There are three realms in the world: the immortal realm, the human realm, and the demon realm. Even though both humans and demons could become immortals, when looking at the entirety of the immortal realm, except for the three great immortals, there were only three hundred immortals.
These three great immortals were Nantan Shangxian, Fuyu Shangxian, and Luhua Shangxian. Led by Nantan, they were in charge of managing all the affairs of the Immortal Realm.
Among them, Fuyu was the most carefree. After cultivating up to ascension, she set aside managing affairs to pursue her heart"s greatest desire: raising pigs.
According to legends, Fuyu Shangxian, one of the three great immortals, was the greatest beauty of the immortal realm. Although there were not many people in the immortal realm, most of them were extremely attractive. So, to be ranked greatest among them wasn"t easy.
Therefore, this peerless beauty"s interest in raising pigs wasn"t something ordinary immortals could fathom.
For instance, right now, Luhua Shangxian was in her home watching with disgust as she held a piglet.
"You"ve killed thousands of pigs* over the past hundred years. How could you continue to harm these creatures?"
Facing Luhua"s accusation, Fuyu gave a serious reply, "How do you know I won"t be able to keep this one alive?"
Luhua felt sorry for this piglet. "It"s happened every time you"ve brought one back."
Suddenly, the piglet that had been good this whole time started to squirm. Fuyu pursed her lips. Looking down, she petted its head.
However, no matter how much she tried to comfort it, the piglet in her arms wouldn"t stop struggling like it was trying to get away from her. Luhua couldn"t help but laugh, "Look, it also knows its sad destiny and fights against it."
Fuyu continued trying to calm the piglet. "The fate of all beings have been predetermined. If it lives, then that"s its destiny. If it accidentally dies, then that"s also its destiny."
“Oink…” The pig in her arms snorted in protest.
"Look, it"s agreeing with me," said Fuyu Shangxian.
The piglet thought, "Pei!* That was clearly in protest against destiny!"
Speaking of this piglet, it, in fact, was not actually a true piglet. If you had to categorize it, it would be considered a beast and soul combination. The pig body came from the pregnancy of an old sow, and the soul came from a young woman of the 21st century.
Shu Tang had been sickly since she was a child. When she was in school, she took a sick day that turned into a whole year. Growing up wasn"t easy for her. Then, right when she was admitted into college, she became seriously ill. At that point, she had already become indifferent about life and death. During her last time entering the operating room, she even gave her doctor a "V" hand sign.
After her surgical procedure failed, the doctor said her desire to live wasn"t strong enough, so in the end, there wasn"t anything they could do.
Her entire life had been exhausting. Due to her sickness, she didn"t have any friends and coupled with being a burden on her parents, she thought that dying might be pretty nice.
Shu Tang originally thought if she died then she would get to drink a bowl of Meng Po"s soup*, take a trip across the Neihe bridge*, and not be such a sickly person in her next life. However, after her soul left her body, forget about Meng Po"s soup, she didn"t even see soup dregs before being transmigrated into the body of a piglet!
The only other person with this much first-hand experience in suddenly-turning-into-pig would be the famous Tianpeng Yuanshuai*.
Fortunately, this piglet had a healthy body. She was able to distinguish herself amongst the litter and s.n.a.t.c.h the best spot to drink milk, feeling like a real winner of the pig life.
Sadly, the feeling didn"t last long before she was purchased by a veiled woman. While traveling together, she learned this woman was actually the renowned great immortal Fuyu Shangxian.
This life…seemed really lucky. Even when she became a pig, she became an immortal"s pig. How blissful!
Of course, if she didn"t just learn the truth about Fuyu"s other pigs from Luhua, she would be a lot more blissful.
Fuyu Shangxian"s fingers lightly touched between Shu Tang"s eyebrows, activating a tranquility spell. Shu Tang instantly became calm.
“Bai Huahua* has tired itself out, I"m going to bring it back to rest. Luhua Shangxian, please help yourself.” Then, the woman and the pig disappeared in a blink of an eye to a distant location, leaving behind a helpless Luhua and a faint smell of pig.
In an instant, the woman and the pig returned to the bedroom. Shu Tang comforted her frightened little heart with her trotters. It happened so fast, she didn"t even have enough time to process the awful sounding name she"d just been given. She looked around the room, eyes wide with wonder.
Not only did she just arrived at the Immortal Palace, this was also her first time seeing an actual ancient bedroom. She was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity. Fuyu, watching her look around the room, lifted the corner of her mouth slightly and patted the pig"s head, very satisfied.
Looks like, the piglet she bought this time has a good spiritual aura. This one would definitely thrive under my care*.
Unexpectedly, she accidentally put too much strength in her petting. Shu Tang, suddenly frightened by the hard strike, screamed and swung her four short legs trying to escape.
Even when Shu Tang"s initial shock faded, the pain continued to drive her to instinctively run away, swinging her pig legs hard. Suddenly, a faint sound similar to jade shattering on the ground echoed inside her head. Then, the tranquility spell stopped working. The piglet leaped forward with its short legs, nearly reaching freedom.
Fuyu Shangxian frowned and caught it back in her arms. Raising her hand, she formed a yellow light at her fingertip and softly tapped the top of the pig"s head. The piglet struggled for a moment before gradually settling down.
After tucking the piglet into bed, Fuyu disappeared and reappeared in front of Luhua Shangxian. "I knew you would still be here."
Luhua, seeing she came back empty-handed, was stunned. "This one… died so soon?!"
Fuyu ignored him. Looking troubled, she said "Bai Huahua is not like the other piglets. My tranquility spell wasn"t very effective on it."
"Over the years, in order to raise pigs, you"ve practiced your tranquility spell to the point of perfection. How could it not be effective?" He paused. "Who is Bai Huahua?"
Fuyu slowly lifted her eyes and looked at him with contempt. "I just told you. You already forgot?"
As a great immortal being looked at with such disdain, Luhua"s face flushed. "Over the years, you"ve named thousands of piglets! I just forgot one for a moment. What"s so shameful about that?!"
Seeing him like this, Fuyu sat down on a gla.s.s chair in the main hall and propped up her cheek with her hand, ignoring him.
"Forget it." Luhua helplessly sat beside her and tried to ease her worry. "Let"s put it this way, a being who could innately breakthrough spells is rare, but they do exist. Seven hundred years ago, the human realm had an infant who at birth could spontaneously absorb the aura of heaven and earth. At four or five, he could even break through simple spells. But then, this child was sent to the Xiuxian sect, cultivated for a hundred or so years, and never did anything noteworthy."
He picked up the teacup from the table and sipped before continuing, "So, you don"t need to be worried by this. It may be that this piglet was born special and could break through some simple spells. The world is mystical, creating a kind of pig like Bai Huahua is not at all surprising."
Fuyu put down the hand that supported her head and seriously looked at him. Slowly, she said, "That tea you"re drinking… before you came, I fed it to Bai Huahua."
Luhua, mid-sip, "……"
"Pfff—!" He spat the tea out of his mouth. Luhua put down the teacup, ruthlessly wiped his mouth, and angrily stood up. "Goodbye!"
Fuyu nodded her head and waved farewell.
After he left like a gust of wind, she stared at the cup for some time before she finally realized. Luhua must be angry.
That"s right… no matter what, he"s still one of the three great immortals. If word got out that he and a pig drank from the same cup, he would definitely become a laughing stock.
Fuyu sighed at her own slowness. After thinking about it for half a day, she called over a servant to have gifts sent to Luhua as an apology.
Her responses to other people"s reactions have always been slow. She knew this was a big problem, but there wasn"t anything she could do about it.
Some people say that Fuyu Shangxian is just like a stone. Even though she"s a peerless beauty, she"s only a peerlessly beautiful stone. Those unfamiliar with her would think she"s hard to get close to because she of her impa.s.sive temperament*, not knowing that, she actually was a stone that cultivated into becoming an immortal being.
Her name “Fuyu*” was not her attempt to sound fancy. It was because her real body was a single piece of jade that had been carved into a lotus flower.
However, only Nantan and Luhua knew this because they were the only two people in the entire realm that she managed to befriend.
Despite being her only friends, the two of them still didn"t understand why a piece of jade enjoyed raising pigs.
Fuyu Shangxian sighed and went to her vegetable garden. She pulled up two radishes and brought them back to the bedroom.
In the bedroom, Shu Tang, who had been tired all day, was fast asleep. Fuyu put down the radishes and looked at the sweet piglet. She sat down beside it, closed her eyes, and meditated.
When Shu Tang woke up, she opened her eyes to a beautiful figure meditating.
When they first met, the great immortal wore a veil that covered her face. Shu Tang only knew the immortal had a pair of eyes so beautiful they shook you to the core. After that, she was trying to escape, and although the veil had been taken off, she didn"t have time to pay attention.
Now that Shu Tang was looking at her, she was breathtaking. Her face was truly perfect. Even the best plastic surgeons, couldn"t make such a flawless face.
Unfortunately, before she had her fill of gazing, the peerless beauty opened her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a shadow, making it hard to see her expression.
Shu Tang scolded herself for unexpectedly acting like a love-struck idiot towards a woman. But quickly forgot about the whole thing and started to whimper, indicating that she was hungry. The beauty understood what this meant and in an instant, a radish appeared in front of her.
Although it wasn"t the pig milk that she wanted, the piglet still opened her mouth and bit off a small piece of the radish.
While chewing the piece in her mouth, Shu Tang was so happy she started to wag her little tail.
It turns out, radishes were sweet!
*Killed thousands of pigs: the phrase was”养死” “养” means to nurture and “死” means to die. Basically, it means to kill something you"re trying to take care of.
*Pei: It"s the sound of spitting to show strong objection.
*Meng Po"s soup: Meng Po (aka the Lady of Forgetfulness) serves in the realm of the dead. She gives souls who are ready to be reincarnated a soup that ensures they do not remember their previous life or their time in h.e.l.l.
* Neihe bridge: A bridge located in h.e.l.l. After a person dies, they must cross this bridge in order to be reincarnated.
*Tianpeng Yuanshuai: this is the t.i.tle of Zhu Baijie (aka Pigsy), a major character from the novel Journey to the West, who is a humanoid pig.
*Bai Huahua: “白花花” means shining white. I thought it meant white flower, but the said otherwise.
*Thrive under my care: the phrase is “养活”. 养” means to nurture and “活” means to live. She means that could raise it well/keep it alive (unlike her other piggies).
*Impa.s.sive temperament: The phrase is “性子硬邦邦”. I think it means stoic; expressionless; rock-like.
*Fuyu: “芙玉” means lotus and jade, respectively.
T/N: I hope you"ve enjoyed this first chapter and want to read on! I tried to translate in a way that retained the spirit of the original work while adding linguistic embellishments in order to strike the same emotional cords for an English-speaking audience. If you find any mistakes, please let me know. Unfortunately, I don"t have a second set of eyes checking for accuracy (if you want the job please contact me). This is my first time translating a novel so there"s so much I have yet to learn. Thank you for reading!