Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Grandmaster Mo, ranked third on the Grandmaster榜, personally came to invite her, heading straight for the Immortal Palace instead of the Imperial Palace.

Watching his figure disappear into the heavily guarded Immortal Palace, which was as heavily fortified as it was on the Immortal Ceremony day, Li Ji'an's thoughts raced.

Especially after seeing the Emperor emerge from the Immortal Palace and stand respectfully outside, waiting patiently, he was certain his earlier guess was correct.

Since the first arrival of an Immortal Master over a hundred years ago, they had only descended during the Immortal Ceremony, but an unprecedented event had occurred.

“Did they come specifically for Ning Sujin?”

“No wonder I couldn't avoid it no matter what, these cultivators likely have ways to track people down.”

“Because of her ability to predict fortune and avoid disaster?”

“Ning Yutan…”

Many clues flashed through Li Ji'an's mind, but the most likely was Ning Yutan.

However, he couldn't understand why it was happening now, five years after Ning Yutan went to the cultivation world?

Time passed slowly…

Until night fell, and the evening drum sounded, the gate of the Immortal Palace suddenly opened.

Ning Sujin walked out of the Immortal Palace with a complicated expression, passed through the heavily guarded armored guards, and came to Li Ji'an.

“The Immortal Master wants to take me to the Immortal Realm!”

“What about the omen?”

“Very auspicious!”

Li Ji'an stared into her eyes, but ultimately saw no ripples, and smiled freely: “In that case, very good!”

“Take care!”

“Take care!”

This time, there was no clear sight of flying swords or flying boats, only a flash of streamer light in the distance.

Li Ji'an waved to the streamer light in the sky, sighing at the impermanence of life.

In the days that followed, without Ning Sujin's ability to predict fortune and avoid disaster, he acted more cautiously.

Four years passed quickly.

As the once-a-decade Immortal Ceremony approached, the Immortal Palace became tense, the patrolling guards increased by fifty percent, and the hidden experts also perked up.

“Whoosh~” A soft sound in Li Ji'an's room, the four-finger-thick stone slab in front of him was pierced by a needle-thin stream of energy.

“Huff~ I've reached my limit. The blood and Qi of my current Bone Marrow Cleansing cultivation level still can't be released beyond a yard, and the blood and Qi condensation is not refined enough… I wonder how the Su family's 《Pear Blossom Rain Needles》stimulates condensation?”

In another four years, Li Ji'an's internal energy only rose a small step, which was naturally the result of his suppression.

His external martial arts advanced by leaps and bounds. With extraordinary comprehension, coupled with the reference and inspiration from thousands of first and second-rate martial arts in the lower three floors of the Sutra Depository, he now had considerable experience in condensing and stimulating blood and Qi.

Based on many martial arts, he optimized and created several martial arts that were no less than those on the lower three floors of the Sutra Depository.

However, it could only stop there.

Creating top-level martial arts was not something that could be accomplished in one lifetime. Which of the top-level martial arts on the martial arts榜 had not undergone several generations of continuous improvement, optimization, and iteration?

He could only hope that after this year's Immortal Ceremony, he could enter the middle three floors, or even the upper three floors, of the Sutra Depository. If he had those top-level martial arts as a foundation, coupled with an increase in comprehension in the next life, there was great hope.

“Brother Li, will you be taken to the Immortal Realm by the Immortal Master next year?”

Zhao Yunsheng, who was now seventeen years old and had been a hostage in the Immortal Palace for nine years, stepped forward and removed the stone slab pierced by Li Ji'an, fitting it perfectly onto the wood and stone cart he had developed.

Li Ji'an shook his head: “That's naturally impossible.”

“Then you just like practicing martial arts… um, the kind of martial arts fanatic that others talk about?” Zhao Yunsheng was almost used to life in the Immortal Palace, fiddling with the wood and stone cart while asking.

“Perhaps.” Li Ji'an smiled noncommittally.

In these four years, he had the most contact with Yunsheng. He also liked Yunsheng's single-minded obsession with carpentry, at least she was simple and had no extra thoughts.

The two got along very peacefully.

However, this peace was broken three months later.

As the Immortal Ceremony was approaching, the Prince of Yun, who had been negotiating with the Emperor, suddenly rose up, leading a large army, gathering refugees, and seizing five states in the northwest overnight.

The Emperor was furious. In recent years, the reason he had not taken strong action was to stabilize the Prince of Yun, wait for this year's Immortal Ceremony to please the Immortal Master, and then ask the Immortal Master to take action, so that he could win without bloodshed, but he underestimated the Prince of Yun's cunning.

Moreover, now that the Emperor wanted to ensure the safety of the Immortal Seed, a large number of troops and experts were used for this purpose, and the Prince of Yun caught him off guard.

The Emperor summoned his trusted ministers, including the Duke of Zhenguo, overnight to discuss countermeasures.

However, before the Duke of Zhenguo could lead his troops out of the imperial city, the Prince of Yun's petition of blood had already entered the court.

In front of the civil and military officials, the Prince of Yun's envoy held up the blood petition, wailing in grief, claiming that raising troops was not his intention, but only self-preservation. Someone had revealed to him that the Emperor was about to attack him, and claimed that the Immortal Seed calamity nine years ago was not his doing. If the Emperor could find the culprit of that year, restore his innocence, and announce to the world that he would no longer pursue the matter, the Prince of Yun was willing to hand over military power and plead guilty with thorns on his back.

This move allowed the Emperor, who was somewhat passive at this juncture, to see a glimmer of dawn.

As long as he could drag it out until next year's Immortal Ceremony, everything would be resolved.

So, after scolding the Prince of Yun, he reluctantly agreed.

But what he didn't expect was that a Censorate Official stood up fearlessly at this moment, on the grounds that he did not want the people to suffer and did not want to start a war again, and impeached the current Grandson of the Emperor, claiming that he was the mastermind of the Immortal Seed robbery nine years ago, with the purpose of usurping the throne.

In an instant, the old Emperor's blood rushed to his head. Naturally, he had suspected his grandson of what happened that year, but he had never had any evidence, and because of the Prince of Yun's many tough stances, he had become more suspicious of the Prince of Yun. Later, there was even a rebuke from the Immortal Master, which made him have to focus on the next Immortal Seed and the Prince of Yun.

Now, his suspicion was infinitely amplified.

Moreover, in the current situation, let alone the Grandson of the Emperor was very suspicious, even if he was not suspicious, he might push him out to temporarily stabilize the Prince of Yun.

The Grandson of the Emperor received the news and was forced to stage a palace coup. The Grandmaster behind him surfaced and fought a battle with the Emperor.

Just as the grandfather and grandson were killing each other, the Duke of Zhenguo personally led his army to welcome the Prince of Yun into the imperial city, and finally captured the Emperor in one fell swoop…

The country was shaken, and the world was turned upside down, but the Immortal Palace hardly changed. Except for a few experts who urgently supported the Emperor, everything was normal.

When Li Ji'an learned the news, the country had temporarily stabilized.

The Prince of Yun announced to the world that the Grandson of the Emperor had rebelled and killed his ancestor, and that he had led his troops to serve the king and was finally ordered to sit on the throne of the Emperor.

The Duke of Zhenguo made an unparalleled contribution and was named a Prince!

What made Li Ji'an sigh a little was that there were rumors that the ancestor of the Duke of Zhenguo was once the first fierce general under the command of the first Prince of Yun, and was granted the title of Marquis of Dingyuan to guard Qingzhou, which was also the result of the first Prince of Yun's assistance.

Even after several generations, the Marquis of Dingyuan's mansion and the Prince of Yun's mansion still continued the friendship of their ancestors.

“Wonderful, really wonderful! But it's also boring enough…” Li Ji'an sighed, lamenting the energy that some people spend for power and status.

Of course, these rumors were all told by Zhao Yunsheng when he was brought into the palace and granted the title of Imperial Grandson, and ran out to play with him when he was bored.

A year later, the Immortal Ceremony opened as usual.

According to Zhao Yunsheng, when the Immortal Master saw that the Emperor had changed, he didn't even ask a question, but because the quality of this year's Immortal Seed was higher than the previous one, he bestowed an Immortal Treasure.

At this point, there was no hope for this world's Immortal Seed, and Li Ji'an no longer deliberately suppressed himself, and put more energy into internal energy cultivation.

It was also because of Zhao Yunsheng's status as the Imperial Grandson that he was able to stay in the Immortal Palace smoothly and join the Sutra Depository.

He began decades of stable cultivation as usual…