One cup of immortal wine, and three thousand years vanish in a dream.
Zhen Zui saved an old man, who offered him a cup of wine in gratitude.
After that one cup, he fell into a long dream. When he woke, three thousand years had passed.
The world three thousand years later was unrecognizable. Demons walked among people, and immortals lived in legends.
Ageless and deathless, Zhen Zui carried a bronze lute on his back, searching for the old immortal who had given him the wine. He sang and played stories of the strange and wondrous world in his dreams.
.
A storyteller carrying a bronze lute came to the town. He was easygoing and forthright, and his stories were absurd yet fascinating. The idle men and children who gathered to listen thought it was all just entertainment. But a demon hiding in the town realized that the storyteller's tales hinted at many secrets known to no one else.
What kind of person was he?
Could he be... a true immortal living in seclusion?
.
No immortal had appeared in the world for three thousand years.
But demons that harmed people still existed.
Where were the immortals?
.
After Zhen Zui awoke, times and places had changed, but a volume of the Classic of Mountains and Seas had appeared in his mind.
White-eared Xingxing monkeys ran through Que Mountain in the south. One-legged Bifang birds danced amid the wildfires of Zhang'e Mountain. In the east, the Ruomu tree towered high enough to reach the sky...
Each time he visited a place, he lit up a rune on the map of mountains and seas and gained a new spell.
With the Sword Summoning spell, he could slay demons. With the Wind Riding spell, he could travel the world. With the Water Mastery spell, he could cross the seas in search of Kun. With the Cosmos in His Sleeve, he could contain mountains and rivers...
Holding up a cup of wine, Zhen Zui looked at the demon seeking immortals, his drunken gaze casual and careless. "An immortal? I'm no immortal."
The cup tipped, spilling a sky full of stars.
.
A demonic cultivator came to town and seized everyone who had gathered to listen, young and old, along with the storyteller.
The child pointed at Zhen Zui and shouted, chest thrust out, "He's an immortal! Let us go and repent properly, or the immortal will slay demons and eliminate evil!"
"An immortal?" The demonic cultivator laughed wildly. "No immortal has appeared in this world for three thousand years!"
He looked contemptuously at the storyteller, bound tight in chains. "Are you an immortal? Come on, slay a demon and eliminate evil for me."
"I'm not," Zhen Zui sighed, still holding the candied hawthorn skewer he'd bought to placate the child. "But I really do hate demons."
He pointed the candied hawthorn at the demonic cultivator. A flash of swordlight burst forth.
Demon: Show me how you slay demons and eliminate evil!
Demon: I've never heard a request like this!
He asked for it! I didn't do anything!
Just eliminate the demons! No need to slay the monsters!
.
A bronze lute, an iron fan.
Through many seasons and years, he plays and sings a volume of the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
Theme: A carefree heart makes the world vast.