I Shall Eat The Heavens

Good and bad news

The old man's words made all of the crowd start worrying as they whispered to each other:

"Bad news? What could it be?"

"The immortal said that it will affect all of us…"

"Let's hope that it won't affect your livelihood…"

"Shut up the immortal seems to want to say something!"

The old man cleared his throat as he waited for the villagers to stop whispering to each other, then said:

"It's unfortunate to say this but whatever you have gotten from the immortal in the past you will have to give back now!"

Every villager became panicked as they understood the meaning behind the words of the old man.

They were supposed to give back the blessings that the immortal gave to their ancestors!

Those blessings were the things that kept the village up and running, without them they realized that they wouldn't amount to much, while they did know how to farm and rear animals it would be considerably harder to those things after the blessings were taken away and they would also yield fewer crops and the animals would also give birth to fewer babies.

The representative of the villagers, the mayor they elected who was the most erudite amongst them as he was also literate, the others decided that he should come forth and talk with the immortal.

The mayor was rather old and short but he was clean and he had the aura of a scholar surrounding him, his small mustache was combed and his hair was slicked back, his clothes were pristine white, the best he had saved aside for this special festival.

The mayor had a walking cane that he used to come forward getting closer to the old immortal before he tried to kneel, however, the old man just waved his hand indicating that it wasn't required.

The mayor decided to ask the question directly without beating around the bush as Bai Feng looked from the side, even though he looked cool on the surface he was sweating intensely inside and not because of his robust size, the chicken farm was a special gift his forefathers gained from the immortal who visited in the past, even though he did get bored of the taste of the chicken that didn't mean he wanted to lose it!

He waited to see what the mayor would talk with the immortal old man, even though he knew that the mayor was one of the people that were looking down on him he couldn't help but cheer him on so that they could all keep their stuff.

"Your highness immortal… could I ask the reason why you want to take back the blessings the former immortal bestowed upon us?"

The old man said while not batting an eyelid:

"While you might not know this because you mortals can't keep images of the past I'm the same immortal who had bestowed your ancestors with the items that led you to live your current lifestyles."

The mayor started to shake, he knew that the 'immortals' were supposed to live long lives but they would also die in the end, that's what he had read in a book he had bought from the traveling caravans that went through their village once a year.

He had some basic calculating abilities and with some of the records that were left behind, he could infer that this immortal was more than 600 years old but he still looked only a little bit older than him who was around 70 years old!

"Exalted immortal I don't doubt the veridicality of your words but you haven't told us why you want to take back the blessings…"

The old man looked around and sighed before saying:

"Well it's quite embarrassing but the place where I'm from pretty much went bankrupt due to gambling and… we are pretty much penniless now, they sent me to the secular world to retrieve the gifts that had been given to the mortals in hopes that they would achieve bodies compatible for cultivation."

While erudite and somewhat learned the mayor became stumped at the terms that the old man was coming with.

He had never heard nor read anything about cultivation or something similar, the terms cultivators used were foreign to those of the secular world as the sects they belonged to were secretive about their arts when it concerned mortals. It was a very rare thing when an immortal would descend into the secular world to bless mortals.

The mayor decided to bargain:

"Can we only give half of the blessings back?"

The old man shook his head as he said:

"Because of the food that you have given me I have decided that I won't become violent if problems arise but you need to give me everything you have got!"

The mayor's lips started to tremble as he spat out:

"Every… everything???"

The old man nodded and said:

"Yes everything, as I said before the place where I'm from, is broke and from that extension, I'm broke as well, I have planted the seeds by giving your ancestors those blessings and now I'm here to harvest."

"I… I understand, I shall ask everyone in the village who received a blessing to immediately come here with it so your highness will be able to collect them."

Bai Feng almost fell to his knees as he found himself in a future without the juicy delicious taste of fried chicken.

He wanted to get behind the old man and strangle him so he couldn't take his chicken away only to remember the scene where the old man threw the sandal towards the two lackeys of the Sheriff, he glanced at their still unconscious forms on the ground and winced seeing the sandal imprint on their faces.

But then a smile appeared on the old man's face as he said:

"You guys must have forgotten that I say that I have come with good news as well!"

The somber atmosphere was lifted as the people who were already leaving to get the blessings back for the immortal craned their necks to hear whatever the old man wanted to say that would be called good news for them.

"Due to shortage of disciples the place where I came from decided to open its gates to the secular world meaning that we will accept disciples from your village!"

Xiao Chun who was fainted on the ground near the old man started to stir as he heard the word disciple, he was dreaming that he was currently doing the disciple-master ceremony and the word triggered something in him that made him wake up even though he had smelled the worst burp that he had ever smelled in his life.

Even Bai Feng was somewhat interested in what the old man had to say, what type of discipleship would be so good that they would have to trade so many good things away?

However the old man didn't say anything else besides that, he didn't explain what would they get if they joined the sect nor what it entailed or how it would be done.

Bai Feng couldn't help but ask since the mayor didn't seem like he had the guts to do it:

"How are we supposed to join the sect? What do we get for joining it? You will take away so many things from us so I hope we won't be ripped off."

The mayor glared towards Bai Feng as his face started to turn red:

"Bai Feng you, you…"

The old man put his hand in front of the mayor motioning for him to stop, he didn't want him to admonish Bai Feng as the questions he asked were something that every villager wondered about but didn't have the guts to ask, the old man smiled at Bai Feng before saying:

"I like your attitude kid and I'm going to answer your questions and everyone else's after I see all of the blessed items in my hands."

The mayor looked at the people who got the blessed items and waved his hand telling them that they should move on already, then he glared at Bai Feng as he said:

"Don't you have some things to get to the great immortal as well?"

Bai Feng frowned, the chickens were the things that the immortal left for them, were they supposed to get the whole herd they have and give them to the old man?

Seeing Bai Feng's expression made the old man clarify for him:

"I don't need your chickens, young man you might not know this since your ancestors most likely didn't leave anything behind to tell you why the chickens grow so quickly and they are so delicious, right?"

Bai Feng nodded, it was true he didn't know anything about the growth of the chickens they just grew and he ate them, that's mostly what he knew.

The old man motioned for Bai Feng to get closer to him as he told him:

"Go in the place you rear the chickens and dig into the ground until you find a silver box, afterward come with that silver box to me."

Bai Feng nodded and left while his sister followed him from behind as stealthily as she could

From what she knew about her brother he was surely going to do something to the silver box so the old man couldn't have it! He loved the chicken way too much!

Bai Feng quickly made his way back to his house as he went behind it, there he could see hundred of chickens making their way towards him while making noise.

Bai Feng smiled as he took some grains from a nearby vat and threw them towards the ground.

The chicken started eating while he made his way to the middle of the backyard.

There he started digging using a nearby small shovel that was used for gardening until he hit something solid and took it out, it was a dirty silver box and as Bai Feng slowly started to clean it up he could see that the box was inscribed with peculiar-looking runes that he didn't understand an iota of.

He didn't even know how to read normally the runes on the box looked more like hieroglyphs to him, he wanted to take a closer look as he put his hand over them only for a small incision to appear on his finger as he traced along, the inscription on the box was rather sharp and even though Bai Feng was careful he still got a small cut on his pointing finger, a small bead of blood dropped on the runes but nothing happened besides the blood leaving a small spot, the box became dirtied with the blood, but it was almost unnoticeable at first glance.

Mu An came from behind a tree as she looked at Bai Feng and asked:

"What are you doing? You are not supposed to touch the box!"

Bai Feng glanced up from the box towards his sister as he said:

"But sister if that old man takes it away our chicken won't be as delicious! Nor will they grow as quickly, why should I give it to him for promises that won't even be kept? Who knows what kind of tricks he will employ to swindle us of our possessions? Maybe he isn't even a true immortal but a scammer! You should have seen how weirdly he acted, also what kind of immortal gambles their sects' possessions away?"

Mu An shook her head as she said:

"Haven't you seen how the old man took care of the Sheriff's lackeys? He is a genuine immortal!"

Bai Feng frowned as he glanced down at the silver box… he didn't want to give it away, how could he eat more delicious chicken in the future if he gave it to the old man?

Even at this time, Bai Feng only thought with his belly...