Immortal Travel of Longevity

“Is that how it was…”

Zhang Xiaoqi pondered. Truth was, he had never seen his grandfather since he was born. He had no idea what he looked like. If the old man were still around, Zhang Xiaoqi imagined he’d be much kinder than Grandpa Dong from the street corner.

Chen Changsheng glanced over what he had written on the paper before him. He let out a sigh, then set the brush aside.

Xiaoqi snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the characters on the paper.

He froze for a moment.

Xiaoqi had seen the Great Master of his shop district write, but this gentleman’s calligraphy was even more beautiful.

Chen Changsheng asked: “For more than ten years back, your dad lived decently. But the troubled times ruined people. He lost his family fortune. Fortunately, though, he kept his life.”

Xiaoqi came back to his senses and asked, “Mr. Chen, it seems like you’ve known Dad forever.”

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and nodded. “That’s true. I don’t recall how many years exactly, but when I first met your dad, he was about your age.”

“So long ago!” Xiaoqi gasped in surprise. But then something didn’t sit right. “Wait,” he shook his head. “But Mr. Chen, you look so young! Barely older than me.” “I just look young,” Chen Changsheng said.

He picked up the letter from the table. As he drew his hand back, it transformed into a streak of Golden Light and shot far away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Xiaoqi caught something. He turned his head, but only noticed that the paper with Mr. Chen’s writing had vanished from the table. He didn’t give it much thought.

Chen Changsheng looked at Zhang Xiaoqi. “Truthfully speaking, he was much better off than your grandfather. At least he had a wife and child. Not like your grandfather, who only got to know his son in his twilight years.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaoqi shook his head. “Dad didn’t live well.”

“Things are indeed hard for him now.”

Chen Changsheng didn’t dwell on it and instead asked, “Did he tell you what you’d face coming up this mountain?”

Zhang Xiaoqi shook his head. Dad hadn’t told him anything.

Chen Changsheng looked towards the distant Green Mountain, its peak merging with the clouds, a perfect harmony.

Chen Changsheng pointed at the faraway mountains. “The mountain stands below the clouds, but above the clouds, there are more mountains.”

“Mr. Chen, do you mean there are mountains above the clouds?”

Zhang Xiaoqi stood up to look, squinting his eyes. He couldn’t see any mountains within the cloud-covered peaks.

“But… I don’t see any mountains,” he said, a bit puzzled as he looked at Mr. Chen. “Sir, maybe your eyesight is playing tricks on you?”

Chen Changsheng shook his head. “You’ll see them. Both your dad and your grandfather… In all the years I’ve known them, Chen has never been asked for a single favor by either. But your dad… he knelt and begged me.”

Xiaoqi jolted. The realization hit him. “So… Dad begged you to let me come up the mountain?”

Chen Changsheng nodded. “Yesterday, I saw your dad. I intended to find a solution to his current difficulties. But faced with two choices, he chose suffering. He left the opportunity… for you. You must understand how incredibly hard-won your chance to climb this mountain truly is.”

Xiaoqi smacked his lips. “What… what was this favor?”

Chen Changsheng suddenly turned around to face him.

“To see the Mountain Above the Clouds.”

Their eyes met.

Xiaoqi met that profound gaze, and a strand of Golden Light seemed to imprint itself onto the boy’s pupils.

His heart lurched, a momentary panic seizing him.

“Dong.”

It was as if the toll of a bell rang beside Xiaoqi’s ear.

In the blink of an eye, the scene before him dissolved into a vague sea of mist and cloud.

Panicked, Xiaoqi whipped his head around, searching the surroundings. “Where am I?!” he cried out in fright.

He spun around—and abruptly froze.