Painting of the Nine Immortals

The Sun had just risen, shedding down light golden light that engulfed the voluminous mountain range.

Here, the mountains stood closely together and peeked through the white clouds that were swirling around. The white fog made everything appear vague. Amongst this scenery were flying cranes and barely visible streams. It was truly a picturesque place that mimicked an immortal’s home.

The Shang Qing Sect was one of the most powerful places in Yuezhou.

This House has existed for tens of thousands of years and was created by three omnipotent. After tens of thousand years of refinement, the Shang Qing Sect had developed into a beast that peered down onto other cities.

Over these years, many forces have diminished for various reasons and they have been drowned out. As time passed on and as people changed, the Shang Qing Sect remained unstoppable.

They were truly impossible to predict and difficult to measure.

This was something the entire Yuezhou knew about. Therefore, very few people dared to provoke the Shang Qing Sect. Even other powerful forces in Yuezhou didn’t dare to provoke them easily.

This was the reason why the once fearless demon was suddenly afraid and didn’t want to help Ling Xian. Even though at the end, he was threatened by the Demon Defending Monument, and was forced to agree to it.

But on their way to the Shang Qing Sect, he never stopped murmuring beside Ling Xian’s ears.

Things like “the Shang Qing Sect is too terrifying, let us go back”, or “you may no longer want to live, but why drag me into it. I have more than 100 beauties at home”… though he looked tough, statements that made him appear weak came up so often that Ling Xian was getting impatient.

In the end, he could no longer take it and decided to place the demon inside the Demon Defending Monument. That was the end of it.

Of course, he didn’t activate the monument. Or else the demon would have turned into a pool of blood before they got to the Shang Qing Sect.

After the demon was stuffed into the monument, Ling Xian’s world turned clear and his speed increased by a lot.

Because of this, it only took him three days to get to the Shang Qing Sect from the City of Flowers.

“I never noticed before, but the demon sure can talk.”

Ling Xian was suspending in midair and looking down onto the endless mountain ranges. His eyes flickered with anticipation and seriousness.

However, he didn’t enter the Shang Qing Sect right away. Instead, he found a cave nearby and entered.

Don’t forget, he was using his original self right now. In order to breakthrough to the undefeatable realm of the completion level, his clone’s cultivation level has also reached the peak of the completion level.

If he enters like this, people would be suspicious. If someone realizes that he was using a clone, then he would be in trouble.

Therefore, he decided to trash some of his cultivation in order to keep it low key.

“Phew… I have only been gone for more than 10 years. To be at the peak of the completion level is a bit too much. I should lower my cultivation to the advance stage of the completion level. I have already shown how capable I am at the competition, therefore I shouldn’t gather too much suspicion.”

Ling Xian sat in a lotus position inside the cave. After a while, he switched his clone with this original level self. Then, he formed a hand seal to crack the golden Dan inside his body.

Crack!

A crisp sound arose, hurting Ling Xian so much that he frowned. His face also turned somewhat pale. However, to him, who had risen up after breaking down, this pain was nothing.

Therefore, he endured the pain and once again forced a crack in his golden Dan.

Just like that, his cultivation was disappearing at an even faster speed. After about half an hour, his Qi had lowered to the advanced stage of the completion level.

Then, he formed a hand seal to patch up the cracks on his golden Dan.

“Now I can go in.” In a flash, Ling Xian arrived before the Shang Qing Sect’s door.

There stood a large gold door that was guarded by two guards. They had serious expressions on their faces and they looked very responsible.

After these two saw Ling Xian, their expressions changed and they identified him immediately.

In the entire Shang Qing Sect, there were basically nobody who didn’t know Ling Xian. Anyone random could retell the tale of his glorious past.

Therefore, after the two of them identified Ling Xian, they immediately smiled and announced in unison, “A pleasure to see you, Master Xian.”

“How is it still you two?”

Ling Xian was a little startled. He realized that these two guards were the same ones from more than 10 years ago.

One has to admit that these two were far too useless. It’s been more than 10 years and they were still guards… absolutely no improvement.

“Aye, we aren’t naturally blessed with talents and we have no resources to cultivate. So we guard the door in exchange for contribution points.”

The two of them bitterly laughed.

“I see.” Ling Xian nodded. After thinking about it for a while, he took out two Dans and gave it to them.

“Master Xian, this is…” the two of them were startled.

“This is the Dan that can help improve cultivation. Take it. It’s not charity.”

Ling Xian faintly smiled. When he was still inside the Ao Xian House, he would practice alchemy once in a while. Therefore, he had a lot of spiritual Dans inside his storage pouch.

Hearing this excited both of them. They knew very well how capable Ling Xian was and therefore, his Dans were definitely extraordinary.

“Master Xian, what have we done to get such great gifts from you?”

The two of them were red in the face. This was because of the spiritual Dans in their hands and also because of how kind he was to them.

Especially after realizing that they could use this Dan to increase their cultivation, they were even more excited. The way they looked at Ling Xian was full of respect and full of appreciation.

Ling Xian was not surprised at this.

He was once a small character from nowhere and he understood how these cultivators felt mentally. They lived carefully and they lived within the rules. They lived in humiliation and in shame.

This was why Ling Xian’s heart softened and he gave the two of them a Dan each.

“There is no need to thank me. I am merely helping you out as a thank you for opening the door for me.” Ling Xian waved around his hand.

Hearing this, the two of them were even more excited. Because he said this was payment, not charity.

The former meant he was paying for a service. The latter meant he took pity on them. This “pity” could easily hurt those with pride.

Therefore, the two of them were full of appreciation and thanked him greatly.

“Okay. Open the door and let me enter,” Ling Xian continued to smile, “Remember to train hard. Don’t guard this door any longer.”

“Thank you for all your advice.”

The two of them nodded continuously and each took out a token and released a mysterious wave of energy. Then, the gold door automatically shifted to the sides.

At this, Ling Xian began to march forward and entered the golden door. As he crossed over, a statement of caution arose.

“Master Xian, please be careful. You may run into enemies.”

Enemies?

Ling Xian’s expression changed. He quickly wondered if his identity had been exposed. If that was the case, then he was for sure dead.

Very quickly, however, he laughed it off, thinking that he was being too sensitive.

If his identity had really be exposed, then the two guards never would’ve let him in. They would’ve informed the higher management and captured him.

“Strange. What’s there to be careful of?” Ling Xian frowned and was very confused.

However, he soon came to an understanding as he heard a sentence. One that was full of killer’s intent.

“Xian Ling, I waited for you for 17 years. I have finally found you.”