"Tick-tock, tick-tock."
A woman in a green dress walked barefoot across the water's surface, each step creating gentle ripples.
She spoke with a light laugh as she reached the other end of the water and smiled again.
"Why are you looking for me?"
A stiff voice came from beneath the water, "Ninth Mountain inheritor, when will you become a Grand Emperor?"
"Grand Emperor?" Huang Qingyue crossed her arms, looking somewhat plump, and shook her head in distress: "That's hard to say. Why don't you give me more magical treasures? After all, you're the biggest treasure box in all the realms."
"I already gave each of you Nine Mountain inheritors a magical treasure last time. Why do you want more?" the stiff voice questioned.
"Fine, forget it if you won't give any. No need to be so rude about it, it's not like I'm desperate," Huang Qingyue rolled her eyes.
The stiff voice fell silent for a moment, then continued: "The battles between the Divine Realm and the Immortal Realm are becoming more intense. The Nine Mountains' Supreme Lord is still in slumber. We need the Grand Emperors of the Nine Mountains to resist. As the Ninth Mountain inheritor, you should become a Grand Emperor soon."
"The problem is I can't, and I'm troubled by it too," Huang Qingyue scratched her head.
The stiff voice didn't know what to say to that, and instead asked, "You've been in contact with Xu Zhen from the Fuyao Immortal Sect recently. What's your relationship with her?"
"Love rivals," Huang Qingyue answered quickly.
This response startled even the stiff voice, which replied confusedly, "Though I'm just a magical treasure and don't understand matters of the heart, you shouldn't deceive me."
"Believe it or not," Huang Qingyue rolled her eyes again.
"Then who do you both like?" the stiff voice asked.
Huang Qingyue frowned, "Questions, questions, why do you like asking so many questions? Instead of hiding in this pond, why don't you move to the foot of the mountain and gossip with passing cultivators?"
The stiff voice was speechless, remaining silent for a long while before speaking again.
"Though I don't understand matters of the heart, I have a question: after thousands of years of separation, can true feelings still exist?"
This question was so pointed that Huang Qingyue couldn't answer immediately. Instead, she lowered her head, beginning to worry.
After thousands of years without seeing each other, could feelings truly remain?
Though cultivators were known for their steadfast hearts and cherished ordinary memories, with youthful emotions lasting forever, she could only guarantee her own unchanging feelings.
But what about Chen Xia's?
She couldn't be sure, and this made her worry.
The stiff voice asked again: "When people don't see each other for a long time, feelings become distant. Though I'm just a magical treasure, I understand this principle. What do you think?"
Huang Qingyue didn't respond immediately, then raised her eyebrows and replied irritably.
"None of your business!"
She turned and quickly walked away from the pond, soon disappearing from sight.
Though the stiff voice knew it had said something wrong, it didn't know exactly what the mistake was. It could only sigh like a cultivator would and make one final comment.
"What a devoted soul."
In the following years of the Immortal Realm, the main focus was on the battles with the Divine Realm.
The Divine Realm and the Immortal Realm were two equally matched major realms with long-standing grudges. If one were to count back, these grudges would span dozens of great eras.
That's why during this chaos, the Divine Realm chose to attack the Immortal Realm.
However, the Immortal Realm wasn't easy to deal with. The Nine Mountains alone had nine Grand Emperors, and the four great states below had six Grand Emperors. Adding the Nine Mountains' Supreme Lord who was in transmission, there were sixteen Grand Emperors in total.
In terms of the number of Grand Emperors, the Immortal Realm should be the greatest among all major realms.
The only shortcoming was that while the quantity was high, the quality wasn't particularly impressive. More than half were first-level Grand Emperors, only four were second-level, and just one was third-level.
The legendary Nine Mountains' Supreme Lord was fifth-level, which was the Immortal Realm's final trump card.
The battles between the Divine Realm and the Immortal Realm weren't limited to Grand Emperors; cultivators of all levels, from Yuan Ying to quasi-emperors, had their own battlefields.
Among the new generation of quasi-emperors, Xu Zhen was particularly brilliant. She was already one of the top prodigies across all realms, and after becoming a quasi-emperor, her killing power increased even further. She was considered on par with the Divine Realm's Divine Prince.
Their battles were indeed intense, having fought several times one-on-one, displaying power close to that of Grand Emperors, though neither suffered casualties.
This was what battles between top-tier prodigies looked like.
The Grand Emperors' battles took place outside the realms, in the void, where brilliant lights of their divine techniques would often flash.
The Divine Realm and Immortal Realm had been entangled in battle for thousands of years, and it seemed there would be no clear victor.
Until the eight thousandth year.
An ancient aura emerged from within the Divine Realm as an old monster who had been sleeping for an unknown time awakened and pointed a single finger at the Immortal Realm.
This one finger pierced through the Immortal Realm's barriers like heavenly tribulation, instantly severely wounding two Grand Emperors and breaking through the realm's defensive barriers.
The Divine Realm's Grand Emperors invaded afterward, descending upon East Jia State and instantly occupying thirty percent of its territory, using it as a base for further battles against the Immortal Realm.
This was the first time the Immortal Realm had been breached.
The ancient figure from the Divine Realm looked at the Immortal Realm and softly said: "Old Heaven Patroller, you continue your slumber. Don't blame me for awakening first and making my move."
There was no response from the Immortal Realm; the Nine Mountains' Supreme Lord remained in slumber.
In the Great Death Realm, Chen Xia was also in slumber. Beside him stood his heart demon, frowning with a gloomy expression, now angry.
The old being from the Divine Realm had crushed ten percent of the territory of the Ten Thousand Mountains in East Jia State, effectively destroying his dao techniques.
The heart demon's crimson eyes kept flashing as rationality held back his impulse to act, reminding him it wasn't time yet.
"Old monster, I'll kill you sooner or later and hang your head on the mountain peak!"
The heart demon exhaled again and looked out from the Ten Thousand Mountains to observe the several Divine Realm Grand Emperors stationed in the Immortal Realm.
His eyes suddenly lit up, and a smile appeared on his lips.
There really was such a thing as karma in this world.
His figure shifted as he emerged from the heart lake of the Ten Thousand Mountains, adjusted his sleeves, and headed toward where the Divine Realm Grand Emperors were.
If he couldn't fight the old one, he'd fight the young ones first, mainly to vent his anger.
By the way, here's a recommendation for a new book by an author in our group, also about immortality. Interested readers can check it out.
"Starting with Immortality Through the Ages, Watching the World's Rise and Fall"
Good night.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
