When Lin Jin was reading some of the Mystery Dao Sect’s books, there was one that had biographies of the immortal emperor. This incredible individual had attained immortality eighty thousand years ago, and before he became the immortal emperor, his real name was ‘Li Jian’.
With this, Lin Jin made a shocking discovery. This Unending Nature Landscape was crafted by the immortal emperor?
That wasn’t right.
Aside from the immortal emperor Li Jian, there were two other people who collaborated on this, Huang Longgong and Xuan Xuanzi.
Lin Jin didn’t know who they were, but they must be just as significant. It didn’t take much to figure out because how could average nobodies even collaborate with the immortal emperor to craft this Unending Nature Landscape?
Because Li Jian’s residence was in the Nine-Heaven Realm, he made this place the painting’s core layer.
This logic was quite easy to follow.
For a moment there, various thoughts ran through Lin Jin’s mind but they were all limited to the same subject. The others were just nonsensical assumptions, for instance, why did the immortal emperor craft this painting?
Li Jian should have been invincible since he was the great immortal emperor. But due to his arrogance and desire to stand on equal footing with heaven itself, he caused a huge calamity and dragged the path of immortality down with him.
Also, this was only a painting realm, not the real Nine-Heaven Realm, and Lin Jin had to constantly remind himself of that fact.
Lin Jin didn’t hide his discovery and shared it with Shu Xiaolou. The latter was shocked after learning who Li Jian was.
“Maybe we’ll get answers to all these mysteries once I take ownership of the Unending Nature Landscape.” Shu Xiaolou knew a lot about painting realms. If she could become the painting spirit here, she should indeed be able to know all the secrets hidden within.
Also, they had come all this way, so they had to achieve their target no matter what it took.
“What should we do next?” Lin Jin asked.
In terms of how to take control of paintings, Shu Xiaolou was the expert here so Lin Jin only had to cooperate.
“Guard me,” Shu Xiaolou answered casually. Her robes began to transform. Her ribbon elongated and darted out before propagating and shooting in all directions. Each ribbon had Cosmos Ink dabbed on them and Shu Xiaolou entered the virtual medium through them, as if she was trying to invade the system.
From Lin Jin’s point of view, Shu Xiaolou looked like a computer virus.
He couldn’t tell her that of course. They were in cahoots so if Shu Xiaolou was a virus, he was one too.
Lin Jin had thought Shu Xiaolou would use different methods like finding specific tools or invading certain structures to take control of the painting. He didn’t think it would look so simple. If a painting spirit like Shu Xiaolou could enter the painting realm’s core, like dabbing ink into clear water, she could invade and take control of this space.
And Lin Jin’s job here was to ensure no one disturbed her during this process.
It seemed like a simple job, but soon, at the instant Shu Xiaolou started invading the Unending Nature Landscape’s core, the rare and strange creatures in the Nine-Heaven Realm, along with all the immortals up there, stopped what they were doing and turned to Lin Jin and Shu Xiaolou’s direction.
It was quite appalling.
After all, some immortals and beasts that had their backs facing them at first had turned only their heads a hundred and eighty degrees around. This became disturbing to watch.
Lin Jin had a bad feeling about this.
It felt like they had just struck a beehive.
He patted the Four Ocean Gourd so it would spit out water to protect them and then held the Clear Wind Sword in his hand. He summoned Xiao Huo too and got ready to fight. Even still, Lin Jin’s scalp was prickling.
Because more and more strange immortal beasts and immortals were poking their heads out from the Nine-Heaven Realm and looking their way. Their expressions were that of rage. Be it human or beast, they all oddly revealed the same expression and emotion.
If all of them swarmed over together, Lin Jin couldn’t guarantee he could fend them all off on his own.
But it was too late for that. Shu Xiaolou had already entered the ‘state’ so she couldn’t know what was happening outside, nor even feel it. Lin Jin had to hold out for the time being.
“You guys can just watch, but please don’t come over,” Lin Jin mumbled to himself.
Only, situations tend to happen as one feared. Right after Lin Jin’s mumbling, the immortal beasts and immortals began flying toward them.
With all the humming and buzzing, they looked like a swarm of flies.
Only, those weren’t flies but immortals and powerful beasts. With their significant numbers, Lin Jin didn’t know how long he could last.
“Wait, Shu Xiaolou said they’re all just paintings. If that’s the case, they surely can’t compare to real immortals and immortal beasts. They should be much weaker in comparison too, perhaps not having even a fraction of the actual’s strength.” Lin Jin found himself a reliable excuse.
In addition, these immortals and beasts were also moving in a strange fashion. They may be large in number, but they felt like puppets bound to strings.
Both sides finally clashed.
Just as Lin Jin assumed, the beasts and immortals weren’t as strong as they looked. Compared to actual Rank 6 beasts and immortals, they were still lacking.
However, these paintings still retained about fifty percent of their original strength.
In other words, half of their actual strength.
In a solo battle, Lin Jin wouldn’t fear them. But in swarms like this, things could get troublesome.
Lin Jin faced immediate disadvantages at their first clash.
He was fortunate to have Xiao Huo in large wolf mode to defend him or else he would be defeated.
At Rank 7, Xiao Huo’s strength was not to be underestimated. He could now grow to a super-large size, standing at a thousand feet tall. From a distance, he looked just like a mountain burning in flames.
This put him on par with profound immortals. With Xiao Huo holding the fort, they managed to defend themselves.
Lin Jin thought they could keep this up. Because they just needed a certain amount of time before Shu Xiaolou would come back with results. He only wished they would be able to hold out until that moment came.
However, Lin Jin’s beautiful wish wouldn’t come true so easily because soon, more and more immortals appeared from the nine heavens, wearing the same furious expressions. Then, they all rushed down and started pelting spells and using their magic treasures on Xiao Huo.
If that wasn’t frightening enough, what truly shocked Lin Jin was when immortals wearing golden armor that glowed with colorful light appeared on the highest level of the nine heavens. Their flag was swaying in the air behind them and then a silhouette dressed in imperial robes emerged.
As this peerless immortal came into view, the aura he exuded even from the far distance made everyone suffocate and gave them the urge to bow in respect.
Judging by his noble and domineering appearance, Lin Jin immediately guessed this man’s identity.
The immortal emperor, Li Jian!
