The days and seasons passed; I helped out with many disputes, exorcised some more demons, brought several petty criminals to justice, and fought off demonic cultivators with weird-ass motives.

Soon, it was the fall of another year. Had two years passed? Or perhaps it had been three. Huh. Time was weird as an immortal. It felt like it was always going back and forth.

Anyways, I'd made a pretty comfortable living space out of the Glittering Caves by now. I had a nice, quilted bed, though I didn't really need it because I could sleep on the air; my self-cleansing spiritual pond was so sparkly it blinded any mortals who looked at it; and I'd chased out all the weird-ass beasts who'd been living in the inner workings of the Glittering Cave. It was a comfy place.

Plus, I kept that demon rate figure — what was its name? Right, Wu Zai — in one of the back-most, darkest crevices in the winding cave caverns, so I was never bothered if he decided to start shrieking in rage for no reason.

Immortal life was getting pretty comfy, honestly.

Just me, the beautiful, badass, wise, and awesome Immortal Xia Yue, my now-famous Destiny Blade, and my comfy Glittering Cave. The Holy Trio of Awesomeness.

By the way, did I say there were all kinds of interesting creatures around the Glittering Mountains? I'd read about them in the Quiet Cloud Library, but seeing them was a whole other thing.

Today, I was playing with a cute little Deathstalker Scorpion that could only be found in a certain cave on the Glittering Mountains.

I was making it fly around through the air when three figures suddenly appeared in the corner of my vision.

"What mortal goes there?"

Heh heh, I'd gotten much better at the professional, imposing, and divine immortal thing. I could really pull it off now. I waited for a reply, still playing around with the scorpion that looked like it just wanted to find its deadly cave again. Hmmm...It looked like a Hubert. I was gonna name it Hubert. Hubert the Deathstalker Scorpion!

"Hullo? I said, ahem, what mortal goes there?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When I looked over, there were three people kneeling with their faces to the ground. I'd gotten pretty used to the groveling by now, so it didn't weird me out as much.

What was weird, was that these were all kids!

Basically kids, at least.

With my divine sense, I saw that the young man on the left was only seventeen, the young man in the middle was eighteen, and the young woman on the right was twenty-two. They were all wearing dark blue, restrictive robes and hats that were clearly the outfits of scholars.

"Ahem...you young mortal scholars...Are you at the wrong cave? 'Cause I can't really help you with any arithmetic or anything..."

Suddenly, the eighteen-year-old young man in the middle called out:

"Wise Immortal Xia! This humble scholar's name is Xu Yun; this elder sister scholar's name is Wei Li, and this younger brother scholar's name is Li Cheng. Forgive our impudence for asking outright, but we have heard many great things about the depths of your wisdom. We three scholars are from the remote village of Xizhi, known for its tranquility and its philosophers. We have traveled far to see you, and ask you...to become our laoshi and bestow on us whatever wisdom you are willing to!"

I blinked.

I accidentally dropped Hubert the Deathstalking Scorpion, who scuttled gratefully out of the cave and right past the three scholars without even trying to sting them.

"Don't worry about Hubert," I said when the three young scholars trembled seeing Hubert pass. "He's just going home. All right, all of you stand up."

Hopefully, the three scholars got to their feet and stood, staring at me bright-eyed.

I sighed and crossed my arms.

"I don't know what you heard about my deep wisdom or whatever, but you heard wrong. Also, I'm not taking disciples, or students, or temporary students — whatever you all are. I don't do that stuff. So unless you have some kinda issue you need solved, nice to meet you, and bye-bye!"

I turned them around and started herding them away from the cave.

"Wait!" The head scholar, eighteen-year-old Xu Yun, turned his head around with pleading eyes. "Wise Immortal Xia! Please, we won't cause you any trouble! We just want to sleep and eat in your cave for some weeks, days, even, and then we'll go — "

"Sleep and eat in my precious Immortal Glittering Cave? I don't think so, little scholar dude! Come back when you all have a demon for me to chase out, or a haunting, or a living corpse, or something. See ya!"

With that, I pushed them forward onto a mountain clearing, turned around, and conjured an invisible wall behind me so they couldn't follow. I planned on taking it down in a couple hours when those scholar kids had gone.

Ah, seriously. Who told them I was a wise old immortal, like the bearded dudes who'd already been around for thousands of years?

I stroked my chin as I walked back.

Hmm...Well, maybe this was a good thing, heh. Not only was I gathering fame, but I'd somehow gotten everyone to think I was super wise, too.

Heh heh. Seemed like I had some kinda hidden talent for being a graceful poser.