Mortal Transformation into Immortal

He then walked around the town again, but unfortunately, he found nothing more.

To obtain even a single medicinal herb is already an extremely fortunate and rare occurrence.

Without lingering, after spending a hundred taels of silver to buy horses, Yu Ling headed along the official road towards Nanyang County.

Traveling by day and practicing meditation by night, the official road frequently passed through various towns, many of which had inns.

......

Five days later, at dawn.

On the simple official road, a figure rode out of the morning mist.

Yu Ling reined in his horse and stopped.

Silently gazing at the town by the river ahead, I realized that even after many years, the town remained unchanged.

He had arrived in Nanyang County. The town in front of him was called Huangliang Town. His father had taken him away from their hometown and worked here to support him. He also died of illness here.

He was only ten years old at the time. Because he had been bullied since childhood, he had little energy and looked sickly and frail. He was too thin to bring his father's body back. No one was willing to help him at the time, so he had no choice but to drag his father into the woods and bury him there.

Yu Ling jumped off the horse, tied it to the roadside, and walked into the town alone.

It's still too early; the people in town are still resting.

A few yellow dogs were running around everywhere.

Upon seeing people, it barked wildly.

The houses are still familiar, and the streets are still familiar.

Yu Ling found a shovel and a clean piece of linen, walked along the path, and finally arrived at a woodland outside the town.

There is a dilapidated house here, as simple as a cowshed, where he and his father used to live. No one lives here anymore, and it has now collapsed.

He came to a large tree not far away, looked at the ground covered with small stones, and said in a low voice, "Father, your son has become an immortal. Your son will take you back to your hometown now."

As he spoke, his eyes gradually welled up with tears, and the image of his father appeared in his mind.

Yu Ling squatted on the ground and moved the stones one by one.

Then the soil was removed with a shovel.

To prevent his father's body from being dug up and eaten by wild dogs, he dug a pit all night, buried his father very deep, and piled many stones around the soil.

The sky gradually brightened.

Yu Ling carefully shoveled and finally dug to a depth of three feet.

After a handful of soil slid down, burlap was revealed, and underneath were bones.

Fearing that he might damage the remains, Yu Ling put the shovel aside and used his hands to scoop up the dirt from the surface of his clothes.

Soon, a perfectly preserved skeleton gradually emerged from the pit.

"father."

Looking at the skeleton, Yu Ling's tears fell from her eyes.

He wiped away his tears and laughed, "Father, let me tell you, the method for seeking immortality that Grandpa obtained is real. I succeeded, I have spiritual bones, I am an immortal now, I have truly become an immortal, look."

As he spoke, he took out the magic sword, which floated in the air, and showed it to his father.

As they laughed, more tears fell onto the brown skeleton.

"Father, I'll take you back now."

Yu Ling spread the floral cloth beside her and picked out the bones one by one from the pit, placing them on it.

After tidying up, he carefully wrapped the remains, carried them on his back, and left.

The morning mist has dissipated, and wisps of smoke rise from the town.

A shepherd boy leads a yellow ox to graze on the edge of a field.

Some adults have already gone to the fields to plant rice seedlings.

Yu Ling, carrying the skeleton, missed them.

Seeing this young man wandering around these places so early in the morning, and dressed in a way that didn't seem like that of a farmer, some people stopped what they were doing and looked at him curiously.

After passing through alleys filled with the sounds of everyday family life, Yu Ling arrived at the edge of town, mounted his horse, and headed towards Wuhe Town.

Huangliang Town is more than 200 miles away from Wuhe Town.

The way back now is the same way his father carried him out.

......

the next day.

Outside a coffin shop in Wuhe Town.

A young boy on horseback stopped outside the door.

The shopkeepers are busy at work.

Upon seeing someone arrive, the shop owner immediately came out to greet them politely, saying, "Sir, please come in."

Yu Ling nodded and went inside.

More than ten coffins were neatly arranged in the shop.

"Sir, we have coffins made of pine, elm, nanmu, and cypress. Which type would you like?"

The shop owner inquired.

"It's made of pine, how much is it?"

"Twenty taels."

"OK."

Yu Ling said, "Now find a few people to help me carry it to Yujia Village. It must be delivered by noon. The cost will be extra."

"Okay, sir."

After choosing the coffin, Yu Ling paid the money and left with some incense, paper money, and other offerings.

"My mother loves to eat fish, meat buns, and steamed buns..."

Yu Ling bought some food, as well as a knife and a shovel, in the town.

It's less than seven miles from here to Yujia Village.

Next, we went along a mountain path.

The sound of horses' hooves clattered.

Half an hour later, a village appeared in the valley.

The area was bustling with activity, filled with the sounds of chickens and dogs.

Yujia Village has a total of over seventy households; the village is neither too big nor too small.

Yu Ling tied the horse to the roadside and carried his father's remains inside.

As the unfamiliar face entered, the villagers sized him up, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally.

Yu Ling didn't care. He was only seven years old when he left the village with his father, and now he doesn't have much of an impression of the people in the village. Even those who look familiar can't be called by name.

As I passed through a bamboo grove, I stopped in front of the old house.

The house was dilapidated and on the verge of collapse, and the yard was overgrown with weeds and filled with a rotten and unpleasant smell.

This is where he was born. Because his grandfather and father both ate insects, the villagers thought that his family must have been haunted by evil spirits, and they avoided them like the plague. After they left, no one went near the old house for fear of being tainted by bad luck.

Looking at this place, it was as if she could see her family living here. Yu Ling smiled slightly.

Then we continued walking forward.

He walked through the village and came to the ravine behind the mountain.

There are two graves standing here.

No one tends to the graves; they are overgrown with fragrant grass.

"Mother, Grandpa, Little Cicada is back, and Father is back too."

Yu Ling silently looked at the two graves, feeling a deep sense of unease.

"Mother, this is your favorite food. I brought you a lot. Eat as much as you want."

He came to his mother's grave, setting out food and murmuring to himself.

Although his mother had passed away more than ten years ago, Yu Ling still remembered her appearance clearly. She couldn't speak and was mostly insane, rarely lucid. But whether lucid or insane, she would protect him from being bullied by the other children in the village.

After paying respects to his mother, he went to another grave.

"Grandpa, I obtained the spirit bone, and I am now an immortal."

He set out offerings in front of his grandfather's grave.

He obtained this method of seeking immortality from an immortal only after kowtowing until his head bled.

After the memorial service, Yu Ling picked up a knife and cut down all the weeds and shrubs on the two graves.

After clearing the area, we took a shovel and dug a grave in the middle, where we buried my father.

After he finished packing, he looked towards the village entrance, where the people who had delivered the coffin had already arrived.

So they headed towards the village entrance.

"Whose family bought the coffin?"

"I haven't heard of it."

"have no idea."

The villagers gathered there to look at it.

"Hey bro, you're here."

A middle-aged man carrying a coffin saw Yu Ling arrive and immediately stepped forward to speak.

"Please help me carry the coffin up the mountain."

"Alright, buddy, lead the way."

The money had been paid, and the crowd lifted the coffin and followed him.

I was just a little confused as to why we had to carry it up the mountain now.

"Who is this young man?"

"A relative of someone in the village?"

"It should be from the next village."

"What are you trying to do?"

The people of Yujia Village were very puzzled as to why they were carrying a new coffin up the mountain.

Yu Ling led the way.

Within fifteen minutes, the group had delivered the coffin to the cemetery.

"Thank you for your hard work," Yu Ling said, bowing with his hands clasped in thanks.

"Young man, we're leaving."

After placing the coffin as instructed, everyone left.

Yu Ling then carefully placed her father's remains in the coffin.

"This is the Yu Yang family cemetery; those two graves have been cleared away."

"Could he be that kid from Yu Yang's family?"

"It should be. Judging by the timeline, that child should be about this age by now."

"Is her name Yu Ling?"

"That's right, back then all the kids in the village called him 'Stinkbug'."

People from Yujia Village came to watch the spectacle from afar. When they saw the coffin being carried here, they guessed Yu Ling's identity.

His father's name was Yu Yang.

"Is that Yu Yang?"

Everyone was quite surprised to see Yu Ling take the skeleton out of the package and put it inside.

"It must be something that was brought back and buried here."

"I never expected him to die too, just like his father, his life was short."

"Sigh, this family must have been cursed in the mountains. They've developed a taste for eating insects. No wonder they're not going to live long."

"Let's go, let's go, this family is full of freaks, be careful not to catch bad luck."

The villagers who had been watching gradually left.

They are superstitious about this and fear becoming insect-eating monsters like this family.

After placing the remains in the coffin, Yu Ling closed it and then buried them with soil.

Half an hour later, a new grave appeared in the cemetery.

After finishing her work, Yu Ling threw the shovel aside, sat on the ground, and silently looked at the three graves in front of her.