Immortal Travel of Longevity

The candle in the room had nearly burned out.

By its dim light, the cat sprawled on the table looked over at Yu Hongjin, who sat on the bed looking thoroughly frustrated.

The cat spoke up. "Stinky fish, stinky fish."

Yu Hongjin was feeling rather dejected. She kept her head down and mumbled, "Leave me alone."

The cat blinked. "Lihua doesn't really understand."

"What do you know?" Yu Hongjin retorted. "You're so stupid, what could you possibly understand?"

Lihua blinked. "We're just as bad as each other."

Yu Hongjin couldn't be bothered to argue with it.

But when it came to intelligence, Lihua truly was no match for her.

When she stayed silent for a long moment, Lihua asked, "Why didn't that auntie believe what you said?"

Yu Hongjin said, "Because I look young. I don't look like someone who would do something bad."

"Then because Elder Sister Song looks older, that makes her someone who would do something bad?"

Yu Hongjin smacked her lips. "Of course not!"

Lihua blinked. "Then why? Why was Auntie Song so certain it was that sister's fault?"

Yu Hongjin froze, not knowing how to answer.

Lihua swished its tail. "You don't know either?"

Unable to answer, Yu Hongjin simply said, "Anyway, I'm the one who talked Elder Sister Song into drinking the wine."

"Lihua knows."

Lihua paused, then asked, "Does that make you a bad person?"

Yu Hongjin was taken aback. She lowered her head and gave a small hum. "Basically, I did something bad. Otherwise, Elder Sister Song wouldn't have been scolded, and she wouldn't have been misunderstood."

"Misunderstood?"

Lihua shook its head. "Ruyi told me that something like this shouldn't be called a misunderstanding."

Yu Hongjin looked at the cat. "Then what is it?"

Lihua thought for a moment. "It should be called prejudice."

The cat had genuinely learned a few things after all.

Lihua continued, "Ruyi gave me an example once. Suppose there are only three households in a village: A, B, and C. If Household A has something stolen, it must have been taken by either B or C. But because A is closer to B, they'll subconsciously assume C stole it and won't blame B. That is prejudice."

Yu Hongjin ought to have understood that, but after hearing Lihua's explanation, she actually felt a bit confused.

It all sounded like a jumbled mess.

Lihua thought about it and said, "Anyway, that's the logic. That's how Ruyi explained it to Lihua."

Yu Hongjin fell into deep thought, as if this matter were incredibly important.

Even so, a sense of guilt still weighed heavily on her heart.

Seeing how unhappy she looked, Lihua tried to console her. "It's fine. Chen the Good Man went looking for her, so Elder Sister Song will come back safely. Sister Yun will help explain things to Auntie Song for you, and Auntie Song will apologize to Elder Sister Song."

Yu Hongjin pursed her lips. She looked at Lihua and murmured, "Auntie Song, she..."

She hesitated, wanting to speak yet holding back.

Lihua asked, "What is it?"

Yu Hongjin said, "She might not apologize to Elder Sister Song."

Lihua didn't quite understand. "Why wouldn't she apologize? When you do something wrong, shouldn't you apologize?"

"When you do something wrong, you definitely should apologize."

Yu Hongjin paused, then added, "But many adults in this world are never wrong. They don't apologize to children."

Having spent years wandering the marketplace, she understood these truths better than anyone.

"Maybe they just don't know they did something wrong?"

"No."

Yu Hongjin shook her head. "They know. They just won't apologize."

Lihua fell into deep thought after hearing this, remaining silent for a long while.

Yet even if it thought about it forever, it probably still wouldn't understand why.

Because the people Lihua interacted with had never acted like the 'adults' Yu Hongjin described.

.

.

Song Bao sat on the bank of the Sheng River.

The night wind blew, setting her hair fluttering.

She hugged her knees, crying relentlessly.

Ever since she was young, she had never been very likable. People always made fun of her. When she got angry and tried to stick up for herself, it only invited her parents' displeasure, meaning no one ever stood up for her.

As she grew a bit older, she came to understand her parents' difficulties. She rarely made mistakes anymore, but that didn't seem to have changed anything.

Her mother's words today had truly broken her heart.

The darkness concealed her reddened eyes, and the rushing, babbling water of the river drowned out her sobs.

Song Bao raised her head, gazing up at the bright moon.

She just didn't understand why.

Her explanations were always so pale and powerless.

After a long while, her emotions gradually settled down.

Her expression, however, was somewhat vacant as she stared blankly at the river's surface.

Song Bao didn't know if she should go back.

A thought suddenly sprang into her mind: what if she just didn't return? Since she was so unlikable, what was the point of staying here? She might as well leave it all behind.

But just as she sat there in a daze.

A sudden, cold gust of spectral wind blew past.

"Whoosh..."

Song Bao shivered. Startled back to reality, her expression melted into a sudden trance.

The light in her eyes abruptly dimmed.

She stood up from the ground as a voice seemed to drift over from the river.

"Come quickly, come quickly, come..."

The voice echoed right beside Song Bao's ear.

Involuntarily, she stepped forward, walking straight toward the water.

At this moment, she had completely lost her senses.

"Splash, splash..."

Song Bao took step after step toward the river.

Even when her shoes stepped into the river, the freezing water failed to wake her.

She continued walking forward.

Step by step, the river gradually submerged her calves, rising all the way to her waist.

"Hehehe..."

A dark, sinister giggle drifted from the water.

"Come, come..."

The voice constantly bewitched Song Bao, urging her to keep walking.

But right at that moment.

A voice suddenly rang out from the shore.

"Song Bao!"

With that single shout, Song Bao—who was already waist-deep in the water—jolted awake.

She snapped out of her daze in shock, realizing she was standing right in the middle of the river.

"I..."

But immediately after, she suddenly felt something grab her ankle.

Her body completely out of her control, she was yanked down into the water.

Song Bao let out a cry of alarm as she tumbled into the river.

Chen Changsheng was taken aback. "A river ghost?"

He raised his hand, channeling a streak of golden Magical Power, and spoke: "I call upon the Heavenly Dao Incense Sword to slay ghosts and banish evil!"

As his words fell, the power of incense materialized into a sword, landing right in Chen Changsheng's hand.

Seeing this, the ghost in the river turned pale with fright.

"A City God?"

The river ghost hurriedly fled in panic, abandoning Song Bao.

Free from its grip, Song Bao floated to the surface. But since she didn't know how to swim, and having choked on several mouthfuls of water, she struggled to keep herself afloat.

Chen Changsheng paid no further mind to the river ghost. He quickly dove into the river and pulled Song Bao ashore.

"Song Bao? Song Bao?"

At this moment, Song Bao looked entirely vacant.

Chen Changsheng cast his gaze out, only to see Song Bao's soul standing there in the river, while her physical body remained on the bank.

She wasn't dead.

Rather, she had lost her soul—a condition the common folk often referred to as soul-loss.

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