Ginkgo nuts!
Ah-Liao grabbed a flashlight, staggering and stumbling as she ran on the road.
Mo Bai said that all demons in the world have a destined calamity. If they couldn’t pass the ordeal, it was a one-way path to death, with both body and spirit destroyed. Fortunately, an expert in antiquity left behind a mysterious book - "Prescriptions of Immortality Elixir for Demons." As long as you gathered the various rare ingredients according to the prescription written in the book, and combined them with the essence of the demon itself, you could create a colorless, odorless, and tasteless godly medicine called the 'Elixir of Immortality.' When taken on the day of the calamity, one could safely pass the ordeal. The bird that died under the ginkgo tree failed to survive because of two reasons. First, he couldn't find all the medicinal materials he needed; second, he couldn't create the Elixir of Immortality specific to the bird demon clan. As a result, the bird demon failed his ordeal. Hundreds of years of cultivation was lost in a single night, and his pitiful life finally ended on the day of his destined ordeal.
Liang Yudong was a thousand-year-old ginkgo tree demon, and Mo Bai said that his destined day of ordeal was just three days away.
Ah-Liao could not live without Shifu.
She ran faster and faster, determined to help her shifu find this final ingredient. There were so many ginkgo trees in the forest, and she would collect plenty of ginkgo nuts.
On this summer night mountain road, the fragrance of grass was faint, insects chirped everywhere, and the stars in the night sky blinked like eyes, watching the girl running madly below.
The mountain road was too dark, and she ran too fast. A stone tripped her hard, and her palms and knees seemed to be scraped and bleeding. It hurt, but Ah-Liao held back her tears and got up, only to be blocked by someone.
"I knew you'd run around recklessly," Liang Yudong panted slightly, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "I'm really in bad shape. I can't even perform small tricks like instant teleportation anymore."
"Shifu, I'll go get ginkgo nuts for you!" Ah-Liao looked up at him, her eyes filled with an unprecedented determination.
Liang Yudong bent down and habitually ruffled her hair. "Silly girl, ginkgo nuts are not something you can get."
"I can," Ah-Liao grabbed his hand. "I know it's not yet the season for ginkgo trees to bear fruit, but there must be ginkgo trees which bear fruit early. I'll search for them one by one!"
"Ah-Liao..."
"Haha, it took no effort at all. The cat demon's barrier was useless."
A gust of wind blew by, and from behind a ginkgo tree, two middle-aged men dressed in black robes emerged, their fierce presence causing countless leaves to fall. The thin man with a goatee pointed at Liang Yudong and said, "Monster, I've been chasing you for twenty years. Today, you won't get a chance to escape again!"
Liang Yudong sneered, and pulled Ah-Liao behind him.
The bald-headed man next to him calculated something and whispered to the goatee man, "Senior brother, the ginkgo tree demon's destined ordeal is approaching and he has almost no magic power left. It's a shame that he escaped twenty years ago, otherwise..."
"Even though capturing him now for alchemy won't be of great use to us, he's still a thousand-year-old ginkgo tree, and after he takes the elixir, he'll surely become immortal," the goatee man's triangular eyes gleamed with greed and malice.
Two long swords materialized in their hands like magic, their cold light as snow, and menacing.
Liang Yudong pushed Ah-Liao behind him and leaped forward, engaging in a bare-handed battle with the two fellow apprentices. As the swords clashed, several wounds appeared on Liang Yudong's arms and back, and a liquid as green as jade oozed from the wounds, glowing faintly in the night.
Ah-Liao seized an opportunity and pounced, grabbing the bald man's leg and biting fiercely. Never, never before had she so disliked…hated these two sword-wielding men like she did now.
The bald man screamed in pain and struck Ah-Liao in the chest with a palm, sending her flying backward like a kite with a broken string. She finally landed in a soft embrace.
"Stupid girl," Mo Bai held her as they landed on the ground. She pointed her finger at Ah-Liao's nose and said, "Stay here and don't move!" Her agile body moved at an imperceptible speed as she entered the battle like a blade.
After more than a dozen rounds, both Taoists had numerous bloody wounds on their faces, and Mo Bai's body was also bruised.
"Monster, you've already lost during the day, and you still dare to struggle in your dying moments!" The goatee man sneered. He touched his face with one hand, and angered, he pulled out a yellow talisman paper in a flash. A ball of fire suddenly ignited between his fingers. "You're asking for death!"
Before he could finish speaking, the fireball shot out and rapidly expanded, fiercely rushing toward Mo Bai and Liang Yudong.
"You can't take this move, get out of the way!" Mo Bai pushed Liang Yudong away with one hand, lunged forward, and put out both her palms simultaneously. She shouted loudly, and blood-red meridians instantly spread across every inch of her skin.
"Mo Bai!" Liang Yudong, who had fallen to the ground, shouted in alarm.
With a deafening explosion, the sky suddenly rained down a dense "shower," extinguishing the fireball that had aimed to destroy everything.
The Taoists' bodies emitted white smoke as they groaned in pain. The goatee man in particular, covered his eyes and rolled on the ground.
Ah-Liao touched her wet face and found her palm covered in blood red.
"Let's go!" Liang Yudong rushed over, one arm around Mo Bai's waist and the other grabbing Ah-Liao.
For a moment, Ah-Liao's mind went blank, and the sound of rushing wind filled her ears.
When Ah-Liao regained consciousness, she found herself on top of a mountain, with the small city below faintly visible, its lights flickering.
"Using the blood demon technique without sufficient cultivation, you're too reckless!" Liang Yudong hugged Mo Bai, who was covered in blood, and tried to calm down, "Hang in there, I'll go find medicine."
"Stop doing useless things." Mo Bai held him back. Her lips as white as paper, she struggled to speak, "I thought... I could live forever in your light... Haha... Although I can't live forever, living for so many more years like this is also good."
Ah-Liao panicked and rushed over to embrace Mo Bai, shouting loudly, "Sister Mo Bai, what's wrong with you?"
Mo Bai slowly turned her head, locked eyes with Ah-Liao, and smiled. "I hate how you're always so kind to the people around you... I just didn't want to like you... I was afraid I would end up like that idiot..." She glanced at Liang Yudong, "I hate people who act impetuously the most."
"You can hate her all you want," Liang Yudong smiled and held her even tighter.
"Live well... you silly girl," Mo Bai exhaled deeply, and the only smile she gave Ah-Liao in her life remained on her gorgeous face forever.
Ah-Liao stared blankly as Mo Bai's body gradually shrank until it transformed into a tiny white cat, and finally, it turned into a shimmering light that disappeared into Liang Yudong's embrace.
"Shifu...Sister Mo Bai, she..." Ah-Liao stroked the soil on the ground like a fool, "Where did Sister Mo Bai go?"
"To another place of eternal life," Liang Yudong grabbed her hand, his face devoid of sadness, only a sense of acceptance.
Ah-Liao looked up, her eyes shimmering with tears. "Is Shifu going too, if we can't make the Elixir of Immortality?"
"I won't need to go if we have ginkgo nuts." Liang Yudong flicked her nose and pointed sideways to something behind them, "Look what's over there."
Ah-Liao turned around to see a tall ginkgo tree, lush with leaves, under the starlight.
Liang Yudong walked over and gently placed his palm on the tree trunk, silently reciting a few words. A faint green light emanated from his hand, drawing a graceful glow in the air before landing in his open palm.
Ah-Liao watched the round, white ginkgo fruit in his hand and wiped away her tears, saying foolishly, "This ginkgo nut...is different from what I usually see."
"Of course, it's different from what you usually see. Ginkgo nuts are heavenly treasures and take a thousand years to grow. I calculated the timing, and tonight is when the ginkgo nuts mature. Mo Bai was too impatient," he sighed and leaned against the tree trunk, sitting down. "She was originally a sickly white cat that died. Three hundred years ago, she was buried under my true form by her owner. Because she was tainted by my aura and exposed to the essence of the sun and moon, she became a demon. Over time, her true body and my true body became one. If I can't avoid the ordeal this time, she will also be annihilated with me."
"Then... then, Shifu, quickly add the ginkgo nut to the medicine, and we can make the Elixir of Immortality!" Ah-Liao urged anxiously.
"It can be made tonight." Liang Yudong seemed to have a weight off his mind and smiled at Ah-Liao, "But after taking the medicine, I'll have to go to a remote place to recuperate alone for a while. During that time, you'll have to take care of yourself."
"For how long?"
"Ten years."
"Okay, I'll wait for Shifu to come back."
Ah-Liao sat down next to Liang Yudong, holding onto his arm, afraid that if she let go, he would disappear.
The mountain wind swept by, and all was silent. On the mountaintop, there were only two figures leaning on each other and the sound of their breathing…
"Ah-Liao, do you think immortality is good? A life without end."
"Of course, it's good. If every day is filled with happiness, immortality will make happiness endless too."
"Then what if you're unhappy?"
"Shifu, what is unhappy?"
"For example... when your Sister Mo Bai disappeared, or imagine when I disappear too."
"No! I... I hate being unhappy. I don't want unhappy days!"
"'I don't want unhappy days.' Hehe, Ah-Liao, you said it beautifully. Then promise me that from now on, you'll live each day happily."
"Mn, I know. I will wait for Shifu to come back."
In the early morning, Liang Yudong was gone.
On the mountaintop, there was only Ah-Liao, asleep as she continued leaning against the ginkgo tree...
Two nights later, the town encountered a severe thunderstorm that had not been seen in a century. The bright thunder and lightning almost tore the sky into pieces.
People spent the night trembling in fear and welcomed the sunshine of the following day.
"The thunder last night was so scary!"
"I know, the old ginkgo tree outside the Yucai Elementary School was split in half!"
"Is that so?"
"My nephew lives in the village nearby. It's so evil. I heard that it was chopped in half in the middle. There was a huge hole blasted at the tree's root, where they found some white bones that nobody could tell if they were from a cat or a dog!"
"It's really scary... What's up these days? First there was hail and then there was a thunderstorm. Did God lose his temper?"
In the evening, people in the neighborhood gathered together as they strolled around, enthusiastically discussing the thunderstorm from the previous night.
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