My Simulated Road to Immortality

As Li Fan was deep in thought, a slightly overweight young man approached him from not too far away.

The young man patted Li Fan’s shoulder, rather presumptuously, “Brother, you seem unfamiliar. I wonder what position you hold in Da Li? Or, are perhaps some wealthy merchant from another state?”

Li Fan flicked off the young man’s hand from his shoulder, then coldly stared at him without uttering a word.

The stout young man immediately felt as if he was being watched by a venomous snake, a chill running up his spine.

Although he felt somewhat embarrassed to be intimidated by a mere stare, the stout young man recognized that Li Fan, whom seemed rather ordinary, possessed a commanding aura that was suggestive of a person accustomed to high-ranking status.

Definitely not an average individual!

The stout young man quickly came to this conclusion and wisely made his departure.

Observing this, others realized that Li Fan was not one to be trifled with, and so, no one else attempted to strike up a conversation with him thereafter. Under the flickering lamplight, voices gradually diminished until everyone fell asleep for the night.

Not a word was spoken that night.

The next day, before dawn, everyone was awakened.

A middle-aged man with a long beard, dressed in a blue robe, hands clasped behind his back, walked up to the group.

“Soon, I will take you to register,” the middle-aged man scanned the crowd, his voice cold, “once you have registered, you will officially become residents of Liuli Island.”

Upon hearing these words, excitement was written all over everyone’s faces.

“Remember, watch your words. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your safety.” The man squinted his eyes, adding a warning.

Everyone understood that their venture was not something to be openly discussed, and they all nodded in response.

Afterwards, under the command of the middle-aged man, they all changed into ragged clothing.

They were then taught a script to recite uniformly.

“You are all inhabitants of Dayu Island, in the west. Due to a storm, your island was destroyed, and so you fled here for refuge. If anyone asks, this is what you will tell them.”

Everyone unreservedly consented.

Afterwards, led by the middle-aged man, everybody left the cave through a secret passage under the watchful eyes of four or five men in black, emerging on the surface.

After winding around for a while in the residential area of the city, they finally arrived at a manor.

Li Fan noticed that, although their group was fairly sizable, most of the island’s inhabitants only gave them a casual glance before losing interest, apparently already used to such sights.

They didn’t enter through the main entrance of the manor. The doorkeeper returned soon after he went in to pass a message, leading them through a side door on the left and into a large hall.

The hall was quite spacious. Even before Li Fan and his group arrived, it had already gathered a few other groups, amounting to a hundred or so people.

Even so, it didn’t feel crowded.

The middle-aged man signaled the crowd to wait patiently.

Soon, it was their turn.

“Manager Zhao!” The middle-aged man greeted.

“Are these all refugees here for registration?” Manager Zhao, who seemed to be in his fifties or sixties and appeared quite elderly, had an exceptionally sharp gaze. He scanned the crowd, then said sarcastically: “Sun Zhang, these refugees all seem quite well to do!”

Sun Zhang did not panic, but sighed, “Indeed. They were all once prosperous families on Dayu Island. Unfortunately, without the protection of an Immortal Teacher, they were hit by a natural calamity, and all their wealth and splendor vanished. Now, they have no choice but to travel far to our Liuli Island for refuge. ”

Having said that, Sun Zhang discreetly handed something to Manager Zhao.

Manager Zhao glanced over it, accepted it, and then sighed, “In recent days, disastrous storms wreaked havoc, even affecting our Liuli Island. The western islands suffered even more, with more than two hundred islands said to have been leveled, countless mortals lost their lives to the sea.”

“Thankfully, the Immortal Teacher bestowed mercy, allowing us to provide aid to the refugees. Tianbao Building is doing excellent work on behalf of us. Rest assured, I will report your labors to the island master. When the Immortal

Teacher rewards us, you will certainly receive your share.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Zhang was overjoyed and continued to heap praises.

Meanwhile, Manager Zhao processed the registration for the crowd as he listened.

It wasn’t long before it was Li Fan’s turn. Manager Zhao looked at Li Fan and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“What’s your name?” Manager Zhao asked.

“Li Fan.” Li Fan answered honestly.

“Come, drip a drop of your blood on this.” Manager Zhao smoothly penned the characters ‘Li Fan’ onto a rectangular object that looked like jade but wasn’t, and paper but wasn’t, then handed it over.

Li Fan pricked his finger and dripped his blood onto it.

Then, the blood seemed to possess some kind of spiritual property, seeping into the characters ‘Li Fan’ on its own accord.

“Keep this spirit symbol well, it will serve as your identity proof in the future. Matters big or small within the island – procuring work, distribution of food, checks, etc. – all require you to present this spirit symbol. You must not lose it.” Clearly more amiable with Li Fan than the others, Manager Zhao instructed explicitly.

This caused many in the crowd, including Sun Zhang, to look sideways at the situation.

Li Fan, oblivious to what Manager Zhao might have observed about him, kept his gratitude to a minimum. After nodding, he pocketed the spirit symbol and walked to one side.

The distribution of registration was highly efficient, and in no time, everyone in the group received their citizenship of Liuli Island.

Everyone looked thrilled.

After leaving the place, instead of returning to the previous cave, they were led by Sun Zhang to a large courtyard of a house.

“Now that we have the citizenship, we can sign the contract, right?” Sun Zhang spoke to Su Changyu from among the crowd.

Su Changyu carefully took out a thin piece of paper from his bosom, punctured his finger, and gravely wrote his name down in blood.

Once he finished, the paper ignited on its own without fire, becoming whiff of blue smoke that drifted off to god knows where.

After the burning, only a small piece of the contract remained.

“As the saying goes, we “make three contracts and then put an end to it”. Once we are fully settled, I will sign the final contract as agreed,” Su Changyu stated assertively.

“Hmph, dealing with you guys from Li realm is such a hassle. If it weren’t for .

the immortal teacher, we at Tianbao Building would not bother doing such a loss-making business,” Sun Zhang scoffed, clearly discontented.

However, he didn’t say anything else thereafter and began to inform everyone of the points they needed to be aware of while living on the island.

“Any resident of Liuli Island can claim a dwelling with their spirit symbol of citizenship. Even though it’s just a place in the remote north of the island, at least there is a place to take shelter from wind and rain. Besides, in the first year of citizenship, they could receive a certain amount of free grains each month. Of course, if you are accustomed to exotic delicacies and can’t bear the taste of this free relief food, you can also go around the island feasting at your own expense.”

After Sun Zhang had said a lot and his mouth and tongue were dry, he paused for a break. Suddenly, he heard Su Changyu asking him a question.

“If we want to cultivate, how should we go about it?”

This was exactly what Li Fan was concerned about, so he immediately pricked up his ears to listen carefully..