Chapter 1: Mom, how did you become an actress?

  "Ah Bing, Ah Bing, wake up quickly."

  Lu Bing couldn't open his eyes, although he tried with all his might, but in the end, he still couldn't open them. He felt a layer of blankets covering him, and had a warm feeling, but following that was an even more intense, bone-penetrating pain.

  "Ah Bing, Ah Bing, open your eyes and look at us." Various voices were noisy, but all extremely unfamiliar, although it was still the local language, it sounded strange.

  "Ah Bing Ge!" a little boy called out in a slightly tearful voice.

  Lu Bing was secretly annoyed, who is this, if he keeps calling like this, he won't be able to open his eyes for the rest of his life. Why? Only a blind man would be called A Bing, do you want me to sit up and play "Reflections in the Water" for you?

  A mouthful of spicy liquor poured into Lu Bing's mouth, this wasn't Lu Bing's first time drinking, but he had never drunk such a spicy liquor before. Lu Bing wanted to cough, but didn't have the strength, after the strong liquor entered his stomach, suddenly felt all the blood in his body flowing freely, feeling much more comfortable. What followed next, there was no what followed next, Lu Bing fell into a deep sleep, unaware of anything else.

  It wasn't until much later that Lu Bing slowly opened his eyes, only to find everything around him was so unfamiliar. The room had an ancient charm, the soft and warm quilt, and a woman in traditional clothing sitting by the bed with a worried look on her face. She looked familiar, and beside her stood a young maid.

  "What...?" Lu Bing was momentarily bewildered, but the woman's face lit up with joy as she said: "Bing'er, you're awake! Xiao Rui, quickly go call Old Man Lu."

  "Good." The girl called Xiaohui turned and ran out. When the woman saw her leave, she suddenly shed tears and held Lu Bing's hand, saying: "Bing'er, if you don't wake up for a moment, what should mother do? It would be heartbreaking for mother."

  Daughter? Lu Bing's heart was filled with doubts. His own mother had died in a car accident with his father when he was ten years old, and he had grown up with his grandparents. Who was this woman wearing ancient clothes?

  She looked carefully and found that the woman was surprisingly similar to her mother in the photo. Suddenly, she had a thousand thoughts, tears gushing out like a spring, unstoppable. "Mom!" Lu Bing struggled to sit up, but his whole body felt like being pricked by thousands of needles, extremely painful. The woman quickly stood up and said, "Bing, you can't move around."

  Lu Bing sobbed and asked: "Mom, why did you become an actress?"

  "What? An actor?" The woman was perplexed.

  At this time, the door opened to the left and right, and a majestic middle-aged man walked in. The man was about 1.8 meters tall, with a very masculine appearance. After entering the door, he took a look at Lu Bing and said: "A man has tears but does not easily shed them, how can you cry over such a small matter? Your father was just about to praise you, if you continue to be so incompetent, I will have to punish you."

  Lu Bing was stunned, first seeing his mother, and now even his own father Lu Song, also in ancient attire. Could it be that he had already died and arrived at the underworld? But this didn't matter anymore, what mattered was that he could finally reunite with his family. It turned out that the afterlife wasn't as scary as the legends said, no ox-headed horse-faced Yan Wang or little ghosts, only his parents and... behind his father stood a very delicate-looking young girl, who had been called "Little Rui" by his mother earlier. Hmm, not bad, it seemed he was in heaven, not hell.

  Lu Song sat down, speaking seriously: "Bing Er, you did a great job today. Sacrificing yourself to save your master is what a loyal and righteous warrior should do. Xing Xian Wang has left, and we can't let anything happen to him again. The late king had mercy on me, and as his guardian, it's my duty to protect the prince even though he's no longer with us. Although you can't swim, you bravely jumped into the water to save Xing Wang, I'm proud of you. Take good care of your injuries, we'll talk again when you're healed."

  "What a mess, Lu Bing's mind was all confused, is it King Xing or King Xing Xian? Where did this king come from, and what about the palace, where did that come from? Is heaven also feudal? Besides, I can swim, I was second in freestyle swimming in middle school, if I hadn't saved two people and lost strength, it wouldn't be like this. So Lu Bing asked with doubts: "Dad, where am I? You have to introduce me to the situation so I can get into character."

  Lu Song looked puzzled and muttered to himself, "Dad? What play is this?" Then he looked at his wife, who hastily said, "Old master, just now the child woke up and said something about actors, I don't know what it means either. You say it's not...it can't be that he was choked by water and became stupid." As she spoke, Lu Bing's mother began to cry again.

  "Don't talk nonsense." Lu Song scolded, but his eyes also showed a hint of heartache, and he sighed before leaving.

  The next few days, Lu Bing welcomed all sorts of doctors. In the cold winter, he was splashed with lake water and would have died from wind chill if he were an ordinary person. However, Lu Bing's body was robust, and he managed to get through it without much harm. The frostbite on his body wasn't severe either, and after applying some ointment, he recovered. Lu Bing found a copper mirror and gazed at his sturdy muscles, unable to help but praise himself repeatedly. It turned out that ancient people also liked fitness! At this moment, he already knew that he was not in the underworld or heaven, but had traveled to the Ming Dynasty, specifically the 14th year of Zhengde's reign. Based on his somewhat inaccurate historical knowledge, he inferred that it should be around 1519 AD, give or take two to three years.

  As for this result, Lu Bing wasn't too concerned about it. He was somewhat excited because he had actually crossed over just like in those dog-blood TV dramas, and in ancient times, he had even met someone who looked exactly like his deceased parents. Moreover, his current self was also named Lu Bing, and even his parents' names were the same. This was too incredible.

  There are too many things that can't be figured out, so Lu Bing decided not to think about it for the time being. Since he's already here, he might as well just go with the flow. After all, what's the difference where he is? Before crossing over, Lu Bing had no parents and relied on his uncle, who was only interested in answering questions, to get by. However, the money wasn't even his uncle's own, but rather the inheritance left behind by his parents. His uncle claimed that he was helping Lu Bing manage it, but in reality, he had taken over Lu Bing's guardianship and swallowed up the large sum of money.

  Although he had traveled through time, his parents were still alive and well. Seeing this situation, Lu Bing was overjoyed and wholeheartedly accepted this reality, feeling that he was living a good life free from illness or disaster.

  Just as he was thinking, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the door, and Lu Bing took a swift step onto the bed. To say nothing of this body not only looking good in shape, but more importantly, it's extremely agile, even hearing is very keen, could it be that the former Lu Bing was a martial artist?

  Lu Bing lay in bed, wrapped in his quilt. His illness had already recovered, but he pretended to be weak and sickly. One reason was to avoid Lu Song's supervision. A few days ago, when he had just regained some energy, Lu Song brought him books to read. Lu Bing took one look and felt overwhelmed - they were all complex characters! He could barely recognize them, let alone memorize those abstruse classical texts.

  So once you pretend to be ill, you can avoid shouldering the responsibility, and those doctors who come to see the patient often have no medical ethics. After checking, they always say that it's just a minor illness and prescribe various medicines and supplements with moderate fire properties, and the price is naturally not cheap either. Lu Bing cursed: In any era, there are such doctors with human faces but beastly hearts, who recklessly prescribe medicine without kickbacks or commissions!

  Apart from this reason, it's also because when lying in bed, there is Xiaohua to serve one's food and drink. Lu Bing is already 16 years old, but in that precocious era, he has never been in love before. The goddess he likes either has a green tea appearance or despises him for being poor.

  It's different now, Xiaohui has grown so beautiful, without makeup she looks like a lotus flower out of water, if she were in high school back then, she would definitely be a campus belle. Now such a beauty comes to serve him every day, how can Lu Bing be willing to get out of bed?

  Just then, the door opened and Lu Song walked in, followed by an old cow-nosed Daoist. After entering the room, Lu Song cupped his hands and bowed, asking: "True Man, do you need anything else?"

  The Taoist replied, "Nothing is needed, I don't need to use any of those things. You just need to retreat and leave, no need to wait outside the door, disturbing the pure energy of the Three Purities. If you do, I won't be able to invite the Upper Immortal to return your young master's soul. And, Master Lu, I am not a true immortal, so from now on, just call me 'Master'."

  Lu Bing almost spit it out when he heard this. He had read an article about religion, and Daoist priests indeed called themselves "Poor Dao", but they didn't call outsiders "donors". The term "donor" was used by Buddhist monks. Daoists usually referred to laypeople as "residents", "believers", or "young masters", "brothers", etc. And who would dare to call themselves "great masters"? At most, being called "Dao Chang" by others was already self-aggrandizing.

  Lu Bing was certain that this person was a swindler, so he thought to wait until Lu Song left and then tease the stinky Taoist priest thoroughly. Of course, there was another reason: Lu Bing liked it here, and he feared that if the Taoist priest accidentally bumped into him, he would be taken back again, which would be disastrous.

  Lu Song answered in a row and left, Lu Bing lay on the bed with his eyes closed tightly. After the Taoist saw people leave, he began to sing loudly in his mouth, and it seemed like something was going on, but it wasn't like the TV show where he flipped and somersaulted, lit fire and invited heavenly soldiers. Instead, he sat down, propped up his legs, and started eating pastries from the table. After a while, the Taoist saw through the window that everyone outside had left as ordered, so he didn't even bother to recite anything, just shook his head and swayed back and forth, clearly a charlatan.

  Lu Biao suddenly tensed up all over, rolled his eyes and sat up, then said: "Hehehe, did you summon this great immortal?"

  The Taoist was taken aback, his face suddenly turned pale. Lu Bing took advantage of the situation and said: "This great immortal is cultivating in the mountains, why do you want to find me? Speak quickly, otherwise I'll dig out your eyes!"

  Lu Biao got out of bed, his hands clenched into claws, making a fierce gesture, causing his fingers to twist in an eerie way. The old Taoist was also frightened and stood up, his mouth wide open, even forgetting to swallow his saliva, which flowed down from the corner of his mouth. After a moment, the old Taoist's knees softened and he knelt down: "Immortal, please spare my life! I didn't know what I was reciting earlier, it was just nonsense, please don't take offense at my thoughtless words."

  "I was originally a thousand-year-old Yellow Great Immortal, but because you disturbed my cultivation just now, I wasted a hundred years of Taoist practice. You still dare to say that you will spare me?" Lu Bing threatened, and the Taoist priest's body trembled even more violently upon hearing this, with beads of sweat as big as beans flowing down his forehead. The Yellow Great Immortal was actually the yellow weasel, rumored to be the most vengeful among the four great immortals. It seemed that there was no escape from fate now, so he could only keep kowtowing and glanced at the door with the corner of his eye, preparing to flee at any moment.

  Lu Biao shouted loudly: "This immortal wants to dig out your blind eyes." While shouting, he pounced on the Taoist priest. To tell the truth, Lu Biao didn't learn much, but many fake Taoist priests and priestesses knew this trick, which was used to deceive superstitious people. This Taoist priest was a swindler, so naturally, he would pretend to be possessed. However, because Lu Biao couldn't do it well, he imitated the appearance of a zombie from "Resident Evil". The old Taoist had seen people pretending to be profound, but never such a **naked performance. It was different from usual, and anything unusual must be evil. The old Taoist believed it to be true for a moment and turned around to rush out the door.

  The old Daoist ran to the door in an instant, he was excited because the possessed Lu Bing behind him did not catch up. But when he opened the door, the old Daoist cried again, because a very terrifying face suddenly stretched out from outside the door, with fangs and green mouth, red face and exploding eyebrows, clearly the accomplice of the great immortal in the house.

  Lu Bing was feeling complacent, thinking he had scared away the old Daoist, and was holding back his laughter. But soon he couldn't laugh anymore, his mouth agape in an "O" shape, because he too saw that face. Could it be that he himself had been pretending to be a ghost, and actually summoned the thing?