Everyone Thinks I’m an Immortal (I’m Just a Daoist

Deep in the mountains, thin mist hung in the air. A bright moon hung high. Countless lights glittered below like stars. A single light burned on the mountain.

Civilization had come this far—skyscrapers rising from flat ground, a thousand miles traveled in half a day—yet this moon and these forests remained exactly as they had a thousand years ago.

Even the Daoist temple on the mountain was the same.

Warm yellow light spilled from an open window. Outside, tiled eaves and an ancient pine whose branches stretched out like an umbrella, half-blocking the view. Inside, a wooden desk, a long couch, shelves packed tight with thread-bound ancient books. A man in Daoist robes sat frowning, the tip of his gel pen scratching softly across paper.

At a glance, the scene could have belonged to ancient times.

[Ever since I first saw those colorful, drifting points of light in the air last year, exactly half a year has passed. At first I only caught them by chance, clearer at night. Now I seem to have grasped the knack. As long as I calm my mind and focus, I can see them every time—even in broad daylight.]

[These light points are everywhere, but they are densest on this mountain of mine, far denser than anywhere else.]

[Just like the spiritual energy of legend.]

[Yet to this day I have not found a single other person who can see this “spiritual energy.”]

[Leaving that aside, there is still one problem…]

The pen tip stopped.

A cat leapt lightly onto the desk. Slender and long-bodied, short fur black and white, face pointed like a melon seed, with something that looked exactly like side-swept bangs across its forehead. The effect made it look unusually refined and well-behaved, like a little girl with side-swept bangs. Completely unconcerned with anyone else’s presence, it focused intently and reached out a paw to hook the pen in the Daoist’s hand.

The pen paused briefly, then continued—

[My cat seems to be developing spiritual awareness.]

After writing that line, Chen Du had no idea how to continue. He simply sat by the window, pen in hand, lost in thought.

Mountain mist rose and fell. Moonlight on the ground brightened and dimmed. The lamp outlined the pine branches; every so often the wind swayed them. It was a quiet place far removed from the dust of the world.

This was a Daoist temple.

Years earlier a mudslide had hit the mountain. The villages that once stood here had been relocated with government help. Only his master had refused to leave, no matter what.

Chen Du could not argue him out of it.

Three years ago the old Daoist had “ascended to immortality.” The temple was left with only Chen Du. Fortunately he had a cat; otherwise the loneliness would have become unbearable over time.

Roughly three months ago, Chen Du had noticed that the cat he raised seemed able to understand human speech. Its eyes often showed a thoughtful, almost human expression.

He frequently saw it standing on the temple roof ridge beside the roof-ridge ornaments, basking in the sun by day and bathing in moonlight by night. With every breath, the points of light around it grew noticeably thicker.

He still had no idea what was going on.

In his spare time he had tried to absorb the spiritual energy himself. Completely useless.

As an obscure folk religious sect with no official standing, Chen Du followed neither the dual cultivation of nature and life nor the orthodox practices of Daoist ordination and registration. His master had taught him a few simple methods. He had tried them all. They were the same as when he had first learned them—good for scaring people, completely useless in reality.

What he wanted to know more than anything now was whether this phenomenon was happening only to him.

Unfortunately, even after half a year of intensive online searching, he had found no solid reports of anything similar. The news never mentioned it.

It almost felt as if the strangeness had begun right here, with him.

And then there was the cat.

Chen Du reached out and stroked the soft fur.

Fortunately, although his cat seemed to be developing spiritual awareness, aside from growing smarter it had not changed in any other way. Its temperament toward him remained the same.

Chen Du was not afraid of it.

He simply could not stop wondering about another question—

If spiritual energy truly existed between heaven and earth, and spirits were truly beginning to appear, then did methods for becoming an immortal really exist in this world? Did gods, Buddhas, demons, and monsters truly exist?

He had never shown much reverence toward the statues in the temple.

Would the gods and Buddhas hold it against him?

His temple sat deep in the mountains. The villages on the mountain had all moved away. The nearest town was several kilometers down the mountain. It was rather isolated.

Could there be other spirits in these mountains?

“Time for bed.”

Chen Du put away the diary and placed it on the study bookshelf among the ancient texts, then walked out.

The cat was extremely agile. It slid off the desk and trotted after him with quick little steps.

One man and one cat slept side by side.

Spiritual energy descended with the night. All things began to revive.

Chen Du was woken by something hard poking him.

He felt around and found a piece of wood. Holding it up and squinting, he recognized the seal left by his master.

More precisely, the ancestral seal of the temple.

It was said to signify the office of temple master.

The seal was about half the size of a palm. The top was carved like a mountain peak with sun, moon, clouds, and thunder, dragons and phoenixes circling. All four sides were covered in dense, tiny patterns that looked like tangled tadpoles. The bottom was carved with two elaborate characters in Nine-fold Seal Script: “Earthly Sage.”

Chen Du remembered keeping it deep in a cabinet. The cat must have been restless at night, dug it out to play with, and left it on the bed.

“You little troublemaker!”

Chen Du gave the cat a light pat on the back.

Looking out the window, the sky was still dim and the mist heavy. Dew had formed on the glass, making it even harder to see. The weeds in the corners of the courtyard seemed taller, and a bamboo plant had even appeared.

“The environment has really improved over the years. Now there’s bamboo growing in the courtyard.”

He got up and opened the door. Sure enough, the entire mountain was wrapped in mist. Every fine needle on the ancient pine in the courtyard was covered in dew. The weeds in the corner and the roughly man-height “bamboo” were also dripping with moisture.

A wave of cool, damp air hit him. He shivered and felt much more awake even before washing his face.

“Wait.”

That was not bamboo.

It was a small tree.

About as tall as a person, it looked somewhat like a cypress, yet its leaves were perfectly round—something usually seen only on plants that grew in arid desert regions.

Even more astonishing, the tree seemed to have grown to this height overnight, appearing out of nowhere.

Normal trees did not grow that fast.

It even appeared to have already flowered. The petals were yellow like osmanthus and lay scattered on the ground. Now it had produced unripe fruit, also round, about the size of mung beans.

Fragrance still lingered in the mist, refreshing and pleasant.

Chen Du focused his mind slightly. Tiny points of light immediately appeared in the air, like dust motes drifting in a sunbeam, multicolored like stars on a clear night. Not dazzling, but dreamlike and beautiful.

One of the densest clusters of light was right in front of the small tree that had grown overnight and already flowered and fruited.

Even the fallen petals on the ground, when he focused, were surrounded by rings of soft radiance.

“Strange things just keep coming…”

Chen Du walked around the tree several times, staring for a long while without seeing anything else unusual. He could only watch as light points continuously gathered around the tree. The overall density of light points in the temple did not decrease because of the tree’s absorption; instead, because the tree seemed to be drawing in light points from farther away, the concentration grew denser.

Simply standing there felt refreshing and pleasant.

Spending a little longer amid the mountain mist and spiritual energy gave him the sensation of having left modern society and stepped into the wild, mysterious, spiritual-energy-rich ancient era that existed only in legends.

Before long the sky grew darker.

The mountain mist thickened. Looking out from under the eaves, visibility dropped to less than two or three meters. Even the ancient pine and the small tree became hazy, like something from an old painting.

Chen Du figured that in weather like this, no tourists or pilgrims would climb the mountain. He returned to his living quarters, curled up on the bed, and let his thoughts wander to pass the time.

Gradually evening fell again.

“This sword hangs here to ward off evil. Don’t touch it casually!”

Chen Du hung the few long swords left in the temple in the rooms he frequented most and pasted a few talismans on the doors.

Of course the swords were not sharp; some were even rusty. Fine for killing a chicken, not much use against anything serious. The talismans were even less worth mentioning. Neither Chen Du nor his master observed the precepts or held official registration. After drawing the talismans they never performed the proper rituals. By any measure the talismans had no effect.

They were pure psychological comfort.

“Rumble…”

A heavy clap of thunder seemed to explode right overhead, carrying immense pressure, rolling on and on. Even the cat jumped.

Rain followed soon after.

The temple eaves rang with the sound of the downpour.

“Today is the Awakening of Insects.”

Chen Du saw the reminder on his phone.

Sitting under the eaves and gazing into the distance, he watched the dense mist being washed away by the heavy rain. The distant mountains faintly revealed their outlines, continuous and unfathomable. Water vapor gathered into smoke-like clouds that coiled around the mountains like dragons and snakes—exactly like the dwellings of immortals and spirits in legend.

He only hoped there were no other strange things in the mountains.

A flash of lightning illuminated his face, making it look pale.

…

Rumble!

Deep in the mountains, the rainy night held no moonlight, only the illumination of lightning. The rain grew heavier, triggering flash floods that tore open a mountainside and exposed an ancient tomb. Something seemed to have been startled by the might of heaven and earth.

A wisp of smoke rose from the ancient tomb in the forest.

When the lightning faded, the smoke slipped into the dark woods. When the next flash came, the smoke had already taken the shape of a human figure.

The figure seemed newly awakened, dazed and uncertain. It stood in place for a long time until some instinct stirred. It drifted lightly to the side just as a bolt of lightning crashed down. Turning its head, it saw that the spot where it had stood moments earlier was now cracked earth and molten rock.

The figure seemed to come fully alive then. Looking around, its instinct was to find shelter.

Ahead rose a high mountain, its spiritual energy especially dense. Even walking in that direction already felt comfortable throughout the body.

A single light glowed on the mountain.

Perhaps places where many people lived could also ward off heavenly lightning.

At the next flash of lightning, she had already transformed into a peerless figure. High-collared slanted-lapel long jacket of fine silk, horse-face skirt swaying gracefully with each step. Tall and slender, skin pale, face small, features exquisite beyond ordinary beauty, neck long and elegant—so beautiful she hardly seemed human.

One hand held a banana leaf she had snapped off to shield herself from the rain; the other produced a lantern for light. She had no idea the world had already undergone seas of change. Believing herself dressed quite like a human, she drifted toward the light on the mountain.

…

Knock knock knock!

Someone was knocking at the temple gate.

“Who is it?”

Chen Du almost thought he had misheard.

But his cat had already turned its head toward the door, stared for several seconds, then looked back at the Daoist.

That was its language.

Someone was outside.

“It’s raining this hard, and not a single person has come up the mountain all day. No one comes to the temple. Now the rain is getting heavier and it’s already dark. How could anyone be here?”

The more Chen Du thought about it, the stranger it felt.

Half a year earlier he would not have worried at all.

Now he could only buckle on a long sword and steel himself to go.

No need for an umbrella. The courtyard was enclosed by the main hall, living quarters, and walls, all with eaves for cover. Walking along the wall brought him to the gate.

The main gate also had an overhang.

Someone knocked nervously. Someone opened the door nervously.

“Creak—”

The temple gate opened, and their eyes met.

Chen Du clearly saw the “person” standing outside.

His expression instantly grew grave.

In his eyes, the figure at the door was a woman of unparalleled beauty in ancient-style clothing, holding a lantern. Even celebrity influencers after heavy makeup, beauty filters, and body adjustments on their phones could not match her looks.

A woman like this would turn heads on Chunxi Road or Taikoo Li—let alone at a desolate mountain temple on a thunderstorm night.

And she was wearing ancient clothing and carrying a lantern.

The lantern showed no sign of being wet.

This…

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Chen Du stood frozen.

The woman was equally stunned.

The one who opened the door for her was a Daoist!

Newly awakened and muddle-headed, she had fled here in panic. In the night she had not looked carefully. Only now did she realize that behind this Daoist stood a main hall, with four guardian deities on either side of the entrance, each over ten feet tall, holding blades, spears, swords, and halberds, fierce expressions looking down on whoever approached the gate.

This was a Daoist temple!

She recalled what she had observed on the way—

This was a deep mountain with almost no human traces, only this one temple. The mountain was the place of densest spiritual energy in the surrounding area, and the temple was the densest spot on the mountain.

Coincidence?

Both of them recalled the stories of spirits, ghosts, and immortals they had heard or read since childhood.

Rumble!

Lightning illuminated both their faces once more.

Heavy rain continued to fall. Wind howled through the mountains, accompanied by the sound of snapping branches and rolling thunder. The two stood at the doorway staring at each other for a long time. Neither dared speak first.