Chapter 9 Immortality

Chapter 9 Immortality

Chapter 9 Immortality
Once upon a time, there was a man named Changsheng, who had a wealthy family and was obsessed with alchemy and longevity. He often invited famous Taoist priests from all over to make elixirs for him, hoping that he could live forever and ascend to heaven in broad daylight. He invited countless famous Taoist priests and took countless so-called "golden pills", but his health was getting worse day by day. In the end, he was already suffering from many diseases and was bedridden. But he still refused to give up his dream of longevity and still took the golden pills as if they were treasures. His family members advised him but it was of no avail. Finally, he was sick and only had his last breath left. He often lay on his sickbed and talked nonsense.

"Where am I?"

Changsheng looked around in confusion, only to see clouds and mist under his feet and bright clouds in front of him. A gate stood before him with three big characters "Nantianmen" on it. Two strong men in armor stood on both sides of the gate, like two sculptures.

"I succeeded! I ascended! I can live forever! Hahahaha!" Changsheng looked at the gate in front of him, laughing almost crazily, rolling in the clouds, making faces at the guard of the South Gate of Heaven, humming an unknown little song, and was obviously extremely excited. Suddenly, an old man flashed out from the gate of heaven, came to Changsheng, and scolded him: "Who is making a noise here?"

Changsheng bowed and said, "Old Immortal, I have just ascended to heaven. I don't know where to report. Please give me some advice."

The old man said, "Just keep walking in the direction facing the Heavenly Gate. There is a registration area there. You must first register your name with the Star Official before you can move freely in the Heavenly Realm."

Changsheng thanked the old man and trotted off to look for the successor star official. Soon, he saw a little old man wearing a black hat, lying on a stool with his legs crossed and dozing off. There was a list on the table in front of him. Changsheng went to the old man's ear and whispered, "Old immortal, wake up! I'm here to take my name!"

The star officer was still snoring loudly, as if he didn't hear anything at all.

Changsheng raised his voice again and shouted, "Old Immortal, wake up! I am here to take your name!"

Still to no avail…

Changsheng had no choice but to shout into the old man's ear: "Old Immortal, wake up! I, the junior Changsheng, am here to take your name!"

The officer then slowly opened his eyes and said in a vague voice, "Who is this? You are disturbing my sweet dream."

Changsheng said: "I am so sorry to disturb your sweet dream. I am a fairy who just ascended to heaven. I came to you to register my name."

The star official said: "Oh, it's been a while since I met someone who has just ascended to heaven. It seems that you are very sincere in seeking the truth. It's not easy to ascend to heaven and live forever. You are amazing, young man!"

Changsheng was very happy to hear the praise from the officer Jiming, and replied: "Thank you for the praise, senior. I dare not say anything else, but when it comes to my determination to seek the truth, I dare say it is as solid as a rock! No matter what, it cannot shake my determination to live forever."

The officer Ji Ming smiled and nodded, saying, "Changsheng, right? What position do you want to hold in the heaven?"

Changsheng was secretly delighted. He had never thought that he would be given an official position in the heaven so soon. He had heard people say that there were the Four Heavenly Kings, the God of Wealth and the God of Longevity in the heaven. He had never thought that one day he would be able to be like them. On the surface, he said modestly, "I am a newcomer and I don't know what positions there are in the heaven. I hope the seniors can give me some advice."

"Okay, okay! Let me show you." Official Ji Mingxing flipped through the book on the table and glanced at it, saying, "The Queen Mother is still short of a cat slave to serve the royal cat, Taishang Laojun is short of a Taoist boy to light the fire, the Imperial Stables are short of a groom to clean up the horse manure, and..."

Changsheng heard this and interrupted him: "Stop, stop, stop! Old senior, how come these are just errands for slaves and menial workers? Isn't there a decent official position? Like Marshal Tianpeng, Lord Wenquxing or something like that?"

Upon hearing this, the Star Officer Ji opened his eyes wide, showed an expression of disbelief and asked Changsheng: "What did you just say? Do you want to be Marshal Tianpeng? Wenquxingjun?"

Changsheng smiled sheepishly and said, "Uh... Xiaoxian does have this intention."

The Mingxing official was stunned at first, then he laughed loudly while holding his stomach, and said, "How can a newcomer like you get such a high position as a god? Don't joke with me, just choose one of the jobs I just mentioned to you."

Changsheng sighed inwardly, he didn't expect that the heavenly world also had to rank people based on seniority. Anyway, after all, he was already immortal, which was much better than being a mortal, so he asked, "I wonder which job is better, the cat slave, Taoist boy, groom, etc. that the senior just mentioned?"

The official Ji Ming said, "I think it's better to be a cat slave. After all, you're working for the Queen Mother. If you take good care of the cats and make the Queen Mother happy, maybe she'll really reward you with a position."

Changsheng heard this and slapped his thigh and said, "Okay, I'll be a cat slave!"

Changsheng registered with the Ming official, received a set of clothes, and went to Yaochi to be a cat slave. The fairy who served the Queen Mother repeatedly reminded him: "This royal cat is precious, you must not make any mistakes. If it gets thinner, the Queen Mother will not feel comfortable holding it in her arms, and she will be punished. You must not let it get sick, and you must not let it get lost..."

Changsheng patiently said: "I know, I know! It's just raising a kitten, what's the difficulty?"

So, Changsheng spent day and night with the royal cat. Strangely enough, once the cat was in the arms of the Queen Mother, it immediately became well-behaved and docile, just like a pet. But once it was alone with the servants, it became irritable and irritable. If you don't feed it with your own hands, it will definitely refuse to eat. It is even more dishonest when bathing, always making water all over the floor. It is even more difficult to cut its nails, and it scratches you all over every time. And every time that guy finishes defecating, he will stare at you with a pair of bright eyes, and then turn his head to signal behind him, as if ordering you to clean up.

Changsheng couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "I've only heard of dogs relying on the power of others before, but this is the first time I've seen a cat relying on the power of others. I'm so miserable. Why did I choose such a job?"

After a month, the cat grew fatter, but Changsheng looked visibly more haggard. Unexpectedly, the Queen Mother was furious and blamed him for making the cat too fat and too heavy to hold. Just for this little thing, she beat him with 20 sticks. Poor Changsheng lay on the bed and complained, "Fairy sister, you only told me not to let the cat get too thin, but you didn't say that it can't be too fat! Oh, I can't do this kind of hard work anymore!"

Changsheng limped to the front of the officer Jiming and begged bitterly: "Senior, please have mercy on me. Please change my job. I really can't be a cat slave."

The Star Officer felt sorry for him and couldn't bear it, so he said, "Okay, okay, why don't you go to Taishang Laojun to make fire instead?"

Changsheng said quickly: "Okay, okay! Light the fire! I'll go and light the fire right away!"

So, Changsheng went to Taishang Laojun to light the fire. The boy who was watching the furnace told him: "Don't underestimate this fire-making, there is a lot of knowledge in it. When to fan quickly, when to fan slowly, when to use more force, when to use less force, you can't be careless at all." The boy showed him. The boy held a treasure fan in his hand, stepped on the Bagua steps, and performed a set of fanning techniques to the fullest, just like dancing with the wind. The fire under the furnace swayed and danced with the fragrant wind from the boy's treasure fan. Changsheng couldn't help but exclaimed: "My goodness, I didn't expect that there would be such a variety of tricks to make a fire!"

After the boy finished the demonstration, he handed the fan to Changsheng and said, "How is it? Did you see it clearly? Come and try it!"

Changsheng couldn't help but sweat on his forehead. Thinking back to the boy's movements just now, it was even more difficult than Yang Guifei's Colorful Skirt and Feather Dance. How could he remember it in just one time? He could only timidly say, "I am stupid. Can you please show me again, fairy boy?"

In this way, Changsheng followed the fairy boy to practice how to fan the fire every day, often tired to the point of backache and sleeplessness. Finally, he could not hold on any longer and went to the star official again and cried, "Senior, please forgive me for coming here again to trouble you. This fire-making job is not as simple as I thought. Senior, can you please give me another one?"

The official Ji Ming sighed helplessly and said, "Okay, okay! Go to the Imperial Stables and be a groom!"

Changsheng quickly said, "Okay! Okay! Thank you for your help again and again, I am very grateful."

So, Changsheng went to the Imperial Horse House again and started cleaning horse manure. As soon as he arrived at the stable, he was stunned. How many celestial horses do you think there are in heaven?
The Hualiu and Qiji, the Lujia and Xianli; the dragon-matching purple swallow, the wings of the Qiian; the Yinqi and the Qiian, the Qie and the flying yellow; the Qiian flips its feathers, the Red Rabbit surpasses the light; the brilliance is greater than the scenery, the rising mist is more than yellow; the chasing wind is beyond the ground, flying and turning into the sky; the red lightning is flying, the copper wine cup is floating in the clouds; the Conglong and the tiger are like dust and purple scales; the four extremes are big, the eight juns and the nine yis are unique in a thousand miles, with a total of more than a thousand horses.

How many horsemen are there? There is only one! Changsheng looked up to the sky and sighed: "How can I take care of thousands of horses by myself? The feces and urine of these horses in a day are enough to form a small mountain, which is more than enough to bury me..."

"Senior, please forgive me for bothering you again and again..."

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Why are you here again? I can't do anything this time. I've made exceptions for you twice, and I can't change it this time no matter what!" Ji Mingxing turned his back, unwilling to pay any more attention to Changsheng.

Changsheng begged: "Senior, the jobs in the heaven are really not easy. If you want to stay in the heaven, you must find a job for yourself?"

The star official said: "This, in fact, does not necessarily require you to find a job. However, if you do not have a job, you cannot enter the heavenly palace, and can only move around outside the four heavenly gates, just like me."

Changsheng heard this, as if he had grasped the last straw, and said happily: "Senior, why didn't you tell me earlier? Isn't it just that I can't enter and leave the Heavenly Palace freely? So what's the problem? I think it's good to accompany you here."

The star official said, "Are you sure you won't regret it this time?"

Changsheng said: "Don't worry, senior, I will never regret it this time!"

So, Changsheng accompanied the Jimingxing official in this deserted place outside the South Gate of Heaven.

Changsheng asked the officer Jiming: "Senior, I wonder what you usually do?"

The star official said: "I don't have any other hobbies, I just love to dream."

Changsheng said: "Dreaming? Forgive my ignorance, I have never heard of anyone who likes to dream every day. Is there nothing else?"

The star officer said, "It's so nice to dream. There is everything in dreams. Look around here, there is nothing but clouds and mist. What else can you do if not dream?"

Changsheng looked up and realized that the surroundings were indeed eerily quiet. Apart from the clouds and fog, he could not see anything else. An ominous feeling instantly enveloped his heart.

"Senior, have you ever thought about doing something more meaningful?" Changsheng asked in horror with a pale face.

"Yes, I always wanted to do something more meaningful before. But since I ascended to heaven and became immortal, I became idle. I always thought I could do it later, putting off today until tomorrow, and tomorrow until the day after tomorrow. Gradually, I didn't want to do anything anymore. Besides, everything will eventually leave me. Those things that I thought were very meaningful before, on the contrary, are no longer meaningful after I have gained infinite life."

Changsheng sat down dejectedly on the ground, looking at the endless clouds and mist all around him, feeling endless loneliness and desolation...

"Changsheng, why don't you go to sleep? There is really nothing else to do here except sleeping! Let me tell you, the world in the dream is so beautiful, it has everything!" Jiming official said, and was about to fall asleep.

Changsheng said: "I have insomnia, I can't sleep..."

Day after day, Changsheng finally couldn't stand this boring life anymore and shouted, "How can this be called immortality? This is simply worse than death! Senior, please tell me how to return to the mortal world. I can't stay in this damn place any longer!"

The officer Ji Mingxing said, "You can get back if you jump headfirst from the clouds. But you better think carefully, because if you go back, you won't be able to get back up!"

Changsheng immediately did a handstand, and dived headfirst into the clouds below, shouting, "Only a devil would want to come to this place again!" As he spoke, he fell from the clouds and disappeared...

The star official sighed helplessly: "Young people nowadays are immature and will change their minds as soon as they say they will regret. Alas, dreams are still better. Dreams have everything..."

(End of this chapter)