Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Like a boss of the Fallen Town, she was naturally well known. Her location was easily found.
However, it was difficult to enter the Ganlong Immortal Dynasty.
Ordinary people with no connections had to go through levels of applications.
It was also perfectly reasonable to be rejected at any point of the process.
Soon, Li Nianfan was at the door of the Ganlong Immortal Dynasty. The vermillion door with gold borders was huge.
That was not the main attraction. The main attraction was the wide stairs that led to the door. There were 38 flights of white jade. It looked luxurious.
Cultivators were good at flying so they liked heights. He was considered lucky that it was not on top of the clouds.
Li Nianfan slowly walked up the stairs with Daji.
Two guards chatted at the door.
They instantly looked alive when they saw Li Nianfan. They saluted and asked, “May I ask what you’re all here for?”
Li Nianfan also saluted and smiled. “Hi, my name’s Li Nianfan. Please inform someone that I’m looking for the Holy Emperor.”
“So you’re the Mr. Li Nianfan.” The two guards looked at Li Nianfan and said, “The Holy Emperor has told us before that if a Mr. Li ever came over, he’d be a guest. You can just go in.”
It was an early order. Not only did the Holy Emperor give them the other, Luo Shiyu had also repeatedly reminded them of it. She also ordered them to be polite, too. The guards could not understand why but they remembered it.
Li Nianfan was pleasantly surprised. “Thanks.”
‘The Holy Emperor’s so dependable.
‘That’s life. A random order from a bigshot can save a lot of trouble for people like us. He can also cause a lot of trouble for others too.’
The guard immediately said, “Mr. Li, please, follow me.”
The other guard quickly left to inform someone of their arrival.
Li Nianfan nodded and walked in.
It was his first visit.
He walked in and took in the view.
There was a long path made from white jade. High columns were built on the sides of the road. The columns were sculpted with wonderful refined patterns.
The long path was wide enough to fit four people. There was a long river below it. He followed the river’s path and saw a huge golden palace.
The long path was just a bridge that was connected to the huge palace at the center.
While they were walking, the guard glanced at Li Nianfan again. He asked, “Mr. Li, are you an ordinary man?”
Mr. Li smiled. “In the flesh.”
The guard quickly added, “I don’t mean to offend you, Mr. Li. It’s just that the Holy Emperor rarely sees ordinary people as important. It seems like Mr. Li must be a talented genius.”
“Haha, why is it offensive to be ordinary?” Li Nianfan shrugged it off. Then, he asked, “Are you a cultivator, bro?”
The guard smiled. He replied proudly, “Yeah. I got a feeling that I’ll have a breakthrough soon. By then, I won’t need to guard the door anymore.”
“Congrats, bro.” Li Nianfan smiled and saluted.
Nanan was a cultivator so he knew what the guard was talking about.
Li Nianfan paused and asked, “Oh, yeah. I heard that Princess Luo was injured on the battlefield and that she isn’t doing too well. Is it true?”
The guard had a change in expression. “This is top-secret information. Where did you hear it from, sir?”
Li Nianfan was slightly awkward. He replied, “I overheard it on the streets.”
“What? The streets know about this already?” the guard jumped and said in disbelief. “I only told my younger cousin’s brother, and I told him not to tell anyone. Who dares spread it to everyone?”
Li Nianfan scratched his nose and did not say anything.
They chatted as they walked through the long hallway and entered a huge field.
The guard said quietly, “Mr. Li, Princess Luo’s on the verge of death. We should stop talking.”
Li Nianfan nodded.
Meanwhile, at another palace.
Luo Shiyu peacefully laid on a crystal bed.
The crystal bed was transparent and creepily icy. The temperature in the room was cooled down because of it. Even powerful cultivators would shiver in the room.
There were a lot of people surrounding the crystal bed. The nearest one was a familiar acquaintance of Li Nianfan.
The Holy Emperor looked at his daughter with a complex gaze. He softly sighed and bowed at the lady next to him. He said, “Thank you, Goddess Ziye, for the Ice Cold Crystal Bed. You relieved Shiyu’s symptoms.”
“No need to thank me. I did this because we work for the expert.”
Ziye shrugged it off. She said, “Also, this is all I can help with. It’s too hard to wake your daughter up.”
Zhong Xiu had teary eyes. She sobbed, “Goddess Ziye. Can you tell me how we can save my daughter?”
Ziye groaned for a moment and sighed. “It would’ve been easy in the past. But now, there are only a few left, and they simply won’t show up.”
Gu Xirou was also in the room. She asked, “Can you elaborate on that, Goddess Ziye?”
They were invited by the Holy Emperor since they were all familiar with each other. They would also help out as much as they could because of the expert.
Ziye asked, “You guys know of the Underworld, right?”
Everyone was surprised. “The Underworld from ‘Journey to the West’? The place for lost souls?”
“Of course. How could I forget about that?” Yao Mengji looked like he realized something. He said with a hint of shock, “The expert told us the story happened during the eldritch eras. That means the Underworld must exist!”
Gu Xirou said, “As cultivators, we know that people have three souls and seven consciousness. Lady Shiyu lost a soul and a consciousness from the Dementor. She lost another consciousness on the way here. If we were in eldritch eras, we could go to the Underworld to get her lost souls back. However, the Door of Reincarnation is broken. The Underworld’s long lost over time. The souls are nowhere to be found.”
Gu Xirou furrowed her brows and said, “So, she lost her soul. No wonder we can’t save her.”
Taoist Xinghe said in a helpless voice, “Once the soul’s damaged, it’ll keep fading. Our Ice Cold Crystal Bed can temporarily hold the soul in place, delaying her death.”
Zhong Xiu looked at Luo Shiyu and started tearing up again. Then, she suddenly said, “The expert, we can look for the expert! He can save her!”
“No!”
The Holy Emperor denied it without a second thought. “We can never disturb the expert!”
Zhong Xiu sobbed and yelled, “Why? I’m willing to die for her!”
“Stupid! You dumb lady! What use would the expert need your life for?!”
The Holy Emperor was flushed. He was livid. He scolded, “The peace of the expert comes first! We can only receive if he’s willing to give. We can never ask for it! It’s that simple.”
Zhong Xiu sloped and sat on the bed. She cried and did not say anything else.
The room was suddenly quiet. No one defended her or said anything.
Because the Holy Emperor was right. The expert had his plans. They did not know what it was, but they had to go along with the expert. The expert came first and everybody agreed on that. Otherwise, who could endure the wrath of the expert?
“Report.”
Somebody suddenly came in.
“Come in.” The Holy Emperor was in a bad mood. He was very angry. He scolded, “What’s so important that you have to report? Don’t you know things are getting bad?!”
The guard flinched. He said coyly, “Holy Emperor, you said that if a Mr. Li ever came over, we had to inform you no matter what.”
“That’s it? You…”
The Holy Emperor froze in place. He instantly had goosebumps as he widened his eyes. He growled, “What did you say?!”
The guard said bafflingly, “It’s… Mr. Li Nianfan. He’s on the way.”
Gasp—
Everyone in the room gasped. Ziye also looked shocked. She stepped toward the door to look outside.
“You did great! Go on and collect your reward!” The Holy Emperor excitedly patted on his shoulder.
Then, he quickly paced around the room. He did not know where to put his hands. He was frantic and clueless.
“Mr. Li’s here at my Ganlong Immortal Dynasty? I’m not ready at all.”
“Maybe he came because of Shiyu? My daughter’s saved!”
“Yeah, I have to hurry up and welcome him! I have to go!”
Then, he turned into a gush of wind and slipped out of the room.
The others wanted to go with him, too, but they refrained from doing so in the end.
Li Nianfan was walking with the guard. They turned right and went through a garden to a remote palace area.
The guard said quietly, “Mr. Li, we’ll be arriving at Princess Luo’s quarters soon.”
Li Nianfan nodded and looked over. He saw a lot of people at the palace, mostly elders. They all looked cool and powerful. They were chatting with each other.
“Who knew the Holy Emperor’s such a bigshot. He invited so many Immortals!”
“Yeah, but I wonder if the Immortals can heal Princess Luo.”
“I’m afraid not. Otherwise, the Holy Emperor wouldn’t have invited all the doctors.”
“Princess Luo’s powers were shattered. She couldn’t even swallow her medicine. A classic veggie. Who can save her?”
“Well, we’re here. We should check in on the Immortals, it’d be nice to look at them, too.”
Suddenly, a white-robed elder noticed Li Nianfan.
He noticed that Li Nianfan was about to enter the room with the guard. He immediately blocked them.
“Blasphemy!”
He scolded, “Do you know who’s inside? How dare you trespass? It’s a huge offense to disturb the Immortals!”
He was slightly excited because that was a chance for him to impress the Immortals.
He instantly felt smug. He stood up straight, “You’re just a guard. Don’t you have eyes?! Can’t you see us cultivators waiting outside? How can an unworthy ordinary man go in?”
“This…” The guard was slightly scared. He did not know what to say.
The elder shrugged it off. He said impatiently, “This what? Hurry up and screw off!”
“Screw you!”
A voice rang as loud as thunder.
The Holy Emperor was livid. His hair stood on end. He wanted to tear the elder apart right then and there.
The Saint should not be insulted!
‘You pig! Do you know what you just did? You’re trying to kill me!’
He tried his best to control his anger and landed in front of Li Nianfan. He smiled and asked, “Mr. Li, why didn’t you say anything before your visit?”
Li Nianfan saluted and said, “Holy Emperor, I overheard that Lady Shiyu’s injured so I came here to visit. Sorry for the lack of announcement.”
“Haha, no worries. I know Mr. Li’s great at healing. I naturally welcome you to visit.” The Holy Emperor hurriedly saluted. Then, he said, “Mr. Li, there’s a lot of familiar faces in the room. You should go in first. I’ll say hi to these people.”
“Okay,” nodded Li Nianfan.
He had a déjà vu. That was a great example of a smug person embarrassing himself. He thought it was fun.
‘Too bad I can’t recreate a situation like that because I’m not good enough. I embarrassed the almighty transmigrate community.’
The Holy Emperor watched Li Nianfan walk away. Then, he looked at the elder. He asked menacingly, “Who are you?”
The elder felt that something was off. He replied, “I’m a…”
“Alright, enough,” the Holy Emperor waved and interrupted him impatiently. “Get him out of here, bury him!”
Li Nianfan walked into the room. He was surprised at first, then, he smiled. It was indeed a bunch of familiar faces.
He saluted and said, “You’re all here. Greetings to Goddess Ziye, Taoist Xinghe, Goddess Gu, and Brother Yao.”
Everyone hurriedly replied with politeness, “Greetings to Mr. Li and Lady Daji.”
Then, Li Nianfan looked at Luo Shiyu and slowly walked over.
“Mr. Li.” Zhong Xiu could not help but cry. Her face was full of tears. She opened her mouth but refrained from begging.
Li Nianfan asked, “Concubine Zhong, do you mind if I have a look?”
Zhong Xiu immediately stood up and moved away. “I don’t mind, I don’t mind. Please.”
Li Nianfan looked at Luo Shiyu who peacefully laid on the bed. He felt emotional.
The Immortal Realm was truly dangerous. He would possibly have a good ending as an ordinary man with a simple life, but if he was a cultivator, he would most likely die in tragedy.
On some levels, life as a cultivator was more dangerous than life as an ordinary man.
Li Nianfan went through the whole medical checkup routine and found that Luo Shiyu did not have illness symptoms.
It was not odd because the Immortals were here. How would she be sick?
Then, he lifted her eyelids.
“Looks like a vegetative state.” Li Nianfan groaned for a moment and mumbled, “It seems like she was traumatized. What happened? How was she scared into this state?”
