The next afternoon, as promised, the three young scholars climbed up the mountain to meet me.

Did I have a lesson prepared for them?

No.

Did that matter?

Not really. Wasn't it them who wanted to live around me and observe my ways, or something?

They were the learners. I was just a normal ol' immortal (not that old, but it's an EXPRESSION okay?). It was their job to learn whatever, and my job to just be my awesome, immortal self. I wasn't gonna start whipping up lesson plans just because some scholar kids had heard about my great wisdom or whatever.

To be honest, though, I felt bad about telling them they couldn't eat my food. They were mortals, after all. I didn't have to eat, but I kind of forgot it was a necessity for them, or they'd die.

So I invited them to come and eat next to my spiritual pond.

We all sat in a circle for some reason, like a kindergarten class from my past life, and I pulled sandwiches out of the air for them to eat.

"Wow!" the youngest scholar, Li Cheng, exclaimed as I handed him a ham and cheese sandwich. "What is this food? It's so SQUARE! "And it has layers, but they're all separate!"

Wei Li, the young woman (who was actually the oldest in the group), nodded solemnly at her sandwich. "It is a clever combination of ingredients, though I do not know what this soft white square on both sides is."

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Xu Yun received his sandwich with sparkling eyes, looking like he was about to burst from amazement. "This — Laoshi Immortal Xia — what is this invention? It is so unique! You truly are the wisest immortal of the modern age!"

I coughed, handing out cups of steaming barley tea.

"I call it a...ahem, a sand-wich. Because...ahem, the white stuff, the bread is soft like the softest sand, and there are many things inside, which makes you ask, which? Or something...Anyways, it's called a sandwich. Just eat it, all right?"

While they ate in reverent silence, I sat there and closed my eyes. Around this time of day, I would always meditate.

The thing is, all I could hear were the noises of chewing and murmurs of admiration from these three silly scholar kids. Eventually, I gave up on meditating and went to check on my spiritual pond.

Hmmm...It was all in good order. Good. The red lotuses weren't wilting even though it was autumn, which meant the crystal spiritual water was sustaining them well. I knelt down and pushed one lotus that was stuck in the grass at the edge of the pond further towards the center.

"Wow!"

I jumped, cursing. What was this kid, Xu Yun, an invisible cat or something? I hadn't even noticed him come up behind me!

He was leaning over the pond next to me, staring intently at the lotus I'd pushed further into the pond.

Then he whipped out a piece of bamboo paper on a tablet and started scribbling fiercely.

"Immortal Xia is so incredibly wise! Wei Li, Ah Cheng, come see! She is teaching us lessons without even speaking!"

Immediately, Wei Li and Li Cheng appeared, peering carefully at the red lotus in the middle of the pond. Wei Li whipped out her tablet as well, while Li Cheng scratched his head.

"I don't get it, Yun-ge. What's the lesson?"

"Ah Cheng, don't you see? Immortal Xia pushed the lotus away from the tangled grass at the side of the pond and into the deeper parts, implying that, to be free, we must both extract ourselves from the ideas that bind us, but also be willing to hover over deeper waters!"

"Ah! That makes sense, Yun-ge!"

I stared in disbelief as these three scholars discussed my actions in depth, muttering and inking their tablets furiously.

Either they were all stupid, or I was extremely wise and didn't know it.

While the second one sounded appealing, I'm pretty sure it was the first.