, so she took Yun Jin to find Yun Mu, intending to get more information from Yun Mu.
"Ling'er, please put this away," Yun's father took out a piece of purple dark cloth from the drawer of the desk and handed it to her: "You are a precocious and smart child. The gossip in the village over the years must have made you aware of your life experience.
.”
Yun Ling nodded.
The adoptive parents never talked about it, but the jokes of the children in the village, the whispers of the women and children in the village when they saw him, and Yunmu's attitude towards him in recent years have already explained everything.
"You are eight years old now. Regardless of whether you can become the immortal's apprentice tomorrow, it's time to tell you." Father Yun sighed.
"When I picked you up, this cloth was wrapped around you and floating in the stream. A few years ago, you were too young. I was afraid that you would lose it because of your playfulness, so I kept it for you. Tomorrow you are going to take the Immortal Test. If you are selected
It’s time to leave with the immortal, and it’s time to keep it by yourself.”
"Dad, I..." Yun Ling hesitated, wanting to know where he came from, but when he thought about how he was picked up, how could Father Yun know?
Seemingly understanding what she wanted to ask, Yun's father said bluntly: "After I discovered you, the village chief and I searched upstream along the stream. We went to dozens of surrounding villages to check who had lost their children, but there was no news. Only there was no news.
I discovered that the Gushu Village at the source of the stream could not be found. The people of Gushu Village have also disappeared out of thin air in recent years. I didn’t meet anyone who could ask about the matter. I don’t know what kind of changes have happened. The village chief and I thought that you might be Gushu Village.
The children of Shucun.”
She couldn't help but become anxious after hearing this, "Then how can I find them?"
"There are countless anecdotes about immortals passed down from the older generation in the village, and it is common to move mountains and seas. The village annals record that three hundred years ago, the place where we lived in Gujing Village was not satisfactory. It was barren and hard, and the villagers were all suffering from hunger and cold.
It wasn't until an ancestor in the village entered the Xuanling Mountain to cultivate immortality, and after he became accomplished in the magic of immortality, he took us to move here. Keep this thing well. If you have a good chance and have mastered the magic of immortality, you may be able to understand the events of the year.
It brings back blood relatives."
"Go, get some rest early, and go to the entrance of the village with your brothers and sisters tomorrow." Yun's father looked at Yun Ling's hesitant appearance holding the cloth scarf, and he couldn't bear it. He gently stroked her forehead and temples and asked her to return.
room to rest.
"Thank you, dad. I'll go back to my room now, and dad will go to bed early."
From being ignorant to gradually becoming aware of Yun Mu's different attitudes toward herself and Yun Lian's siblings, she has always been grateful to her adoptive parents.
At least Yun's father always treated the three siblings equally in terms of education, never perfunctory in teaching them how to read and understand, and Yun's mother did not overly deprive her of food, clothing, housing and transportation.
As she passed the main room, she clearly heard Yun Lian's laughter.
"Mom, if I am chosen to be the apprentice of an immortal, I will find elixirs for you to eat, and my mother will live forever!"
"Silly boy, mother doesn't want any elixir. If you are selected, you should be the apprentice of the immortal and become a fairy in the future. If you are not selected, you can grow up healthy and stay with mother."
"Mom, you are so kind to me."
A loving mother and a filial son!
Yun Ling vaguely remembered that she had acted coquettishly in Yun Mu's arms.
It's a pity that as Yunlian was born and grew up, she was complained and provoked again and again, and she could never go back to that warm place.
She clenched the Anbu in her hand and quickly returned to her room.
Even though I told myself countless times not to care, I still felt a sense of loss in my heart.
The purple dark cloth is only one foot square and has no patterns. It is just an ordinary towel, but it is the key to finding blood relatives.
A sudden hope arose in her heart. Her father said that she might be from Gushu Village. Although all the people in Gushu Village disappeared overnight and have not appeared again in these years.
But maybe one day they will appear again, or she may be chosen as the immortal's apprentice and learn the immortal magic.
Then she can go to them and find her biological parents who are as gentle and loving as her adoptive mother!
Thinking of this, her young heart shone brightly.
A night of silence.
It was just dawn, so Yun Ling got up early, cleaned up, and waited for Yun's father in the courtyard.
The immortal is coming today, and the village chief warned the villagers not to light a fire for breakfast, but to just eat some dry food, lest the smoke from the fireworks would displease the immortal.
When Yun Lian and Yun Jin got up, the family ate a few pieces of pancakes baked yesterday, and then hurried to the entrance of the village.