The main host of the Peach Blossom Festival has always been the Queen Mother of the Immortals in the Immortal Pool, rather than the Heavenly King. Maybe before, the Peach Blossom Festival was just a simple banquet. However, for the immortals who have ascended to heaven because of the Record of Immortals, the Peach Blossom Festival has become extremely important.
Why? Because peach blossoms can extend life.
Immortals drink the essence of the sun and moon, absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and pursue immortality and eternal life. In fact, longevity and immortality are two different concepts. Neither of these concepts refers to eternal life. If you chop off your head with an axe or throw it into the cauldron of the Bagua for two days without practicing some secret techniques, you will still die.
Immortals can still be relatively free. However, those immortals who absorb offerings from the masses of living beings are not as fortunate.
The fragrance comes from the masses of living beings, characterized by complexity, far less pure than the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Although it seems there are no bottlenecks in their cultivation, there are inevitably various hidden injuries and flaws. This requires magical objects to compensate for the damage and extend their lifespans.
Being an immortal is like climbing a mountain. Even if I can't reach the top, I can find a place to sit for a while. As long as I don't act foolishly, I won't fall off at all.
Immortals are like swimming. They must paddle hard, or they might get carried away by the current if they stop to rest.
Immortals, due to the complexity of the offerings they receive, have much shorter lifespans than immortals. They must consume peach blossoms to extend their lives.
The ginseng fruit of Zhényuánzi is all about "just by sniffing the fruit, one can live for three hundred and sixty years, and by eating one, one can live for forty-seven thousand years." The key lies in the word 'live'.
The peach blossom is also similar in effect.
At Hou Tian's side, kpi is assessed for immortals. The Queen Mother of the Immortals in the Immortal Pool is responsible for extending the lives of immortals. The harder you work, the longer you live. If you go to work without putting in any effort and fail the assessment, the consequences are not simply being sent to serve society, but actual death.
Who wants to die when they can live? So naturally, people would want to compete.
The Phoenix has grown weary of eating peach blossoms. If it's a banquet organized by Hou Tian, she won't attend. Your kpis can't touch me at all; if you provoke me too much, I'll just go back to Wudang Mountain. But the Peach Blossom Banquet is hosted by the Queen Mother of the Immortal Pool. Even if I don't respect the monk's face, I should show respect to the Buddha's face. At least I should give Her Majesty a favor.
The invitation was brought by the servant of the Queen Mother of the Immortals, Dong Shuangcheng.
The name sounds like it could belong to a man, but in reality, it is a very beautiful female immortal. She is also known as the Goddess of the Immortal Pool and holds a crystal-clear vase in her hand. Within the vase lies a piece of primordial snow essence, which is the remnants of something eaten by an ancient Phoenix.
Dong Shuangcheng and Gu She immortal jointly govern the snow and ice. Whenever there are thickly scattered clouds, the Gu She immortal will use a golden chopstick to tap Dong Shuangcheng's crystal vase, and snowflakes will fall from the heavens to the mortal realm.
Hou Tian and the Queen Mother, though married, are of equal status; there is no notion of one being subordinate to the other. The Queen Mother has under her command ten thousand jade virgins, among whom Dong Shuangcheng stands out. She is not only a deity of snow and ice but also now manages the Peach Blossom Garden.
The peach losses in the Peach Blossom Garden have been too great, with Long Ji, the great immortal in charge of the garden, being too brazen in his embezzlement. The Queen Mother had no choice but to send her own trusted confidant to manage the Peach Blossom Garden.
Although Dong Shuangquan is the Queen Mother's personal attendant, she dares not show disrespect to the Phoenix or Long Ji, so she kindly presented them with the invitation to the Peach Blossom Banquet.
The Phoenix glanced at Long Ji, and both of them felt a bit nervous. They had indeed eaten too many peach blossoms, and they were putting their successors in a tough spot.
She coughed lightly: "I beg the favor of the immortal to inform the Queen Mother that I will certainly attend the Immortal Pool with the princess."
After seeing off Dong Shuangcheng, the Phoenix rubbed her head and asked Long Ji: "The level of this banquet seems pretty high, with invitations sent to many of the immortals from the Primordial Chaos. If we go to attend the banquet, do we need to prepare some gifts?"
Dragon Ji and she have known each other for so many years that she is no longer the naive little girl she used to be.
You only have this one set of parents, but your parents don't only have you as their child.
Relatives don't need to bring gifts, but she isn't a child anymore. She knows that her parents and ordinary people's parents are not the same thing. Even wealthy families in mortal households calculate all sorts of things, let alone the home of the ruler of three realms.
It's better to send than not to send.
It's to give her parents face, which also counts as filial piety.
"Send some, but what should we send?" She didn't have a good idea at the moment.
In private, they discussed sending some winged fruit. Since the Peach Blossom Festival is all about eating and drinking, offering a few fruits they haven't tried would be enough to make the Queen Mother of the Immortals feel honored.
However, after Dong Shuangquan, the personal attendant of the Queen Mother of the Immortals, there was another message from Jiang Ziya representing Hou Tian to the gods in the heavenly court about the Peach Blossom Banquet, which completely threw their plans into disarray.
"Your Majesty plans to hold another Auction of Treasures at the Peach Blossom Banquet. The princess and the general must make preparations early."
The Peach Blossom Banquet has both large and small gatherings. The Phoenix has attended several times, but adding another meeting is quite fresh for her.
Hou Tian respects the Queen Mother greatly and generally wouldn't do something that upstages her.
Jiang Ziya added, "The Peach Blossom Banquet this time coincides with the birthday of the Queen Mother. Your Majesty's gesture is also a heartfelt one."
Fine! The Phoenix feels a bit helpless. What is meant by "coincide" with, is it just waiting for this day on purpose?
It's yet another invitation to eat peach blossoms, combined with the Queen Mother's birthday and the requirement to hold a treasure competition. The meaning is all too clear: it's an opportunity to accumulate wealth. At least, that's how the Phoenix thinks of it.
She didn't hesitate and directly asked, "What gifts do you, the celestial official, plan to send as a gift?"
Old Jiang successfully resolves the "hostage" incident involving the ancestor dragon, regardless of whether he won or not, as he has established a merit. With his previous achievements, he has been granted the title of "God of Fortune" by Hou Tian.
In reality, he himself has little fortune, but Hou Tian decreed it, and no one opposed it.
The old immortal who separated from the Old Sage of the South Pole is known as "God of Longevity."
The literate star spirit of Wenqu Star, Geng, is also known as "God of Fortune".
With the addition of Jiang Ziya, the newly appointed "God of Fortune," the three gods of fortune, wealth, and longevity have been completed.
After the longevity god left the Southern Pole Star Sage, his cultivation rapidly declined, and in reality, he had lived his last days.
The God of Fortune seems to hold a high and powerful position, but in reality, he is like a walking on thin ice, akin to an accountant. His office is located right next to the celestial prison, meaning he cannot make any mistakes; a mistake could land him inside.
The God of Fortune has lived a life full of hardships. Born with a thin fortune, it can only be said that the heavens value him.
Jiang Ziya smiled bitterly: "I am indeed poor, without any wealth to my name. I have prepared a scroll as a gift."
Wow! The Phoenix has gained some knowledge. At that kind of event, you're just going to bring a scroll?
If it were still in the mortal realm, that would be acceptable. Someone would pull out a family heirloom scroll, written by Jiang Ziya, which is more important than Qin Shi Huang.
But now it's in the realm of immortals, and what's the value of your calligraphy?
However, Old Jiang is indeed poor, and he's just started working as an official in heaven, so he's short on funds; that's understandable.
After seeing off Jiang Ziya, the Phoenix and Long Ji were a bit worried. Jiang Ziya said he was poor, which was fine. But they said no one would believe him he was poor.
The original plan to give two fruits to each of them has been shelved, and this time they'll have to give something tangible.
