IFIWMWMAE Chapter 5: Immortal Lord Zezhou Favors Me

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Immortal Lord Zezhou told me we would talk about it later, but I waited an entire year, and "later" never came. He kept me by his side, like raising a beautiful pet—completely useless.

However, he gave me many medicinal pills to take every day, saying they were meant to stabilize my soul.

The pills were incredibly bitter and unbearably large. I forced myself to swallow them, one bite at a time, often choking to the point of tears.

Day after day, I consumed these pills, but I felt no improvement. Instead, my stomach often felt bloated, and my head occasionally ached.

But I didn’t dare stop. I was afraid Immortal Lord Zezhou would abandon me, afraid that he would see me as a burden.

Immortal Lord Zezhou treated me well. Once, he caught Lu Yan bullying me, reprimanded him, and punished him by making him clean the library pavilion.

A few days later, while Immortal Lord Zezhou was away, Lu Yan gathered a group of people to take revenge. They forced me to drink filthy water from the pool, trampled me underfoot, and cursed me to my face.

Half of my face was submerged in the dirty water, while the other half was crushed under Lu Yan’s foot. The filth stung my eyes painfully.

But I didn’t cry. In that moment, for some reason, I suddenly thought of Xie Lin.

He had been worried that I wouldn’t have enough to eat at Qingxu Sect and had told Immortal Lord Zezhou that I needed four or five dishes per meal.

Now, I could eat my fill, but I was constantly bullied. Every beating hurt so much—sometimes, it was so painful that I couldn’t even breathe and coughed up blood.

With my tear-filled eyes, I wondered: why did Xie Lin’s bullying feel so gentle in comparison?

Lu Yan crouched down, pinched my chin, and threatened me not to tell Immortal Lord Zezhou. Otherwise, next time, he would throw me into the snake pit behind the mountain.

Of course, I didn’t tell Immortal Lord Zezhou. I was afraid he would think I was troublesome and grow tired of me.

But I couldn’t understand—Lu Yan came from a prestigious family, so why was he so cruel and malicious? Was it just because Immortal Lord Zezhou had broken the rules by bringing me back to Qingxu Sect?

I started to regret leaving the Demon Realm. Life there wasn’t so bad. Xie Lin loved to scare me, but I wasn’t really afraid of him. The Second Prince was kind, and although Xun Xi was a bit fierce, as long as I stayed away from him, he wouldn’t bother me.

But Immortal Lord Zezhou had said they were evil—depraved beings who indulged in their own pleasures without any moral restraint.

Yet, thinking back to my days in the Demon Realm, a thought quietly surfaced in my heart: Evil people seem to live such joyful lives.

Strangely, I found myself yearning for that freedom.

Perhaps, deep within my soul, there was a hidden villain as well.

When Immortal Lord Zezhou returned, as usual, he placed his hand on my wrist to check the state of my soul. Then, he frowned and asked me what had happened these past few days.

I wanted to hide it from him, but when I met his concerned gaze, my heart warmed, and I told him everything.

After learning that Lu Yan had forced me into the water and beaten me, Immortal Lord Zezhou held my hand and waited in the front courtyard, ordering his subordinates to bring Lu Yan and his accomplices to the bamboo house for questioning.

They knelt on the stone slabs. For the first time, I saw Lu Yan looking truly fearful, and I instinctively moved closer to Immortal Lord Zezhou.

Perhaps thinking I was scared, Immortal Lord Zezhou gently patted my back in reassurance.

Lu Yan secretly glanced up and shot me a glare.

Immortal Lord Zezhou said coldly, “There’s no need for reflection. Handle it according to sect rules—thirty lashes for harming a fellow disciple.”

No one ever acknowledged me as their fellow disciple, but they dared not disobey Immortal Lord Zezhou’s words. They lined up to receive their punishment in the punishment chamber.

After they left, Immortal Lord Zezhou said, “If anything like this happens again, tell me immediately.”

Behind him, a bamboo grove swayed gently in the breeze. He stood tall, his back straight as a bamboo stalk—pure, upright, and unyielding.

To me, he looked like a god.

Immortal Lord Zezhou favored me.

Soon, I started hearing many whispers. They said I was a disgrace to Cuiwei Peak, unworthy of living in Immortal Lord Zezhou’s bamboo house—that I was a stain on his path to immortality.

I harbored a vicious thought: When I can finally cultivate, I will cut out their tongues.

But before I could, I fell into their trap.

Immortal Lord Zezhou had to leave for Yunjing Immortal Mountain to find a rare medicinal herb for me. He would be gone for some time. I begged him to take me with him, but he refused.

He said that Yunjing Immortal Mountain, despite its beautiful name, was filled with hidden dangers and told me to wait for him in the bamboo house.

I had no choice but to agree, feeling dejected.

A few days after Immortal Lord Zezhou left, a newly admitted disciple tricked me into going to the back mountain.

He showed me a jade pendant and asked if I recognized it.

The pendant belonged to Immortal Lord Zezhou—I was very familiar with it—so I told him I did.

The disciple looked surprised. “So Immortal Lord Zezhou really has returned? I just saw someone healing in the spirit spring and setting up a barrier. I couldn’t enter, but I found this jade pendant on my way back.”

I had only recently met this disciple and didn’t fully trust him, so I replied vaguely.

For one, if Immortal Lord Zezhou was injured, I had no medical skills and couldn’t help him.

For another, ever since Immortal Lord Zezhou had punished Lu Yan and his group, they hadn’t dared to openly attack me, but they had been causing trouble for me in secret. I feared this was another one of their schemes.

Seeing my reluctance to engage, the disciple handed me the jade pendant, saying he had no use for it and that I should return it to Immortal Lord Zezhou when he came back.

After speaking, he left straight away without any hesitation, as if his words just now were casually spoken, indifferent to my reaction.

I held the jade pendant, staring at it for a full half a quarter-hour, feeling a bit panicked. But what if... what if it wasn’t a trick?

I glanced toward the back mountain, where mist swirled like an immortal realm, making it impossible to see clearly.

Standing in the courtyard of the bamboo hut, I hesitated for a long time.

After a while, that disciple returned, followed by a celestial crane. He smiled and said, "A new batch of celestial cranes has been trained to carry people. The sect leader sent this one to you."

I thanked him and accepted the crane.

The celestial crane was plump and pure white, looking extremely adorable. I reached out to touch its head, but it pecked me lightly. It didn’t hurt.

In the evening, while taking the crane for a stroll outside the bamboo hut, I walked to a secluded spot. Suddenly, the crane opened its beak, grabbed my clothes, and flapped its wings, taking off with me.

I screamed in fright, but no one heard my cries for help.

Immortal Lord Zezhou’s residence was the most remote, and few people usually came here. Now it was the time between late afternoon and early evening.

The celestial crane carried me to the back mountain.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I turned to look at the crane, only to find that it had turned into a talisman.

Just a step away from me was the snake pit at the back mountain.

The snakes in the pit were originally raised by an elder of Qingxu Sect for alchemy.

After his passing, no one managed the snake pit. Since the snakes were non-venomous and posed no threat to anyone, they were left there, unattended.

I glanced down and saw a mass of snakes slithering around, sending a chill down my spine. My scalp tingled, and I immediately turned to flee.

But after just a few steps, the talisman suddenly emitted a burst of light, striking me and sending me into the snake pit.

My body hung in the air, my hands desperately gripping the edge of the pit, using all my strength to keep from sliding down.

I had no idea how long I held on. Sweat drenched my body.

In the end, my strength gave out. My hands slipped.

And I fell.

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