Returning from the Immortal World

Tang Xiu calmly observed Zhu Xinghe. He was well aware of how great the temptation brought by the cultivation art and medicinal pills was to the average people. To ascend and become an immortal was something beyond many people’s cognition, to begin with. But the power to summon the natural forces was the eternal goal pursued by countless martial artists.

But the most important thing was still the lifespan of cultivators.

With his status, Zhu Xinghe had definitely learned some hearsays about cultivators that, the higher the cultivation one had, the longer his lifespan was. To those who were at the top and had power in hands, the more they had, the more they were afraid of death.

Tang Xiu then felt that even if Zhu Xinghe might know about these aspects, he decided to remind the man how big the opportunity he just gave him was. “Zhu Xinghe, this cultivation art I gave you can take you up to the late-stage of Qi Refining. The transformation of True Qi into True Essence is a kind of qualitative change that can improve your lifespan. You can expect to live up to 100 years once you reach the late-stage of Qi Refining. There’s also the Foundation Establishment Stage above it. Cultivators at the late-stage of this realm can live for at least 300 years.”

“Tang… you also have a cultivation art up to the late-stage of Foundation Establishment?” asked Zhu Xinghe hurriedly.

“Just call me Boss later!” said Tang Xiu lightly. “Further, my cultivation art is not limited to the late-stage of Foundation Establishment, there are also the Golden Core and Nascent Soul Stages, even ones for much higher levels of cultivation. As long as you’re loyal and devoted to accomplishing the tasks you’re given in the future, you can expect to obtain the next levels of this cultivation art one after another.”

“You can expect my undying loyalty and that I’ll accomplish every task you give me!” replied Zhu Xinghe categorically with an excited face.

“Hold on. Don’t you wanna know what I want you to do?” Tang Xiu lightly said with a smile.

“I’ll do whatever you ask me to do!” said Zhu Xinghe in a deep voice.

“Truly a Patriarch of a family, aren’t you? You got wisdom average people can’t compare.” Tang Xiu chuckled and said, “Actually, the task I’m going to give you is very simple. You’re to be the director of intelligence in He Province under the Tang Sect for which the Chief of Intelligence will visit you—the only person you need to report to later.”

“Intelligence? You want me to only carry out information gathering?” Zhu Xinghe exclaimed.

With a clear expression and a deep voice, Tang Xiu replied, “A complete web of intel network will be woven in all of China, and you’re one of the nodes in the hub that is He Province, responsible for the information gathering all over this province. There are also others in other provinces like you. If the information is related to other regions, someone will naturally contact you to exchange information to compare and compile it so as to obtain the information content thoroughly.”

Zhu Xinghe turned more serious and solemn, staring at Tang Xiu in shock. It must be noted that he was the Zhu Patriarch, notably the first family in He Province, yet he was just a node in this intel network, whereas there were also others responsible for other provinces and regions like him?

In case… which is very likely, these intel top executives were to have status and identity on par with me, doesn’t it mean the supreme chief of intelligence would have very terrifying energy in hands?

Such a tall order… does Tang Xiu want to control this country?

Seeing through Zhu Xinghe’s mind, Tang Xiu indifferently continued, “No such ambition ever crossed my mind. China is too small and not worth the effort to fight over. Once the intel network has covered the whole of China, you can see the next step where the web will cover every nook and corner of the world, replacing the current world’s first intelligence agency, the Darkwind. But the network will only serve Tang Sect at that time. You, on the other hand, have gotten a cultivation art which makes you a peripheral member of the Tang Sect, in line to get absorbed as an outer disciple later.”

An outer disciple? If there are outer disciples, then they must also have inner disciples. Which means there are many among them who have much bigger privileges and rights… this Tang Sect, how huge is its power, exactly? A tempestuous storm raged in Zhu Xinghe’s mind.

Tang Xiu no longer bothered about his other thoughts and lightly said, “I already told you what must be said, so someone will naturally contact you later. Later on, it will be your own efforts that dictate how further you’ll reach in the future.”

Having said that, Tang Xiu turned around and left.

Zhu Xinghe hurriedly called out, “Tang… Boss, one last question! How many contributions should I make in order to be eligible to be accepted as an outer disciple of the Tang Sect?”

“Every 3 years some members from the inner court will come out to evaluate each provincial chief’s achievements. The opportunity to become outer disciples will be given to the top three. That’s right, I forgot to tell you another thing. You may have obtained a cultivation art, but I forbid you to pass it on to anyone else including people very close to you. If you want to pass it on to others, it will depend on your future contributions. The bigger your merits, the bigger the chance you’ll get whether you can teach it to others or a larger number of people.”

“I understand.” Zhu Xinghe cupped his fists and replied respectfully.

Merits!

He knew that it was the basis if he wanted to climb up and become stronger and live longer. He suddenly found that his already dim spirit was ignited once again after facing such a huge and mysterious Tang Sect—the enthusiasm that had disappeared ever since two decades ago.

****

Some time passed by. Tang Xiu was so harried running about outside that he didn’t have time to attend Ji Mu’s wedding. He spent two months digging up some competent officials, businessmen, and distinguished people and pulling them under the Tang Sect’s flag as members of the sect’s intel network.

Just in the three first-tier cities that were Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzen, Tang Xiu picked up two people as directors, putting them to manage two lines of intelligence work at the same time. Added with two vice directors, there were a total of four lines of work in each city, resulting in crazy expansion for intel operatives carried out by Jin Shi.

Finally, the embryonic form of the huge intel network had been set up.

Afterward, Tang Xiu stayed in Shanghai for more than 10 days. Then, he rushed to Nine Dragons Island to carry out secluded cultivation since he had run into a bottleneck in his cultivation for some time. It was not because his cultivation level was lacking, but rather due to the need to absorb various types of energy in huge amounts. Thus, it would be very difficult to break through the bottleneck outside Nine Dragons Island.

Seven days in Nine Dragons Island passed by with Tang Xiu fully immersed himself in cultivation and painstakingly arranged a special array to link up all the nine Spiritual Springs’ cores.

Purple Qi… from the East.

He used it to temper his physique and integrated it with the Primal Chaos force in his system, resulting in the latter’s increase in amount. Even the volume of the first planet had now become five meters in diameter.

“It’s nearly done.”

While sitting cross-legged in the courtyard, Tang Xiu looked up at the thick black clouds in the sky where sparks of lightning kept blitzing and trailing down. An unswerving determination was evident in his eyes.

He kept extracting enormous Primal Chaos power from the first planet and crazily instilled it into his meridians, causing the enormous energy to begin circulating. Meanwhile, a certain stars cluster in the universe and countless heavenly bodies began emitting bright light at the same time.

This star cluster was unlike the rest in the universe’s scope as it was a sphere of dead stars. But more than 80% of the planets in this starfield had countless lifeforms that produced countless offspring. At this moment, however, hundreds of millions of lifeforms were all shocked by the light emitted from the whole planet. Some creatures with great powers soared into the space to figure out the reason why the planet was suddenly emitting out such light.

However, none of these creatures with great supernatural power was able to figure it out. They kept extending the reach of their spiritual sense for 10 million light years away but still couldn’t see the end.

BAM…

Tang Xiu was unaware of how long had it been, but his body suddenly trembled and a huge roar that felt like a thunderstorm made him nearly faint. However, the sensation vanished in the blink of an eye and was replaced by a particularly special sensation.

As he opened his eyes, he found his eyes, which were able to see scenes five-plus kilometers away, were now able to see anything as far as 20km, whereas his spiritual sense that used to be able to cover 400-plus meters scope now could cover the radius of 2km completely.

Divine Power—Starquake.

In the midst of darkness, a mysterious and profound divine ability with Quintessence Star energy suddenly emerged and filled Tang Xiu’s sea of mind. Despite being a Supreme in the past, his body couldn’t help but shake for some time by this divine ability.

Quake and vibration! It was everywhere and all-powerful. The magnitude and the scope of this seismic-like force could spread out and be used for defense or attack. Layers of accumulated seismic-like force could increase his defense and attack power countless times if he fully unleashed his power.

Whizz…

Tang Xiu’s figure streaked up into the sky and instantly appeared hundreds of meters mid-air. As he stood in the air, his eyes fell on a stone lion hundreds of meters below. He gently flicked his finger and a vibrating force instantly shot forward. The transmission seemed very slow, but it was fast to the extreme. In just less than a thousandth of a second, it had pierced the stone lion.

BOOM…

The stone line’s head exploded and gravel was scattered for tens of meters to the surroundings.

“If I were to unleash the power of this Quake divine ability fully, even a boulder weighing tens of thousands of pounds beyond a few kilometers would likely be shattered into pieces. Also, if this vibration force is to be applied to a weapon, the power can be multiplied by several times.”

Tang Xiu smiled and watched as tens of figures flickered lightning-fast near the shattered stone lion. As they looked up and saw Tang Xiu in the sky, they saluted in unison and then cleaned up the rubble extremely fast.

Suddenly, another figure appeared in the air next to Tang Xiu. It was Gu Yan’er, who smiled at him and asked, “Did your cultivation improve and reached the second stage of your cultivation art, the Stars Heavenly Essence?”