Returning from the Immortal World

In the guest room of Blue Starfish Mansion, Tang Xiu and Duanmu Lin continued their talk, and there were only two of them inside now.

“Tang Xiu, I trust you won’t do anything harmful to our country, but I still need such commitment from you today.” Duanmu Lin wore such a solemn face that he didn’t even lit the cigarette in his fingers Tang Xiu just gave him.

“I see. Then I’m giving that commitment today,” replied Tang Xiu. “As long as you, Duanmu Lin, are still alive, I’ll never do anything harmful to China. And I’ll absolutely lend the country a hand should it face trouble, so long as you’re still alive.”

Duanmu Lin squinted his eyes in response before he nodded without a word. His eyes kept flickering and then he said, “Tang Xiu, I get that your commitment is based on the premise that I’m still alive. You’re also well aware of my identity as well as my abilities. But I can only live at most a few decades more.”

“Not really.” Tang Xiu shook his head and said, “You can still live on for a century or hundreds of years more if you want to.”

Duanmu Lin trembled upon hearing this. He fell into silence for a long while before he slowly said, “What exactly do you want from me?”

“I want you to live much longer, but there are a few caveats—things I need you to turn a blind eye to,” said Tang Xiu with a light smile.

“Your condition is great and way too tempting, indeed,” commented Duanmu Lin. “But my position is rather political, I can’t break the bottom line. Shall your request be too excessive, even the temptation to live for centuries more is something I can’t promise you.”

“I’m perfectly happy if you have your criteria and bottom line, Senior Duanmu,” said Tang Xiu with a slight smile. “But don’t you forget what I’ve promised. I’ll never do anything harmful to China as long as you’re still alive.”

Duanmu Lin said, “Then, you mean…”

“You’re also perfectly aware of what I’m capable of, Senior Duanmu,” explained Tang Xiu. “But I can tell you something. Subverting China is very easy for me should I want it to happen. But I’m a cultivator. All the mundane things in the secular world don’t interest me. What I’m pursuing is to increase the level of my cultivation and to ascend and become an Immortal.

“But the cultivation resources a cultivator need is astronomical. And where do you think can I get these resources? Naturally, I can buy them with money since I can’t just resort to robbing and plundering them. That’s why I need to expand my power in the secular world which requires me to seek huge wealth, so I can buy a lot of cultivation resources. You should now understand after I spoke all these, shouldn’t you?”

“I can understand that,” said Duanmu Lin without hesitation.

Tang Xiu nodded and went on, “Since you understand that, then it’ll be more likely for you to accept. I’ll need to handle a lot of issues to expand my influence, such as setting up a company and earning money through normal channels. But making money is never an easy task, so I need a massive intel network to figure out the channel to make it happen. Therefore, I decided to root out the Darkwind and build a huge intelligence network around the world myself.”

Gasp…

Despite realizing the importance of Tang Xiu’s following statement, Duanmu Lin couldn’t help but gasp as he never thought that it would turn out to be so big a revelation.

‘Rooting out the Darkwind and establishing an intelligence network that covers the whole world? Anyone in the world will definitely be afraid of Tang Xiu should he be able to realize it!’

“There’s no need to be shocked, Senior Duanmu,” said Tang Xiu lightly. “And don’t doubt my words, for I have the power to obliterate all the cultivation forces that exist on Earth, to begin with. The Darkwind organization is just a minor issue that I need not expend much price to weed out, much less use my aces.”

Duanmu Lin suddenly recalled the soul-stirring beautiful woman whose power made him suffocated by her aura alone. He looked at Tang Xiu’s confident face and was hardly able to ask, “About that woman who threatened me then, who is she to you? One of your people?”

“Ah, are you talking about Yan’er? She’s my disciple,” answered Tang Xiu smilingly.

“That’s impossible!” Duanmu Lin blurted aloud, “Her power is very terrifying, ten times more powerful than yours. It’s just impossible for her to be your disciple. You…”

Tang Xiu raised his hand to interrupt him and faintly said, “Senior Duanmu, things you know are much too little. Yan’er is very powerful indeed, much more powerful than the current me. But had it not been for an accident, I could also destroy the entire Earth with just a flick of my fingers, and a punch of mine can destroy the entire Milky Way galaxy. I don’t want to disclose some things, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have the power to do so. Logically speaking, explaining anything to you is not necessary given your status and capacity. But still, I returned from that place, so I need to survive and live as per the customs of this world. I’m of Chinese descent, so that’s all the reason why I can tell you some bits of it.”

‘That place? Returning from there?’

Pupils contracted and shrunk, Duanmu Lin finally realized how terrifying Tang Xiu really was. He suddenly recalled the information from the investigation on Tang Xiu when he was in the second and third years of high school. The previously genius student had been wasted and many people even called him “idiot”.

‘Something so unusual must have something abnormal behind it!’

It was then that Duanmu Lin realized that he couldn’t really read through Tang Xiu and much more difficult to figure out what kind of existence he always was.

“Tang Xiu, can you answer a question of mine honestly?” after taking a long time to calm himself down gradually, Duanmu Lin asked.

“Please ask.” Tang Xiu nodded.

“When those dreadful demonic beasts appeared in the Himalayas, why it was you who went all out then, while your powerful disciple didn’t show up?” asked Duanmu Lin.

“It’s because once Yan’er makes any action here, she and the rest will be discovered by the Heavenly Dao that rules over this plane,” answered Tang Xiu calmly. “They will have to leave this world once it happens.”

They?!!

Duanmu Lin realized that the woman who was called “Yan’er” was not the only expert under Tang Xiu. The revelation sent a great shock to him yet again. But then, he suddenly realized something and exclaimed, “You mean… they are… they all have ascended and become immortals?”

“Ascended and become immortals?”

A disdainful look flashed across Tang Xiu’s eyes as he replied indifferently, “There are things you need not ask, Senior Duanmu. The only reason I’m telling you some bits today is mainly to make you feel convenient and be accommodating to us in China in the future, while at the same time, turning a blind eye.”

Duanmu Lin turned thoughtful for a while and then asked slowly, “Has it already started?”

“Almost,” answered Tang Xiu.

“Why telling me since you almost have it up and running, then?” Duanmu Lin forced a wry smile. “You’re on control over the scale of your own intelligence network. But don’t let me catch any trace of it. You won’t get away with it, otherwise.”

“You won’t find anything so long as you don’t proactively seek it,” said Tang Xiu smilingly. “Also, I’ve prepared a present in order to thank you, Senior Duanmu. I hope you can accept it.”

Having said that, a cultivation ancient manual suddenly appeared in Tang Xiu’s hands. After handing it to Duanmu Lin, he smiled and said, “You may be an ability user, but there’s no rule that says ability users can’t practice an ancient manual of cultivation and become cultivators. As long as you can control two kinds of energy in your system, you may be able to achieve something in the future.”

‘A manual for cultivation?’

Duanmu Lin looked shocked as he didn’t expect that Tang Xiu would be so generous and give him a cultivation manual. One must know that such a thing was extremely precious, and you could expect great uproar once it fell into others’ hands, where you could expect bloody storms and terrors to follow afterward.

“The Nascent Soul Stage? The highest level that can be practiced is up to the Nascent Soul Stage?”

Duanmu Lin’s hands slightly trembled. His eyes shifted to Tang Xiu with a complicated expression.

“Is this… a bribe?”

“You can say it so,” said Tang Xiu smilingly.

Duanmu Lin drew a deep breath and a smile appeared on his face. Then, he snappily said, “Hurry up and get out of here, brat! If you wanna make money from that Aeroglider, just hurry up in your research and develop its second generation.”

“Copy that.”

Tang Xiu faintly smiled and his figure disappeared from the room.

There was only Duanmu Lin left in the empty room. He reopened the cultivation manual and read it for more than half an hour before closing it again with nearly uncontrollable surprise and ecstasy.

Gradually after, his expression turned a bit strange. He had tried to circulate the energy in his body according to the circulation route from this cultivation art. He found that he could easily complete the full circulation for the Qi Refining Stage. Much to his surprise, when he started to circulate it according to the cultivation route at the Foundation Establishment Stage, the energy contained in his body broke through to the late-stage of Foundation Establishment Stage without difficulty.

“This power… I’m at least ten times stronger than before.”

Duanmu Lin clenched his fists while sensing the surging power in his body that made him want to scream aloud. But after a while, he finally suppressed the urge as a thought finally bred in his mind: If each ability can cultivate this easily after getting a cultivation art, then all the ability users in the agency can greatly increase their power and subsequently drastically increase the strength of the state’s Special Abilities Bureau at that time.

With the birth of this thought, Duanmu Lin couldn’t sit still. He rushed out of the room and shouted, “Notify all the senior levels of the agency. Except those in charge of the operation in the Himalayas, all of them are to return to the headquarters in the capital!”

Outside the Blue Starfish Mansion.

Li Yuquan finally felt relieved after he jumped off the boat with Tang Xiu and back to the bank. He felt like he had survived a great tribulation, so he felt very grateful to Tang Xiu.

“Thanks a lot, Boss,” said Li Yuquan in a low voice behind Tang Xiu.

“The price I paid to preserve your life was quite great, you know,” replied Tang Xiu without turning back. “You should know what you must do, I presume.”

“My life is yours from now on. I’ll immediately carry out any orders you give me,” said Li Yuquan respectfully.

Tang Xiu nodded in response. “You know, you have a good son. I’ll take him out of the greenhouse and someone will take him away soon.”

Li Yuquan’s face changed and hastily asked, “But Boss, this is…”

“You can refuse, of course,” said Tang Xiu lightly. “But the consequence of your rejection will make it so that your son will be only an ordinary person for the rest of his life. You must let him go if you want him to transform into a dragon.”