Cultivation: Being Immortal

Qing State, Green Emperor City

The major cities of Zhong State formed a silent agreement. Every twenty to thirty years, a big city would hold a centennial celebration, greedily attracting people and resources from other states. In order to resist this, the four major families in the center of Qing State built a massive city named Green Emperor City. It was jointly managed by the four major families and helped to secure the foundation of Qing State.

Under the full operation of the four major families, Green Emperor City has a large population of millions of people. It is heavily protected by the four major families. Even in the era when Yun State launched a full attack on Qing State, Green Emperor City didn’t suffer much damage.

Today, in the center of Green Emperor City, a ten-meter long tree trunk has been erected, and Lin Jiang is hanging from it, enduring the scorching sun.

The exposure to the sun in the cultivation world is different from that in the mortal world. Firstly, one’s cultivation will be suppressed, and secondly, there will be formations around to absorb the essence of the sun and burn the body. Even Soul Changing cannot withstand it for long.

On the first day, Lin Jiang still had the strength to curse loudly, greeting the four major families and their ancestors for generations.

On the second day, Lin Jiang continued to curse, but his voice weakened a lot, extending his range of insults to the female cultivators of the four major families.

On the third day, Lin Jiang could only curse intermittently.

On the fourth day, Lin Jiang stopped cursing after two hours.

On the sixth day, Lin Jiang only had the strength to roll his eyes.

On the seventh day, the scorching sun continued to shine. Qing State had no interest in torturing Lin Jiang anymore, because they only needed him as bait to lure the soldiers of Yun State.

This time, Lin Batian showed the responsibility of a father. Starting from the third day of Lin Jiang being under the scorching sun, Lin Batian tried various methods to rescue him. He led surprise attacks, created diversions, and used all the tricks he could think of to capture the key members of the four major families.

Unfortunately, none of his attempts were successful. No matter what Lin Batian did, there would always be at least one Tao Achieving member in Green Emperor City. The city’s defensive formation was constantly activated, causing Lin Batian to fail in his attempts.

"You old thief, come out and fight me one-on-one!"

Frustrated, Lin Batian used the Spatiotemporal Mirror to appear outside Green Emperor City. He taunted the Tao Achieving members of the four major families.

"Lin Batian, you lost your parents when you were young, your wife in middle age, and now you will also experience the loss of your son. You still have one daughter left, right? Don’t worry, she will fall into my hands sooner or later."

"You old thief, we are enemies beyond reconciliation."

"Haha, come on in if you dare, don’t just talk."

"I’ll compete with you."

Lin Batian was furious and launched an attack on Green Emperor City, but under the combined attack of the three Tao Achieving, Lin Batian could only escape.

········

"Don’t bother, even if the puppet has more energy, my main soul can’t hold on any longer. This strand of Soul Fragment will disappear in two days at most."

In Zhong State, at the Holy Heavenly Sect, Yang Luo changed the spirit stone of the puppet possessed by Lin Jiang, whose voice had become extremely weak.

"Are you using a trick to pretend to be suffering?"

"Yes, a trick to pretend to be suffering. Please don’t fall for it."

"······"

Yang Luo didn’t know how to respond at first, this trick was too convincing, she was starting to lose track.

"Yang Luo, Lin Batian is here."

At this moment, Yang Xi walked in quickly and said to Yang Luo.

"How did the investigation go?"

"The situation is mostly true. Qing State had an undercover agent in Yun State and based on various clues, they deduced that Li Changsheng is hiding in the sky and set up an ambush to capture him. Now, he is being exposed in Green Emperor City, has been exposed for almost ten days. But with Soul Changing’s strength, he can easily hold on for another half a month."

"Will Qing State kill Li Changsheng?"

"That’s hard to say. In my opinion, they won’t. Qing State has always hated Lin Batian to the core. They have been unable to find Lin Batian’s weakness for a long time, and now that they finally caught one, they will definitely make full use of him."

"I understand."

"Yang Luo, my guess is the same as yours. This could be a trap, you must not fall for it."

"But I need Li Changsheng."

Yang Luo said. This time it’s another trick. With their intelligence, it’s easy to see that it’s a trap. But Yang Luo can’t abandon Li Changsheng.

Yang Luo hasn’t finished emptying the ink inside Li Changsheng’s stomach yet. Besides, she always doubts what Li Changsheng says. The best thing to do is to capture Li Changsheng, use secret techniques to extract all his life force, and then search his soul. This is the safest method.

"Yang Luo, don’t be silly."

"Let me think about it, no rush."

Yang Luo said, to make her fall into the trap, of course, it’s not that simple. Let’s take another look.

Yang Luo went out and saw the anxious Lin Batian in the grand hall of the Holy Heavenly Sect.

"Lord of the City, Lin."

"Yang Luo, help me rescue my son."

"As the City Lord of the Lin family, with countless heirs, is the absence of one son a significant loss?"

"Yang Luo, since you’re not married and have children, ask Yang Xi, Yang Xiong, and other descendants of the Yang family who is more important."

Lin Batian said directly, with Yang Xi nodding beside him.

Cultivators have a long lifespan and many offspring. It rarely happens that they have strong bonds with the older generation. If it does happen, it is only for a few talented and sweet-tongued descendants. They still prioritize their own biological sons.

Yang Xi’s situation is similar to Lin Batian’s. He also has many sons, but only Yang Xiong is still alive. In Yang Xi’s eyes, Yang Xiong’s importance surpasses all other descendants of the Yang family. Even a hundred of them cannot compare to one Yang Xiong. This feeling can only be understood by people who have become parents, not single individuals.

"So how do you want me to help you?"

"The Holy Heavenly Sect is about to meet its end. Join me in killing the three major Tao Achieving figures of the Qing State, and after we succeed, I will give you half of the Qing State territory in addition to what I promised you."

"I can’t make that decision. I’m not the leader of the Holy Heavenly Sect."

Yang Luo smiled, and Yang Xi immediately spoke up.

"Taoist Friend Lin, this is an internal matter of your four big families, so our Holy Heavenly Sect won’t interfere."

"Yang Luo, that’s my son and I must save him. If you don’t join the fight, I’ll have to fight alone to the death. If I die, Qing State won’t allow you to enter the Green Emperor Tomb."

"Actually, the Green Emperor Tomb isn’t that important. If we don’t go, then we don’t go."

"You…"

Yang Luo’s words made Lin Batian’s face change dramatically. Yang Luo had been very interested in the Green Emperor Tomb for a long time, so why did she suddenly change her mind?

"Okay, since Yang Luo Taoist Friend doesn’t intend to cooperate, then I’ll take my leave."

Lin Batian didn’t say much and left directly.

"Yang Luo, are you really not interested in the Green Emperor Tomb anymore?"

"I am, but the situation is unclear right now. I’ll wait and see."

"What is inside the Green Emperor Tomb?"

"You’ll know when you go see it."

Yang Luo shook her head. She had some guesses, but she could only know for sure if she saw it with her own eyes.

Yang Luo returned to the cavern and saw Small Shadiao chatting with Lin Jiang.

"Yang Luo, I can’t hold on much longer. Do you want to hear my last words?"

"Go ahead, I’m listening."

"I’ve lived for almost two thousand years, traveled many roads, and met many people. I don’t feel that I owe anything to the former sects and families, but I do owe it to my brother.

So, I can share with you my secret of longevity, but you have to help me with one thing."

"What thing?"

"When we were in Tianxian City, you mentioned that you have a secret technique to extract someone’s life force, right?"

"Yes."

"Does extracting someone’s life force require a lot of energy?"

"Yes, taking someone’s hundred-year life force can leave them with only half, often only around twenty or thirty percent."

"That’s enough. What I need you to do is give my brother a hundred thousand years of life force."

"One hundred thousand?"

Yang Luo was shocked. She always knew that Lin Jiang had a very long lifespan, but she didn’t know the exact length. Now Lin Jiang was saying that he wanted to give life force to Small Shadiao, starting with a hundred thousand years. This seemed incredibly unbelievable to her. Did that mean Lin Jiang had more than five or six hundred thousand years of life force?

Keep in mind that Tao Achieving only has ten thousand years of life force. Can Tao Achieving survive for fifty or sixty generations with just that?

"Will you agree?"

"Agree"

"Okay, my secret is…"

Lin Jiang stopped talking abruptly, leaving Yang Luo shocked. She reached out and grabbed, only to find that the soul within the puppet had vanished.

"Li Changsheng"

Yang Luo was furious and angrily crushed the puppet. How despicable! They hadn’t finished their sentence. How could this still be considered human?

"Please don’t look at me like that. I don’t know anything."

Small Shadiao was terrified when he saw Yang Luo’s anger. Please don’t blame him, his small body couldn’t withstand it.