Chapter 4

When a person is in high spirits, their energy is invigorated, and Wu Jie was no exception. Although he felt somewhat weak due to the depletion of his vital energy, his spirits were exceptionally high. For the next few days, he was full of enthusiasm, whether it was working at the pharmacy or preparing for the autumn festival. He even put more effort into martial arts practice, which he had never been particularly interested in before.

"Fourth Brother, are you sick? Why have you suddenly started practicing martial arts?" When he saw Wu Jie running around the town in a sand-filled vest to build his stamina, his sworn brother Lin Lushan, who was sitting under a tree composing poetry, finally couldn't help but ask.

Seeing the concern in his brother's eyes, Wu Jie felt a warm feeling in his heart and couldn't help but smile. He repeatedly assured Lin Lushan that he was in perfect health and was just preparing to strengthen his body, which would in turn strengthen his spirit...

Although Lin Lushan could tell that Wu Jie was just making excuses, he was relieved to see that his spirits were so high.

The Wu and Lin families were old friends—no, they were even closer. Wu Jie's father, Doctor Wu, and Lin Lushan's father, Scholar Lin, were sworn brothers. They also had another sworn brother, Du Tuanlian, who was teaching Wu Jie martial arts.

These three brothers—one a martial artist, one a scholar, and one a doctor—formed the most stable group in the upper echelons of Wu Family Village. The five children of the three families also called each other brothers: the eldest was Du Tuanlian's son Du Yu, who was now a constable in the county town; the second was Doctor Wu's eldest son Wu Cheng, who traveled between nearby villages as a traveling doctor; the third was Du Ruo, the only daughter of the three families, a fierce and aggressive tigress who was even more skilled in martial arts than her own brother, surpassing even Du Tuanlian; the fourth was Wu Jie, a steady and ambitious young man; and the youngest was Lin Lushan, a diligent and studious bookworm who, unfortunately, only knew how to read books by rote.

The five brothers had a very close relationship, but Wu Jie did not plan to tell Lin Lushan about his intention to seek immortals—this guy was a bit naive and couldn't keep a secret. If he told him, the whole town would know in a few days.

After a few casual exchanges, Lin Lushan sighed and said, "Everyone seems a bit strange these days. You, who have never been interested in martial arts, are suddenly working hard at it; and Third Sister, who should be practicing martial arts and causing trouble every day, is sickly and listless all day long..."

Wu Jie was taken aback, only then realizing that he hadn't seen Du Ruo practicing martial arts for several days, which puzzled him.

Du Ruo, the female tyrant, had three lifelong passions: first, she loved sweets and often stole the licorice and dried tangerine peel that Wu Jie prepared, sometimes even sneaking into the Three Mountains Temple to steal the sweet cakes offered to the gods; second, she loved causing trouble and fighting, getting into countless disputes; and third, she loved practicing martial arts, feeling uncomfortable if she didn't practice for two or three hours every day.

She hadn't practiced martial arts for several days in a row! This was truly rare!

"Fourth Brother, is Third Sister sick?" Lin Lushan asked with concern.

Wu Jie recalled the appearance of the tigress when he had seen Du Ruo recently and didn't think she looked sick.

"Her house is just a wall away from ours. If she were sick, she could come over for a check-up and medicine in just a few steps—no, with her personality, she would probably make me boil the medicine and deliver it to her, with ten times the licorice..." Thinking back to when Du Ruo was sick, Wu Jie couldn't help but laugh. "Since my licorice hasn't been affected, she must not be sick!"

Lin Lushan was amused by this and put his mind at ease, returning to his books and struggling with the difficult task of composing poetry. In the Eastern Chu Kingdom, martial arts were prevalent, but literature was not. The imperial examinations mainly tested poetry and prose. The little bookworm was decent at writing articles, but he was not very good at poetry, often taking several days to produce a dry and unremarkable poem. Every time Wu Jie heard him recite a poem, he wished he could teach him some of the timeless masterpieces from Earth.

Unfortunately, this guy was quite upright and would probably never accept such help...

Wu Jie was very practical. Since he couldn't do it, he didn't dwell on it and quickly put those thoughts aside, focusing again on his training.

He practiced martial arts with his uncle during the day and entered the Heavenly Book world at night to learn from Jasmine. His days were quite fulfilling.

Jasmine was not an expert in martial arts, but as an ancient demon, she was powerful and had a broad perspective. Even if she just relied on her own imagination, she could create quite formidable techniques. If she were in the mortal world, she would certainly be a martial arts grandmaster!

Unfortunately, Jasmine really didn't know how to teach. Wu Jie was taught in a muddled way and had to give up on learning directly from this grandmaster. Instead, he practiced with her to gain experience through practice.

However, Jasmine's level was too high. Even if she suppressed her strength, Wu Jie was always defeated in one move, making it impossible to learn anything. It was a waste of time. Finally, Wu Jie had a bright idea and asked Jasmine to create some exercise equipment in the Heavenly Book world based on what he had seen in movies and TV shows. He used these reliable or unreliable, scientific or unscientific tools for practice.

This method of practice was only moderately effective, but fortunately, Wu Jie's martial arts training with Du Tuanlian was quite successful. In just one month, he learned all the techniques his uncle had learned during his travels. Although he was not yet proficient and had not reached the level of spontaneous action, he was far from being a top-notch martial artist. However, as Du Tuanlian put it, "At least you can escape from bandits now."

In this month, Wu Jie's greatest gain was not in martial arts but in physical fitness.

Because he absorbed abundant spiritual energy in the Heavenly Book world every night and exercised sufficiently, his physical condition improved significantly in just one month. He became noticeably stronger, with well-defined muscles on his chest and shoulders, and his movements had a more tiger-like quality. In short, he had taken a solid first step on the path from a homebody to a muscular man.

Seeing him grow stronger so quickly, his family and friends were both surprised and delighted. His parents, who had initially been against his quest for immortality, changed their minds.

It was absolutely impossible for a normal person to become so strong in just one month. Even Du Tuanlian had never heard of such rapid progress. Therefore, Wu Jie's physical changes were naturally attributed to his "destiny with immortality"—perhaps his determination to cultivate had triggered the "opportunity" that the immortals had spoken of?

With this reason, his parents' attitude softened. After the annual autumn festival, they even urged Wu Jie to set out early.

"Seize the opportunity when it comes; the immortals won't wait for you!" All parents hope their children will succeed, and becoming an immortal is certainly a great achievement. Although Wu Jie was not in a hurry, his parents were busy preparing his luggage.

Wu Jie couldn't help but smile, but he was pleased with this change. However, when he saw the large bag of luggage his parents had prepared, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Father, Mother! You've prepared too much! How can I travel with so much stuff? Do I have to ride a donkey?"

"That's a good idea! Cheng, bring the donkey from the house!"

"…Do you think the immortals would accept a disciple who can't endure hardship, carries so much luggage, and rides a donkey?"

Wu Jie's father and mother looked at each other in surprise.

In the end, Wu Jie only took a few extra pieces of silver on top of the traveling doctor's outfit his brother Wu Cheng usually wore.

This was enough. When Doctor Wu and Du Tuanlian had traveled the world together, they had only had five taels of silver between them. Compared to that, Wu Jie felt his preparation was quite sufficient.

At the current silver price in the Eastern Chu Kingdom, one tael of silver could buy about a hundred pounds of white rice, or even more if it was coarse rice. A thousand pounds of rice would last Wu Jie a long time, not to mention that he could earn money by practicing medicine. According to his father and brother's experience, as long as he didn't encounter any additional dangers, he would be fine for at least a year or two.

When Wu Jie finally set out, his family and friends were naturally reluctant to see him go. Lin Lushan and his father were still trying to persuade him to change his mind, but Du Ruo's reaction was strange—this fierce and greedy tigress mysteriously told Wu Jie, "If you can't find immortality, come back… no matter what, you must return within half a year to a year, and you won't be disappointed…"

Wu Jie didn't know what Du Ruo meant by "you won't be disappointed," but seeing that she seemed to have recovered and was no longer listless, he couldn't help but be happy for her and promised to return. As for the "benefits," he didn't take them seriously.

For someone who had already entered the path of cultivation through the Heavenly Book world, there were few earthly benefits that could tempt him.

Thus, on this sunny autumn day, Wu Jie, bathed in the warm sunlight, set out on his journey to seek immortality.