“What are you staring at? Hurry up! You're dragging your feet like a slab of meat. Where are your buddies? Call them all out! You don't even know to do a proper background check. Do you know who I am? Back when I was raiding coal mines, you little bastards were still pissing in your diapers. Let me tell you, I don't believe in respecting your elders around here. You brain-dead morons better watch out, or I'll kill you!”
The Old Celestial was so amused by Zhao Lao'er that he burst out laughing. He sat back down in his chair and gave Zhao Lao'er a strange look before asking leisurely, “Young man, can you remember how you got here?”
Zhao Lao'er might have been a bit of a hothead, but he wasn't stupid. He thought hard, but his mind was like a lump of paste. The harder he tried to remember, the more it felt as if someone were jabbing a stick into his brain and shaking it around. He shook his head hard, but still couldn't remember a thing.
Seeing his reaction, the Old Celestial seemed satisfied. He smiled and said, “Well? Can't think of anything, can you? I'll tell you. You died from overwork. You were able to come here because you accumulated good karma in your previous lives, and in the lives before those, and before those... way, way back...”
