Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
“Ugh…”
Hao Ren had just finished eating the 10,000-year-old Immortal Fruit and was still wiping his mouth with his palm. Hearing Zhen Yuan Zi’s words, Hao Ren stared at him in astonishment as well.
Biting on the remaining half of her Immortal Fruit, Su Han also stared at Hao Ren and then at Zhen Yuan Zi in amazement.
She had read lots of ancient scrolls and knew that some remote independent cultivators lived in the Demon Sea, including a few grandmasters who were as old as the world.
Due to the ever-increasing number of mortals, the nature essence on land became scarcer, and the powerful cultivators had moved to the Demon Sea as hermits while the large cultivation sects moved onto Fifth Heaven.
Su Han had been secretly astonished when she heard the name of this ugly old man who was short and fat. When she ate the 10,000-year-old Immortal Fruit, she knew that her instinct was right; he was indeed Zhen Yuan Zi, the legendary leader of all Earthly Immortals!
He was a figure who had the greatest cultivation strength among the human cultivators! He was on the same level as the Queen Mother of the West 1 . In fact, his status was slightly higher than hers.
In terms of his seniority and background, he was on par with Qiu Niu!
According to the legends, the Earthly Immortals who had passed the Heavenly Tribulations in the past must visit the King Father of the East at Penglai Island, then the Queen Mother of the West at Kunlun Mountain, and lastly Zhen Yuan Immortal before they could truly elevate into a Heavenly Realm and become Heavenly Immortals. It showed how high Zhen Yuan Zi’s status was; the leader of all Earthly Immortals who was responsible for evaluating all candidates before they could ascend into the Heavenly Realm.
However, since the cultivators in the last thousands of years no longer elevated into the Heavenly Realm, people gradually forgot about this process, and Zhen Yuan Zi somehow took over Penglai Island.
Despite all this, Su Han still couldn’t believe that Zhen Yuan Immortal, who had a higher status than the Queen Mother of the West, wanted to become blood brothers with Hao Ren.
“Senior, your status is too high for me. Besides, I’ve received a lot of your help and kindness, and it’s not right for me to go beyond and stand beside you!” Hao Ren regained his composure quickly and said in a hurry.
“With your steady state of mind, you will reach the Heavenly Dragon Realm sooner or later. Besides, I’m only at the Soul Formation Realm, and there’s not much difference between us.” Zhen Yuan Zi looked at Hao Ren with a smile while stroking his beard.
With sweat sliding down his forehead, Hao Ren thought that Zhen Yuan Zi was technically right since the Soul Formation Realm cultivators were regarded as Earthly Immortals according to the human cultivators’ realm system. However, there were huge differences between different Soul Formation Realm cultivators!
Hao Ren suspected that even 60 Soul Formation Realm cultivators couldn’t defeat Zhen Yuan Zi!
“Master…” Seeing Zhen Yuan Zi was serious in taking Hao Ren as his blood brother, the two kids got worried.
More than 1,000 years ago, Zhen Yuan Zi became brothers with a small demon king who had broken his Seven Killing Array. That small demon king had been so powerful that he almost sank the Penglai Island.
However, Hao Ren had only broken Seven Killing Array with luck, and his realm hadn’t even reached the Soul Formation Realm!
Although their master acted modestly before other cultivators, he didn’t need to lower himself like this!
However, they only knew the drastic difference in status between Zhen Yuan Zi and Hao Ren, but they didn’t understand that all this was determined by fate, and everything Zhen Yuan Zi did follow the Heavenly Dao.
It was the result of the Heaven Dao that Hao Ren had returned to the Demon Sea and Penglai Island earlier than they had expected. As the leader of Earthly Immortals, Zhen Yuan Zi naturally needed to follow the Heavenly Dao. Besides, he had a feeling that the fatal turning point in these thousands of years was on Hao Ren’s side.
Thousands of years ago, the small demon king who had broken the Seven Killing Array destroyed the world. If Zhen Yuan Zi hadn’t taken the opportunity to become blood brothers with him, the world would be different now.
As the leader of the Earthly Immortals, Zhen Yuan Zi was the most precious chess piece that the Heavenly Dao left in the mortal world, and his act would determine the future of the world. How could these two kids understand these hidden messages?
“Senior…”
Hao Ren was about to decline when Su Han bumped him and said with clenched teeth, “Don’t be so bashful!”
Hearing her words, Hao Ren was embarrassed. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to accept Zhen Yuan Zi’s offer; he just didn’t want to freeload too much.
“Hehehehe… Today, you’ll kneel twice in ceremonies.” Seeing Hao Ren and Su Han looking at each other, Zhen Yuan Zi went on and laughed.
Hao Ren looked at Zhen Yuan Zi, wondering if the latter also wanted to take Su Han into this ceremony as well.
Then, he thought that it wasn’t possible since Su Han didn’t break Zhen Yuan Zi’s Seven Killing Array. Suddenly, a thought struck him. “Does Zhen Yuan Zi mean that Su Han and I will have the ceremony of …”
Su Han who had encouraged Hao Ren to become Zhen Yuan Zi’s blood brother suddenly understood the latter’s words, and he blushed.
From her point of view, it was a great and rare opportunity for Hao Ren to become brothers with Zhen Yuan Zi, the leader of the Earthly Immortals.
However, from what Zhen Yuan Zi said, it sounded like she must have the ceremony with Hao Ren and get married before Zhen Yuan Zi and Hao Ren could have their blood brother ceremony.
“At the end of the karma…” With a wave of his whisk, Zhen Yuan Zi chanted in a low voice.
“The treasure cauldron collects the auspicious smoke and condenses…”
Suddenly, a melodious voice suddenly came from the outside of the island.
“Zhen Yuan Immortal, don’t you welcome a visit from me?” the melodious voice continued to ask.
“Oh, it is Lady Zhen!” Zhen Yuan Zi laughed and waved his sleeve, lowering the Penglai Island down into the Demon Sea.
With an oil-paper umbrella in her hand, Lady Zhen who was wearing a colorful traditional dress walked onto the island gracefully. A few light steps later, she covered the distance of hundreds of meters like a phantom and entered the peach orchard.
“Greetings to Zhen Yuan Immortal.” Lady Zhen bowed slightly to Zhen Yuan Zi.
“What brought Lady Zhen to my desolate island?” While nodding slightly, Zhen Yuan Zi looked at Lady Zhen and asked with a laugh.
Seeing the appearance of Lady Zhen, the two kids who were standing behind Zhen Yuan Zi retreated to the distance since a meeting on such a level didn’t need them around.
However, they were pleased that their master probably wouldn’t take Hao Ren as his blood brother due to the appearance of Lady Zhen from the Demon Sea
“These two friends of mine came to visit me in the Demon Sea, but they got lost and stumbled into Penglai Island by mistake. Please forgive them if they disturbed your cultivation,” Lady Zhen said.
“Not at all. I have been having a great chat with these two, and I liked them the moment I met them,” Zhen Yuan Zi waved his arm and said graciously.
“Then… If you don’t mind, I’ll take them to my place,” Lady Zhen turned her beautiful eyes to Zhen Yuan Zi and said with a faint smile.
Zhen Yuan Zi looked at Lady Zhen and knew that he didn’t have any reason to keep Hao Ren and Su Han.
They were Lady Zhen’s guests and happened to come onto Penglai Island. Now that their hostess, Lady Zhen, had come to pick them up in person, Zhen Yuan Zi didn’t think it right to make them stay any longer.
“Wait for a second!” When Lady Zhen was about to leave with Hao Ren and Su Han, Zhen Yuan Zi suddenly called out.
While moving the oil-paper umbrella, Lady Zhen turned elegantly and looked at Zhen Yuan Zi.
“Lady Zhen, the Heavenly Dao has its cycles. You mustn’t kill too much.”
As she looked at Zhen Yuan Zi, Lady Zhen was silent for a few seconds before nodding with a grave expression. “I got it.”
When Zhen Yuan Zi didn’t speak, Lady Zhen asked, “Is there anything more you want to say to us?”
Zhen Yuan Zi sighed slightly and turned to Hao Ren. “It’s destiny that this friend and I met again, and we were about to become blood brothers by swearing loyalty to each other. Lady Zhen, why don’t you act as our witness?”
“Zhen Yuan Immortal, it’s an honor that I can’t accept. You, Zhen Yuan Immortal, are in the same rank as the Three Pure Ones 2 and the Four Emperors, and I don’t dare to be such witness.”
Lady Zhen said hurriedly. Her words were in fact meant for Hao Ren, pointing out to him the background of Zhen Yuan Zi.
Now that he wanted to become brothers with Hao Ren, how could Lady Zhen take the position and act as the witness?
Since Zhen Yuan Zi was just below the Heavenly Dao, Heavenly Dao would acknowledge this big event.
After the ceremony, Hao Ren’s status would be on the level of True Immortals even though he hadn’t reached the realm of True Immortals!
Zhen Yuan Zi waved his sleeves, and a grey incense furnace appeared on the stone table while a scroll of seal characters of ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’ hung in the air in the forest.
“Go!” Su Han nudged Hao Ren toward Zhen Yuan Zi.
Although she didn’t know why Zhen Yuan Zi wanted to become brothers with Hao Ren, she knew that it was destiny for Hao Ren, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing for him to have such a figure as his brother.
Su Han didn’t know that Zhen Yuan Zi had mentioned this just to give Hao Ren an incentive to cultivate hard to reach the Heavenly Dragon Realm. If not for Su Han’s dangerous situation in the Demon Sea, and Zhen Yuan Zi had to save her due to her father, Hao Ren wouldn’t have met Zhen Yuan Zi again so easily.
From Zhen Yuan Zi’s point of view, all this was destiny.
In short, it was due to Su Han that Hao Ren gained this great fortune.
Zhen Yuan Zi also wanted to follow the intention of the Heaven Dao and make Hao Ren and Su Han marry each other.
Instantly, Zhen Yuan Zi and Hao Ren kneeled and kowtowed toward the scroll three times.
With a flash of golden light, the scroll rolled up and disappeared.
Auspicious clouds rose around Penglai Island, and Hao Ren felt so thoroughly refreshed that he thought an unnamed godly power engulfed him.
Now that Hao Ren had become Zhen Yuan Zi’s brother, his had a trace of connection with the Heavenly Dao. After all, Zhen Yuan Zi had been left in the mortal world to control the fortunes in the world; his power matched his status.
The Heavenly Dao in the past thousands of years had changed. According to Zhen Yuan Zi’s calculations, there should be a figure coming out soon, even though none could say who the figure was.
The Heavenly Dao would choose many geniuses, and the one who could stand out would be the most hardworking one.
In other words, if Hao Ren had made mistakes by being too impulsive, too cynical, or too impatient with greed, then someone else would be in Penglai Island instead of him.
[One’s fate is in one’s own hands.] This old saying had some truth to it.
When Hao Ren broke the Seven Killing Array, Zhen Yuan Zi’s hope for him had doubled. He had wanted to wait until Hao Ren reached the Heavenly Dragon Realm to determine if the latter was the key figure in this Heavenly Dao’s transition, but the time came earlier than planned.
“Congratulations!”
When Hao Ren and Zhen Yuan Zi finished the ceremony, Lady Zhen said with a smile.
Now that Hao Ren had become brothers with Zhen Yuan Zi, she had to be more careful with Hao Ren. However, it wasn’t a bad thing for her since Hao Ren had a good relationship with her.
With her experience as an eternal demon king, she had a vague idea about the significance of this ceremony.
“I didn’t expect this kid to become so important… From now on, the fortune in the world will probably lean toward him…” Lady Zhen thought.
“Farewell. I’ll come and visit again.” A white feather appeared beneath Lady Zhen’s feet to support her, and Hao Ren and Su Han then flew toward the direction of the deep ocean with her.
In his simple Taoist robe, Zhen Yuan Zi stood there with his hands behind his back. While looking up at the white feather, he was deep in thought.
“It is hard to predict the future and the Heavenly Dao. Hao Ren’s realm is a bit too low after all. If I have made a mistake in my calculation, and it proved that Hao Ren isn’t the central figure in this cycle of Heavenly Dao, I would be in big trouble. However, I’ve never made a mistake in the past hundreds of thousands of years. I hope that I’m right this time.” While exhaling deeply, Zhen Yuan Zi shook his head and entered his cave abode.
No matter if he made a calculating mistake or not, Hao Ren must rely on himself to cultivate since Zhen Yuan Zi wouldn’t do such a silly thing as to elevate Hao Ren to the Heavenly Dragon Realm.
The small demon king whom he became brothers with thousands of years ago had now become the No.1 Master in the Heavenly Realm, and Zhen Yuan Zi wondered what realm Hao Ren could reach.
Hum!
The Penglai Island suddenly vanished, including dozens of smaller islands around it.
Standing on the white feather that Lady Zhen controlled, Hao Ren felt the thick layer of godly power around him dissipating.
Meanwhile, Su Han had fully recovered her nature essence and became energetic.
“I heard that you killed Xuhao?” Lady Zhen asked abruptly.
“That ghost in the red robe? Yeah, we killed him with lightning energy,” Hao Ren answered.
“Haha, you got rid of a small trouble for me.” With a relaxed smile, Lady Zhen controlled the white feather as it rushed into the ocean.
With this spot as the center, Lady Zhen directly controlled an area that was several thousand kilometers to the east and west and tens of thousands of kilometers to the north and south!
A glorious city as prosperous as Chang’an from the Tang Dynasty appeared before Hao Ren and Su Han!
They looked into the deep ocean and found that the city was immersed in the seawater; it was a kingdom on the bottom of the ocean!
