Laughter and cheerful voices filled the Qi residence.
Excitement shone on every face.
Old Ancestor Lu had returned barely an hour ago, but word of what had transpired had already reached every member of the clan.
A True Immortal!
Old Ancestor Lu had actually become a True Immortal!
With a True Immortal old ancestor, the Qi clan was now a genuine True Immortal family.
Every member of the clan shared in the glory!
This news was not confined to the Qi and Chen clans; it spread through all of Lu City at the fastest possible speed.
The entire city was shaken.
The birth of a True Immortal was no trivial matter.
It affected the division of interests and the balance of power across Lu City.
The repercussions were enormous.
Yet no matter how chaotic things grew outside, Lu Changsheng sat relaxed and at ease inside his quiet meditation room.
Only upon returning to Lu City and the Qi clan did he feel a measure of peace.
Lu Changsheng focused his mind and examined his attribute panel.
Host: Lu Changsheng
Comprehension: 16,080,000 (Peerless Through the Ages)
Mortal Dao Fruit: 1% (Illusory Realm divine ability)
Myriad Spirits Dao Fruit: 1% (Devour Spirit divine ability)
Flesh Dao Fruit: 1% (Mighty Power divine ability)
Annihilation Divine Eye: Supreme Ancestor Realm level
Slaughter Dao: Six revolutions
Comprehension Deduction: Can consume large amounts of comprehension points to deduce
Lu Changsheng's attribute panel had been completely revamped, transformed entirely.
The progress of all three Dao Fruits sat at a mere one percent.
This was because he had not cultivated them, so there was naturally no advancement.
As for the divine abilities within the Dao Fruits, cultivating the Dao Fruits was essentially cultivating those abilities. When the divine abilities advanced, the Dao Fruits would advance alongside them.
Yet cultivating a Dao Fruit was exceedingly difficult.
Many True Immortals made negligible progress even after cultivating for ten thousand years, seeing no hope whatsoever of attaining the Heavenly Immortal realm.
Lu Changsheng, however, was in no rush.
He still had shortcomings. Apart from the heaven-bestowed divine abilities within his Dao Fruits, his standard repertoire remained at the Ancestor Realm level.
For example, the Slaughter Dao.
And the Annihilation Divine Eye.
Both were merely at the Ancestor Realm level.
Now that he was a True Immortal, his regular methods needed to match the True Immortal realm as well.
Lu Changsheng could have pursued new techniques, but there was no need.
Both the Slaughter Dao and the Annihilation Divine Eye possessed immense potential.
He needed only to expend some effort to deduce and elevate them.
And for Lu Changsheng, who possessed transcendent comprehension, that presented no difficulty at all.
With that, he immersed himself in advancing the Slaughter Dao and the Annihilation Divine Eye.
Time flew, and a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Lu Changsheng never stepped beyond the quiet room.
Even when Qi Guangmao and his son delivered reports, they spoke from outside the door.
Lu Changsheng was busy deducing and advancing the Annihilation Divine Eye and the Slaughter Dao, possessing no spare energy for trivial matters. Fortunately, the father and son rarely disturbed him.
"At last, it is done..."
Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes.
He focused his mind and checked his attribute panel.
Host: Lu Changsheng
Comprehension: 16,080,000 (Peerless Through the Ages)
Mortal Dao Fruit: 1% (Illusory Realm divine ability)
Myriad Spirits Dao Fruit: 1% (Devour Spirit divine ability)
Flesh Dao Fruit: 1% (Mighty Power divine ability)
Annihilation Divine Eye: True Immortal level
Slaughter Dao: Nine revolutions
Comprehension Deduction: Can consume large amounts of comprehension points to deduce
Over the course of a year, Lu Changsheng's efforts had not gone to waste.
The Annihilation Divine Eye had reached the True Immortal level.
The Slaughter Dao was somewhat more complex. Lu Changsheng had forcibly deduced and elevated it to nine revolutions—a height its creator had never even conceived of in theory.
Yet relying on his astonishing comprehension, the nine revolutions of the Slaughter Dao now completely rivaled the True Immortal level.
Even so, Lu Changsheng understood clearly that whether it was the Annihilation Divine Eye or the Slaughter Dao, these were merely secondary arts. They served only to enhance his raw combat strength.
Now, among True Immortals, Lu Changsheng was virtually free of weaknesses across the board.
Yet he had not truly stepped into the cultivation path of the True Immortal stage.
Cultivation for a True Immortal had one and only one objective: to contend with the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.
Theoretically, a True Immortal possessed an infinite lifespan. As long as one could withstand the Five Decays, one could, in theory, live forever.
Yet theory was merely theory, not reality.
In truth, no one could weather the Five Decays indefinitely.
True Immortals could not.
Heavenly Immortals could not either.
Even those above Heavenly Immortals were entirely incapable of doing so.
The Five Decays took several forms. The first, naturally, was physical decay.
What a True Immortal faced was the decay of the physical body.
If one could resolve this decay and achieve an immortal body, one would become a Heavenly Immortal.
How to make the physical body immortal was precisely the direction of True Immortal cultivation.
On this matter, Lu Changsheng had no need to rack his brain. The cultivation system of the Heaven Realm had already solved the problem.
The realm beyond True Immortal was Heavenly Immortal. A Heavenly Immortal achieved an immortal physical body and was said to live as long as heaven and earth, capable of surviving for twelve epochs.
A True Immortal, by contrast, could live for only a single epoch before facing the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.
The disparity between the two was immense.
A Heavenly Immortal stood high above all else. Neither Zhang City nor Lu City possessed one.
Heavenly Immortals were also known as Immortal Monarchs, which testified to their profound status within the Heaven Realm.
"I need a cultivation art to advance to Heavenly Immortal," Lu Changsheng murmured softly.
The Qi clan could not provide such a thing.
However, Lu Changsheng immediately thought of the Chen clan.
The Chen clan had once produced a True Immortal ancestor. They ought to possess cultivation arts for True Immortals, perhaps even one that led to the Heavenly Immortal realm. Even if it did not, it could still open up new lines of thought for him.
With that in mind, Lu Changsheng left the quiet room.
Soon, he arrived at the Chen clan estate.
The residence was quite desolate now. After all, the Chen clan had suffered severe losses last time. Fortunately, they still retained their supreme Ancestor Realm cultivators, and their core experts had survived largely intact. Given time to slowly accumulate, the Chen clan could still rebuild its former assets.
*Whoosh.*
Lu Changsheng appeared directly before the Chen Clan Head.
"Clan Head Chen," Lu Changsheng said mildly.
"Ah?"
"Immortal Lu, what commands do you have?"
The Chen Clan Head's gaze narrowed slightly upon seeing Lu Changsheng, and he immediately bowed with deep deference.
Lu Changsheng nodded. "I have heard that the Chen clan was once a True Immortal family. I find myself facing a few perplexities in my cultivation, so I wish to borrow the Chen clan's True Immortal art to peruse."
The Chen Clan Head understood instantly.
Lu Changsheng called it "borrowing," but since he had made the request, how could the Chen clan possibly refuse?
Gritting his teeth, the Chen Clan Head said, "My Chen clan indeed produced a True Immortal in the past. Immortal Lu is welcome to examine the art as you please, but I only hope that you will not spread it to outsiders."
This was the clan head's final shred of defiance. So long as it was not leaked, the Chen clan suffered no true loss.
"Agreed," Lu Changsheng replied with a nod.
It was merely a cultivation art. He sought it only for reference and would not necessarily practice it himself. If he ever wished to spread arts to the outside world in the future, he could invent countless ones on his own.
Lu Changsheng waited patiently.
Before long, the Chen Clan Head delivered an art manual.
Lu Changsheng examined it right then and there.
This manual was called the Nine Heavens Living Soil Immortality Art.
The more Lu Changsheng read, the more astonished he became.
This immortal art did not rely on abstruse, mystical prose. On the contrary, its descriptions were remarkably plain and lucid.
Moreover, it pointed straight toward the Heavenly Immortal realm!
Yet the art was impossible to practice.
Or rather, it was not entirely impossible, but its cultivation conditions were extraordinarily demanding.
It required a natural treasure known as Nine Heavens Living Soil.
Legend held that Nine Heavens Living Soil contained the supreme good fortune of heaven and earth and was a priceless treasure.
The art involved refining this soil into the body to fuse with one's flesh. Through continuously refining Nine Heavens Living Soil into the body and merging it with the flesh, one tempered the flesh until it birthed an immortal characteristic.
Ultimately, the physical body would achieve true immortality.
At that point, one became a Heavenly Immortal.
Indeed, attaining the Heavenly Immortal realm was just that plain and direct.
The crux, however, was that Nine Heavens Living Soil was gone.
Let alone True Immortals, even Heavenly Immortals could not locate any. It was virtually extinct.
In the past, the Chen clan's ancestor had managed to obtain some Nine Heavens Living Soil and cultivated with boundless joy. Yet after practicing for a time, he could never find any more.
Although the art could not be cultivated, it provided Lu Changsheng with an idea—or rather, a measure of guidance.
For instance, he now understood why the bodies of Heavenly Immortals were immortal.
The reason was simple: their bodies had birthed an immortal characteristic.
From the Nine Heavens Living Soil Immortality Art, Lu Changsheng learned that continuously tempering the body through various methods to the absolute extreme made it possible for the flesh to develop this characteristic.
Once the immortal characteristic emerged, the physical decay among the Five Decays of Heaven and Man ceased to exist.
At that point, one was a Heavenly Immortal.
Now that Lu Changsheng understood the principle, things became much simpler.
After all, tempering the flesh did not rely solely on Nine Heavens Living Soil; other methods could be used.
Of course, tempering was one thing, but whether it could actually forge an immortal characteristic was another matter entirely.
The advantage of a mature cultivation art lay in allowing one to cultivate step by step without taking detours. If one created an art from scratch—say, if Lu Changsheng devised his own technique to endlessly temper his body—who could say whether it would truly birth an immortal characteristic?
*Clack.*
Lu Changsheng closed the Nine Heavens Living Soil Immortality Art and returned it to the Chen Clan Head.
"Clan Head Chen, thank you."
With that, Lu Changsheng rose to his feet.
"Farewell, Immortal!"
Lu Changsheng transformed into a streak of light and departed the Chen clan.
He could demand virtually anything from them now, and they would not dare utter a single refusal. Fortunately, Lu Changsheng still adhered to rules, which allowed the Chen clan to breathe a sigh of relief.
Upon returning to the Qi clan, Lu Changsheng encountered a familiar figure.
"Fellow Daoist Lu," the visitor greeted him proactively.
Lu Changsheng's eyes narrowed slightly as he said slowly, "Shuize Immortal, what brings you to grace us with your presence?"
This person was none other than the Shuize Immortal whom Lu Changsheng had met at the City Lord's Manor.
Back when Lu Changsheng visited the manor to inquire about joining, Shuize Immortal had been the one to answer his questions.
Shuize Immortal was also filled with marvel. He naturally remembered Lu Changsheng.
When Lu Changsheng had inquired about joining the manor, he had been unwilling to accept restraints and had walked away. Shuize Immortal had believed that in such circumstances, a supreme Ancestor Realm cultivator would find it exceedingly difficult to locate an immortal vein. Even standing on the verge of a breakthrough would be useless; in the end, one would still have to join the City Lord's Manor and rely on its immortal veins to break through.
Yet he never could have imagined that Lu Changsheng had gone to the Blood Marsh Mountain Range.
Even True Immortals were reluctant to enter such a place. For an Ancestor Realm cultivator, entering meant a nine-in-ten chance of death.
Unexpectedly, Lu Changsheng had returned alive.
He had even smoothly broken through to the True Immortal realm.
A True Immortal who had broken through in the Blood Marsh Mountain Range carried immense weight in Shuize Immortal's eyes. Thus, the City Lord had issued a special order for Shuize Immortal to seek out Lu Changsheng and win him over.
With this in mind, Shuize Immortal set aside his customary cold demeanor and smiled. "Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Lu, on attaining the True Immortal realm.
"I come on behalf of the City Lord's Manor, hoping to invite you to join us."
Lu Changsheng remained impassive.
He had refused to join previously because the manor's terms were overly stringent. Now that he was already an immortal, what need was there to join?
Seeming to discern Lu Changsheng's thoughts, Shuize Immortal said with a smile, "Fellow Daoist Lu, the cultivation of True Immortals requires many precious materials, which the City Lord's Manor can provide. This is of utmost importance!"
Lu Changsheng understood.
Resources!
True Immortal cultivation relied heavily on specific external items. For instance, if one cultivated the Nine Heavens Living Soil Immortality Art, one had to use Nine Heavens Living Soil; without it, cultivation was impossible.
The City Lord's Manor likely used this approach to draw in many True Immortals. After all, with ready-made resources available, what was there to hesitate over?
Even if one lost freedom, even if one was bound by duty, having cultivation resources meant at least a glimmer of hope to reach the Heavenly Immortal realm.
Lu Changsheng did not spend long considering it.
He had not even settled on a cultivation art yet, so how could he speak of joining the manor? Besides, the arts within the City Lord's Manor might not even be that exceptional. If they were truly superior, why had Great Immortal Lu failed to become a Heavenly Immortal to this day? Why had none of the many immortals in the manor achieved that realm?
"Fellow Daoist Shuize, I am accustomed to wandering free and unconstrained, like an idle cloud or a wild crane. For now, I have no intention of joining the City Lord's Manor."
Lu Changsheng refused directly.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Shuize Immortal's eyes, though he had not harbored much hope to begin with.
Rising to his feet with a regretful expression, Shuize Immortal suddenly paused before departing. "Right, there is one more matter I must remind you of.
"Should you wish to establish a Dao field in the future, remember: you must not establish one within ten thousand li of Lu City. Otherwise, it will be viewed as a provocation toward Great Immortal Lu."
Having said his piece, Shuize Immortal departed at once.
"Not allowed to establish a Dao field within ten thousand li of Lu City?"
Lu Changsheng pondered the words.
Was this a reminder or a warning? Perhaps it was both.
A Dao field was a truly unique place, intimately bound to an immortal. It served as an immortal's cave dwelling—no, something far more special than a mere cave dwelling.
A Dao field represented an immortal's sphere of influence. Within a certain perimeter around it, no other Dao field was permitted; otherwise, it was considered a direct provocation. After all, a Dao field could amplify an immortal's strength by more than ten times. Whether an immortal fought within their own Dao field made an astonishing difference.
If one established a Dao field within ten thousand li of Lu City, who would hold the final say here?
It would pose a severe threat to Lu City and gravely undermine Great Immortal Lu's authority.
Even so, establishing a Dao field was far too distant for Lu Changsheng at present. He had not even given it serious thought.
Establishing one required a colossal expenditure of resources. When Lu Changsheng had not even settled on a cultivation art, why would he concern himself with a Dao field?
In truth, most immortals in the Heaven Realm possessed no Dao field of their own; those who did were a distinct minority. Any immortal with a Dao field enjoyed an exalted status.
Most critically, establishing a Dao field required the most crucial resource of all: an immortal treasure capable of anchoring and suppressing destiny. Such an item was something one could only encounter by chance, never demand. Without a treasure to anchor destiny, a Dao field was entirely out of the question.
"Establishing a Dao field is far too remote; the strokes haven't even begun on the character.
"Better to focus on a cultivation art first.
"Right now, I only have a single Nine Heavens Living Soil Immortality Art. That is far too few to reference.
"I still must find a way to obtain more immortal arts."
Lu Changsheng understood the importance of an immortal art all too well. After all, whether one could become a Heavenly Immortal and grant the physical body an immortal characteristic hinged entirely on it.
He had no desire to settle for an ordinary art. The best art would naturally be one he created himself, but creating an art required references.
"The help the Qi clan can offer me is growing more and more limited..."
Lu Changsheng thought of the Qi family. If they had been a True Immortal clan with profound heritage, they might have possessed eight or ten immortal arts. Unfortunately, they were not, nor did they boast such deep foundations.
Then he thought of the Chen clan again. They were indeed a True Immortal family, yet they possessed only a single art; their foundation was still somewhat lacking.
However, thinking of the Chen clan sparked an idea.
In Lu City, there were actually many families similar to the Chen clan—former True Immortal families that had gradually declined after their True Immortals perished and they lost immortal protection.
Yet no matter how far they had fallen, they had once been True Immortal clans. They were certain to possess at least one immortal art.
Immortal arts were not particularly precious on their own. What was truly precious were the corresponding resources needed to practice them.
"Heh.
"It seems I will have to pay visits to those few True Immortal families after all..."
Lu Changsheng chuckled wryly and shook his head.
Such behavior smacked somewhat of strong-arming others. Yet for the sake of his cultivation, it was the only way. Otherwise, relying on himself or the Qi clan to slowly collect immortal arts would take an eternity.
Since Lu City had them ready at hand, there was no need to spend endless time and effort gathering them from afar.
At worst, he could offer some modest compensation. After all, those families had never offended him, so he would treat them differently from the Chen clan.
And so, Lu Changsheng visited those families one by one, ostensibly to pay his respects, but in truth to "borrow" their immortal arts for perusal.
As for offering benefits, Lu Changsheng had overthought the matter.
Why would they need any compensation from him?
He was a magnificent living True Immortal, while those clans had long since declined. To establish a connection with an immortal through a single art manual was an incredible bargain for them. Countless families longed for ties with Lu Changsheng but had no avenue to pursue. Now that he had approached them with a request, was that not a stroke of pure fortune falling from the sky?
Consequently, Lu Changsheng's journey went without a hitch.
Every family joyfully presented their immortal arts.
Lu Changsheng reaped a substantial harvest, acquiring a total of thirteen immortal arts.
"Thirteen immortal arts—that should just about suffice."
Lu Changsheng was thoroughly pleased.
Back in the Qi clan's quiet room, thirteen manuals lay before him. Adding the Nine Heavens Living Soil Immortality Art, that made fourteen in all.
With so many immortal arts serving merely as reference, they were more than enough.
Lu Changsheng examined the arts one after another.
When he finished perusing every single one, he let out a long breath.
"These immortal arts are all essentially identical. Every one relies on fusing various precious materials into the flesh to relentlessly temper the body, ultimately coaxing it into birthing an immortal characteristic.
"However, this differs from the Physical Immortal Dao—or rather, the directions differ.
"The Physical Immortal Dao aims to make the body stronger, amplifying power and resilience across the board. Immortal arts, by contrast, exist solely to produce the immortal characteristic.
"The key lies in how that characteristic emerges. With ordinary arts, even piling up endless resources over an entire epoch might not produce it.
"Yet if one is lucky, the characteristic might manifest on some random day. Does whether one can birth an immortal characteristic truly come down entirely to luck?"
Lu Changsheng found himself bewildered and uncertain.
Could it be that achieving the Heavenly Immortal realm depended purely on fortune?
Of course, one could not say it was entirely luck, but compared to resources and arts, luck seemed to account for seventy to eighty percent of the outcome.
This was vastly different from what Lu Changsheng had imagined.
"It shouldn't be like this... If cultivation relied solely on luck, what would be the point of calling it cultivation?
"Why would the disciples of great sects and peerless prodigies enjoy a higher probability of becoming Heavenly Immortals?
"There must be hidden factors beyond mere chance."
Lu Changsheng knitted his brows tightly.
Fourteen immortal arts, and all of them relied on luck?
Perhaps these were merely ordinary arts. Higher-grade arts likely offered a greater chance of producing the immortal characteristic.
Yet Lu Changsheng had never seen a superior immortal art; he held only these common manuals in his hands.
An ordinary True Immortal would likely be helpless in this situation. Let alone fourteen arts, even with one hundred and forty, they would eventually have to cultivate honestly and gamble on luck, hoping that their body would someday birth an immortal characteristic.
Yet Lu Changsheng was no ordinary True Immortal.
He was also a Mortal Immortal.
He possessed the power of analysis!
The path of a Mortal Immortal was to identify problems, comprehend their root causes, and ultimately resolve them.
With that, Lu Changsheng began analyzing the fourteen immortal arts one by one.
Analysis was an arduous, drawn-out process.
In such a situation, even another Mortal Immortal might find that their analytical ability offered little help.
Yet Lu Changsheng was different.
He possessed transcendent comprehension. Now that he had become a True Immortal, his analytical capability had surged exponentially. If necessary, he could even consume comprehension points to deduce further, elevating his analytical prowess even higher.
Yet there was no need. Lu Changsheng had time in abundance.
He could analyze them slowly, one by one, with no reason to rush.
Thus, time slipped away.
Lu Changsheng devoted his entire being to analyzing the immortal arts, completely free of distraction.
He lost all sense of the passage of time.
For an immortal, losing track of seasons was entirely normal; a single period of seclusion could span hundreds or thousands of years.
Lu Changsheng had not reached such an extreme, but he had to analyze fourteen immortal arts and discern the relationship between them and the physical body—most critically, how to make the flesh generate an immortal characteristic.
Deciphering such a mystery could not be achieved overnight.
In the blink of an eye, ten years passed.
Indeed, ten full years.
Lu Changsheng had remained in seclusion for an entire decade, analyzing the fourteen arts without a single wandering thought.
On this day, he suddenly opened his eyes.
*Swish.*
A brilliant light flashed across his gaze.
"Ten years... At last, the analysis is complete.
"So the immortal characteristic does not originate from the physical body at all.
"These immortal arts... are actually all wrong..."
Lu Changsheng let out a long sigh.
Chapter 384