Forging Immortality through the Dao Seed

The grand voice by his ear had already vanished.

Yet Zhang Jing still stood in place, carefully analyzing the multitude of information that had been revealed in that voice just now.

"Each person can only enter and exit once."

"And killing is forbidden within the Immortal City. Does that mean it's free for all outside the city?"

His eyes narrowed slightly, displaying an expression of profound significance.

So the so-called safety of Bliss Immortal Island meant staying within the Immortal City.

However, in order to safely stay in the Immortal City, there was obviously a prerequisite, and that was to have enough 'Copper Coins'.

"Copper Coins? Could they be related to something like luck movement? After all, there's even a money changer that provides exchanges."

Zhang Jing mused to himself, then shook his head.

He felt things were not so simple.

There was also the emphasis on Bliss Ghost Market in that voice just now—clearly a place of trade. And since it's about trading, currency would also be needed, which should be the 'Copper Coins' mentioned earlier.

"It seems that the most important thing on Bliss Immortal Island is the 'Copper Coins'."

A trace of curiosity flashed through Zhang Jing's eyes.

What kind of opportunities did this Bliss Immortal Island hold, or what exactly was for sale inside the Bliss Ghost Market that attracted so many Unity Realm beings to enter this place despite the risk of being devoured by the River of Cosmos storm, one after another in persistence?

Even to the extent that—

Its allure seemed to vaguely surpass that of the Opening God Seal. It's known that the Opening God Seal relates to the mythical innate Spiritual Treasures.

Of course, Zhang Jing was also aware that the main reason might be that there was only one Opening God Seal.

But it was enough to illustrate the magnitude of the opportunity on this Immortal Island.

Don't you see, before the opening of the Bliss Immortal Island, tens of thousands of Unity Realm beings knew that the chance to obtain the Opening God Seal was slim, yet they still chose not to pursue the many opportunities in the River of Cosmos but instead recklessly followed and ran everywhere from behind their own behinds?

"Interesting, truly interesting."

Zhang Jing smiled faintly and slowly lifted his head.

The dense fog had unknowingly dissipated from before his eyes, and what appeared was a range of rolling mountains, along with hills, plains, lakes... almost every common landform could be found.

It was like a miniature world.

There were roaring dragons, towering divine trees, soaring fairy birds, a vision of all creatures in the frosty sky competing for freedom.

At the end of the plains, a majestic huge city could be vaguely seen.

Even from tens of thousands of miles away, Zhang Jing could feel a sense of oppressive and heavy atmosphere emanating from it.

"Bliss Immortal City?"

Just as Zhang Jing was about to set foot towards the Immortal City, unexpectedly a vast roar came from behind him, filled with an almost tangible fierce and murderous aura.

Hm?

His stepping foot paused momentarily in midair, then, without any hesitation, he stepped down firmly again.

With one step taken.

A barely perceptible glimmer passed over the Immortal clothes hidden on Zhang Jing's body, as he plunged straight into the void, disappearing from his original position.

The next moment.

Boom! A rumbling like an earthquake began.

Taking Zhang Jing's previously standing spot as the center, an area of ten miles around collapsed, kicking up a sky-full of dust.

What in the world was that?

Zhang Jing silently appeared atop an ancient tree a hundred miles away, his gaze fixed on the direction of the disturbance, his expression growing serious.

He had discovered upon his arrival that the entire Bliss Immortal Island seemed to be covered by some kind of prohibition, not to mention the ground, even a blade of grass was extremely hard, so much so that even a Cultivator of the Dharma Phase Realm would have difficulty causing damage.

And the ability to collapse an area of ten miles in one strike… That meant that a being of the Unity Realm Stage was actually launching a sneak attack?

How utterly shameless!

As the dust gradually cleared, a gigantic creature more than a hundred zhang long slowly came into Zhang Jing's view.

It was unmistakably a Spotted Divine Tiger, its huge eyes flashing with savageness, and its crimson tongue, full of backward-facing barbs, constantly licking its fangs.

With wings on its back and three steel whip-like tails behind it.

It looked extremely odd and ferocious.

Of course, Zhang Jing didn't pay much attention to the creature's appearance.

After all, ever since he entered the Immortal Way world, not to mention this beast, even within the Human Race, there were many with rather abstract appearances.

He had long become accustomed to such oddities.

However—

Zhang Jing's gaze collided with that of the giant Spotted Tiger, and to his surprise, he found that the creature had none of the wisdom that a being of the Unity Realm Stage should possess.

"No intelligence, only the most basic instincts, along with endless ferocity and murderous intent — how is this possible? Without intelligence, how did this creature reach this stage?"

"A pure beast?"

He couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

This was his first time encountering such a being.

However, reality didn't give him much time to ponder.

He saw the giant Spotted Tiger greedily glance at Zhang Jing, roar to the heavens, and then leap high, charging directly at him.

The fierce and murderous aura transformed into invisible chains, locking Zhang Jing firmly in place, making it impossible for him to move.

Ao!

In midair, the tiger let out another excited roar. Its vast shadow completely covered the sky above Zhang Jing, creating a sense of suffocation as if one was being crushed by Mount Tai.

On site.

"No Divine Skills and no Dao Pattern fluctuations, all strength converged in the body? There's actually such a path in the world, even more extreme than the Tao Sect's immortal body."

Zhang Jing was delighted.

He thought far ahead.

If he could figure out how this tiger relied on sheer physical strength to forcefully step into the Unity Realm combat power, perhaps in the future when his own body broke through to the Unity Realm Stage, his Qingyun domain could mass-produce such Tao soldiers.

Let's call them the Mountain Shoulder Warriors.

A faint smile emerged on Zhang Jing's face. He then took a step, once again diving into the void.

When he reemerged, he had already moved a hundred miles away.

Had he encountered a typical Unity Realm being, he might have needed to think about how to respond. But faced with a creature like the Spotted Tiger, which only had physical strength, with the help of the Immortal clothes, Zhang Jing naturally stood on invincible ground.

A long time later.

Bang!

The enormous body of the tiger collapsed onto the shattered earth, its life force roaring out into emptiness.

Blood gushed incessantly from a gaping hole on the giant tiger's forehead.

A figure holding the Five-Color Cloud Flag appeared silently above the opponent's mountain-like head.

Whew—

The battle now over, Zhang Jing couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

He admitted that he had somewhat underestimated the creature beneath his feet.

Although its attacks were somewhat simplistic, its defenses were terrifying, its vitality horrendously beyond Zhang Jing's expectations, reaching a level that was extremely frightful.

This might have been because its true realm was only at the Dharma Phase Realm.

Zhang Jing's congenital Qingyun Immortal Sword and Divine Skills, including the Innate Qingxiao Sword Qi, couldn't break through its defense at all.

It forced him to resort to using the Five-Color Cloud Flag, and only then did he barely manage to kill it.

He couldn't imagine how an ordinary cultivator at the Unity Realm Stage would fare against this giant tiger—if they didn't possess a Great Divine Power for attack or powerful attacking treasures, it was highly likely they wouldn't even break through its skin.

Perhaps the best approach would have been to turn and run before getting entangled with this creature.

Otherwise, the consequences were unimaginable.

Zhang Jing thought to himself in silence.

But at that moment—

Out of nowhere, flickering blue-white radiance suddenly illuminated before his eyes, snapping his mind back to reality.

Zhang Jing looked down.

He had just realized that the intermittent blue-white light was emanating from the corpse of the giant tiger at his feet.

And in a flash,

the radiance quickly solidified into numerous quaintly styled copper coins, scattering on the ground underfoot and emitting a faint, eerie glow.

"Are these…the copper coins that voice mentioned?"

Zhang Jing was taken aback.

He could never have imagined that the 'copper coins' he had been curious about originated like this.

No, that's not right! Zhang Jing suddenly realized that this might just be one of many sources for copper coins, and not even the main one; otherwise, the existence of a moneylender would largely be pointless.

Furthermore, he didn't believe that ordinary cultivators at the Unity Realm Stage would have the capacity to hunt monstrous beasts like this giant tiger.

Coming back to his senses,

Zhang Jing extended a hand, and the copper coins scattered on the ground rose up on their own, stacking neatly in his palm one by one.

"Two hundred and ten green copper coins, sixty-three white copper coins, what do these numbers actually mean?"

He picked up one green copper coin and examined it closely in front of his eyes.

He saw that the copper coin's surface was covered with bizarre, twisted Dao Patterns, faintly exuding an inexplicably exotic energy.

On the front of the coin, Dao Patterns intertwined to form the clearly visible Seal Script characters for 'River of Cosmos Eternal Treasure', while the back had the same format, but read 'Bliss Boundless'.

Zhang Jing also picked up a white copper coin and found it identical in design to the green one, but the exotic energy entwined around it was exceedingly weak.

Unable to puzzle it out,

he decided not to waste any more time, waving his sleeve. The corpse of the giant tiger at his feet, along with the copper coins in his hand, were all stuffed into a small world of void he had opened up.

"I'll take a look at the Immortal City first," he said.

Before his gentle voice could echo, Zhang Jing's figure had already merged with the void and disappeared.

...

...

Time slowly passed.

As numerous cultivators steadily arrived, the originally quiet Bliss Immortal City started to awaken rapidly, as if sensing the nourishment in the air.

In the outer city,

a pale-faced young man slowly walked down a secluded street.

If someone from the Mysterious Pavilion were here, they would surely recognize him—the true bearer of the Opening God Seal, King Zizai!

King Zizai glanced around cautiously, and seeing that no one was paying attention to him, he tiptoed to a corner, standing in front of an unremarkable house.

The moment he approached, a bronze beast head that resembled a lion quickly protruded from the door, opening its mouth to say cheerfully,

"This house is vacant. If you wish to reside here, please pay with copper coins first!"

"How much do I need to pay?" King Zizai asked nervously.

"How long you wish to stay, that's how many copper coins you need to pay," the bronze beast head sniffed vigorously, then continued excitedly, "One white copper coin for three days, one green copper coin for a year."

Upon hearing this, King Zizai suddenly glared incredulously, his pale face flushing with an unhealthy tint of color.

"What? Why is it so expensive?"

The smile on the bronze beast head vanished instantly, replying coldly, "The price is clearly marked, fair to all, without deception. Every residence in the outer city of Bliss Immortal City has the same rate. If you don't want to stay, you can leave."

"This—" King Zizai was speechless.

Bearing the Opening God Seal, now closely watched by those powers, how could he dare to leave Bliss Immortal City?

Heaving a resigned sigh,

he shakily counted out ninety-nine green copper coins from his mustard seed pouch. With each coin counted, King Zizai's heart convulsed painfully.

By the time he finished, his eyes were already flashing red.

These copper coins had just been exchanged at the moneylender. Each green copper coin represented a harsh stripping away of a hundred years of time; ninety-nine coins meant a vanishing of ten thousand years.

Even for someone at the Unity Realm Stage with a long life span, ten thousand years was not a trivial amount of time.

The bronze beast head swallowed the green copper coins handed over by King Zizai in one gulp, its originally ferocious face immediately beamed with a warm smile.

"Please enter, Master of the House!" it said.

As its words sounded, the door slowly opened.

King Zizai was just about to enter,

when a voice quietly reached his ears, causing his body to freeze in place, nearly making him spit out blood.

"One green copper coin to live for a year, that's really cheap?"

Cheap?

This price that seemed intent on flaying a person's skin and drawing out their bones, how could anyone find it cheap?

King Zizai almost crushed his teeth.

He turned his head slightly and saw that, by the door of the room next door, a young man dressed in a black robe had appeared at some unknown time.