Three days later.
Gu Changyuan stood in the corridor of the back courtyard of the Celestial Palace, stretching his neck. His gaze fell upon the sea of clouds illuminated by the morning light, his expression calm, revealing no particular emotion.
After calming Jun'an down, although the other party had said, "I forgive you, Master," the smug satisfaction in his eyes was something Gu Changyuan could not fail to notice.
He shrugged, dismissing the thought, and withdrew his focus.
With a flicker of his form, Gu Changyuan used a teleportation formation to cross tens of thousands of leagues in an instant, traveling from the Ten Thousand Luo Immortal Realm directly to the North Ming Immortal Abyss in the Demon Immortal Realm.
The North Ming Immortal Turtle clan had already set up the teleportation formation there. Back when Gu Changyuan ascended to the Ten Thousand Luo Immortal Realm, the North Ming Mystic Turtle clan, like the other factions, had used their family teleportation formation to return to the North Ming Immortal Abyss and set up the array.
The North Ming Immortal Turtles were Gu Changyuan's most direct means of connecting the Celestial Palace with the Demon Immortal Realm. Having them return to set up the formation saved him the trouble of traveling there by himself.
After all, the Ten Thousand Luo Immortal Realm was far vaster than the Nine Firmament Realm, and rushing to the Demon Immortal Realm via travel would consume considerable time.
Now, ten years had passed, and the connection with the North Ming Immortal Turtles remained his fastest route to the Demon Immortal Realm.
When Gu Changyuan first made contact with the North Ming Immortal Turtles, he had also invited them to join the Heavenly Court.
The elders of the North Ming Immortal Turtle clan had hardly hesitated; they understood all too well what that particular cultivation method meant for their race.
What followed was much like when other forces joined the Celestial Palace.
Established halls were built, with several clan elders of the Immortal Turtles stationed there to oversee matters.
Younger members of the Immortal Turtle clan were dispatched in batches to cultivate at the Celestial Palace.
It wasn't just the North Ming Immortal Turtles; the Purple Dawn Immortal Court and the Cloud Wasteland Immortal Court had done the same.
Ever since the Immortal Path opened ten years ago, the Imperial Court's stronghold had come under a surprise attack.
Immortal Emperor Zhenyue and Immortal Emperor Duanqiong, the two pillars of the Imperial Court originally assigned to the Southern Immortal Continent, had received news from the Central Continent and urgently returned there to assess the situation.
Over the past decade, the pressure on the two great Immortal Courts had eased considerably. They finally had room to breathe and an opportunity to accelerate their development.
...
The entire North Ming Immortal Abyss was a boundless expanse of frigid waters, its lake stretched so far that no shore was visible, resembling a frozen inland sea.
The temperature here was extremely low, so much so that ordinary low-level cultivators could not remain in such an environment for long.
But for cultivators with a cold-affinity constitution, this place was a paradise for cultivation.
The purity of spiritual energy, the speed of its circulation, and the compatibility of techniques all saw significant improvements under these extreme conditions.
Above the cold lake, several islands were scattered across its surface.
The islands varied in size, with the largest located at the center of the lake.
The islands were connected by bridges built from mystic ice. The bridges' surfaces were smooth yet not slippery; walking on them felt like treading on a translucent blue glass, through which the unfathomably deep waters of the cold lake could be faintly seen below.
As soon as Gu Changyuan reached the edge of the North Ming Immortal Abyss, several figures flew over from the direction of the central island, stepping through the air.
They were several clan elders of the North Ming Immortal Turtle clan.
Behind or beside each elder floated a snake-shaped phantom formed from ethereal blue spiritual energy.
These phantoms were about a zhang in length, semi-transparent, and emitted a faint blue glow.
Though not solid, they had clear contours and a flowing quality—their snake heads slightly raised, bodies winding and twisting, tails gently swaying, as though alive.
Ever since Gu Changyuan had handed the complete cultivation method to the North Ming Immortal Turtle clan, the entire race had devoted themselves to training.
Now, throughout the North Ming Immortal Abyss, those floating blue snake silhouettes were everywhere, weaving through the air around clan members. They had become a new emblem of the North Ming Mystic Turtle clan.
The elders stopped several zhang away from Gu Changyuan and bowed in unison.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, clearly drilled many times before.
Gu Changyuan waved his hand casually, as if dismissing formality.
Having visited a few times, he was familiar with the area. After exchanging greetings, he made his way toward the central island.
It had been a while, so he had come now to check on things, to see how matters stood.
Seeing this, the elders immediately followed behind him.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
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.”
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…
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.
