I Shall Be Everlasting In the World of Immortals 328

## Chapter 324: Three Hundred Years, A Sprout

Two years later.

In the underground chamber, the black and gray medicinal pool had been dried up by the invisible heat, leaving behind dry, solid grime.

A giant, with a copper-colored body and golden, fish-scale-like discs moving across its surface, was surrounded by hot, steaming mist, radiating a terrifying aura that would make even a Golden Core cultivator tremble.

“290 years old, late-stage Third-tier Body Refinement!”

Lu Chang An felt his body and spirit were stronger than ever before, as if he were a collapsing mountain waiting to burst.

Of course, his chamber was protected by a formation, so it wouldn’t collapse easily.

After a long time, the strange phenomena around Lu Chang An disappeared. The golden, fish-scale-like discs vanished, and his body slowly returned to its normal size.

Lu Chang An’s “Golden Armor Dominating Body” had been stuck at the peak of the mid-stage Third-tier for many years. Today, he finally broke through.

Not only cultivators, but Body Refiners also face cultivation bottlenecks.

Breaking through to the late-stage was even more difficult for Body Refiners than cultivators.

The path of Body Refinement becomes more difficult with each advancement.

Talent, effort, willpower, and resources are all indispensable.

The reason for this difficulty is that the current environment of the world, and the human bloodline, are not as friendly to Body Refiners as they were in ancient times. They are not the mainstream.

After advancing, Lu Chang An’s self-preservation abilities increased significantly.

It wasn’t just about the defenses of his powerful body.

His Qi and blood essence were stronger, reducing the load and consumption of the “Crimson Sun Blood Transformation Technique.”

Late-stage Third-tier Body Refinement meant that Lu Chang An could use the fourth layer of the “Crimson Sun Blood Transformation Technique” without as much of a cost, and for a longer duration.

After all, the fourth layer of the Blood Transformation Technique, which corresponded to the early-stage Nascent Soul, would easily shorten one’s lifespan by ten years.

After a year of consolidating his Body Refinement realm.

Lu Chang An started planning to acquire the core puppet inheritance of the Thousand Mechanism Sect, following his pre-set plan.

The Thousand Mechanism Sect’s external branch, called the “Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion,” was established by the sect’s defectors.

The Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion mainly dealt in businesses related to puppets.

Their largest base was in the nearby Gu Tian Immortal City.

The Peacock Saintess had once directly attacked them, but she had gained no advantage and even suffered a setback. Although there was an element of acting, she hadn’t been able to force the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion to reveal its near-Fourth-tier puppets or their puppet formations.

“Behind the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion, there is a Nascent Soul old monster providing covert support. I can’t act rashly.”

Lu Chang An’s plan wouldn’t be accomplished overnight.

The first step was to test their strength and gather more intelligence.

The second step was to attempt a peaceful trade, avoiding conflict if possible.

The third step, if the trade failed, would be to use unconventional means to acquire the core puppet inheritance.

For now, he could only implement the first two steps.

If he had to use unconventional means, it would be best to wait until he reached the late-stage Golden Core and his Divination Technique reached the peak of the Third-tier.

Peak Third-tier Divination, though technically a top-grade Third-tier technique, would reach the limit of the Third-tier. In the surrounding area of Feng Yuan Country, no one could surpass him except the Heavenly Master.

Once he reached the late-stage Golden Core, Lu Chang An would be able to threaten and negotiate even with a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

…

Half a month later.

A thousand li away from Gu Tian Immortal City.

A blurry, human-shaped illusion rapidly flew towards the city from afar.

With a “poof,” the blurry illusion transformed into a merchant Taoist wearing a straw hat, its body diving into a sand cave.

The sand howled as the Taoist’s aura vanished, leaving no trace.

A short while later,

A powerful spiritual pressure, belonging to a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, quickly approached, stopping the surrounding sand.

The newcomer was a puppet master with a wooden face and mechanical arms.

He was the City Lord with a Puppet Arm, who had once stood against the Peacock Saintess.

Although the old City Lord was the supreme ruler of Gu Tian Immortal City, he rarely interacted with outsiders, focusing on his puppet techniques. As a result, he had a relatively low profile.

“Daoist Sparrow, come out. I know you’re nearby,” said the Puppet Arm City Lord, his dark blue eyes, combined with his peak Golden Core spiritual sense, scanned the surroundings, finally locking onto a patch of sand.

“Truly worthy of being the greatest puppet genius of the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion,” a deep voice came from the sand, as the merchant Taoist emerged from the sand, carrying a box.

“Are you a puppet or a human cultivator?” The City Lord’s eyes flickered, looking at the mysterious merchant Taoist, his heart filled with astonishment.

As a puppet master, he sensed that the man’s body was more like a puppet.

But the intelligence, soul fluctuations, and the way he used spells and talismans were more akin to a human cultivator.

“It matters not whether I am a man or a puppet,” the mysterious merchant Taoist said calmly.

“Why are you pursuing me, City Lord? I was simply going about my business in the city, trading, and doing nothing harmful.”

Lu Chang An, remotely controlling the puppet, was caught off guard.

To be safe, he had sent a puppet clone to Gu Tian Immortal City to scout the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion and gather intelligence. He had obtained quite a bit of information.

The Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion’s secret base was located beneath Gu Tian Immortal City.

Underneath the city, there was a hidden castle.

Lu Chang An speculated that the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion’s core puppets and inheritance were in that underground castle, and they were attainable.

He was only investigating, not taking any further actions.

However, he was suddenly sensed by the City Lord, who came upon him unexpectedly. He didn’t have time to hide.

Luckily, it was nighttime, and Lu Chang An, using the speed and concealment of his late-stage Third-tier puppet clone, managed to escape Gu Tian Immortal City.

To avoid being surrounded, the puppet clone used several advanced spells, including a top-grade Third-tier Forbidden Breaking Talisman.

Now, the City Lord had chased after him for a thousand li, refusing to let up.

Lu Chang An, using the same methods he had used before, stopped the puppet’s spiritual stone from activating, putting it into a dormant state, attempting to avoid the City Lord’s soul sensing techniques.

However, he was still locked onto by the City Lord’s powerful spiritual sense, revealing his location.

“Daoist Sparrow, there’s no need to hide. You’ve been lurking in Gu Tian Immortal City, trying to uncover the secrets of the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion. What is your purpose?”

The Puppet Arm City Lord’s tone was unfriendly as he tapped his storage bag.

In an instant, several Third-tier puppets appeared.

Whoosh!

A blue, icy wind howled for tens of zhang, and among them, a blue dragon puppet, over ten zhang long, hovered above the merchant Taoist.

“Third-tier peak puppet! It’s infused with spirit-infused puppet techniques, stronger than ordinary Golden Core cultivators…”

Lu Chang An secretly envied the blue dragon puppet, which was even better than the one that fought the Peacock Saintess decades ago.

His Third-tier late-stage puppet clone was no match for it.

Moreover, the Puppet Arm City Lord himself was a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, with several Third-tier, top-quality puppets at his disposal, enough to unleash their full power.

“If I want to leave, City Lord, you won’t be able to stop me,” the merchant Taoist said calmly, without a trace of panic.

Boom!

Flying sand and rocks, a whirlwind of sand created a sandstorm disaster, encompassing ten li in every direction.

The City Lord, having lived in the desert for a long time, knew that this wasn’t a naturally occurring disaster.

It was a Third-tier late-stage sandstorm spell.

He felt a chill run down his spine, a sense of unseen, ominous coldness.

The unknown entity hidden deep within the sand layers posed a threat to him.

Not only that,

A female cultivator’s illusion appeared in the sand, radiating spiritual fluctuations comparable to a peak Golden Core cultivator.

The sand and spiritual sense blocked the City Lord’s perception, so he couldn’t see through it.

Swish!

The scene warped, and the sandstorm disappeared.

In its place was an old, black and green palace.

In the depths of the palace, there was a throne with a green dragon head, but it was empty.

The merchant Taoist and the female cultivator’s illusion stood on either side of the Green Dragon Throne.

“City Lord, let’s be frank. We have a branch of our organization, and we wish to trade the core inheritance of the Thousand Mechanism Sect that you possess, including the spirit-infused puppets and the puppet formation techniques.”

The female cultivator’s illusion’s voice was alternately clear and cold, then soft and seductive, changing its distance.

“The core puppet inheritance of the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion is not for sale,” the Puppet Arm City Lord said calmly, looking at the illusory scene in front of him. The Green Dragon Throne at the end of the deep hall gave off an ancient, mysterious aura.

The empty Green Dragon Throne made him think of various possibilities, wondering whether it was a real scene or not.

“There is nothing in this world that is not for sale, and no loyalty that cannot be betrayed,” the straw-hat merchant Taoist cackled.

The City Lord’s expression turned dark. The Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion was considered a group of defectors to the Thousand Mechanism Sect in the External Alliance.

“It’s not impossible to trade, but only if your organization can offer a Nascent Soul-forming Pill, a Fourth-tier Soul Nourishing Wood, and the lost… Soul Puppet Technique.”

The City Lord’s voice was arrogant, his demands exorbitant.

“Heehee, the inheritance stolen by defectors, you dare to hold it for ransom? There are not only you who possess the core inheritance in the External Alliance and the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion.”

The female cultivator’s illusion chuckled, the sound echoing through the eerie, dark Green Dragon Hall.

The City Lord was about to retort when the illusory scene of the hall vanished.

Swish!

In reality, an even thicker yellow sandstorm completely concealed the merchant Taoist and the female cultivator’s illusion.

The City Lord was wary and didn’t dare pursue them any further.

Both the merchant Taoist and the female cultivator’s illusion had late-stage Golden Core abilities, and behind them, a mysterious organization.

The Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion’s situation in the External Alliance wasn’t as good as they thought.

They faced opposition from the Feng Yuan Country’s natives, and they couldn’t return to the territory of the two sects.

…

The City Lord retracted his puppets and returned to Gu Tian Immortal City.

Due to the sandstorm, the scene of their confrontation hadn’t been noticed by outsiders.

Without stopping, the City Lord entered the underground castle beneath the city.

Finally, he reached a hall heavily guarded by formations.

The City Lord opened a green-bronze coffin, pinched incantations with his hands, and chanted a spell, performing puppet techniques.

After several breaths,

A man in green armor, resembling a zombie, sat up from the green-bronze coffin. His body was mostly composed of puppet materials.

“How long has it been?”

The green-armored puppet man’s eyes flickered with two green ghost flames, looking eerie and sinister.

“Lord, it’s been seventy or eighty years since your last awakening,” the Puppet Arm City Lord said respectfully.

“So long? The consciousness of the Ghost Infusion is becoming increasingly weak, and I need to find a Soul Dao treasure as soon as possible. If it succeeds, this pavilion will have a chance to create a self-aware, Fourth-tier puppet within a few hundred years, completely matching a Nascent Soul True Monarch.”

“Yes, Lord,” the Puppet Arm City Lord’s wooden face showed rare excitement.

The inhuman, unghostly puppet before him was a Fourth-tier puppet master in his former life.

Creating a Fourth-tier puppet was also his lifelong goal.

“Why did you awaken me?”

“Lord… I suspect that the merchant Taoist might be from the mysterious ‘Green Dragon Society’.”

The City Lord recounted his previous experience and his speculations.

“Green Dragon Society?”

“That’s a top-secret piece of intelligence from the Yellow Sand, with only fragmentary knowledge. Almost no one in the world knows about it.”

The City Lord answered.

“Green Dragon Society? I’ve never heard of them. But the merchant Taoist’s appearance does resemble the legendary ‘Heavenly Pivot Daoist’.”

The Green Armored puppet man pondered.

“Heavenly Pivot Daoist? You mean the mysterious figure in the ‘Extraordinary People of the Universe’ series of Heavenly Heng Continent’s ancient texts?”

The City Lord recalled the records in ancient texts, astonished.

The Heavenly Pivot Daoist was a merchant and extraordinary person, absolutely neutral, traveling across all regions of the continent, trading items with those he felt a connection with.

Encountering him was considered a great opportunity, ensuring that you could trade for the item you needed.

According to the ancient texts of the Thousand Mechanism Sect, the Heavenly Pivot Daoist might be the ancestor of puppets in this world.

He might be a unique type of puppet himself, with intelligence exceeding most human cultivators.

…

In the Xuan Yin Pavilion’s subworld, a lush green oasis,

“My first attempt was a failure. I nearly lost my only late-stage Third-tier puppet!”

Lu Chang An let out a sigh of relief.

The Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion’s puppet techniques were beyond his expectations. His puppet clone’s movements had been exposed.

After having already alerted them, he had to confuse the City Lord to protect his late-stage Third-tier puppet, using the fabricated Green Dragon Society.

Fortunately, this scare and the confrontation with the City Lord had yielded enough intelligence. This would save him a lot of trouble in the future.

This information would help Lu Chang An make future calculations and find a way to break through the situation.

“Gu Tian Immortal City is now on high alert. I shouldn’t act again in the short term.”

Lu Chang An decided to hide for another ten years and cultivate to the late-stage Golden Core in one go.

At the same time, he would improve the quality of his late-stage Third-tier puppet.

…

Five years later, Lu Chang An turned 296 years old, nearing the 300-year mark.

On this day, as he was meditating, he sensed a faint, weak feeling.

Lu Chang An opened his eyes, calculated with his fingers, and sighed softly.

He looked back towards Liang Country, in the direction of Nightless Town.

There, his master, the Immortal Lady, was at the end of her life, on her last day.

Lu Chang An didn’t go back to see her one last time.

From the intelligence he had gathered and the calculations he had made over the past few years, Lu Chang An knew that the Immortal Lady had been accompanied for the last twenty years of her life.

Jiang Ye Chen, Shi Xiao Chuan, and Shi Man Rong, a family of three, lived happily together, very warmly.

Perhaps, the Immortal Lady had made this choice to have someone to rely on when she passed.

Or perhaps, she was truly moved by Jiang Ye Chen and had fallen in love with him.

In her old age, for the last twenty years of her life, she had truly been with Jiang Ye Chen.

This was why Lu Chang An didn’t go back.

Thinking back on the Immortal Lady’s life, Lu Chang An felt a strange mix of emotions.

In her youth, she had encountered the wrong person, and after her divorce, she had brief, fleeting relationships, indulging her free-spirited nature.

Finally, when she grew old, she had grown tired of it all, and found a “decent man” as her final resting place.

If she had lived out her life alone, Lu Chang An might have felt a bit of guilt.

Although they both knew that their relationship had been a brief, fleeting one, it had been free of any blame.

This ultimately happy and warm ending gave Lu Chang An a sense of comfort.

“Jiang Daoist…”

Lu Chang An felt a sense of appreciation, secretly thanking him.

…

Time flew by as Lu Chang An devoted himself to cultivation.

His Golden Core cultivation was steadily progressing, gradually approaching the peak of the mid-stage Golden Core.

Unbeknownst to him, Lu Chang An had reached the 300-year mark.

At that moment, the Xuan Shui Gui, which looked after the Xuan藤, sent out joyful and happy emotions.

“The Xuan藤 has changed?”

Lu Chang An rushed to the deepest underground chamber beneath the subworld.

He saw the green, winding Xuan藤, three zhang six long, emanating a mysterious, primal life force.

On one of the Xuan藤’s branches, a tiny, delicate sprout had emerged.

If one wasn’t paying close attention, they would easily miss it.

“In this life, at three hundred years old, the Xuan藤 sprouted!”

Lu Chang An was elated. As the saying goes, the beginning is always the hardest, and this was a good sign.

The sprout that emerged from the Xuan藤 gave him a feeling of qualitative change, pregnant with the infinite mysteries of the creation of the world.

Lu Chang An was 300 years old, but he had awakened his previous life at 18.

In terms of his cultivation life in this world, it hadn’t even been 300 years.

Over the following period,

Lu Chang An observed the subtle changes in the Xuan藤’s growth, calculating it with his Nascent Soul level of perception.

After all, the Xuan Tian relic, which had once been withered, had brought great opportunities to his two spirit pets.

The Xuan Shui Gui had even mutated, becoming a Heavenly Grade bloodline.

Through his observations and calculations, Lu Chang An discovered the benefits, or rather the subtle enhancements, brought by the Xuan藤’s sprouting.

It was luck!

As a Third-tier Divination Master, Lu Chang An had a sharper perception of fate.

After the Xuan藤 sprouted, the mountain range where it was located, the spiritual vein, was slowly gathering Heavenly Luck.

Other high-level cultivators wouldn’t be able to perceive this.

Lu Chang An had been observing it for a long time, which was why he could sense these minute changes.

The major sects in the cultivation world experienced rises and falls in Heavenly Luck over hundreds or thousands of years. This was common.

For example, the Xuan Yin Pavilion had been flourishing in recent years, and its Heavenly Luck had been slowly increasing.

Therefore, even if high-level cultivators noticed this increase in fate, they would consider it normal.

“Unfortunately, this gathering of Heavenly Luck doesn’t belong to an individual. It’s rooted in this spiritual vein mountain range, belonging to the collective Heavenly Luck of a certain force!”

Lu Chang An felt a tinge of regret. If it had been bestowed upon him alone, over time, he might have become a Child of Luck.

As the owner of the Xuan藤, he didn’t enjoy any special privileges, he was treated equally.

Those who belonged to this spiritual vein force, who enjoyed the indirect benefits of the collective Heavenly Luck bestowed upon them, were relatively insignificant in comparison to the whole, and it was difficult for them to perceive it.

However, it was better than nothing.

From now on, whenever Lu Chang An ran away from any force, he would be able to do so with a clear conscience!

Because, not only did he not bring disaster to the sect he joined, but he also brought them a slight bit of Heavenly Luck.

(End of chapter)

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