Old Friends

Under the aegis of Director Zaohua. After journeying for several centuries, Dao Lord Taiqing of the Sanqing Sacred Hall had finally arrived at Creation Group. Because his Sanqing Sacred Hall was originally the lineage of Dao Sovereign Zaohua—Immortal King Zaohua himself—the Dao Lord had been admitted smoothly into Creation Group. Joining Creation Group just as smoothly was his traveling companion, Dao Lord Yuanyi of Tianhai Sword Pavilion. Once they entered Creation Group, both Dao Lords breathed a tremendous sigh of relief. Back in the lower realm, they had heard Yaoguang speak of the perils of the Immortal Realm, but they hadn't truly believed him then. Only over these past few centuries on the road had they genuinely witnessed the reality and brutality of the Immortal Realm. The Nine Great Conglomerates ruled supreme, unrivaled under the heavens. Any cultivator outside the Nine Great Conglomerates, Dao Lords included, had to obey every order from the conglomerates without question. The slightest resistance meant being branded a rebel and hounded relentlessly across the realm, condemned to live every day on the brink of death. Dao Lord Taiqing and Dao Lord Yuanyi had been rather fortunate. After ascension, they found themselves not far apart. Relying on the camaraderie of the Ten Immortal Sects, they supported each other, and backed by Dao Lord–level strength, they had luckily made their way to Creation Immortal City and joined Creation Group. Others, however... Others had not been so lucky. ... At that moment, within a team in Creation Group's Security Department. Having wrapped up his day's duties, Dao Lord Taiqing accepted an invitation from Dao Lord Yuanyi and arrived at the cave dwelling assigned to Yuanyi by the conglomerate. It was a solitary hilltop spanning barely a hundred li, too cramped even to fully unfurl large-scale formations. The moment he entered and saw Dao Lord Yuanyi's solemn expression, Dao Lord Taiqing knew what it meant. "Has another fellow Daoist's divine sense fluctuation vanished?" "Yes," Dao Lord Yuanyi replied, producing a peculiar Dao artifact. This artifact... ...was none other than the Heaven-Connecting Mirror, the unique treasure used within the Ten Immortal Sects for communication across billions or tens of billions of light-years. Before ascending to the Immortal Realm, all the Dao Lords had imprinted their divine sense within this artifact, hoping to band together at the earliest opportunity upon reaching the upper realm to face the crises Yaoguang had warned them about. Yet the laws of the Immortal Realm were far too oppressive. Remarkable as the Dao artifact was, the ascended Dao Lords could no longer use it to communicate. Its sole remaining function was to let them discern whether their ascended comrades still lived based on whether their divine sense lingered within. And now... Of the more than twenty imprints left before ascension, only six remained. "Who was it this time?" "Dao Lord Biluo of the Tongtian Sect," Dao Lord Yuanyi said in a heavy voice. Dao Lord Taiqing fell silent. Having spent centuries traversing several continents before reaching Creation Group, both men understood the perils out there. Yet even knowing, there was nothing they could do. In the end, Dao Lord Taiqing could only let out a sigh. "A vanishing divine sense doesn't necessarily mean death. It could be that they no longer wished to stay in contact and severed their imprint from the Heaven-Connecting Mirror. Isn't that what Dao Lord Penglai did back then?" The Dao Lord of the Sanqing Sacred Hall, once preeminent among the Ten Immortal Sects, managed a strained smile. "We should look on the bright side. Perhaps they've already joined one of the Nine Great Conglomerates and become one of their members." "The Nine Great Conglomerates..." Dao Lord Yuanyi recalled the arduous process of joining Creation Group himself. "Easier said than done," he sighed. "Even Dihui's divine sense has vanished. The patron behind him was Dao Sovereign Diyi—Director Diyi of Tianyuan Group, a mighty Immortal King! Yet even so..." "He probably failed to reach Tianyuan Group safely. Didn't Juntian make it into Tianyuan Group? He was taken under Director Hongmeng's wing and even contacted us not long ago." Dao Lord Taiqing tried his best to maintain hope. "Juntian..." Thinking of the Dao Lord who had made contact recently, a faint smile finally broke through the gloom on Yuanyi's face. "Let us work diligently. Now that we are part of Creation Group, our prospects are far brighter than those of many other Dao Lords. As long as we perform our duties conscientiously and save our immortal coins, there is every chance we can purchase enough Dao shares to attain True Immortality in the future." Dao Lord Taiqing smiled. "Once we become true immortals, intercontinental travel will be vastly safer. We won't have to fear underhanded ambushes from other conglomerates, nor will rogue cultivators be able to threaten us easily." Dao Lord Yuanyi nodded. A True Immortal held a managerial post in Creation Group. If attacked by another conglomerate—even across continents outside Creation Group's territory—Creation Group would pursue the matter to the very end. That provided tremendous security. "A True Immortal..." Dao Lord Yuanyi could not help sighing with longing. Then a thought occurred to him. "A True Immortal is essentially the equivalent of a Dao Sovereign, isn't it? At least in terms of raw power, that is certainly true." Dao Lord Taiqing nodded. "Dao Sovereign Yaoguang possessed True Immortal–level strength back in the lower realm, and his divine sense imprint has remained steady in the Heaven-Connecting Mirror all along, proving he is hale and hearty. I wonder how powerful he has become by now." Yearning showed in Dao Lord Yuanyi's eyes. "The Dao Sovereign already wielded True Immortal combat strength and was the reincarnation of an immortal to begin with. After a thousand years of cultivation here, he must surely have reached the peak of True Immortality, right?" Dao Lord Taiqing smiled. Dao Lord Yuanyi nodded in agreement. Just as they were about to speak further, both of their communicators chimed at the same time. Answering the call, the assistant to Director Zaohua appeared before them. "His Highness wishes to see you." "His Highness?" Taiqing and Yuanyi both shuddered. In the Nine Great Conglomerates, the supreme rulers were addressed as 'Your Majesty,' while the chairmen and directors were uniformly titled 'Your Highness.' In other words, the one summoning them was a director of Creation Group! The founder of the Sanqing Sacred Hall—Dao Sovereign Zaohua! Back in the lower realm, they had assumed they weren't far from a figure like Dao Sovereign Zaohua. Only after arriving in the Immortal Realm did they realize he was an Immortal King, standing at the very pinnacle of Creation Group's hierarchy. Yet now, having only recently arrived at Creation Group—where their compensation matched supervisors but their actual posts were mere regular employees—they were being granted an audience with a director? Surprise mingled with dread. Neither dared delay for a single moment, and they hurried toward Immortal King Zaohua's executive estate. Led by the assistant, they arrived moments later in a vast cave dwelling spanning thousands of li, bordered by verdant peaks and winding emerald waters. There, Immortal King Zaohua was deep in conversation with another person. Though the Immortal King did not deliberately release his aura, the ambient pressure radiating from over a thousand Dao shares rolled over them like a tangible tidal wave, leaving the two Dao Lords gasping for breath. "Ah, they're here." Immortal King Zaohua glanced back, then turned toward his companion with a laugh. "Haha, Yuxiao, they're all yours. Take them with you—consider it my gift for your return to the board." "My thanks," the one addressed as 'Yuxiao' replied, cupping his hands. He turned around, his gaze falling upon Taiqing and Yuanyi. At the same moment, the two Dao Lords finally saw his face. When they took in his features and sensed that familiar divine sense fluctuation, their eyes widened in utter disbelief. "Dao Sovereign Yaoguang?!" "Dao Sovereign?! You..." "All right, come with me." Yaoguang smiled, cupped his hands to Immortal King Zaohua, and led the two of them flying toward another cave dwelling. Taiqing and Yuanyi exchanged a glance, both reading the uncontrollable shock in the other's eyes. Yet having spent years coming to understand the strict hierarchy and rigid etiquette of Creation Group, neither dared utter a single question. Only when Yaoguang brought them down into what had originally been Immortal King Yuxiao's cave dwelling, manipulating its arrays as effortlessly as if he were in his own home, did a sudden spark of realization flash through their minds. "Immortal King Yuxiao?!" "Dao Sovereign Yaoguang... is the reincarnation of Immortal King Yuxiao?!" The moment the thought surfaced, all their shock and confusion unraveled into clarity. By now they knew that only figures of Immortal King stature met the requirements to reincarnate into the lower realm. In other words, any reincarnator could not possibly be an ordinary True Immortal or Immortal Venerable—they could only be an Immortal King! Coupled with how Immortal King Zaohua, a member of the board, had spoken and laughed with Yaoguang on equal footing, how could they fail to grasp Yaoguang's true identity? "You... are an Immortal King?!" The two looked at Yaoguang with trepidation. "You could look at it that way," Yaoguang said. He did not act overly familiar with them. He maintained enough warmth to look after them as old acquaintances, but sufficient distance to ensure they would not presume to overstep. "I am transferring you from Zaohua's faction to mine. Are you willing?" "We are!" Dao Lord Taiqing and Dao Lord Yuanyi replied without the slightest hesitation. Even a gatekeeper before a grand minister was a figure of consequence. To advance from ordinary employees to staff serving beside a board director was nothing short of a leap straight to the heavens. "Good," Yaoguang acknowledged, glancing at Taiqing. "You hold the Heaven-Connecting Mirror, don't you? What is the status of the others?" "The mirror's powers are severely suppressed in the Immortal Realm. We can only tell whether they are alive by checking if their divine sense remains; actual communication... is completely beyond our reach." At that, a trace of agony surfaced in Dao Lord Taiqing's eyes. "And now, only six divine sense imprints remain in the mirror. Excluding the three of us, there are only Juntian, Shilong, and Tianming." "The rest have all fallen?" Yaoguang had known that lower-realm Dao Lords who ascended to the Immortal Realm were destined to become prey for the Nine Great Conglomerates, but he had not expected so many casualties in a mere thousand years. In particular... "What about Dihui? As the lower-realm lineage left by Immortal King Diyi, couldn't he have sought refuge with Immortal King Diyi at Tianyuan Group directly?" "Perhaps... the distance was too great. Before he could find Tianyuan Group's headquarters, he met with disaster," Dao Lord Taiqing said, before quickly adding, "Of course, it's also possible he stumbled upon some unique opportunity and severed his connection to the mirror to keep from drawing attention." Yaoguang said nothing more. Such words from Dao Lord Taiqing were mere self-consolation. Dao Lord Taiqing knew it himself, and a bitter expression washed over his face. In that moment, true regret gripped his heart. Had he known the Immortal Realm was like this, he never would have ascended. At the very least... ...he wouldn't have even considered ascending until he had lived out his full hundred thousand years.