"Repeater." William Foster put on a stern face. "It's fine if you don't understand, just know that this is a lot like you."

……

"Whoosh!" A flash of silver light, Olivia Thompson's spear shot out like a dragon, pinning a suddenly darting green python to the mountainside. This girl in men's clothing possessed truly exceptional martial skills, her cultivation already at a high level.

A faint poisonous mist wafted out. She frowned slightly and waved her hand to disperse it.

Ethan Thompson seemed very confident in his sister's abilities. He didn't make a move, but instead carefully observed the terrain between the mountains. Clouds and mist swirled among the peaks, drifting over the area where the two stood. It was thin, not greatly affecting visibility. He reached out as if to scoop up the mist, but it seemed to avoid him, scattering instead.

"Qingjun, after entering the mountains, do you feel anything uncomfortable?"

"I feel a chill from my scalp to my bones, my skin tingles a bit..." Olivia Thompson hugged her arms and shivered. "It's like listening to the sound of two gun barrels scraping against each other..."

Before she finished speaking, a sudden sense of dread arose, making their scalps tingle. The two turned their heads and saw a wild boar, its whole body bright red, suddenly leap out from behind a boulder. Its tusks were over a foot long, and even from several yards away, the stench of blood from its gaping mouth was overwhelming.

Ethan Thompson also raised his spear.

"Roar!" The wild boar charged, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The two split to either side. The boar braked sharply, its hooves digging a pit in the ground.

Olivia Thompson was about to strike, but on the other side, Ethan Thompson's spear tip arrived first, a dazzling flash stabbing fiercely into the boar's head, piercing straight through. The boar struggled and howled, but did not die immediately. Its tusks still tried to hook upward, almost as if they had a mind of their own, looking bizarre and menacing.

Olivia Thompson gave a light shout, leapt gracefully, and drove her spear straight into the boar's mouth. The beast struggled for a moment, then finally fell silent.

They dispatched the beast in just a few moves, but neither showed any pride, as if it were only natural. Ethan Thompson looked at the boar's corpse and suddenly smiled. "The villagers at the foot of the mountain are really something. With such fierce beasts in the mountains, they still live happily. And William Foster lives right at the foot of the mountain—he's really not afraid of death?"

Olivia Thompson hesitated. "Could it be that there's really some cultivator hiding in the mountains, protecting the villagers..."

"No." Ethan Thompson said firmly, "There are no immortals in this world!"

As if in response to his words, a low wailing echoed from the surrounding mist, a sense of resentment lingering in their hearts, impossible to dispel.

Ethan Thompson listened to the wailing, unmoved, and mused, "I think this mist isn't immortal energy at all, but rather resentment and ghostly energy gathered here. This wild boar was probably affected by something filthy and became like this..."

His judgment was at least half right. The mist was resentment, but the boar's mutation had nothing to do with it.

Olivia Thompson asked curiously, "Then why is it such a bright red color, looking so much like immortal energy?"

Ethan Thompson replied coldly, "Who said red mist is immortal energy? What color is blood?"

"Uh..."

"So the mist avoids me, because I've fought on the battlefield. The murderous aura on me is probably stronger than this resentment that's been lingering for thousands of years and is about to dissipate."

Olivia Thompson trusted her brother deeply. Hearing this, she said, "So maybe a lot of people died here thousands of years ago?"

"I don't know. Anyway, I think it's almost gone now." Ethan Thompson took out one of William Foster's pills, shook his head and smiled. "So-called mountain miasma is actually just resentment. Those quack alchemists' pills are actually more effective than proper antidotes... That's the secret of William Foster's 'one pill cures a hundred poisons.'"

Olivia Thompson's eyes widened. "You... you came here for..."

"There may be some monsters and ghosts in this world, and some exorcism techniques, but true immortality is impossible. Otherwise, with so many emperors obsessed with it, why has not one achieved it? You and I have achieved martial mastery, our lifespans already beyond the ordinary. We can defeat monsters and ghosts—what need is there to seek immortality?" Ethan Thompson declared. "Dong Huazi just uses some cheap tricks to fool Father into cultivating, disrupting our court. I'll bring back a quack of my own to expose his tricks."

"So you came here just for that William Foster!" Olivia Thompson stomped her foot. "You claimed you were accompanying me to seek immortals, but really you just wanted to verify the rumors and see if he's the one you're looking for!"

Ethan Thompson turned to look at her, repeating once more, "There are no immortals in this world."

Olivia Thompson huffed and ran down the mountain. "I'm going to expose that fraud named Qin and see if you're really going to bring home a swindler just like Dong Huazi!"

Ethan Thompson watched her go, shook his head with a smile, then looked up at the mountain mist and continued leisurely upward.

He wanted to see the so-called monster tiger that William Foster said wouldn't chase people.

Chapter Four: Breaking into the Courtyard

William Foster wasn't asleep; he was still preparing medicine. Liusu claimed that many medicines needed to be processed under the moonlight, forcing him to stay up all night.

"Red firefly grass, only take the top inch; cold mat flower, only the very center of the stamen. Then add three drops of golden toad pus, mix with moon dew, pound repeatedly... William Foster, damn it, stop using me to pound medicine!"