Immortal Travel of Longevity

Just as Chen Changsheng was about to step out of the Mirror Flower, Water Moon, a sudden rumble echoed from behind him.

"Hmm?"

Chen Changsheng looked back. Gazing into the distance, he saw the Divine Jiao rearing its head high into the heavens, looking down upon all living things with absolute disdain.

A deafening roar shook the air.

The cry resounded—it was like a dragon's, yet distinctly its own.

In that instant, the red flowers blanketing the mountain bloomed completely.

Down below, the Divine Jiao swallowed all the dense fog. The heavy mists that had shrouded the Mirror Flower, Water Moon cleared, throwing the entire region into sharp relief before everyone's eyes.

"Flee!"

Voices clamored behind him. Chen Changsheng glanced over to see dozens of cultivators transforming into streaks of light, piercing through the surface of the lake and fleeing the realm entirely.

"We pay our respects to the Divine Jiao!"

These were cultivators born of this land, who owed their very achievements to it.

Just as Wu Daozi had said, these people held an almost incomprehensible reverence for the slumbering Divine Jiao.

Chen Changsheng hadn't expected the Flood Dragon to awaken so suddenly. He pulled back his foot, pausing his departure.

Far below, outside the small cabin at the foot of the mountain.

Wu Daozi stumbled backward in a panic. Before his eyes, that Painting Scroll flickered, phasing in and out of reality.

Thud...

Wu Daozi stared at the Divine Jiao from afar.

His gaze met the creature's. Man and dragon stared at each other.

Wu Daozi had no idea what was happening. Why had the Divine Jiao awakened after slumbering for hundreds of years? And more importantly, why was this Flood Dragon glaring dead at him now that it was awake?

Suddenly, the Divine Jiao launched itself into the air.

As its draconic body roamed the sky, it churned the clouds, mist, and rain of this realm.

A torrential deluge swept down.

The very next moment, the Divine Jiao landed directly in front of his cabin.

Wu Daozi froze. His lips trembled as terror rooted itself deep in his chest.

He scrambled to his feet, trying desperately to steady his nerves. Cupping his hands, he stammered, "G-greetings, Divine Jiao."

In the next moment, the suffocating pressure bearing down on him instantly vanished.

Wu Daozi felt his body lighten. Dazed, he raised his eyes.

A young man in white robes stood before him. The youth's eyes were a striking pale cyan. Protruding from his forehead were dragon horns, and a thick tail swept behind him—he was a Flood Dragon.

The young man transformed from the Flood Dragon cupped his hands and spoke warmly. "My name is Bai Zhe. Because of my attempts to comprehend the Mirror Flower, Water Moon, I have been trapped in this place for four hundred years. Mister possesses extraordinary perception to have pierced the veil of truth and illusion to obtain this immortal Painting Scroll. I wonder if Mister would be willing to let me enter this Painting Scroll so that you may take me out of this place? Once outside, I will reward you handsomely."

Wu Daozi stood dumbfounded. It took him a long moment to fully process the request.

"D-Divine Jiao Bai..."

Wu Daozi forced himself to calm down and said, "My Dao Cultivation is meager. Forging such a connection was entirely unintentional—pure luck, really. This Painting Scroll..."

"If the Divine Jiao is willing to reside within the painting, I will do everything in my power to carry you out."

Bai Zhe cupped his hands once more in gratitude. "Thank you, Mister."

With those words, Bai Zhe transformed back into a Flood Dragon. He leapt into the air and, right before Wu Daozi's watchful eyes, fell straight into the Painting Scroll.

High above, Chen Changsheng watched the scene unfold from afar.

He stood there for a long time, lost in thought.

In that daze, he seemed to grasp something profound.

A faint smile suddenly broke across Chen Changsheng's face. "Fate is indescribably wondrous," he murmured. "It is nothing more than a twist of destiny."

His lingering worries faded. Turning around, he stepped out of the Mirror Flower, Water Moon and returned to the mortal world.

...

It was about a month later when he heard news of Wu Daozi again.

The Black Market had closed. After the Divine Jiao emerged, it stayed by Wu Daozi's side to protect his Dao. As Wu Daozi resumed his travels through the world, the title of "Painting Immortal" gradually began to spread far and wide.

Desperate to obtain even a single brushstroke from the Painting Immortal, some were willing to offer countless spiritual pills and magical treasures, yet they still couldn't secure a meeting.

His boastful claims from back then had now become reality.

Sitting in a tavern, Chen Changsheng listened to the surrounding cultivators chat about these events, feeling a bit dazed.

He thought that perhaps this was what a cultivator truly experienced.

Born of karma, arising from fate.

In the unseen workings of fate, there was an unexplainable, profound mystery guiding it all.

Chen Changsheng had reaped his own rewards from this journey. Beyond picking up a bit of the Art of Painting, his greatest gain was the insight he had derived from it—a single word: "fate."

Observing the Cultivation of others could also serve as one's own Cultivation.

...

Chen Changsheng had no exact heading in mind. At the very least, his understanding of the Cultivation World was lacking. In such a vast expanse, most cultivators only ever had a general sense of direction.

While there were certainly people selling Geographical Maps, far too many were horribly inaccurate. They were disjointed, messy, and littered with arbitrary markings. Over time, no one trusted these Geographical Maps anymore.

A cultivator beside him was saying, "Buying this is useless. When traveling through the world, you can only rely on yourself. Nothing else is accurate."

Chen Changsheng nodded. Setting the Geographical Map down, he said, "Thank you for the advice, fellow Daoist."

The cultivator smiled and said, "But other things are useful. I have some top-quality Array Flags here. What do you say? Care to take a look?"

Seeing this, the stall owner spoke up, "Brother, blatantly ruining my business like this isn't very nice."

The cultivator scratched his head sheepishly and apologized, "I'm just dead broke right now. Forgive me, forgive me. It won't happen again."

The stall owner sighed helplessly, shook his head, and urged them to leave.

The cultivator's name was Ji He. According to him, he was a Daoist cultivator from Yuanhua Mountain, but unfortunately, the sect had fallen into decline, reducing him to a Rogue Cultivator. Now, he made his living selling Array Flags.

Their meeting was purely by chance.

Chen Changsheng stepped aside with him and listened as Ji He boasted about how exquisite his Array Flags were.

Seeing this, Chen Changsheng used an ordinary dharma copper coin to buy two of them.

"Thank you for the patronage, fellow Daoist."

Ji He beamed with joy. He had assumed this sale would fall through, never expecting it to go so smoothly.

Chen Changsheng said, "No need for thanks."

He looked at Ji He and asked, "This Chen noticed your Dao Cultivation isn't shallow, and there were plenty of demon-slaying bounties posted at the crossroad. Why go through the hardship of selling these Array Flags?"

Ji He explained, "Fellow Daoist, in Cultivation, harmony is the most precious. Constant killing only corrupts the mind and leads one astray from the Dao."

"Is there such a saying?"

"Naturally, there is."

Chen Changsheng nodded, agreeing with what he had said.

Ji He cupped his hands and added, "Fellow Daoist, the mountains and rivers always meet again. Since the transaction is complete, I will take my leave."

Chen Changsheng nodded.

Ji He turned to leave.

But then Chen Changsheng suddenly spoke up. "In the future, don't sell these defective things anymore. If you get caught, a beating is unavoidable. If things go wrong, you might even lose your life."

Hearing this, Ji He was stunned for a moment, his figure stiffening.

He didn't dare answer. Seemingly guilty like a thief, he scurried away in a panic.

Chen Changsheng didn't mind this. He raised his hand and looked at the two Array Flags in his palm.

With a slight squeeze, the two Array Flags crumbled into ash and scattered.

It was just a trivial matter.

However, the earlier matter with the Geographical Maps gave Chen Changsheng a few ideas.

Why not draw a Geographical Map himself?

Under heaven and earth, the day would eventually come when he had walked it all.

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