Casting immortality in the furnace

Chapter 2 Oh! I won!

Fan Zhou walked through the village with a blank expression.

On both sides of the path, elderly people gathered together and whispered among themselves, glancing at him sideways.

The village children peeked at him from behind the wall, as if they were hiding from something bad.

At his doorstep, two villagers were already squatting on either side.

Upon seeing him return, the two looked around nervously, trying their best to conceal something.

Fan Zhou ignored him and walked straight into the courtyard.

In the small courtyard were two rooms next to each other. Originally, he and his grandfather lived in one room, and his parents lived in the other, which was very crowded.

Now that he's all alone, it's so quiet it doesn't feel like a home.

Fortunately, Fan Zhou has gotten used to it.

He silently threshed the rice ears in his hands, poured them into a stone mortar, and used a wooden pestle to crush and husk the rice.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

Fan Zhou hammered the rice stalks repeatedly, watching them break apart in the mortar. A burning, irritating feeling crept over his body again, as if a scorching sun was baking him.

"Grass!"

"damn it!"

He couldn't take it anymore, so he threw the wooden pestle aside and unbuttoned his tightly cleaved shirt.

"Even farming can't be done in peace!"

Fan Zhou frowned, took off his shirt, and sat bare-armed under the eaves, pondering the current situation.

"Mining is definitely out of the question. With my small frame, it would be no different from suicide."

"That old dog Hong Shunzhi forced me to do corvée labor, definitely to replace his grandson Hong Bin! I won't let them have their way!"

"But now the villagers have all been bribed by that father and son, making it very difficult for me to escape secretly..."

Thinking of the villagers' previous favoritism and the two men squatting at his doorstep, Fan Zhou felt a surge of pressure and anxiously scratched his head.

"I need to find a way to lure them away so I can have a chance to escape."

He rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought:

"What could possibly be so captivating as to draw the entire village away from me?"

Fan Zhou tilted his head, his gaze wandering around the courtyard. When his eyes swept over the kitchen, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

set fire!

The weather is dry these days, so it's very easy to start a fire.

If a spark falls into a rice paddy, it can quickly spread to a large area!

That's the villagers' lifeline!

When the whole village is busy putting out the fire, he can take advantage of the chaos to escape.

Once he disappears into the mountains, no one can find him!

Fan Zhou paced back and forth in the courtyard, increasingly convinced that it was feasible.

"I need to plan my escape route first, and also prepare some dry food, a machete, and kindling..."

He suppressed his excitement and picked up the wooden pestle from the ground again.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

The powerful pounding of grain drowned out his pounding heartbeat.

After pounding the rice, Fan Zhou picked up a vegetable basket and walked out of the small courtyard.

When the two men squatting outside saw him come out, they immediately stood up nervously and blocked him at the door.

"Ah Zhou, I advise you not to even think about running away, otherwise we'll have no choice but to tie you up."

Fan Zhou shook the vegetable basket and said expressionlessly, "Can't I even pick some vegetables to make dinner?"

The two men exchanged a glance and stepped aside, following closely behind him.

Fan Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and walked obediently toward the vegetable garden, secretly simulating his escape route along the way.

When he got home, he first cooked rice and prepared the things he needed, then hid in the house to sharpen his wood-chopping knife.

"Once it got dark, I set the courtyard on fire first, then climbed over the wall and set it ablaze!"

The room was dimly lit, and Fan Zhou's face was sometimes in the light and sometimes out of the shadows, with only the incessant sound of sharpening knives echoing in the room.

.........

As the sun sets in the west, the rich colors of the world gradually fade.

Fan Zhou sat by the window, looking up at the sky.

He didn't know if he could escape.

If he fails, he will inevitably face the enraged villagers and will certainly be beaten to death.

Even if he manages to escape, he won't be familiar with the outside world and won't have any money, making survival a real challenge.

But he still wanted to escape.

He wanted to see the outside world.

"It's almost time."

Fan Zhou muttered something under his breath, stood up, and prepared to start a fire to burn the small courtyard down.

"Bang bang bang!"

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door.

Fan Zhou's heart tightened immediately. Could it be that Hong Shunzhi and his men were worried and decided to send someone to tie him up?

Just as he was placing his hand on the machete, preparing for the worst, he heard a child shouting outside:

"Brother Zhou! Brother Zhou, are you there?!"

Fan Zhou frowned, strode to the gate, jumped up and clung to the wall to look outside.

But the two men who were guarding outside the door had vanished!

Only a child with his hair tied up with straw rope was banging on the door.

Fan Zhou was momentarily surprised and uncertain, and hurriedly asked the child:

"Ah Hu, what are you doing here? Where are the guards outside?!"

Ah Hu was overjoyed to see him, but then hurriedly said:

"Brother Zhou, an old sage has come from outside! He says he wants to take a few people from our village away, and now the whole village has run to the village entrance!"

"You'd better run now while no one's watching! It'll be too late if you wait!"

Fan Zhou was shocked upon hearing this. He immediately jumped over the wall, grabbed Xiao Hu's shoulder, and asked urgently:

"A deity? Is he really a deity?"

Little Tiger was startled and nodded hurriedly, "He's a god! I saw him fly down from the sky with my own eyes!"

Fan Zhou was shocked; his grandfather hadn't lied to him.

There really are immortals in this world!

But this news left him feeling cold:

"Why, why...of all times!"

This unexpected situation completely ruined Fan Zhou's escape plan.

Admittedly, he could have taken this opportunity to escape Hongjia Village.

But in doing so, he would miss out on his chance to become an immortal.

Hongjia Village only sees immortals once every few decades. If he escapes now, he may never have the chance to see an immortal again in his lifetime!

But if he were to run to the village entrance now to gamble on that one chance at immortality, and if he were not chosen, it would be tantamount to walking into a trap and losing his best chance to escape!

"What should we do...?"

Is it a choice to live?

Is there still a chance to change one's fate?

Seeing that he didn't move, Xiao Hu became anxious and shook his arm, shouting:

"Brother Zhou, if you don't run now, you won't be able to escape when everyone comes back!"

Fan Zhou suddenly calmed down. He squatted down, grabbed Xiao Hu's shoulders, and looked at him with utmost seriousness:

"Little Tiger, can you do me a favor?"

Xiao Hu looked at him with a bewildered expression, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

…………

Village entrance.

All the villagers of Hongjia Village gathered here, more than a hundred people kneeling on the ground, looking at the "immortal" in front of them with both respect and fear.

The "Immortal" was a middle-aged man, looking to be in his early forties. He wore a round hat and a brown-yellow brocade robe. He had a kind round face and a big belly, making him look more like a wealthy old man.

Yet this very man terrified the entire village, causing them to kneel on the ground, whispering amongst themselves and daring not to look him in the eye.

Even though he was over sixty years old, Hong Shunzhi dared not act arrogantly because of his age. He knelt tremblingly at the immortal's feet and said in a trembling voice:

"Master Tian, ​​all the young people from our village are here. Please take a look and see which ones you find pleasing to the eye."

Tian Youliang reached down with his thick hand from his waist and took out a brass compass.

"I don't care whether he's pleasing or displeasing. I only care whether he has the talent for cultivation. If he is truly destined for it, I will take him to cultivate."

As soon as he finished speaking, he released his grip, and the compass flew up on its own, floating steadily in the air.

This miraculous method immediately drew gasps of amazement from the villagers, with some even kowtowing and pleading for divine protection.

Tian Youliang didn't care about their reactions, and simply said:

"Those under the age of eighteen, please stand up and line up, and place your hands on this compass one by one."

Hong Shunzhi didn't understand the intricacies of the matter and didn't dare to ask any more questions. He turned to his eldest grandson and frantically winked at him.

Seeing his father's gesture, Hong Gang quickly gave his son a push and earnestly instructed him:

"Go quickly! If you can be chosen by the immortals, you'll never have to worry about food or drink for the rest of your life!"

"Yes, Father."

Hong Bin staggered to his feet. He actually hoped that someone else would go up and try first, but there was no other way now, so he could only obediently walk up to the immortal.

Urged by their parents, the other young people in the village also stood up and lined up behind Hong Bin.

"May our ancestors bless us, Bin'er must be chosen!"

Hong Shunzhi was also trembling with fear, hoping that the ancestral graves would emit auspicious smoke, allowing his eldest grandson to rise above others.

Despite the pressure of the stares from those behind him, Hong Bin shakily reached out and placed his hand on the floating compass.

The next moment, something unexpected happened!

The brass compass emitted a hazy, colorful light, leaving everyone stunned!

Hong Bin was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed and said:

"Hooray! I won!"