Immortality, and an immortal bond to span the rest of time

To be reunited with his master, and be honoured enough to see the immortal beauty of the heavenly Baoshan Sanren was a one in a lifetime opportunity, but he would preferred to not be the one to carry the firewood and water to their little camp. The small shack he and Xue Yang had been using to live in temporarily was not being enough for three, so he volunteered the shelter to the only lady, which was common courtesy regardless of how incredibly gay he was, and his sick disciple, another slightly unfortunate courtesy he was expected to make. It was nice like he would have left Xue Yang out in the wilderness, but building another shack was a better solution in his opinion. However, when the master said she needed to start healing the fever and check his disciples qi was strong enough before she could do a major enchantment like she needed to do when regenerating a pinky finger, who was Xingchen to argue?

Within days, poorly A-Yang was back to full strength and had received some lessons to further his cultivation to the stage just below immortality, even master Sanren was impressed with his fast progress, and was ready to get his beloved pinky finger back. They had been studying the rare technique ever since the boy could walk around the nearby forest comfortably, while Baoshan Sanren collected the required items for the job. She needed things from the local market, about five li from the remote mountains Xingchen had found the humble house still standing, so she took A-Yang to learn about the different alchemy skills he needed to be a healer, something his disciple was firm about working as when he reached immortality. Xingchen had suggested that if he wanted to stop another child suffering like him, he could use his earnings to open an open house for orphans to get healthcare and education while they made an honest living protecting the community from demons and ghosts. This Xue Yang was somehow the total opposite of the hooligan from Kuzhou, who took pleasure in causing pain and suffering to avenge his own sad childhood, and it made him happy that he was the one to make the change.

Master and Xue Yang return with lots of tasty street food, a variety of strange herbs and spices, and a special carved piece of white jadeite. The white jade was going to be turned into a human finger through the overwhelming wish to regain his pinky finger, with some extra spiritual aid from Baoshan Sanren, then the mix of specific herbs would add the element of functional movement to the jade. Even Xingchen had no idea that this method existed, and he was a few months of meditation from immortality! They went into the little shack, kicked the Daozhang out to gather food for regaining energy with a handmade straw basket from the local town and locked the door from the inside. On his way to the town, Daozhang Xingchen had flashbacks of sweet little A-Yang, seven years old and so small for his age, which contrasted with the teenager who bravely declared he would be seen next with a full hand of fingers. Time went by so fast, and over just a decade, he had saved the world from the terror that was angry, vengeful adult Xue Yang. Ah, if only Song Lan and A-Qing had met the improved version of Xue in his past life, they could have formed their sworn brotherhood of fair and justice loving cultivators.

It takes a while to navigate the bustling markets, decide what to buy, how much to buy and how to pay for what he needs, because he may have been an immortal, but he was an immortal who remained clueless about the world. His disciple had taken over food shopping soon after starting his cultivation studies when Xingchen tried to give a stall owner a gold ingot for a basket of pears, and the poor man had to explain how much his pears were, not a piece of gold however juicy they were. He took so long to buy normal food, rice included, because you could never have too much rice with a meal in Xue Yang's opinion, that it was getting dark by the time he got home to the shack.

Xue Yang and Baoshan Sanren were waiting for him when he reached the mountain, and the first thing he noticed was that his disciple was not wearing the white silk gloves he had been wearing since he was a child, but he had a completely normal looking hand of fingers instead. Xiao Xingchen nearly dropped his baskets of food, in his hurry to examine the new pinky, and he could feel his master judging him when she had to pick some unfortunate carrots off the ground. "Daozhang, do you like it? Jie said I did well, and that my new finger matches the reputation of the youngest immortal cultivator in China. I can be like you now, and cleanse the world of evil with you forever until the whole world is free from harm!", Xue Yang asked cheerfully. Xiao Xingchen felt his qi, and compared it to his disciples, feeling the same strong flow of his own qi.

Baoshan Sanren shook her head, "Young people these days are so excitable. Nevertheless an old woman like me is impressed with your young disciple, to reach immortality at 15 winters is a reminder of the increasing potential with each new generation. I must congratulate you Xiao Xingchen, my teachings are successful to have produced such a kind shizun for the leading student. I feel satisfied that I can leave again for a few years of rest before I ascend to heaven." She took the vegetables and fresh tofu to the table they used to prepare food, and started making vegetable tofu soup with fried lotus pieces.

Eating a meal prepared and cooked by the heavenly master was an honour, rarely did Baoshan Sanren use her powers to cook for people, and he was one of the small group since being given the bowl of lotus pieces, while A-Yang carried the big pot of tofu and vegetable soup. Over dinner, Xiao Xingchen asked Xue Yang if he would like a courtesy name, which he should have really done before, as it was only proper for an extremely gifted cultivator or since hours ago, an immortal to receive a formal name. He himself was stuck on what name would summarise what had happened in the last eight years, the transformation from an orphaned street rat to the youngest immortal, and more important to him, the successful diversion from the dark path, into the light. "Qiuqiang, Xue Qiuqiang, the youngest immortal to cleanse the earth of evil and the last disciple of Baoshan Sanren, a man of enlightenment and strength.", the heavenly master spoke elegantly, and not at all like she was speaking in the spur of the moment. Xue Yang bowed till his forehead reached the floor, thanking her for his courtesy name and cultivation training, but Xiao Xingchen remained speechless. Fortunately, his old master knew when he was just frozen, not that he was trying to be rude, and accepted stuttering and frantic bows as a sign of his gratitude.

The next day, Xiao Xingchen and Xue Qiuqiang leave the mountain peak with the few possessions they had carried along on their journey to find Baoshan Sanren, the same legendary immortal that taught Xue Yang to regrow his pinky finger and gave him his courtesy name. They left her company at the mountaintop, where they had to start climbing down the mountain to reach the house in the city. It had been an honour for Xingchen to see his new master, but now, it was time for new immortals to aid the people, and for the old to move on to further glory in the heavenly realm. "Daozhang, where should we start our new careers as night and day hunters? A building big enough for all the orphans in Yueyang will cost quite a lot to buy and maintain if every orphan gets what I had to become as good as a rich young master.", Xue Yang asked eagerly, with a light in the hazelnut brown of his irises that he never saw before.

"Let us start back where our story started, the small town of Yueyang. We have an eternity of orphan raising to look forward to as long as we keep our cultivation solid.", Xingchen replied calmly, threading his slim fingers through the sleek masses of his disciples hair. The boundary between shizun and disciple felt like it had blurred since he saw how mature Xue Qiuqiang had become, and the feeling that he was caring for a child had vanished into the thin mountain air.