Chapter 24: A Meal

Lu Xing returned to Earth.

He looked around and found himself sitting on a stone beneath a banyan tree beside the West Teaching Building, facing the passing pedestrians. He held a half-eaten bag of cookies in his hand, and a half-finished bottle of water sat beside him.

The Immortal had learned how to eat and drink; a cause for celebration!

Lu Xing sighed with relief. He had specifically prepared these cookies and water because he had already gained some insight into the Immortal’s personality: she would never take the initiative to communicate. If he wanted to return without starving, he had to have food ready for her.

It was truly fascinating. Of the four people he had swapped with, two lacked basic life skills, yet one couldn’t really blame them—one was a cultivator, and the other lived in a virtual world. It was Lu Xing’s mortal body that had dragged them down, forcing the Immortal to descend into the mundane world and endure the trials of human existence.

Returning to his dorm with the leftovers, Lu Xing found his phone on the desk. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to call Xiao Yu.

"I’m at work. Is something the matter?" Xiao Yu answered quickly.

"My apologies. Go ahead with your work; I’ll send you a message instead."

"Since you’ve already called, why drag it out? Speak!" Xiao Yu urged.

Lu Xing asked, "Did I call you today?"

"No. Who have you turned into this time?" She accurately guessed the implication of his question.

"I’ve turned into the Ice Immortal."

"Doesn't she have a name? You keep calling her by that tacky nickname, 'Ice Immortal'!" Xiao Yu laughed.

"Regrettably, I didn't ask. I have no choice but to use 'Ice Immortal' as a placeholder."

Lu Xing felt helpless. Including the Immortal, half of the souls in the mirror claimed to be nameless. He had no choice but to silently categorize them: the Empress, the Woman in Purple, the Girl in the Blue Dress, and so on.

"Is it perhaps a taboo in the cultivation world? They say if you know someone’s name, you can cast a curse on them!" Xiao Yu speculated; she had recently watched a Hong Kong film from the nineties.

Lu Xing laughed aloud. "A curse? The Immortal could kill tens of millions with just a hum!" He wasn't exaggerating; the Immortal truly could wipe out tens of millions with a single sound.

"I was speaking metaphorically! Something like a curse," Xiao Yu mumbled. "Since she didn't call me today, let’s leave it at that. I’ll come find you after work. I should arrive around 6:30; come to the West Gate to pick me up."

She hung up without further pleasantries—they were, after all, body-swapping partners. Lu Xing wasn't sure why she was coming, but since she insisted, he decided to wait until her arrival before doing anything else.

An hour later.

"Over here."

By the roadside outside the West Gate, the rear door of a black sedan opened, revealing Xiao Yu’s bright and dignified face as she smiled at Lu Xing. Lu Xing remained calm, but the passing students stared in amazement, and many people in the distance turned their heads to look.

Lu Xing didn't rush to get in, asking instead, "Aren't you getting out?"

"Get in. My treat today."

"That’s too embarrassing. Let me treat you instead."

"Do you have money?" Xiao Yu glanced at him, her eyes carrying a hint of amusement. "You broke someone’s phone and still owe the counselor two thousand yuan."

"That wasn't me! It was Xiao Jiang!" Lu Xing sighed. A single penny could stump a hero; he was a transmigrator, for heaven's sake, yet he was still this broke!

Xiao Yu chuckled. "Get in. It’s my treat today, and I have something else to discuss with you."

Lu Xing nodded, walked around the car, and climbed in, sitting beside Xiao Yu with an armrest between them.

"What kind of car is this?" Lu Xing noticed the interior—it was very high-end, with the ceiling dotted with stars like the night sky.

"You’re a guy and you can’t tell? I thought all boys knew cars." Xiao Yu still remembered the time she couldn't recognize a BMW.

"I only know Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. I haven't studied the others," Lu Xing replied.

During their chat, the car pulled into a restaurant parking lot. When they arrived, before Lu Xing could even touch the door, Xiao Yu’s assistant stepped forward to open it for him. Once Xiao Yu stepped out, the assistant led the way, meaning she didn't have to worry about anything; she just had to walk in and eat.

Lu Xing laughed. "Do you know what I just thought of?"

"What?"

"Annie."

"That noble lady from the magic world?"

"Exactly. She has seven or eight maids to help her get dressed. It just occurred to me that when she comes to Earth, she has to dress herself!"

A normal person would know how to dress, but of the four people who had possessed Lu Xing’s body, three were not normal.

"Seven or eight maids waiting on you?" Xiao Yu looked at him with a strange expression.

"Not me, Annie!"

"Then she was also seen by you—" Xiao Yu shut her mouth just in time; with the assistant and bodyguards nearby, it wasn't appropriate to discuss such things.

As they spoke, they entered the restaurant. The assistant had already secured a table, so the two of them just had to follow. Once seated, Lu Xing checked the menu. Thankfully, it was reasonable—a dish was only two or three hundred, not the thousands he had feared. The life of this wealthy socialite was truly staggering in every aspect.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Anything. I can eat whatever; you know that, don't you?" Lu Xing smiled.

Xiao Yu rolled her eyes at him and pointed to the spicy rabbit heads on the menu. "You can not only eat anything, you eat a lot... Shall I get you this?"

"Sure."

"Do you drink?"

"Only at parties. Generally, no."

They each ordered two dishes and a soup. While waiting for the food, Lu Xing recounted his experiences in the cultivation world. In reality, it was just climbing a mountain.

Xiao Yu listened with amazement. "That Immortal made the snow and wind stop with just a shout?"

"She is, after all, an Immortal who resides in an icy mountain."

"Hard to understand. Aren't other places better? Why live in a cave?"

"Don't look at her through the eyes of an ordinary person. Many things we consider common sense seem strange to her!"

"That’s true."

Xiao Yu stirred her teacup with a spoon for a moment before looking up at him. "That Immortal... she must be very beautiful, right?"

"Uh." Lu Xing didn't know whether he should praise her or not. If Xiao Yu were an average-looking girl with self-awareness, he could easily praise someone else’s beauty. But Xiao Yu was a great beauty herself, and beauties were often proud. If Lu Xing praised another woman, it might imply the person in front of him wasn't as good.

Xiao Yu stared at him. "No need to answer. I can tell from your expression that she is the most beautiful person you have ever seen!"

Lu Xing laughed. "Her appearance and figure are about the same as yours... large." He bit back the word "large" just in time. He really did know!

"But she is a cultivator; her temperament is completely different from an ordinary person. If you were a cultivator, you would also be an Immortal!" Lu Xing finished his thought.

"I don't want to be any Immortal. Besides, at my age... never mind." Xiao Yu changed the subject. "If there’s an opportunity, I’d like to see this world-renowned Immortal myself. It’s a pity she didn't even call me."

Lu Xing chuckled. "I don't even know her name or how to address her. If it weren't for the accidental body swap, I suspect that even if I stood before her and shouted until my throat went dry, she wouldn't even acknowledge me."

"Is her personality that cold?" Xiao Yu grew even more curious.

"It’s not cold; it’s indifference. Or perhaps... reclusive? Socially impaired? None of those are quite right. She likely belongs to the category of invincible powerhouses. The more powerful people are, the more their thoughts differ from ordinary folk. Thinking of her as an Immortal from the Nine Heavens is most appropriate; she can only be viewed from afar."

Lu Xing had vaguely realized that the Ice Immortal in her ice chamber wasn't hiding from enemies, nor was she training—she simply chose to live there. Just as a beautiful senior he had encountered in the mirror once said: one can lie down to rest anywhere; whether in the heavens or on earth, the three realms and six paths are all the same, so why insist on going anywhere in particular?

With her strength, even if she lay in the snow, few could shake her, let alone get close.