As it turns out, bao buns are actually a pretty viable solution to broken skulls in a Demonic Containment Array.

After getting all those awful needles pulled out and walking around, checking the places where the bao buns had been buried...it turned out that the array was even stronger than before! The sense of demonic qi radiating from the heart of the mountain was barely detectable.

In fact, the bao bun containment array was so freaking strong that it eliminated the Frightful Aging Curse's effect! I should've realized before that the only reason Fong Jue could curse the village of Yingxuan Shan was because the Demonic Containment Array was off. I shouldn't have been able to even sense his demonic qi from up here, and yet I was able to know he was there.

Dang. Not to be hard on myself or something, but...this immortal needed to study up some more if I was going to be a professional.

Over the days when I'd been sleeping, everyone who'd been aged up slowly aged backwards to their original ages. Easier for me! That meant I didn't have to go around looking for some crazy-ass cure after all that trouble I'd been through.

"Just remember to change out the bao buns once every week," I instructed the villagers. "That's important. If they totally rot away, then you'll have a demon infestation on your hands, and that's a lot harder to deal with than a curse. And this immortal is taking a vacation for a while, so you're gonna have to find another cultivator to help with that demon infestation. Not that you'll have one, but...you know. If it happens. Cough."

(Okay, even after all these years, I haven't heard about a demon infestation in Yingxuan Shan. But, still. I fully expect it to happen some day. Some guy is gonna get lazy and not replace a bao bun somewhere, and then BAM! Demon ghost fire invasion!)

"Immortal Laoshi Xia!" Xu Yun said, grabbing my sleeve. His eyes were super wide, like he was worried. "You are taking a vacation? When? And where?"

"Hey! Isn't it disrespectful to grab your elder's sleeves randomly?" Xu Yun sheepishly let go. To boost my injured ego, I flicked out my sleeve in a very professional immortal way and cleared my throat. "Yes. This immortal wants to cultivate further and better understand the ways of immortality. I'm not super sure where I'm going, but I'm going somewhere. I'm also not super sure how long. But I'm going somewhere, for some time. You and Li Cheng can stay in the Glittering Cave of Immortal Sarcasm if you want. Or visit your Xizhi again, whatever. I'll be a year or three, max."

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Xu Yun's eyes widened even more. What was he, a puppy or something?

"A year or three? Immortal Laoshi Xia is going to be gone for so long?"

Li Cheng looked kind of confused. "But...we're mortals. A couple years is a lot for us. We might get shipped out to the imperial capital in that time if we pass our exams—"

"No! I will wait for Immortal Xia." Xu Yun stubbornly crossed his arms, looking silly in his scholar's hat. "It is more important to garner wisdom from our Immortal Laoshi than to quickly pass government exams. Besides, men who are twenty years older than us pass the exams. There is no rush. I will wait!"

"Awww..." I wasn't totally paying attention, because I was busy conjuring up a wooden board and carving wooden playing pieces with a Miniature Slicing Technique. I carved one to look like a demon, another to look like a ghost fire, and another to look like a demonic eye. "You don't have to do that, Xu Yun. Tell you what. This Immortal Laoshi hereby pronounces you both as her disciples. Call me Sifu Xia from now on, okie? Once a disciple, always a disciple. So you don't have to wait around. Go out and do whatever, take government exams and stuff. And then you can come and visit when you're big imperial officials? Sound good? Ah! There we go. Finished!"

"What is it you are creating?" Xu Yun peeped over my shoulder. A group of villagers had begun to gather around us. We were standing at the edge of the village after going around to review the parts of the Demonic Containment Array. I turned around and revealed my masterpiece to the villagers, Li Cheng, and Xu Yun, beaming.

"It's Monopoly! A board, cards, and playing pieces!"

Murmurs of confusion went through the crowd.

"Mun-aw-pow-lee?"

"Monopause?"

"Plea?"

I coughed awkwardly, putting the Monopoly board down and starting to draw an array on the ground with some nearby mud. "Don't bother about the name, it doesn't really matter. It's a fun game you play on a wooden board with little pieces."

"What is such a game for?" Xu Yun blinked.

I grinned. "A present for a bored demon."

With that, I got up and placed the board, cards, and pieces onto the array.

"Send this to Fong Jue," I ordered. In response, the array glowed a bright yellow so bright it was blinding. When the light cleared, the game was gone.

Hopefully, a bored and moody demon would have some fun playing board games tonight.