My Simulated Road to Immortality

The thin little boy looked to be about seven or eight years old. He was lying on the thatched cottage roof, staring at the sky.

Upon hearing his mother's call, he was about to get up, but accidentally, his balance faltered, and he fell straight from the rooftop.

Luckily, he landed right on the pile of hay below, thus avoiding injury.

Doggie seemed to be already accustomed to it. He patted his body, straightened his clothes, and ran home at a trot.

At the dining table, his mother, while serving Doggie food, chided, "Went to play at the east of the village again? I told you to stay away from that madman!"

Devouring his food, Doggie said nonchalantly, "I think Crazy Uncle is pretty nice. Not at all as scary as you say."

Doggie's father, accustomed to silence and having not spoken a word since the meal began, directly put down his chopsticks and slapped Doggie on the head upon hearing his words.

"What do you know! Do you know what happened to those in the village who didn't believe? Stay away from him, just stay away!"

Under the iron fist, Doggie dared not retort but remained defiant in his heart, merely eating in silence.

After this, though it was apparent Doggie would no longer visit Crazy Uncle's home.

But whenever he had the chance, Doggie would secretly bring some treats to visit Crazy Uncle.

Crazy Uncle was what Doggie called him. The villagers bluntly referred to him as the madman.

He was also a member of the village, orphaned since childhood, and grew up eating at different households. As a child, he was still normal. But gradually entering middle age, he began to become somewhat deranged.

He often muttered strange words.

Like "I've seen many versions of myself" and "I'm simply not myself." Sometimes, he would even point at someone in the village, with a terrified expression, screaming, "Aren't you already dead?"

The villagers he cursed would, nine times out of ten, suddenly die unexpectedly not long after.

Indeed, immortals exist in this world. The villagers were convinced the madman was surely connected to those mystical and mysterious powers. To avoid further trouble, the villagers decided to band together and expel the madman.

But it seemed there was something in the village that he was extremely concerned about. Sensing the villagers' malice, the madman suddenly lashed out angrily, injuring people.

The exact number of people who died that day was unclear to Doggie. But from then on, the villagers chose to avoid the madman, keeping their distance out of respect and fear.

Only courageous calves like Doggie dared to approach the madman.

The madman stayed in his ancestral shabby house throughout the years, without seeing daylight, extremely dark, huddled in a corner, continuously muttering to himself.

Originally, Doggie also stumbled in while playing hide and seek with his little friends, scared by the eerie atmosphere in the house.

However, when he heard the madman's muttering, though not understanding the meaning of those syllables, Doggie found himself deeply attracted to them.

Until the incessant shouts of his friends outside brought him back, Doggie reluctantly left. Since then, whenever he was distracted, the murmurs of the madman would ring in his ears.

Finally, one day, Doggie could no longer resist the lure in his heart and returned to the madman's small black room again.

Politely, he even brought a roasted duck.

It seemed the aroma of food briefly awakened the madman's senses. The madman stopped his muttering and unceremoniously snatched the roasted duck, devouring it ravenously.

After a full meal, the madman, in his lucid period, merely warned Doggie to stay away from him.

Tricked out of a roasted duck, how could Doggie be willing to let it go? Naturally, he was unwilling to leave. He even asked the madman about the words he kept repeating.

The madman was silent at first.

Then from the ruins of his house, he pulled out a heap of wooden plaques, saying they were the ancestral tablets.

He didn't know what he was saying when he was mad. It was just that this strange illness had accompanied the Xuanyuan Clan since ancient times.

Fortunately, only one person per generation would suffer from this odd ailment. As the Xuanyuan Clan gradually branched out, not many humans remembered this hereditary disease.

"This curse stops here." The madman placed the tablets back on the ground in order and put nothing on his own spot but an empty wooden plaque.

Then, under Doggie's shocked gaze, all the tablets ignited without wind, turning into ashes in the narrow wooden house.

Doggie asked about the mysterious deaths in the village again.

Crazy Uncle showed a ghastly smile, "What does fated death have to do with me? The rooster crows, and the world brightens. Could it be the great sun in the sky truly crowed by roosters?"

"Doggie, you must know everything in the world has happened countless times before. Now it's just another rehearsal. Just like you..."

Crazy Uncle stared at Doggie closely, then slowly revealed an expression of extreme terror. After the fear, he started to become crazy again, and before completely losing his sanity, he tossed Doggie out of the door.

Since that day, Doggie vaguely believed that this Crazy Uncle must be hiding some great secret.

Though young Doggie couldn't understand Crazy Uncle's words, he believed that the secret Crazy Uncle held was likely related to the legendary Fairies!

For this reason, Doggie went to great lengths to find out from his father the real name of the madman uncle.

Xuanyuan Saint.