The Ascension City.
Its gates rose ten thousand zhang into the sky.
Between the two mottled immortal gates, dark-red slime flowed.
It was not blood.
At least—
not the blood of any normal living creature.
The slime dripped onto the ground.
Tiny eyeballs crawled out from within it one after another.
Dragging tendrils like strands of blood, they crept toward both sides of the road.
They did not attack anyone.
They merely lay quietly on the ground,
raising their heads to watch.
More than ten thousand golden-armored immortal soldiers marched at the very front.
Their footsteps were perfectly synchronized.
Yet from inside their immortal armor came the constant sound of teeth grinding.
Creak.
Creak.
As though every suit of armor held a monster chewing on itself.
Wang Hao held the Eastern Extremity Ascension Immortal Seal in his hand,
walking in the center of the procession.
At the other end of the Imperial Dao Chains,
the Ascension Herald was bound, its immortal body reduced to half its former size.
The Ascension Herald was dragged across the ground.
Its shattered immortal body scraped against immortal-gold bricks and stones,
leaving behind a pale trail.
Yet it seemed unable to feel any pain.
A gentle smile still hung on its face.
“Ascender.”
“The Ascension City has been reached.”
“Please proceed to the Eclosion Hall.”
“Surrender your physical body.”
“Your soul.”
“Your memories.”
“And your complete Dao Fruit from before the contamination.”
Wang Hao did not even turn his head.
“Shut up.”
The Ascension Herald immediately fell silent.
The next instant,
the faces within the nine incomplete flood dragons opened their mouths simultaneously.
“Please proceed to the Eclosion Hall.”
“Surrender your physical body.”
“Your soul…”
The silver-haired youth poked his head out of the New Heavenly Son Sword.
His face was full of disdain.
“Master.”
“Does it not understand human speech?”
Wang Hao said,
“It’s been dead for too long.”
“Its brain may have rotted.”
The Ascension Herald said gently,
“An Ascension Herald has no need for a brain.”
“Immortal law is my thought.”
Wang Hao’s footsteps halted.
“Even better.”
“When we interrogate it later,”
“we can save on one torture implement.”
The Ascension Herald fell silent.
It had clearly been dead for countless years,
yet at that moment, it inexplicably felt a chill between its brows.
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal walked on the northern side.
The Northern Nether Immortal Domain had shrunk into a cold halo of light,
floating behind him.
He looked around.
His expression grew increasingly solemn.
The buildings within the city were magnificent beyond measure.
Every palace towered into the clouds.
Immortal palaces stretched endlessly along both sides of the long streets.
Above the great halls hung one broken Dao Fruit after another.
They resembled lanterns,
radiating multicolored immortal light.
If one looked only at the surface,
this truly seemed to be a genuine immortal city.
But when the immortal mist was scattered by the wind,
everything changed.
The so-called walls of immortal gold
were clearly built from piles of bones.
The so-called upturned eaves of the palaces
were curved ribs, one after another.
Even the road beneath their feet
was not paved with immortal bricks,
but with human faces flattened beneath the weight.
Those faces kept their eyes tightly shut.
Each time anyone took a step,
a faint moan rose from beneath their feet.
An uncontaminated Earth Immortal lowered his head and glanced down.
His face turned deathly pale.
“How many immortals…”
“have died here?”
The Withered-and-Blooming Heavenly Immortal spoke in a hoarse voice.
“It is not a matter of how many died.”
“Rather, the entire city…”
“may be made from immortal corpses.”
The moment he finished speaking,
an immortal tower several thousand zhang tall suddenly trembled at the roadside.
The windows on the surface of the tower
opened one after another.
They were not windows.
They were rectangular eyes.
They all rotated in unison,
turning toward the eighty-nine outsiders.
The entire long street
fell silent in an instant.
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal held the Northern Nether Immortal Domain at the ready.
The Star-Fishing Heavenly Immortal tightened his grip on his fishing rod.
Beneath the smooth skin of the Faceless Heavenly Immortal,
countless mouthparts slowly writhed.
Even the deeply contaminated Earth Immortals
felt their scalps go numb at the sight before them.
The Gaunt Earth Immortal swallowed.
“I suddenly realize something.”
“Our contamination…”
“seems rather normal.”
Beside him,
the contaminated Earth Immortal with more than a dozen legs nodded.
“At least my legs…”
“look like legs.”
The silver-haired youth lowered his head and counted them.
“Seventeen.”
The Earth Immortal corrected him.
“Sixteen.”
The silver-haired youth pointed toward the back of his head.
“There’s another one there.”
The Earth Immortal’s face stiffened.
At the back of his head,
a baby’s arm slowly emerged.
It even waved at him.
The Earth Immortal was silent for a moment.
Then he struck backward with his palm,
smashing the arm into bloody mush.
“Sixteen now.”
Wang Hao glanced at him.
“Seal the wound.”
“Don’t let anything from the immortal world crawl inside.”
The Earth Immortal hurriedly circulated his immortal power.
But the moment his immortal power covered the wound,
countless white spores gathered in the air around them.
They swarmed into the flesh.
Tiny faces, no larger than sesame seeds,
sprouted along the edges of the wound.
“Fall back!”
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal shouted.
Northern Nether frost swept across the area.
Half of that Earth Immortal’s skull
was frozen solid in an instant.
The spores were frozen within the ice as well.
But before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief,
white feathers began growing across the surface of the ice.
The feathers swayed gently,
letting out the laughter of countless children.
“Hee-hee.”
“A new body.”
“A new body has come.”
Wang Hao swung his sword.
Immaculate Kindling descended onto the Earth Immortal’s wound.
Sizzle!
The smell of charred flesh rapidly spread through the air.
The Earth Immortal screamed as the flames burned away most of the back of his head.
Yet the spores within his body were thoroughly purified.
Wang Hao sheathed his sword.
“Bear with it.”
“I’m saving you.”
The Earth Immortal clutched the back of his head,
his entire body trembling.
“Retired Emperor.”
“Could you warn me before saving someone next time?”
Wang Hao said,
“If I warned you, would you agree?”
The Earth Immortal hesitated.
“Probably not.”
“Then why should I waste my breath?”
The Earth Immortal was left speechless.
Wang Hao raised his head
and gazed at the immortal mist filling the city.
The mist appeared pure at first glance.
In truth, every wisp concealed
billions upon billions of contaminated spores.
An Earth Immortal’s body could keep them out for a time,
but it could not resist them forever.
The instant anyone was injured,
the spores would immediately burrow into their body.
More troublesome still,
they did not merely contaminate flesh and blood.
They also contaminated immortal power,
the soul,
and even the Dao Fruit.
“All of you, listen.”
“Do not release your immortal power recklessly.”
“Do not touch anything in the city.”
“Report any injuries immediately.”
Wang Hao’s gaze swept over the immortals.
“Especially those of you who are already contaminated.”
“The immortal world’s disease”
“may not be the same strain as yours.”
“If the two kinds of contamination mix together,”
“I have no idea what might be born.”
The Crimson Mother Heavenly Immortal’s mountain of flesh writhed slightly.
Countless infant arms tightened around her body at once.
Clearly,
she had no desire to find out.
The Longevity Earth Immortal suddenly asked,
“Retired Emperor.”
“Where are we going?”
Wang Hao raised the Eastern Extremity Ascension Immortal Seal.
Within the immortal seal,
a fragmented map slowly unfolded.
The Ascension City was divided into the Outer City,
the Inner City,
the Eclosion Hall,
the Ascension Bureau,
and an ancient immortal road leading to the other regions of the immortal world.
However,
most of the areas on the map were covered in white patches of mold.
Only the nearest Eclosion Hall
still shone with a faint light.
“We’ll go to the Eclosion Hall first.”
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal said coldly,
“The Ascension Herald told us to go to the Eclosion Hall.”
“You’re going too?”
“You’re not afraid it’s a trap?”
Wang Hao said calmly,
“Of course it’s a trap.”
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal frowned.
“Then why go?”
Wang Hao looked at the Ascension Herald being dragged along the ground.
“Because it wants us to go.”
“That means someone is still there.”
“Or something is.”
“I’ve just arrived in the immortal world.”
“I lack a map.”
“I lack information.”
“And I lack a guide.”
“There’s also one thing missing: a place where we can stay for the time being.”
“They’ve prepared everything so thoughtfully.”
“If I don’t go and take a look,”
“wouldn’t that be letting their goodwill go to waste?”
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal fell silent.
This was the first time he had realized that—
when shamelessness reached a certain level,
it could apparently also be called confidence.
Just then,
the system’s voice rang out in Wang Hao’s mind.
【A special location has been detected: Eastern Extremity Ascension Immortal City.】
【Would you like to check in?】
Wang Hao’s eyes flickered.
“Check in.”
【Check-in successful.】
【Item obtained: Immortal Plague Isolation Talisman.】
【Immortal Plague Isolation Talisman: Temporarily seals off an area, isolating it from spore-based contamination in the Immortal Realm. Duration: twelve hours.】
【Current check-in intelligence updated.】
【Intelligence One: There are no living beings in the Ascension City.】
【Intelligence Two: All the buildings in the city were formed from the corpses of the Ascension Office’s immortal officials and past ascenders.】
【Intelligence Three: The Eclosion Hall stores thirty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty-one Ascension Dao Fruits. Three of them have yet to completely decay.】
【Intelligence Four: Do not trust the version of yourself within the city.】
【Intelligence Five: The Immortal King’s Eye has already noticed you.】
Wang Hao looked up.
Through the thick immortal mist,
that golden sun still hung in the heavens.
Its enormous eyelid
had already split open by a narrow slit.
Within that slit,
countless pupils overlapped one another.
It seemed as though the eye could open completely at any moment.
Wang Hao looked at it for only an instant
before shifting his gaze away.
Even though they were separated by who knew how many millions of miles,
his imperial soul still felt as though it were being torn apart.
That was an existence they could not contend with at present.
Even if all that remained was a single eye,
it was still beyond them.
Wang Hao took out the Immortal Plague Isolation Talisman
and casually tossed it into the air.
The talisman burst into flames.
A transparent barrier rapidly unfolded,
enveloping all eighty-nine immortals and the more than ten thousand golden-armored immortal soldiers.
The white spores in the air struck the barrier.
They piled up densely.
In a matter of moments,
the outside of the barrier was covered in a thick layer of white fuzz.
The immortals watched in terror.
Without this talisman,
every breath they took
would probably draw in an unknown amount of contamination.
The Gaunt Earth Immortal looked toward Wang Hao.
“Retired Emperor,”
“just how many treasures do you have?”
Wang Hao replied,
“Not many.”
“Just a little more than the imperial treasury.”
The Gaunt Earth Immortal’s mouth twitched.
He called that “not many”?
Just as everyone was preparing to continue forward,
an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from the very back of the group.
“Wait for me.”
The voice was not loud,
but everyone stopped at the same time.
Wang Hao did not turn around.
Neither did the Taixuan Heavenly Immortal.
Because before entering the city,
they had counted their numbers.
Eighty-nine immortals.
Ten thousand three hundred and forty-two golden-armored immortal soldiers.
Not a single one was missing.
Nor had anyone fallen behind.
“Wait for me.”
The voice rang out again.
This time,
it was closer.
At the very back of the group,
the body of an uncontaminated Earth Immortal suddenly stiffened.
He slowly lowered his head.
On the ground,
his own shadow was walking backward.
The shadow detached itself from his feet
and proceeded step by step
toward the depths of the street.
And within that darkness,
a figure identical to him
stood with its back to everyone
in front of an immortal tower.
“Why didn’t you wait for me?”
The figure turned its head.
There were no features on its face.
Only a beating heart.
The Longevity Earth Immortal’s pupils contracted.
“The Formless Earth Immortal?”
The real Formless Earth Immortal stood among the group,
his face deathly pale.
“It…”
“It’s me.”
At the end of the street,
the sound of footsteps rang out simultaneously.
Within the immortal mist,
more and more figures emerged.
The Taixuan Heavenly Immortal.
The Withered-and-Blooming Heavenly Immortal.
The Star-Fishing Heavenly Immortal.
The Longevity Earth Immortal.
The Gaunt Earth Immortal.
Even the Faceless Heavenly Immortal and the Crimson Mother Heavenly Immortal.
Every figure
was exactly identical to someone in the group.
Finally,
a man wearing a black-and-gold imperial robe
slowly emerged from the white immortal mist.
He held the New Son of Heaven Sword in his hand,
while the Thunder Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda floated above his shoulder.
He wore a smile.
He looked exactly like Wang Hao.
The fake Wang Hao looked at the immortals
and slowly raised his hand.
“Everyone.”
“I am the real one.”
“He is the monster.”
Eighty-eight immortals simultaneously looked at the two Wang Haos.
The real Wang Hao’s expression darkened.
“Impudent.”
“How dare you impersonate me?”
The fake Wang Hao’s smile did not change.
“How will you prove that you’re the real one?”
Wang Hao did not answer.
He took one step forward
and raised his hand, delivering a slap.
Smack!
The fake Wang Hao was sent flying on the spot,
crashing through three immortal towers.
Wang Hao shook his hand.
“Who do I need to prove myself to?”
“If you dare say another word,”
“I’ll beat both of you, real or fake.”
The immortals fell silent at once.
The silver-haired youth poked his head out from the sword,
his face filled with admiration.
“Master.”
“You’re still the most shameless one of all.”
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.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
