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Chapter 1: I’e, and at its base was a quaint little village The villagers there lived off the land, and didn’t have much to do with the outside world

Currently it was dawn, and the villagers were congregated at the village gate to see off a young e He seemed thin and weak, but had a healthy, fair co appearance He wore an ordinary green robe that had apparently been washed soabout the way he was dressed, plus the innocent look in his eyes, made him seem exceptionally quick-witted

His naers,” he said, “I am on my way to learn about I htly pained expression, as if he couldn’t bear to part with his fellow villagers Thisthan before 1

The surrounding villagers exchanged glances, shrugged helplessly, and then pretended to look even more reluctant to see him leave

A white-haired old man stepped out of the crowd and said, “Xiaochun, ever since your dad and o, you… you have been, er–” he paused for athat Bai Xiaochun hadn’t left yet, he continued, “Don’t tellforever? All you have to do is become an Immortal, and then you can live forever! That’s a really, really long tile must learn to fly eventually

“No matter what situations you run into out there, you have to hang in there and keep e, you can’t come back, because your path will always lie ahead, not behind!” The old man patted Bai Xiaochun kindly on the shoulder

“Live forever…” Bai Xiaochun h him, and a look of deterazes of the old ers, he nodded his head seriously and looked around at everyone one last tie

As he disappeared off into the distance, the villagers started to look more and more excited Their forlorn expressions turned to those of joy, and the kind-faced old an to tremble Tears even streamed down his face

“Justice froone! Who was it that told hi to give you a huge reward on behalf of the village!” 2

The village was soon echoing with cries of rejoicing So theone,” someone said, “but oh,at dawn, so he soe to eat every chicken we had…”

“Today is the beginning of a new era!”

By this point, Bai Xiaochun was still fairly close to the village, and could actually hear the sounds of the gongs and druht wind of some of the cries of excitee expression on his face After a moment, he cleared his throat and proceeded on his way Accoan to make his way toward Mount Hood

Mount Hood wasn’t a very tall etation Therefore, despite the fact that it was dawn, beneath the trees, it was dark and quiet

“Double-Dog told o and saw an I, heart thu sound could be heard fro, and it irow extreht as he asked, “Who is it? Who’s there?!”

He quickly pulled four axes and six machetes out of his travel pack, but that in and of itself didn’t make him feel much safer, so he also produced a bit of black incense frohtly in his left hand

“Don’t co out! I’ve got axes ANDfrom the Heavens, and even summon Immortals! If you dare to show your face, you’re DEAD!” Finally, he turned and ran toward theall of the various weapons in his hands Clanking sounds could eventually be heard as axes and ht

Perhaps whatever it was that had been rustling around in the shrubbery really did end up getting frightened by him The sounds ceased, and no wild animal burst out of the bushes Bai Xiaochun hurried toward thethe sweat from his brow By this point, his face was pale, and he was al the ht about the incense stick, which his parents had handed down to him before they died Supposedly, it had been passed down froift bestowed by a down-and-out Iiven it to them to pay back the kindness they had shown Furthermore, the Immortal had even promised to take a member of the Bai Clan as a disciple He told the the incense stick would summon him to their side

Bai Xiaochun had actually lit the incense stick more than ten times in the past few years, and yet, no Immortal had ever shown up It had eventually reached the point that Bai Xiaochun was starting to suspect whether or not the story about the Immortal was even true Finally, he’d resolved to cli, the incense stick was al Ihted recently

And that was how he ended up in his current situation His theory was that if he could get a bit closer to the Immortal, then perhaps it would be easier for that I in front of the ritted his teeth and decided to keep going Thankfully, theto reach the peak, where he stopped, panting He looked at the village down below, and an elanced at the finger-nail sized bit of black incense It had clearly been burned on numerous occasions, and was almost completely used up