Exploring Immortality Cultivation

"Do you wish to serve under me?" Zhao Qingfeng asked, but his tone was less of an inquiry and more of a pronouncement.

"Serve under you?" Lu Wan replied with a wry smile, "Can I even trust you anymore?"

"There's no need for me to kill you two." Zhao Qingfeng's expression was exceptionally clear, "You are not me, and Rongrong is not me either."

"Not you?" Lu Wan's wry smile continued, "How would I know..."

"I don't need you to believe me." Zhao Qingfeng said with a confident smile, "You just need to obey me."

"Don't ask what you will gain, you just need to know to obey me."

The next moment, boundless light appeared before Lu Wan, and a figure made of light slowly descended from the void. Amidst the brilliance, a silhouette that seemed divine stepped forward, coming to stand before Zhao Qingfeng.

It resembled a human being, with complete limbs and muscles as well-defined as marble. Through a human aesthetic lens, it was a handsome man. However, it had no hair, and the sagittal crest on the top of its head was unmistakably prominent. Its arms and spine extended into fins. These fins were long, fluttering like flags behind the tall humanoid shadow.

What on earth was this...

Before Lu Wan could finish his thought, the phantom had already reached out a finger, gently touching his forehead.

Instantly, countless pieces of information, memories both familiar and strange, began pouring into and out of his mind.

"Who exactly are 'you'? When was it that 'you' fell victim in this Mortal World? Poor thing." The phantom cradled Lu Wan's face, forcing him to look at Zhao Qingfeng.

Shu Rongrong's body trembled. She rose, attempting to flee, but the phantom extended a hand and suddenly a shift occurred in time and space, causing Shu Rongrong to rush straight toward the phantom!

Then, the phantom extended a hand towards Shu Rongrong's forehead, touching it lightly.

A special spiritual power not of Shenzhou poured into Shu Rongrong's mind from her brow, causing a change in her soul, bringing to light impurities that had been hidden within.

Shu Rongrong understood instantly. The souls of Banished Immortals were different from those of mortals. If a mortal's soul was a handful of yellow sand, then the soul of a Banished Immortal was yellow sand mixed with gold dust. Normally, as one's cultivation grew, the gold dust would progressively stand out, but in the process, it was also inevitable that the gold dust would wear away against ordinary pebbles.

Eventually, she would no longer be "Them".

The Nascent Soul Stage was precisely when the gold dust stood out without having worn away yet, the best time to collect the "gold dust".

And now, Zhao Qingfeng was using a method much like gold panning to bring out the "gold dust" within her.

To Zhao Qingfeng's surprise, he remarked, "Both of you, you're actually not one person either! This Mortal World truly is incredible!"

Lu Wan showed a hint of bewilderment, "Who are you?"

"Immortal Official, under the Ministry of Revenue of the Wanli Great Heavenly Venerable." Zhao Qingfeng reported his position with great solemnity, a title that sounded utterly mundane, yet when he spoke of this role, he did so with the utmost piety.

While Lu Wan and Shu Rongrong were in the midst of recovering their memories and changing their personalities, they were still stunned by this statement.

Zhao Qingfeng's eyes flashed with a trace of disdain, "Never heard of it? The Immortal Dao God? It seems you must have been Wandering Immortals who haven't returned to the Immortal Realm for a long time, haven't you?"

A flicker of pain crossed Lu Wan's eyes, "The Immortal Realm..."

"It seems you've been killed by the mortals of this realm too many times," Zhao Qingfeng shook his head, "So, will you serve under me? I will bestow upon you what an Immortal should have, so you will no longer be affected by this world.

I am an Immortal Heaven tax officer, and the taxes I collect are from world after world, endless life beings, and splendid civilizations.

This realm may be rampant with Heterodox, but it is incredibly prosperous, surely a fine fruit, isn't it?"

Lu Wan and Shu Rongrong's hearts trembled violently. At that moment, an odd sentiment flowed through their minds. They felt the malevolence of this world, as though only by following this man could they achieve eternal peace.

So, they knelt down, "Yes, my master."

Once invincible, they now prostrated themselves before the godlike Zhao Qingfeng.

"Very good," the unhuman-like phantom moved to stand behind Zhao Qingfeng, "Very good, indeed."

"Now, I have an assignment for you. There is another Banished Immortal in this Divine Capital. Bring him to me."

"Yes," Lu Wan bowed deeply, then his figure vanished from within this Grotto Heaven.

Shu Rongrong still knelt on the ground.

"What's wrong? Not going?" Zhao Qingfeng inquired.

In all honesty, Shu Rongrong answered, "Lu Wan alone is sufficient. We are certainly not ordinary Nascent Soul Stages."

"So it is," Zhao Qingfeng said with closed eyes, feeling everything. He asked casually, "Rongrong, what do you make of the heterodox paths in this realm?"

"They are not much to speak of. Their combat power might be strong, but their achievements are limited. They have no path left to follow."

"What about you? Do you remember anything? Like your hometown, or Immortal Heaven?"

"Immortal Heaven..." Shu Rongrong frowned. "I'm sorry, Master, I really can't remember. But... my hometown..."

"Speak whatever you remember."

"I seem to feel very close to the Heavenly Gang Atmosphere."

"You can't remember Immortal Heaven either, huh..." Zhao Qingfeng frowned. "This Mortal World seems somewhat different."

Unbeknownst to Zhao Qingfeng, another pair of eyes and ears was hidden behind him and Shu Rongrong, listening to every word of their conversation.

Feng Luoyi scoffed, "So that's how it is. One born from the sea and the other from a gaseous planet... Very good, very good. Several centuries have gone by, and you are indeed alive and well."

His gaze towards Zhao Qingfeng contained obvious murderous intent.

"Overly delicate lower limbs prove that his race does not walk on land. And these fins, ill-adapted for swimming, suggest that the species has relied on such features for courtship for a long time, like peacocks. Perhaps there's even a deadly toxin— a warning color. A sagittal crest indicates his diet is extremely rough."

"Indeed, he's not a race from Shenzhou."

"But the other two, where exactly do they come from? The ones we eliminated were clearly only two. 'Killed many times by mortals'... Besides us, is someone else hunting Immortals?"

As Feng Luoyi pondered this, he shifted his attention back to the battlefield.

Beside the Imperial Palace, Ai Qinglan was still locked in ceaseless combat with the Divine Separation Stage Cultivator. Nearby Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were wounded and losing their fighting spirit, but due to the presence of the Divine Separation Stage Cultivator, they dared not retreat.

In truth, as soon as the battle reached a stalemate, Ai Qinglan had already won. No one could outlast a Tianling Ridge cultivator who possessed the Life Flame in a war of attrition. With each clash against the other cultivator, Ai Qinglan's cultivation technique subtly adapted, gradually countering the enemy's cultivation methods. Faced with the ultra-fast evolution brought on by the simultaneous presence of the "Vein Spirit Root" and "Heavenly Calculation Atlas", no cultivation technique could escape being countered.

This was why the Heavenly Calculation Atlas could achieve the effect of a mental method with an added weight of six! If you couldn't kill your opponent right away, you would never have another chance to defeat them. The same move would not work twice against a Tianling Ridge cultivator.

In the sky, Liu Yi had already joined forces with Zhuang Xuelin. These two cultivators were weaving through the battlefield, ensuring the chaos did not harm the Immortal Alliance and yet also ensuring that the outcome wouldn't be decided too quickly.

On the ground, Chen Feng and Chen Youjia moved constantly. The partial control that once belonged solely to Wang Qi had been allocated to them, making their movements more efficient.

But what Feng Luoyi truly cared about, or rather, what the Immortal Alliance and Banished Immortals really concerned themselves with, was still Wang Qi.

"I used to think that this youngster was too strong and might change the course of the battle. Now, it seems unnecessary."

Wang Qi had already extricated himself from the clash with the Nascent Soul, wandering the battlefield without purpose. Feng Luoyi could sense that he was only devoting a fraction of his attention to mortals. Whenever a high-order cultivator's battle group moved, he would use Divine Spirit Assistance to imbue them with Taiyu magic, shifting them a hundred yards away.

His main focus remained on deducing magic. With unlimited access to the Ten Thousand Immortals True Mirror and free use of the Heart Demon Network, such chances were rare, and he intended to make good use of them.

As for the battle situation, there was no need to worry. Under a series of Feng Luoyi's "clever" manipulations to weaken their own combat strength, the two powers within Divine Capital ended up in a bizarre deadlock. Fierce battles erupted everywhere, but without any one battlefront being decisively unfavorable for Modern Cultivators, nor were any of them slain. Wang Qi didn't need to rush to fight.

So, in this war, Wang Qi was completely free. He roamed the battlefield at will. If any Nascent Soul or Golden Core dared to cause trouble and he happened to notice, he could teach them a lesson in minutes.

His target was actually the Ancient Method Practitioners' Book Tower.

That's right, Wang Qi was now taking advantage of the chaos.

"Since the Heavenly Sword is about to make the land here blindingly clean, it's better for me to save a bit of it."

Saying so, Wang Qi plundered one Divine Capital Family after another, including the Du Family. The spell "Which Year of the River's Moon" truly piqued his interest.

"Occasionally, there are some good things here," Wang Qi said as he dashed excitedly to the next target.

Suddenly, he felt the gravity around him change. Space within a small area underwent violent fluctuations. The change lasted only briefly but did not escape his perception.

"What's the situation?" Wang Qi, without hesitation, activated the Cave Heaven Ruler.

Space-time expanded, and Wang Qi's personal timeline diverged from that of the planet. In a state of low speed, he entered a unique reference frame.

Then, he saw a giant fist emerge from the folds of space.

"Lu Wan!?" Wang Qi exclaimed in surprise. "When did this guy gain the ability to come and go into the Azure Darkness?"

And then the giant man's fist, as if breaking free from the stagnant space, continued towards Wang Qi.

After all, the Cave Heaven Comparison Ruler was really just a way to bully ordinary people who didn't understand gravity and space-time. Against someone who could likewise affect space, the Cave Heaven Ruler wasn't as absolute! (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to vote for it at Qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)