Traveling through countless heavens, an immortal being

Red flowers bloom, willows droop, orioles sing, people stroll along the lakeside amidst fresh mud, swallows return in pairs to the eaves, orioles are hidden in the lush greenery, and an old fisherman, wearing a straw raincoat and hat, leisurely fishes west of the bridge.

The mountains and rivers are beautiful, with a light rain and a thin mist still lingering on the riverbank. Washing girls pick lotus pods and playfully tease each other. Where are the houses? A rooster crows from beyond the clouds.

…………

During the Qingming Festival, a light rain falls, the distant mountains are lush and green, and the lakes are light green. Butterflies and bees flit about in the mountains and by the lakes, gathering nectar. Birds love the spring scenery and sing in unison, as if competing to see who has the best voice. Wisps of smoke rise from Hangzhou and blend into the thin mist, making this city with its many waterways look like a painting.

Such a watery land truly lives up to its reputation as the Jiangnan landscape so highly praised in poetry...

……

On the Broken Bridge of West Lake, Xu Xian, who had just finished sweeping the ancestral graves and was on his way back to his sister's house, was holding an old umbrella and carrying a food box. He was about to cross the bridge when he noticed a golden hairpin with a pearl in its mouth lying on a blue stone. He bent down, picked it up, and looked around. He saw that the pedestrians on the bridge were all in a hurry. He stood in the middle of the bridge, holding up the hairpin and shouting.

"Who dropped this jewelry? Has anyone dropped jewelry? If no one comes to claim it, I'll take it to the authorities!"

The Green Snake and White Snake, hidden in the shadows, saw Xu Xian holding an umbrella in one hand, carrying a food box in the other, raising a golden hairpin, and wearing a faded blue robe. They couldn't help but cover their faces and laugh.

"Hehe~ Sister, is this your benefactor? He looks rather dull and is dressed rather shabbily."

"Qing'er, don't laugh at him. Young Master Xu is just poor, but he is a good person."

"Okay~ my dear sister, have you thought about how you want to repay my kindness?"

"After I took human form, I heard some stories of spirits repaying kindness in the school and the marketplace. When I first met Young Master Xu, his clothes were old but not dirty. I suppose his family must be poor but not lacking in food and clothing. I need to think carefully about how to repay him."

"Sister! Stop thinking about it. I think that young master Xu is about to leave with the gold hairpin in his hand."

"Ah, young master, that hairpin was dropped by my sister and me!"

…………

The group of Lear, who were also invisible, couldn't help but discuss the scene of Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing appearing to chase after Xu Xian.

…………

"I thought the actress who played Bai Suzhen in the TV series 'The Legend of the White Snake' was already very beautiful, but I never expected to see her in person and find her to be even more beautiful than in the TV series," Pang Bo said, holding a red gourd with a lovesick expression.

"Hey bro, no matter how beautiful she is, she's still a demon. Humans and demons are different," Ye Fan, holding a dragon-headed cane, couldn't help but remind his brother to face reality.

"Hehe, I just mean she's pretty," Pang Bo grinned foolishly, showing his big teeth.

Ye Fan rolled his eyes and inadvertently spotted an old monk in the crowd wearing a bright red kasaya, leaning on a tin staff in one hand and holding a golden alms bowl in the other. He whispered to Li Er, "Master, Fahai has also appeared."

Li Er nodded and saw that the golden bowl held by the old monk had a restrained radiance and a profound Buddhist aura. He knew that Fahai had come to stop the White Snake and Xu Xian from meeting. So he asked Pang Bo to invite Fahai to come closer for a chat. Pang Bo went with the red gourd in his hands...

……

When Fahai heard Pang Bo say that his ancestor had invited him to an audience, he initially thought it was some wandering deity or a hermit from some mountain, and was about to refuse when a great fear gripped him, as if refusing would be going against the will of Heaven.

Fahai then temporarily put the green and white snake demon aside. With a shallow probe of his magic power, he discovered that the Taoist boy in front of him was an Earth Immortal. He was surprised, thinking that if an Earth Immortal was used as a Taoist boy, how high must their ancestor's Taoist cultivation be?

Fahai thought to himself that he had no choice but to go, and while calming himself down, he asked Pang Bo to lead the way to see Lear.

……

They walked through flowers and willows and across stone bridges until Fahai followed Pang Bo to Lear's side. Only then did Fahai realize that there was someone there. Upon closer inspection, he saw an old Taoist priest with gray hair and beard, wearing a Taiqing fish-tail crown, a purple robe with wide sleeves, holding a green banana leaf fan, and wearing cloud-patterned shoes. He was riding on the back of a green ox that was chewing grass with its head down. To the left of the old Taoist priest stood a neatly dressed Taoist boy with a dragon-headed cane. Like the Taoist boy who had invited him and was carrying a gourd, the old Taoist priest was at the Earth Immortal realm.

Fahai was an Arhat reincarnated, so he had naturally seen the gods of Heaven. The more he looked at the old Taoist, the more he felt that he resembled Laozi, the Supreme Lord of Heaven. Although no magical power could be seen emanating from the old Taoist, just his appearance—white hair, youthful face, riding an ox, and holding a fan—would probably make ordinary people bow down and call him a god...

……

Although Fahai showed no mercy to demons, he was not hostile to humans. However, he had just been observing the Green and White Snakes to prevent them from harming people when the old Taoist priest invited him. The Green and White Snakes disappeared into the crowd. From this, Fahai deduced that the old Taoist priest probably had a close relationship with the demon...

"Let's give him a try first," Fahai thought to himself, but showed no sign of it on his face.

Fahai remained calm and approached Lear. "Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, this humble monk Fahai, abbot of Jinshan Temple, greets the True Man. May I ask what teachings the True Man has for me?"

Li Er, fanning himself, replied, "Zen Master Fahai, I am honored to meet you. I was traveling through Hangzhou with two young servants when we came across this beautiful place and stopped to admire it. We happened to meet you here, so I had my servants invite you to come and ask if there are any places to visit around Hangzhou?"

Upon hearing this, Fahai chanted the Buddha's name again, "Namo Shakyamuni Buddha. Since you have asked this question, I will answer it sincerely. If we talk about the scenery of Hangzhou, one is West Lake and the other is the Qiantang River tide. Unfortunately, the spring tide has passed, the summer tide has not yet arrived, and the winter tide is still far away. You have come at an inopportune time, so you can only take a look at the scenery of West Lake."

Ye Fan had seen many such things when he was on Earth, going to school and working. He knew immediately that the old monk was implying something, meaning "you shouldn't meddle in other people's business." Ye Fan could understand this, and Lear was certainly aware of the hidden meaning in Fahai's words.

Lear continued to calmly fan himself with his banana leaf fan. "I cannot agree with the Zen Master's words. Although the spring tide has passed, we should wait for the summer tide. If the summer tide passes, we should wait for the winter tide. Now is the perfect time to wait. What do you think, Zen Master?"

Fahai knew immediately that the old Taoist understood his meaning, but he was unwilling to leave. It seemed that they would have to fight again in the future. Fahai said a few more words to Lear before taking his leave.

He needed to find Elder Lingkong of Buddhism and inform Li Hanling, the leader of Taoism in the human world, about this unexpected turn of events. Although Fahai possessed the golden bowl, staff, and robe bestowed by the Buddha, the Taoists were still causing them headaches. The other side hadn't done anything wrong, and he couldn't overstep his bounds and damage the harmony between Buddhism and Taoism...

…………

How powerful was Lear's divine sense? Lear knew every single thought of Fahai. When he heard that Fahai wanted to find the Taoist leader, Master Zixia, Li Hanling, to subdue him, Lear was so angry that he laughed.

It's truly like a carp trying to swallow a dragon, its body too small to grasp the imaginary dream.

If Li Hanling were to come and dare to make a move, Lear could instantly strip him of his divine rank and immortal title by unleashing the Investiture of the Gods, reducing him to a mortal. Fahai has probably miscalculated...

Lear didn't want to cause trouble for Fahai, but he didn't expect that the old Fahai was so obsessed with subduing demons that even asking him to say a few words made him think that Lear was related to the snake demon. Since Fahai is blind to the truth, then the following plot will have to be changed...

As Lear was thinking, a disheveled monk appeared on the path, dressed in a tattered patchwork robe, wearing a broken monk's hat, and wearing worn-out straw sandals. He held a broken palm-leaf fan in one hand and a wine gourd in the other.

He staggered along, his face flushed from drinking, still holding up his gourd to drink. When he was about to reach Lear, Ye Fan held his dragon-headed cane horizontally to block him.

"Hey monk! How can a monk drink alcohol? Go somewhere else."

Upon hearing this, the slovenly monk let out a drunken hiccup. "Hiccup~ Oh, strange thing. I've been a monk for many years and have seen many young Taoist boys, but a Taoist boy of your age who looks so vulgar and ugly, hiccup~ this is the first time I've ever seen one."

In fact, Ye Fan's foundation was not bad. He drank the water poured out of the red gourd in the Immortal Realm of Shrouding the Heavens, and obtained the body of an Earth Immortal after listening to Li Er and the Great Emperor Wushi discuss the Dao. His appearance was also extraordinary. If he was not as handsome as Pan An or Song Yu, he was still a handsome man with red lips, white teeth and a face like jade. How could he be as vulgar as this slovenly monk said?

Even Pang Bo, an ordinary man with only decent features, became an Earth Immortal after drinking the spiritual liquid. Although his appearance was not as stunningly handsome as Ye Fan, he was still a handsome man among men.

Seeing that his brother's politeness was being ignored by the slovenly monk who was even cursing him, Pang Bo, holding his red gourd, stood next to Ye Fan and cursed back.

"You slovenly monk! You're disheveled and reek of alcohol, yet you dare to curse my brother! Don't you know that harsh words can wound like a cold winter's day? Judging by your unkempt hair and unkempt face, you must be a wild monk without a certificate or temple! You're so ill-mannered because you have no teacher to discipline you!"

Upon hearing Pang Bo's words, the monk who was drinking wine suddenly noticed the red gourd in his hand and his eyes lit up. "This wine gourd is wonderful! Please give it to this humble monk!" he said, reaching out his dirty hand to grab it.

Pang Bo quickly stepped back and looked at Li Er, "Master, you must do justice for the children!"

Li Er looked up and saw the disheveled monk trying to grab the red gourd from Ye Fan's dragon-headed cane. He frowned and said "Freeze!" The disheveled monk was immediately frozen in place, standing on one foot, as if dancing with a fan and flying pearls.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo couldn't help but laugh when they saw his comical appearance.

"Hahahaha, Yezi, look at this slovenly monk, all bared and waving his arms!"

"Pfft, hahaha, Pang Bo... stop laughing just yet, hahaha."

……

Li Er let them laugh, and waving his banana leaf fan, he said to the disheveled monk who was frozen in place, "Li Xiuyuan, Ji Gong, the Arhat who subdues dragons."

The disheveled monk, frozen in place, sensed something was wrong when Lear called his name. He wanted to beg for mercy but couldn't open his mouth, so he could only signal with his eyes.

"Your habit of reaching for whatever you fancy is not good. I'll send you to Mount Ling to cultivate in seclusion for a while. You can come down the mountain when you've corrected this habit."

After saying this, Lear pretended not to see the palpable plea for mercy in Ji Gong's eyes, who was frozen in place. He raised his banana leaf fan and fanned him three times, and a whirlwind swept Ji Gong into the sky and sent him to Mount Ling...

Ye Fan and Pang Bo could no longer laugh when they saw Ji Gong being swept away to Mount Ling by a whirlwind.

The two brothers looked at each other in disbelief. Wow, this trip has really broadened their horizons.

"Is that Ji Gong?"

"Yes, that's Ji Gong."

"Was he blown back to Mount Ling by the Patriarch using the banana leaf fan?"

Yes, that's right.

"He just tried to steal the patriarch's gourd!"

"Yes, a robber."

"Then everything's alright," Ye Fan and Pang Bo said in unison, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Come with me to Xu Xian's house. Ox, let's go."

"Yes, sir."

Lear instructed the green ox to ride the clouds into the sky, while the two boys, Ye and Pang, holding staffs and gourds, also stood on the clouds. The group soared into the sky and headed towards Xu Xian's home...