I am a fairy in Journey to the West

Inside the cave, the stall owner came to the center of the cave hall and saw an old man with white hair and beard sitting in front of him, dressed in a plain long robe.

The old man was enveloped in a faint divine light. He opened his eyes and looked at the stall owner, asking, "How many bowls did you sell today?"

The stall owner knelt on the ground and laughed, "Thanks to the old immortal's blessing, I sold more than two hundred bowls today and earned a whole string of cash."

"Very well." The old man stroked his beard and smiled. "Then you must be quite wealthy by now, right?"

The stall owner said, "Thanks to the old immortal, I bought a house in Chang'an City just ten days ago, and my parents and wife have already moved in."

"Very good, very good." The old man said "Very good" three times, and said, "In that case, you can offer your tribute today and exchange it for the immortal ginseng."

The stall owner's face lit up with joy, and he quickly replied, "Yes, that's exactly why I came here."

After saying this, the stall owner stretched out his hands, palms down, and placed them on a square stone in front of the old man.

Suddenly, a red light shone on the stone, and the stall owner shuddered, his face turned pale, and he felt weak all over, collapsing to the ground in a cold sweat.

In that instant, the old man's complexion became rosy and his face radiant.

About fifteen minutes later, the stall owner recovered some of his strength and slowly sat up from the ground.

Then the old man took out a ginseng root shimmering with spiritual light from his sleeve and handed it over. Although it was just a ginseng root, it was as thick as a baby's arm.

The stall owner quickly took the ginseng rootlets and bowed to the old man, saying, "Thank you, old immortal."

The old man waved his hand and said, "Go on, come back when you've used up the ginseng root."

"Yes." The stall owner bowed in thanks again, then got up and staggered out of the cave.

After the stall owner left, the old man raised his hand and waved a divine light to close the cave door.

But just as the cave door was closing, the old man heard a dull thud, as if something was blocking the stone door.

The old man immediately realized the danger and stood up. Just as he was about to make a move, a figure appeared in the cave with a gust of wind.

Without saying a word, the old man raised his hand and cast a 'Suppressing Earth Technique'. With a loud bang, an earthen tower appeared out of thin air, directly suppressing Li Zhicheng to the ground.

Only Li Zhicheng's head was sticking out, with blood gushing from his mouth.

"Old Li!" Zhang Xianzong exclaimed as he entered, then raised his hand and unleashed the 'Seven Killing Divine Stele'. The Seven Killing Divine Stele burst through the air, shattering the earthen tower, and then, with its remaining force, struck the old man, sending him flying.

The old man groaned, his once ruddy complexion instantly turning pale. He was greatly surprised and hurriedly formed a hand seal, shouting, "Escape!"

In an instant, the soil beneath his feet churned, and the old man vanished underground, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Xianzong didn't chase after the old man, but turned back to Li Zhicheng and asked, "Old Li, how are you?"

Li Zhicheng groaned a few times, then said to Zhang Xianzong, "I feel like I've been flattened."

Zhang Xianzong quickly reached out and touched Li Zhicheng's body, then laughed and said, "He's not flat, he's wearing armor."

"Oh." Upon hearing this, Li Zhicheng immediately felt less pain and immediately tried to get up by pushing himself up with his hands.

But to his surprise, just as he finished the movement, several cracking sounds came from his body, and Li Zhicheng screamed and fell to the ground again.

"Didn't you say you were fine?" Li Zhicheng roared, "It hurts like hell!"

Zhang Xianzong said, "I said you didn't beat me up, I didn't say you were alright! Are you deaf?"

"Fuck your grandpa," Li Zhicheng cursed. "Light a cigarette for your dad."

"Idiot." Zhang Xianzong cursed as well, then took out a cigarette, put it in Li Zhicheng's mouth, and lit it for him.

Li Zhicheng took a deep drag of his cigarette, and after exhaling a cloud of smoke, said contentedly, "That feels good."

After saying that, Li Zhicheng said to Zhang Xianzong, "I can't leave now, and it will take a long time for me to recover. Go back and report to His Majesty. I will wait here."

Zhang Xianzong, however, was somewhat worried and said, "What if that guy comes back again?"

Li Zhicheng said, "Help me sit up."

Zhang Xianzong then helped Li Zhicheng sit up cross-legged. Li Zhicheng, with a cigarette in his mouth, forcefully took a healing pill from his broken arm and put it in his mouth. After a moment, he said, "Alright, you can go now. If that guy dares to come back, I'll kill him."

Zhang Xianzong looked at Li Zhicheng with a skeptical expression and asked, "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"You're better than me, so get lost," Li Zhicheng said with a disdainful look.

Zhang Xianzong scoffed, stood up, and said, "Then you can wait for me to come back and collect your corpse."

Having said that, Zhang Xianzong did not hesitate any longer. He immediately got up and left the cave. When he arrived outside the cave, he suddenly stopped and then released the Seven Killing Divine Stele, which shattered the stone door of the cave before he went down the mountain.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn after Zhang Xianzong left, Li Zhicheng, who was sitting cross-legged healing his wounds, suddenly felt the ground inside the cave shaking slightly.

He immediately opened his eyes, and the next moment a figure burst out of the ground, followed by more than a hundred white tendrils that instantly wrapped around Li Zhicheng.

Li Zhicheng's eyes sharpened, and when he looked up, he saw the old man who had fled earlier.

"I didn't expect you to actually dare to come back," Li Zhicheng said with a smile.

The old man smiled and said, "I didn't leave."

"Oh? You didn't leave? No way, I didn't even sense your aura. Are you just being stubborn and arguing for the sake of saving face?" Li Zhicheng said.

The old man chuckled and looked at Li Zhicheng, saying, "Don't try to trick me into telling you anything. You can't fathom my methods."

"Alright," Li Zhicheng said, "Now that you've seen through me, what are you going to do with me?"

The old man walked up to Li Zhicheng, stared at him, and asked, "We don't seem to have met before, have we?"

“No, we’ve never met, and we have no grudges against each other,” Li Zhicheng said.

"Since you have no enmity with me, why did you force your way into my cave? By the way, you must have come here with that mortal, right? What is your purpose?" the old man asked.

Li Zhicheng said, "I'll answer that question later. First, let's talk about how to address each other."

The old man said, "Tell me about yourself first." Li Zhicheng laughed and said, "You should go first. I'm afraid what I say will scare you."

"Hahahaha." The old man laughed loudly, "I have lived for tens of thousands of years and have never been frightened by anyone. Tell me, let me see what your background is."

“Alright.” Li Zhicheng nodded, then said solemnly, “I am Li Zhicheng, the Divine General of the Jade Palace of the Mortal Realm!”

In an instant, the old man's pupils contracted, and he looked at Li Zhicheng, saying, "Are you from the Dust Realm Jade Palace?"

"What? You don't believe me?" Li Zhicheng laughed.

The old man looked Li Zhicheng up and down, left and right, carefully, then shook his head and said, "I don't believe it. How could someone from the Dust Realm Jade Palace come to the Southern Continent? And even follow a mortal to spy on my cave."

Li Zhicheng said, "How could a mortal have ginseng that is over three thousand years old? Could it be that he has been bewitched by evil spirits? As a divine general, I naturally have to investigate this matter."

"Nonsense!" the old man shouted. "I am an immortal! Not some demon or evil spirit."

Li Zhicheng's eyes lit up, and he said, "Sure enough, you gave him that mortal's ginseng."

The old man sneered, "So what if you are? Don't say I don't know if you are really the Divine General Zhechong. Even if you are, this is the Southern Continent. Even if I kill you, who will know?"

"Heaven and earth know," Li Zhicheng said. "Do you think the government doesn't exist?"

The old man said, "Then I will bind your soul, so that you will never be free."

"You're really ruthless, old man," a voice came from behind the old man. The old man's hair stood on end instantly. With a loud bang and dust flying everywhere, the old man was directly suppressed to the ground by the Seven Killing Divine Stele.

'puff'

The old man spat out a mouthful of blood essence, but as soon as it left his mouth, it transformed into an incomparably pure celestial energy and then dissipated into the air.

The old man, his face deathly pale, looked at Zhang Xianzong and said, "Didn't you leave?"

Zhang Xianzong clapped his hands and said with a smile, "If I hadn't left, why would you have come back?"

The old man immediately realized that he had fallen into the trap set by the two men. Even though he had already escaped, he still returned with a glimmer of hope to find out what had happened.

At this moment, Li Zhicheng unleashed the "True Technique of Breaking Through," and his body instantly erupted with an unstoppable force, directly smashing all the tendrils that were binding him, and he himself was freed at this moment.

Upon seeing this, the old man realized something was wrong and immediately used his magic, shouting the word "escape".

But Zhang Xianzong wouldn't let him have his way. With a thought, Zhang Xianzong caused the Seven Killings Divine Stele to fall down and press down again. Before the old man could even use his escape technique, he was knocked unconscious by the Seven Killings Divine Stele.

"He's supposed to be an immortal, yet even my Seven Killings Divine Stele couldn't withstand him." Zhang Xianzong muttered, then put away the Seven Killings Divine Stele, stepped forward to tie up the old man, and then, together with Li Zhicheng, led the old man down the mountain.

Outside Chang'an City, Zhang Xianzong and Li Zhicheng brought the old man to Zhuang Yan.

Zhuang Yan said to the two men, "Wake him up. You can question him, but don't reveal my identity. We can't let the gods and immortals of Nanzhanbuzhou know that I've come."

"Yes." Zhang Xianzong and Li Zhicheng acknowledged the order and then stepped forward to wake the old man.

When the old man awoke, he found himself no longer in his cave, but in a dilapidated thatched hut.

Zhuang Yan sat on an old bamboo chair, his gaze not on the old man, but the old man noticed Zhuang Yan immediately.

"Who exactly are you? I have no grudge against you, so what is the reason for your actions today?" the old man asked, trying to calm himself down.

Zhang Xianzong pulled out a golden knife and held it to the old man's neck, grinning maliciously, "Do you recognize this knife?"

The old man looked down and his expression changed drastically after a moment. "Fiery Thunder Blade? You are really the divine generals of the General's Office?"

Nine-Layer Golden Helmet, Ten-Thousand-Tough Divine Armor, and Fiery Thunder Blade—these are the standard equipment of the Heavenly Court. However, most of the heavenly soldiers and generals of the Great Luo Heaven possess their own supernatural powers and treasures, so they do not need this standard equipment.

Therefore, these standard equipment are actually widely available in the major divine palaces of the human world, and are very common on the bodies of righteous gods and divine generals.

Zhang Xianzong said, "Do you believe me now? Tell me, why did you give ginseng to ordinary people? Aren't you bewitching the masses?"

The old man's expression changed several times before he said, "Was I wrong to give them ginseng?"

Li Zhicheng said, "That's right, but I saw that mortal burn incense and kowtow to you. He looked great when he went in, but when he came out, his energy and spirit had diminished by half! Tell me, were you absorbing the essence of a mortal to nourish yourself?"

The old man hurriedly replied, "Absolutely not!"

"That's just sophistry. You attacked us without even asking any questions when we entered the cave. Isn't that just a guilty conscience?"

"If you don't tell the truth, I'll test the edge of this Fiery Thunder Blade on you!"

As he spoke, Zhang Xianzong pressed the blade lightly, and a scorching wound instantly appeared on the old man's neck. Blood gushed out immediately and then dissipated as immortal energy.

The old man felt a chill run down his spine, and a sharp pain shot through the wound on his neck. His face was filled with fear, and he hurriedly said, "General, wait! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

Zhang Xianzong shouted, "Then speak quickly!"

The old man said, “I was originally a ginseng king in the Huoshan Medicinal Garden. Because I absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon, I was born with intelligence and cultivated to attain the Dao. However, I was unwilling to accept that my kind were eventually dug up to refine pills and make medicine to add years and increase the power of immortals. So I took advantage of the lax management of the medicinal garden and escaped. I have been hiding here ever since.”

"Oh? So you're an old ginseng king! So the ginseng rootlets you gave that mortal were taken from your own body?" Li Zhicheng asked.

The old ginseng king nodded repeatedly, "That's right, that's right."

"Then why did the stall owner's energy and spirit decline so much after he left your cave?" Zhang Xianzong asked.

The old ginseng king said, "That was a deal between me and him. I dare not show my face in public and go out to find a good place to take root, so I can only absorb the blood and essence of these mortals to nourish myself. The ginseng rootlets are my reward. It was a deal between us!"

"Hmph." Zhang Xianzong sneered, then asked, "Why don't you dare show your face in public? And why did you attack us as soon as you saw us? You clearly have something to hide!"

"I wouldn't dare," said the old ginseng king. "That's entirely because I'm wanted by the Southern Mountain God's Palace. If you two gods don't believe me, you can check at the local land god temple, mountain god temple, water god temple, and city god temple. There will definitely be a warrant for my arrest."

"Wanted?" Zhang Xianzong and Li Zhicheng exchanged a glance, then asked, "Why would the Southern Mountain Divine Palace issue a warrant for your arrest? Just because you escaped from the medicine garden?"

The old ginseng king sighed and said, "That Huoshan herb garden is no ordinary herb garden. It is the herb garden of the Huoshan Mountain God, who is none other than the son of the Great Emperor of the Southern Mountain, 'Marquis Anlu'. All the immortal herbs in the Huoshan herb garden were collected from various immortal mountains and blessed lands in the Southern Continent. Their purpose is to refine elixirs for the civil and military immortal officials and gods under the Southern Mountain God Palace to eliminate disasters, add blessings and increase merits."

After the old ginseng king finished speaking, he immediately pleaded with Zhang Xianzong and Li Zhicheng, "I beg the three gods to have mercy and spare this humble immortal. From now on, this humble immortal is willing to offer the three gods top-grade ginseng treasures every year."

After speaking, the old ginseng king kowtowed three times, then looked up at Li Zhicheng, Zhang Xianzong, and Zhuang Yan. (End of Chapter)