What's more that vegetation spirit Qi felt a bit familiar. It was like… Radish's!

"Are you a vegetation spirit?" Lonemoon exclaimed. Only vegetation spirits could communicate with other plants. It was no wonder that he could produce mushrooms that could transform immortal Qi to spirit Qi. But immediately, he retracted his guess. "That can't be right! You look like a squirrel!"

"Didn't it eat a huge pine nut earlier?" Shen Ying suddenly asked.

It was then that Lonemoon snapped back to reality. "You are a vegetation spirit?" Vegetation spirits didn't actually have a natural form. After they developed their sentience, they would change as and when they liked. That's what happened to Radish as well. It was only because Shen Ying kept calling it Radish that it looked more and more like a radish.

The squirrel said earlier that the Little Flower gave it a pine nut. Perhaps it was a vegetation spirit that had not yet developed a sentience. That was how it became a demon with a vegetation spirit in his body. Now, he was still considered to be at a relatively low stage, so it could only sprout different mushrooms. But once it increased its cultivation level, it would be able to plant any kind of immortal herbs it wanted. Lonemoon could only guess how many cultivators would end up fighting over it.

"Master…" Fatty could not help but speak up. "This little demon has nowhere to go. It will only become lunch for other demons out there. Can we let it stay here? I'll look after it!"

Lonemoon glanced at Fatty. Was he feeling pity for the squirrel because it was beneficial for him? Suddenly, Lonemoon felt the urge to ask if Fatty still remembered that stupid rabbit.

"Keep it if you want to!" That would save Lonemoon the effort required to set up a new array to transform the immortal QI.

Fatty rejoiced. He was just about to say something when Lonemoon added, "I'll put its accommodation fees on your account."

"…" Fatty's legs turned to jelly and he nearly fell over. Suddenly, he felt like someone added a ton of weight on his shoulders.

Lonemoon sat back down. Hmph, don't think that just because you address me as "Master", you don't have to pay for all these fees. Lonemoon was not willing to support just anyone!

Shen Ying and Yi Qing: "…"

They kept silent and continued eating. As Lonemoon's immediate family members, they felt no fear!

——————

A few months later.

On the land east of the continent, a huge crowd gathered. Most of them were children, about ten years old. Some of them were 20 or 30 years old. All kinds of children were present - some were dressed in expensive robes while others were dressed in tattered pieces of cloth. They looked like they came from all kinds of backgrounds. Every single one of them, however, was excitedly surveying their surroundings.

This was the first batch of people who had decided to try their luck upon hearing all the rumors. These days, in the human continent, each country seemed to care about were those rumors. They heard that immortals would be accepting students that afternoon on the island east of the continent. Those who made the cut would be allowed to start cultivating. There was also a chance they could become immortals themselves.

Although these rumors were strange, a significant number of people decided to travel far and wide in order to determine if they were true. All of them wanted to at least see this so-called immortal mountain for themselves. Yet, all they found was a weird rock by the sea, which had the words "Become an immortal" written on them. The words seemed to be glowing golden - they were no ordinary carving on rocks.

"Resurgence on an immortal mountain? This is just a rock," said a couple of disappointed people who had come to watch miracles happen.

"That's right - where are the immortals? We've traveled all this way just to see this?"

"I guess all those stories about cultivating and becoming immortals were lies."

There were many people there, but most of them were not there with real hopes of becoming immortals. Most of them were just there to watch a good show. Who knew that not only was there no show, all that was there was a rock. It was understandable that their patience was running thin. One by one, they talked about leaving.

Yet, there were others who stayed, including a few who had met real immortals themselves.

"You can't say that. Didn't they say it'll happen in the afternoon? We're early!"

"That's right. I've seen immortals with my own eyes. The immortal mountain is here for sure!"

"I think so too. Perhaps we're not seeing it because the mountain is invisible to the mortal eye!"

The crowd figured that this was the case. Since they had already come all the way, most of them decided to stay on and watch what would happen. The sun rose higher and higher in the sky and the temperature on the island kept rising. The size of the crowd further reduced slightly. Soon, it was the afternoon! Apart from that rock, n.o.body saw any immortal mountain appear, much less immortals.

More and more people in the crowd were getting disappointed.

"It's really a lie!" Someone couldn't help but exclaim. "Who knows who even spread that rumor in the first place? We have to drag that person out and stone him!" Once he finished speaking, he kicked the rock beside him.

There was a huge crash. A blinding light shot out from the rock, straight into the sky. The man was so shocked that he stumbled and fell backward. The entire crowd fell silent.

Their eyes widened as they looked at the scene in front of them change before their eyes. The golden light emanating from the rock suddenly split into two beams of light that drifted apart. It was as if they were curtains being pulled back, revealing the stage behind it. The sky seemed to rattle. The sh.o.r.eline changed and soon, a tall mountain appeared. It was so tall that its peak was peeking out from behind the clouds in the sky.

The clouds continued to swirl around the mountain as the glow of the mountain touched the island ground. Faintly, they could see a temple sitting atop the peak of the mountain. It looked grand and formidable.

"The immortal… immortal mountain! It's really an immortal mountain!" Someone shouted.

The crowd looked on at the tall mountain, and the temple on the peak. All the doubt in their hearts had finally been driven away. Immortal mountains really do exist.

At that moment, in the main hall.

"Who put that spirit-testing stone at the bottom of this mountain?" Lonemoon asked around. His advertising efforts almost went right down the drain.

"It… it was me…" Fatty raised his hand weakly.

"What did you put that spirit-testing stone right in front of the door for?" It caused Lonemoon to be unable to undo the great array that protected the mountain. Did Fatty have any idea how many spirit stones were required to undo the array just once?

"Master, didn't you say that only disciples with spirit roots would be allowed to ascend the mountain?" People without spirit roots would not be able to train. Fatty looked down meekly. That was what he used to do with the immortal gates as well.

"Er…" Lonemoon hesitated. "Forget it. Set up the ladder for them to ascend the mountain." Lonemoon silently added this mess up to Fatty's account as well.

"Yes, Master." Fatty stood up and retrieved a dharmic stone from his robes, then threw it out.

"Wait!" Lonemoon stopped him. "Add in another spirit-testing array." This was so that people without spirit roots would not be allowed to ascend the mountain. This way, they would not need the spirit-testing stone.

Fatty nodded and added yet another array onto the stone. He activated his spirit Qi and threw the stone out.

Below, near the sea, a white path appeared before the crowd's eyes. It seemed to lead them directly to the peak of the immortal mountain.

"It leads up the immortal mountain!" Someone in the crowd exclaimed.

It was then that everybody was knocked out of their reverie. They pushed and shoved each trying to be the first to ascend the mountain. The crowd was split the moment their feet touched the path. Some were allowed to run further and further up the path, while others were constantly pushed back to the starting point, unable to go up no matter how hard they tried.