The Day I Ascended, I Took the Whole City with Me

Gu Zhaoye cultivated for nine hundred years, waiting for the Heavenly Gate. When it finally came, so did the landslide behind Cangwu City. The envoy said the Heavenly Gate would admit only one person. The hundred thousand ordinary people were not allowed in. He gave the people of the city two choices, then pulled out the iron nail beneath the old locust tree. The walls built, roads paved, and wells dug over nine hundred years joined together to form a grand array capable of moving the entire city. That day, a city appeared before the Heavenly Gate. But ascending to immortality was only the beginning. You couldn't drink the water in the immortal realm just as you pleased, or buy food whenever you wanted. Those without immortal registers could even find their names written into labor contracts. Gu Zhaoye could sever the chains of heaven, but he couldn't feed, farm for, and provide for a hundred thousand people on his own. So the blacksmith built a waterwheel, a young woman recopied the household register, and the old villagers guarded the spring. Those dismissed by immortal officials as ants began building their own city together. In thirty days, the immortal registers would be reviewed again. They would keep Cangwu City on the map, and every person would keep their own name in their own hands.