Chapter 1: Shi Gan Tang

  January 15th, Cangnan Town.

  In a dilapidated small mountain temple, there was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy who was intently staring at the bamboo skewer in his hand with drool flowing from his mouth, because on this bamboo skewer, a plump wild chicken was being roasted.

  This young man was the famous Ishikawa in the village, actually his real name was Ishikawa, but he dared to speak and act, not only the children in the village, but also the adults praised his heroic spirit.

  A few winters ago, a pack of hungry wolves came to the village, scaring people so much that they didn't dare go out, and even firewood was not available. Ishikawa tied a sickle knife around his waist and went up the mountain, disappearing for three days and three nights. Just when the villagers thought he had been eaten by the wolves, Ishikawa returned with a single-eyed wolf head tied around his waist. The elderly people recognized it at a glance - this was the Wolf King. From then on, no pack of wolves dared to come to the village again, and Ishikawa earned the nickname "Stone Brave".

  "Brother Shi, my mother asked me to bring you mooncakes." A soft voice like a gentle breeze came from outside the temple.

  "Seikawa Imoko." Ishikawa threw the pheasant onto the altar of the mountain shrine and immediately ran out.

  "You're not at home for the festival, what are you doing here?" Ishikawa said with a serious face, but couldn't help glancing at Harukawa's half-moon cake and swallowing saliva in his throat.

  Since the age of six, after Shi's parents went out to collect firewood and never came back, Shi's house and a few acres of thin fields were occupied by a distant uncle. In the past few years, he was given some food to eat, but since Shi was ten years old, he was driven out and had to live in a dilapidated mountain temple.

  "Hurry up and eat!" Qingchuan put the mooncake in Ishikawa's hand and turned around to run towards the village.

  Ishikawa had no obstruction, these years, every festival, Haruka would secretly bring some delicious food from home. This mooncake must be what Haruka couldn't bear to eat and specially left for herself. Ishikawa's heart was clear about what kind of people his uncle and aunt were.

  This couple is also extremely meticulous in their treatment of others, and they dote on their two sons. As for their daughter Qingchuan, they are slightly better to her than to Shichuan. In their words, a daughter will eventually be married off, no matter how well she is raised, she will still belong to someone else's family. As long as she looks decent and can find a good husband, that's all that matters.

  It's strange, those two sons of theirs, Shi Neng and Shi Li, have evil-looking eyebrows and eyes, they don't look like good people at all. But Shi Qingchuan is different, she has a clear brow and bright eyes, although she looks malnourished and thin, but one glance tells you that this girl is a beauty in the making.

  Ishikawa savored the mooncake, slowly chewing it mouthful by mouthful, afraid that his taste buds would miss any of the delicious flavors.

  It wasn't until half a time had passed that Ishikawa finally finished savoring the half mooncake, licking his fingers. Suddenly, he slapped his own head "Idiot! I forgot to invite Harukawa to come and taste this roasted wild chicken flavor."

  "Never mind, I'll leave half for Qingchuan and deliver it to her tonight." Shi Chuan thought so, walking towards the mountain temple.

  What caught my eye was a floor full of chicken bones, an old man wearing tattered clothes, reclining on the table, contentedly picking his teeth, in his hand, only half a gnawed chicken claw remained.

  This pheasant is very rare and difficult to catch. Usually, after Ishikawa catches one, he sends it to the town to exchange for coarse grains, oil, salt, etc. However, today being August 15th, he finally steeled himself to roast and taste one. Unexpectedly, it was secretly eaten by this old beggar.

  Ishikawa's anger arose from the bottom of his heart, and he picked up a wooden stick at hand, scolding: "You old beggar, how dare you steal my wild chicken? I won't kill you today."

  "Old beggar?" The old man was taken aback, and involuntarily burst out laughing, saying: "I just saw that there's a roasted wild chicken on the table, and no one's around, so I thought someone had specially sent it for me to eat... Ha! It's been ages since I've eaten my fill!"

  "You..." Ishikawa looked at the old man, who was dressed in tattered clothes and as thin as a skeleton, and his heart couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. The old man was trembling with fear, and probably wouldn't be able to withstand many blows.

  "Never mind, you can go now, I'm going to sleep." Ishikawa waved his hand helplessly. Fortunately, he had eaten half a mooncake today, but when he thought of the big roasted chicken that had gone into Lao Jiaohua's belly, Ishikawa was so angry that he couldn't bear it.

  "How come you still haven't left? Are you going to stay here forever?" Ishikawa gave the order to expel him.

  "I've lived here for decades, I'm used to it and too lazy to leave." The old beggar stretched his waist and actually lay down on the case table.

  "You old beggar, how shameless! I've been living here for several years and have never seen you before?" Ishikawa scolded.

  Before he could finish speaking, the old beggar suddenly started snoring.

  Ishikawa shook his head helplessly. This mountain temple was never his to begin with, and the villagers rarely came to this dilapidated place. However, Ishikawa knew that this was a feng shui treasure land. In winter, no matter how strong the wind outside, the mountain temple would not feel even a hint of coldness, while in summer, when the heat was unbearable, the mountain temple was refreshingly cool. Ishikawa secretly believed that this must be the blessing of the mountain god. So although the entire mountain temple was dilapidated, Ishikawa had always kept the altar table clean, never expecting it to be used as a bed board by this old beggar.

  With a gentle tug, Ishikawa felt the old beggar was as light as a feather. Looking at his skeletal body and bulging veins, Ishikawa couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. Ishikawa had grown up in hardship himself, and he and this old beggar were birds of a feather. He gently laid the old beggar down on his own pile of straw bedding, and sat down quietly beside him.

  Exhale, inhale, exhale again, inhale again...

  I don't know when it started, but Ishikawa found that such a simple breath could bring him a special feeling. No matter how tired he was, a moment's exhalation could make his fatigue disappear in an instant. Moreover, Ishikawa also surprisingly discovered that after breathing like this for a long time, his strength would greatly increase. This is also the reason why Ishikawa dared to kill the wolf king from the pack of wolves.

  As for this strange phenomenon, Ishikawa would not easily tell others, but he had also found a few children to come to the mountain god temple and breathe according to his method, but they did not have the same feeling as Ishikawa.

  From this, Ishikawa became even more convinced that it was the mountain god who was taking care of him.

  On the second day in the morning, Ishikawa got up after a night of breathing exercises and felt refreshed.

  "Wake up, wake up! Hurry up and get something to eat!" The old beggar said with a smile, lying sideways on the haystack with a dry grass in his mouth.

  "You still have the nerve to ask for food, that chicken yesterday, do you know how many pounds of millet it can be exchanged for?" Ishikawa was somewhat indignant.

  "What's it to you? I won't eat it, but it'll still end up in your belly. Are you going to roast it and exchange it for sweet potatoes?" The old beggar argued stubbornly.

  "I've eaten, so I won't be hungry today." Ishikawa rubbed his growling stomach, a big eater, it was truly a painful thing, from what he could remember, Ishikawa had never been full.

  "Besides, we're not related, why should I care if you're hungry or not?"

  The old beggar smiled and said: "I'm so hungry that I don't have the energy to hurry on the road... now I don't have any strength from head to toe..."

  "Are you full and leaving?" Ishikawa's eyes lit up, and he took off running outside.

  Ishikawa breathed a sigh of relief all night, and thought about it all night, thinking about how to get rid of this old beggar, but he didn't expect him to really have the intention of leaving.

  Just out of the Mountain God Temple, Shi Qingchuan came running over, panting and saying: "Shi Tou Ge, big thing, big thing."

  Ishikawa glanced far away at the village, where morning smoke was swirling, and it didn't seem like there were any bandits coming to cause trouble. He hastily asked: "Could it be that a pack of wolves has come again?"

  "No...not..." Shi Qingchuan covered his waist, took a few deep breaths before saying: "Just now some immortals came and said they want to take in disciples, asking all the children under 15 years old in the village to go over."

  "Immortals accepting disciples can really become immortals?" The other children may still not understand.

  What does an immortal represent? In Ishikawa's impression, an immortal represents longevity and immortality, representing the power to summon the wind and rain.

  "Let's hurry up and go!" Ishikawa pulled up Harukawa's hand and ran down the mountain.

  "He's here, he's really here. I didn't miscalculate." The old beggar in the mountain temple revealed a hint of a smile on his face. However, looking at Ishikawa's departing figure, he shouted loudly: "Wait, wait, I still have something to say to you!"

  Ishikawa could hear it somewhere, and he carried Shi Qingchuan on his back, panting, and rushed all the way back to Ishi Village in less than a minute.

  Under the big locust tree at the village head, it was already crowded with three layers inside and three layers outside. Ishikawa relied on his brute strength to squeeze in from the crowd.

  Under the big tree stood several strange young men and women, looking like they were in their twenties. Next to them stood a few village children, all with joyful expressions, apparently they had already been accepted as apprentices by the immortal.

  One of the men looked around and said, "The Water Spirit Gate has kept its promise with Tianyun Zun to come here to collect disciples every twenty years. This is the tenth time, and also the last time..."

  "Wait... and me..." Ishikawa watched as these celestial beings were about to leave, and hastily squeezed out of the crowd.

  The young man's face showed a hint of displeasure, clearly he disliked being interrupted. However, he still said: "Come over here and let me take a look at your spiritual root."

  "The stone has arrived."

  "It turned out to be Shi Gan Tang, no wonder he dared to interrupt the immortal's speech."

  Ishikawa walked away with a hopeful look on his face.

  The young man carefully pulled out a copper mirror from his bosom and gently placed it on Ishikawa's forehead. A bright light emanated from the copper mirror, and immediately a yellowish horizontal bar appeared on its surface.

  "Earth Spirit Root?" The young man's mouth curled up in a cold smile. They were the Water Spirit Gate, one of the Five Spirit Gates. A hundred years ago, the Five Spirit Gates had split into five factions: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. Although the leader of the Five Spirit Gates was still around, they were nothing more than a puppet. The five factions took away disciples with corresponding attribute spirit roots and governed themselves separately.

  So in the eyes of this Water Spirit Gate cultivator, Ishikawa was undoubtedly a useless person.