Immortal Travel of Longevity

Su Shi's home lay in a mountain village near the border of the two realms.

In these times, her family was so poor they could barely put food in the pot. She had grown a few vegetable seedlings, planning to sell them in town for rice and flour, never expecting to run into such an ordeal.

Chen Changsheng gazed at the village. It held perhaps a dozen households, widely scattered rather than clustered together. Yet as they walked, not a single person was in sight.

"Is there no one left in the village?" Chen Changsheng asked.

"They all fled as refugees," Su Shi said.

Chen Changsheng paused. "Why did you stay behind?"

"It's even harder to survive on the road," Su Shi replied.

"Are you the only one?"

"There are a few elders too—those whose legs can no longer carry them. They were left behind."

Chen Changsheng murmured, then turned to leave.

Leaving the topic aside, Chen Changsheng said, "Since you have arrived safely, This Chen will take his leave. Be careful from now on, and avoid going into the city for the time being."

He calculated on his fingers, seemingly divining the location of something.

The demon soldiers in the Southern Domain had lost their morality and discipline. Just like the Northwestern Borderlands in the past, they had forgotten their true nature and original intentions; the more dangerous a place was, the more it twisted a person's heart.

After leaving the area, Chen Changsheng headed toward the Southern Domain's main encampment.

Looking ahead, he saw a Daoist priest sitting in front of a thatched hut, nodding off in a deep slumber.

"...Mm."

Su Shi expressed her profound gratitude to Chen Changsheng, then asked, "I still don't know my benefactor's name."

Looking at Mister Qingshan before her, Su Shi said, "Benefactor Chen, much like your name, you truly seem like an immortal of Changsheng."

"Is that so?"

"We will meet again if fate allows."

Chen Changsheng smiled, yet replied, "Changsheng is an illusion; it is a meaningless thing."

"I'm home."

She sometimes fantasized about a hero appearing before her to save the world—what young girl didn't yearn for romance? Her thoughts drifted, but she soon snapped back to reality, realizing that everything she had just seen was nothing more than a fleeting moment.

Su Shi's gaze remained fixed on the man before her.

Su Shi didn't quite understand, but she could sense that the man in front of her was an existence far beyond anything those soldiers could compare to.

Leaning against the door, Su Shi watched him peacefully.

A long time later, he appeared in front of a thatched hut.

Chen Changsheng gazed at his surroundings. It was a place of beautiful mountains and clear waters, yet it had lost all vitality. Its lifeless, deathly still appearance provoked deep thought.

Chen Changsheng returned to his senses and said, "My surname is Chen, courtesy name Changsheng."

Where would there be any peerless hero? Why would a hero like that care about a mountain village girl like her?

Chen Changsheng found the Daoist priest in front of him incredibly familiar, as if they had met somewhere before. After a moment of recollection, he finally remembered.

That had been decades ago.

Daoist Wuwei's eyelids twitched, and he opened his eyes.

Looking up and seeing the newcomer, he snapped awake in an instant.

Daoist Wuwei stood up and hastily bowed. "Wuwei greets Mister Chen!"

Chen Changsheng was like a lingering shadow, forever etched into Daoist Wuwei's mind.

Even now, Daoist Wuwei was slightly dazed, feeling as though he were in a dream.

Chen Changsheng walked forward and said, "Won't you invite This Chen to sit?"

"Of course, of course!"

Daoist Wuwei hurriedly invited him to take a seat.

He brewed a fresh pot of tea and sat down in front of the thatched hut.

"It is just wild tea from the mountains, I hope Mister won't mind," Daoist Wuwei said.

"Not at all. As long as it quenches thirst, it is fine."

Chen Changsheng was not particular about such things. He took a sip and said, "The qi destiny of the Mortal World has become very strange. The qi destiny that once encompassed the entire realm is now gathered in one place, and it seems to be right here with you, Priest."

Daoist Wuwei paused. Reaching into his sleeve, he took out the Imperial Seal.

"Cosmos Within the Sleeve, I see..."

"It is merely a trivial Daoist technique, not worth mentioning."

Chen Changsheng turned to look at the Imperial Seal, taking it in his hand to examine it.

Daoist Wuwei saw the doubt in Chen Changsheng's eyes but did not quite understand it. He himself had long harbored a question he wanted to ask Chen Changsheng.

After Chen Changsheng returned to his senses, he noticed the priest's gaze and asked, "Why are you looking at This Chen like that, Priest?"

Daoist Wuwei said, "Mister Chen, Wuwei has a doubt in his heart and wishes to ask Mister about it."

"Feel free to speak."

"Back then, Mister... why did you help the Human Sovereign consolidate the realm's qi destiny?"

Chen Changsheng froze for a moment upon hearing this. "This Chen?"

Daoist Wuwei nodded. "Yan Nantian said it with his own mouth. Could it be that he was lying, and it wasn't Mister who helped him?"

Chen Changsheng immediately understood. He set the Imperial Seal down, shook his head, and said, "That wasn't This Chen. Someone was impersonating me."

Daoist Wuwei's pupils shrank, taking quite a while to process the revelation.

"It wasn't Mister?!"

Chen Changsheng nodded. "This Chen wouldn't go so far as to do such a thing for the sake of human dao qi fortune. If I needed it, This Chen could take it himself, rather than resorting to such methods."

Daoist Wuwei stared blankly. He, too, felt that with Mister Chen's Dao Cultivation, there was absolutely no need to employ such schemes.

At this moment, thinking deeply about it filled him with creeping dread.

It was as if everything had been prearranged.

Someone was secretly manipulating it all. The rise of Hongyuan Tianxia, the defeat of Great Jing, and the subsequent entrance of the upper realm cultivators—it all seemed like a premeditated scheme.

"Back then, the heavens favored the Human Dao, and evils dared not bring harm. But now, it has completely changed..."

Daoist Wuwei opened his mouth, unending sorrow and anxiety weighing on his heart.

Chen Changsheng glanced at the Imperial Seal and asked, "But speaking of which, how did the Imperial Seal end up in your hands, Priest?"

Daoist Wuwei immediately recounted the entire sequence of events, explaining everything clearly.

Hearing about Yan Nantian's actions from him, Chen Changsheng could only conclude that the matter was utterly foolish.

Yan Nantian had essentially dropped a rock on his own foot. A single choice of his had ruined the Mortal World, reducing it to its current state.

"So that is what happened..."

Chen Changsheng sighed softly, out of ideas for the moment.

As for this human dao qi fortune, he was already powerless to reverse heaven.

Once the favor of heaven was lost, it was incredibly difficult to restore.

Qi destiny was easy to take, but returning it piece by piece was difficult beyond measure.

Daoist Wuwei still seemed to hold on to a sliver of hope. "Does Mister have any good strategy?"

Chen Changsheng shook his head and said, "None for now. However, looking at the current situation, the Investiture of the Gods is actually not a bad solution."

"So it still cannot escape the fate of being carved up..."

"A shattered mirror is hard to make whole again. Being able to glue even a little bit back together is already quite good."

"This is a man-made catastrophe," Chen Changsheng said. "The Mortal World had been at peace for far too long. Following Zhao Zhen's unification of the realm back then, the qi destiny and Spiritual Energy of the Mortal World surged upward. As a result, demons were born, and spiritual sapience rose. Allowing cultivators to enter the fray and carrying out the Investiture of the Gods to confer divine titles isn't necessarily a bad thing."

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