I Shall Be Everlasting In the World of Immortals

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Two years later.

In an underground chamber, a black-gray medicinal pool had been evaporated dry by an invisible heat, leaving behind a layer of solid, dried residue.

A towering figure stood within the chamber—a giant with a body of dark bronze. Golden circular scales shimmered across his body like fish swimming under the surface, while waves of scorching heat and dark mist swirled around him. The oppressive aura of his vitality and blood was so overwhelming that even a Core Formation Great Cultivator would feel shaken.

"Two hundred and ninety years old, Third Rank late stage Body Refinement!"

Lan Chang'an felt an unprecedented surge of power coursing through his body, his vitality and strength seemingly reaching new heights. It felt as though with the slightest carelessness he could cause the collapse of the cave abode he was standing in.

Of course, the cave abode was fortified by protective formations and restrictions; it wouldn’t be so easily destroyed.

After a long time, the phenomena around Lan Chang'an's body gradually dissipated. The fish-scale-like golden plates vanished, and his massive frame slowly shrank back to normal size.

Lan Chang'an had finally broken through the bottleneck of his Golden Luo Overlord Body, which had been stuck at the peak of the third-rank mid-stage for several years.

Breaking through from the mid to late stage was an arduous process, and body refinement was even more difficult than traditional qi cultivation.

The path of body refinement grew increasingly treacherous as one progressed further. It required a perfect combination of talent, determination, resources, and willpower.

The difficulty stemmed from the fact that the current world's environment, as well as the bloodline of humans, was far inferior to that of the ancient era. Modern conditions were less conducive to body refinement, making it a path far from mainstream cultivation.

With his breakthrough, Lan Chang'an's ability to protect himself had significantly improved.

This wasn't limited to the defensive prowess of his powerful body.

His strong vitality and blood essence also reduced the strain and consumption of techniques like the Crimson Sun Blood-Escape Technique.

As a third-rank late-stage body refinement cultivator, Lan Chang'an could now employ the fourth level of the Crimson Sun Blood-Escape Technique technique at a much lower cost, allowing for longer durations.

After all, the fourth level of the Blood Escape technique corresponded to the Nascent Soul early stage and typically came at the expense of burning away over a decade of one's lifespan.

One year after stabilizing his body refinement realm.

Lan Chang'an began executing his long-term plan: acquiring the core puppet inheritance of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect.

The branch of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect within the Outer Sect Alliance was known as Mysterious Mechanism Tower, an organization founded by defectors of the main sect.

The Mysterious Mechanism Tower specialized in the trade and industry of puppets, and its largest stronghold was located in the nearby Gutian Immortal City.

Years ago, the Peacock Saintess had directly attacked this faction but gained no advantage and had to retreat after suffering losses—though it was suspected that part of the encounter was staged.

At the very least, her strength at the time hadn’t forced the Mysterious Mechanism Tower to reveal its trump cards, such as its quasi-fourth-rank puppets or its puppet army formation. Ｒ𝘢ŊƟ𝐛Ès

“There is a Nascent Soul old monster secretly backing the Mysterious Mechanism Tower. It’s not wise to act recklessly,” Lan Chang'an mused.

His plan wasn’t one to be rushed.

The first step was to test the waters and obtain more information.

The second step, seek to trade peacefully for the core puppet inheritance—resorting to violence was the last option.

The third step, If negotiations failed, he would have no choice but to acquire the inheritance through unconventional means.

For now, only the first two steps could be implemented.

If it came down to using force, Lan Chang'an would wait until he advanced to the late stage of Core Formation and elevated his divination art to the peak of the third rank.

The peak of third-rank divination art, though still considered third-rank superior grade, was at its absolute limit. In the regions surrounding the Fengyuan Kingdom, no one but the Heavenly Master could surpass him in divination.

Once he reached the late stage of Core Formation, Lan Chang'an would have enough strength to threaten or negotiate with even a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

...

Half a month later.

A thousand li outside Gutian Immortal City.

A blurry humanoid silhouette streaked through the skies, fleeing rapidly from the direction of the immortal city.

With a faint "pfft" sound, the figure transformed into a traveling merchant cultivator, wearing a wide-brimmed bamboo hat. His figure swiftly burrowed into a sand pit.

The wind howled across the desert, obscuring his aura and erasing all traces of his presence.

Moments later—

A wave of oppressive spiritual pressure belonging to a late-stage Core Formation expert swept across the area, causing the surrounding sands to still.

The one who arrived was a stoic-looking man with a mechanical arm—a puppet master.

It was none other than the Puppet-Arm city lord who had once clashed with the Peacock Saintess years ago.

Though the Puppet-Arm city lord was the supreme ruler of Gutian Immortal City, he had spent the majority of his years delving into the art of puppetry. Rarely did he interact with outsiders, which made his presence feel distant and subdued.

“Your Excellency Dao Lord, come out and face me. I know you’re nearby,” the Puppet-Arm City Lord called out coldly.

His dark-blue pupils glowed faintly, his peak Core Formation spiritual sense sweeping across the sands. Eventually, his gaze locked onto a specific patch of desert.

“Impressive! Truly the number one puppet master of the Mysterious Mechanism Tower,” came a steady, elderly voice.

The traveling merchant cultivator, carrying a large wooden case on his back, slowly emerged from the sand layer.

“May I ask Your Excellency if you are a human or puppet?”

The Puppet-Arm City Lord’s eyes flickered as he scrutinized the mysterious merchant before him, his heart growing wary.

As a master puppeteer, he could sense that the merchant’s physical body seemed more like that of a puppet.

However, the merchant also possessed spiritual intelligence, a divine soul fluctuation, and utilized spells and talismans with the proficiency of a human cultivator.

“Whether I am human or puppet is of no consequence,” the mysterious merchant cultivator replied languidly.

“What matters is why the ancient city lord is pursuing me so relentlessly. I was merely doing normal business within the city, trading peacefully, and have done nothing that could be considered heinous or immoral.”

At this moment, Lan Chang'an, who was remotely controlling the puppet from afar, was slightly surprised.

To be cautious, he had sent a third-rank late-stage puppet clone to Gutian Immortal City to scout the Mysterious Mechanism Tower’s secrets. His efforts had yielded significant intelligence clues.@@novelbin@@

The secrets of the Mysterious Mechanism Tower were hidden deep beneath Gutian Immortal City, in an underground fortress.

According to his calculations, the pavilion’s core puppetry inheritance was likely stored within that underground fortress, and it was possible to obtain it.

Lan Chang'an’s actions had been limited to investigating; he hadn’t made any aggressive moves.

But, unexpectedly, the Puppet-Arm City Lord had sensed his presence and attacked without warning, leaving him with no time to cover his tracks.

Thankfully, it was nighttime. Leveraging the speed and concealment abilities of this third-rank late-stage puppet, Lan Chang'an had managed to escape the city.

To avoid being surrounded, the puppet clone had employed several high-level spells, including a third-rank superior-grade Restriction-Breaking Talisman.

Now, the Puppet-Arm City Lord had chased him over a thousand li and showed no signs of giving up.

Lan Chang'an, using a trick he had honed over the years, deactivated the puppet’s spirit stone, putting it into a dormant state to evade the city lord’s specialized puppet tracking techniques.

However, the Puppet-Arm City Lord’s formidable spiritual sense had locked onto the general area, eventually exposing the puppet’s hiding spot.

“Your Excellency Dao Lord, there’s no need to hide anymore. You’ve been sneaking around Gutian Immortal City, gathering intelligence on the Mysterious Mechanism Tower. What exactly are your intentions?”

The Puppet-Arm City Lord’s tone was harsh as he lightly patted his storage pouch.

In an instant, several third-rank puppets emerged.

“Whoosh!”

A chilling blue wind roared across dozens of meters, as a massive Blue Jiao Puppet over ten zhang long hovered above the merchant cultivator, exuding a fearsome presence.

“A peak third-rank puppet! And it’s crafted with exotic spirit puppet techniques. Its power surpasses ordinary Core Formation Great Cultivators…”

Lan Chang'an couldn’t help but feel envious.

The Blue Jiao Puppet was clearly of a higher quality than the one the Puppet-Arm City Lord had used decades ago against the Peacock Saintess.

With his puppet clone only having just reached the third-rank late stage, it was no match for such a formidable creation.

Not to mention that the Puppet-Arm City Lord himself was a late-stage Core Formation Great Cultivator, wielding multiple high-quality third-rank puppets and was capable of unleashing their full might.

“If I wish to leave, the ancient city lord won’t be able to stop me,” the merchant cultivator declared, his voice calm and unshaken.

Boom!

The surrounding ten li were engulfed in flying sand and stones, as an eerie wind swept through, forming a devastating sandstorm.

The Puppet-Arm City Lord, having lived in the desert for years, immediately realized that this was no natural disaster.

It was a third-rank late-stage sand manipulation spell, exuding an oppressive, chilling aura.

From deep within the swirling sands, an unknown presence emerged, sending a faint sense of dread through him.

But that wasn’t all.

Within the storm, a faint, alluring silhouette of a female cultivator appeared, her spiritual sense fluctuation on par with the peak of Core Formation.

The sand and the isolating spiritual energy made it impossible for the Puppet-Arm City Lord to probe further.

Swish!

The vision around him distorted, and the sandstorm disappeared.

In its place was an ancient, cyan-black palace.

At the far end of the palace stood an Azure Dragon Throne, its seat empty and shrouded in an aura of antiquity and mystery.

The merchant cultivator and the shadowy female cultivator stood on either side of the Azure Dragon Throne, their auras steady and imposing.

“Ancient city lord, let’s not beat around the bush. Our organization seeks to trade for the Thousand Mechanisms Sect’s core inheritance, including techniques related to exotic spirit puppetry and puppet array formations,” the female cultivator’s voice rang out, sometimes cold, sometimes alluring, and strangely distant.

“The core puppet inheritance of the Mysterious Mechanism Tower is not for sale,” the Puppet-Arm City Lord replied coldly, his gaze steady as he observed the illusory scene. The Azure Dragon Throne at the far end of the hall seemed to carry an unfathomable power, pulling at his thoughts.

“The world has no such thing as ‘not for sale,’ nor is there such a thing as absolute loyalty,” the merchant cultivator chuckled, his tone elderly and hoarse.

The Puppet-Arm City Lord’s face darkened. He knew that the Mysterious Mechanism Tower, as a branch of the Thousand Mechanisms Sect, was already seen as traitors.

“If you wish to trade, it’s not impossible!” the Puppet-Arm City Lord finally said, his tone filled with arrogance as he made an exorbitant demand.

“Bring me an Infant Transformation Pill, fourth-rank Soul-Nourishing Wood, and the long-lost soul-seeding puppet technique. Only then will I consider it.”

“Giggle~ A traitor hoarding stolen inheritance dares to act so lofty? Within the Outer Sect Alliance and the Mysterious Mechanism Tower, you are far from the only one with access to the core inheritance,” the female cultivator replied with a mocking laugh that echoed through the eerie Azure Dragon Palace.

Before the Puppet-Arm City Lord could respond, the illusory palace scene vanished.

Swish!

Back in reality, an even denser sandstorm now obscured the traveling merchant and the female cultivator’s tracks.

The Puppet-Arm City Lord hesitated, reluctant to continue pursuit.

Both the merchant cultivator and the female cultivator possessed abilities on par with late-stage Core Formation cultivators, and they were backed by a mysterious organization.

The Puppet-Arm City Lord realized that the Mysterious Mechanism Tower’s position within the Outer Sect Alliance was far less stable than it seemed.

On one side, they faced hostility from the Fengyuan Kingdom. On the other, they had no place to return to within the Two Teaching sects’ territories.

...

The Puppet-Arm City Lord retrieved his puppets and turned back toward Gutian Immortal City.

Thanks to the sandstorm's cover, the confrontation that had just occurred did not alarm any outside cultivators.

Without stopping for a moment, the Puppet-Arm City Lord entered the underground fortress beneath the immortal city.

Eventually, he arrived at a heavily-restricted hall deep within the fortress.

Inside, he approached an Azurewood Bronze Coffin. With precise hand seals and an incantation, he activated a secret puppetry technique.

Moments later—

The lid of the coffin trembled slightly, and from within sat up a man clad in green armor, his corpse-like face pale and his eyes flickering with eerie ghostly flames of green. Most of his body was crafted from puppet materials.

“How much time has passed?”

The green-armored puppet man spoke, his hollow voice carrying an unsettling chill.

“Lord Tower Lord, it has been seventy to eighty years since you last awoke,” the Puppet-Arm City Lord replied respectfully.

“So long… This consciousness derived from the Ghost Infusion Technique grows weaker by the day. We must find a Soul Dao treasure soon. If we succeed, our pavilion could produce a fully autonomous fourth-rank puppet within a few centuries—one capable of rivaling a Nascent Soul True Monarch.”

“Yes, Tower Lord.” The Puppet-Arm City Lord, usually stoic, showed a rare glimmer of excitement.

The puppet before him was no ordinary creation—it had once been a fourth-rank puppet master in life.

Crafting a fourth-rank puppet had been the man’s lifelong goal, and now it had become the dream of the entire tower.

“What is the reason for waking me?” the green-armored puppet asked.

“Tower Lord… I suspect the wandering merchant cultivator I encountered may be connected to a mysterious group known as the Azure Dragon Society,” the Puppet-Arm City Lord explained, recounting his encounter and suspicions in detail.

“The Azure Dragon Society?”

“That is a highly classified piece of intelligence we obtained from the Yellow Sand's network,” the Puppet-Arm City Lord replied. “Only a few fragmented clues exist, and almost no one in the world knows of it.”

“I’ve never heard of the Azure Dragon Society, but that merchant’s appearance does remind me of the legendary Daoist Tianshu,” the green-armored puppet mused.

“Daoist Tianshu? The one from The Worldly Wonders series of the Heaven Honoured Continent?”

The Puppet-Arm City Lord’s memory stirred as he recalled ancient records, his expression filled with disbelief.

According to those records, Daoist Tianshu was a legendary wandering merchant, a neutral figure who roamed the continent making trades with destined individuals.

It was said that meeting him was a great fortune, as he always had the exact treasures people needed.

There were even rumors in the Thousand Mechanisms Sect’s ancient texts that Daoist Tianshu might have been the progenitor of puppetry in this world.

He himself was believed to be a special type of puppet, one with intelligence far surpassing most human cultivators.

...

Fragrant Grass Oasis, Xuan Yin Pavilion Cave Abode.

“Not a great start. I nearly lost my only late third-rank puppet!”

Lan Chang'an exhaled a breath of relief.

The puppetry methods of the Mysterious Mechanism Tower far exceeded his expectations. His puppet clone’s movements had been exposed far too easily.

Having already alerted the enemy, Lan Chang'an had no choice but to create a smokescreen to protect his puppet. Thus, bringing out the existence of the entirely fictional Azure Dragon Society.

Fortunately, his bluff during the encounter with the Puppet-Arm City Lord had yielded enough intelligence to save him many detours in the future.

The information he had gathered would serve as valuable reference points for his future divinations, allowing him to pinpoint a potential breakthrough.

“Gutian Immortal City is now on high alert. It’s unwise to act again in the short term.”

Lan Chang'an decided to lie low for several years, focusing entirely on cultivation until he reached the late stage of Core Formation.

At the same time, he planned to further refine the quality of his late third-rank puppet.

...

Five years later.

At the age of 296, Lan Chang'an approached the milestone of three hundred years.

On this day, during a closed-door meditation, he suddenly felt a faint spiritual resonance.

Opening his eyes, he performed a quick divination, his expression softening into a sigh.

Turning his gaze toward the distant Liang Kingdom and Nightless Town, he muttered to himself.

“She’s gone…”

Lan Chang'an had sensed that Fairy Shi, his former lover, had reached the end of her lifespan and spent her final day.

He had not returned to see her one last time.

Over the years, through the information he had gathered and calculated, he knew that the last two decades of Fairy Shi’s life had not been lonely.

Jiang Yechen, Shi Xiaochuan, and Shi Manrong, living a peaceful and harmonious life as a family.

Perhaps Fairy Shi had weighed her options and chosen this arrangement for the sake of her adopted child.

Or perhaps she had truly fallen for Jiang Yechen and given her heart to him.

In her final twenty years, as her beauty faded and her vitality waned, Fairy Shi had settled down with Jiang Yechen.

This was why Lan Chang'an had chosen not to return.

Reflecting on Fairy Shi’s life, Lan Chang'an couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions.

In her youth, she had been hurt by the wrong people. After her divorce, she had indulged herself in fleeting romances, living life freely and true to her desires.

But as she grew older, tired from her wild and carefree years, she ultimately found solace in the arms of an “honest man.”

Had she spent her final years alone, Lan Chang'an might have felt some measure of guilt.

Even though both of them had known from the start that their brief romance was nothing more than a fleeting encounter, they had parted on peaceful terms, without regrets.

Fairy Shi’s peaceful and heartwarming ending left Lan Chang'an feeling relieved.

“Fellow Daoist Jiang…”

Lan Chang'an silently expressed his admiration, offering a word of gratitude in his heart.

...

As Lan Chang'an immersed himself in meditation and cultivation, time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

His Core Formation cultivation steadily advanced, gradually nearing the peak of the mid Core Formation stage.

Before he realized it, Lan Chang'an reached the significant milestone of 300 years old in this life.

At that moment, the Profound Water Turtle, which had been tending to the Xuanmu Vine, radiated an intense wave of joyous emotion.

“There's a change in the Xuanmu Vine?”

Without hesitation, Lan Chang'an rushed to the deepest underground chamber of his cave abode.

There, the roughly twelve meters long Xuanmu Vine sprawled across the chamber, lush and vibrant. Its twisting branches emanated a subtle yet profound life force—mystical and ancient.

On one of the vine’s branches, a single tiny bud had sprouted, delicate and almost imperceptible unless carefully observed.

“Three hundred years old in this world, and the Xuanmu Vine has sprouted!”

Lan Chang'an was filled with elation. As the saying goes, the first step is always the hardest. This sprouting was a good omen, a sign of transformation.

The tiny bud on the Xuanmu Vine gave him an instinctive feeling of extraordinary significance. It felt as though it contained the infinite mysteries of creation and heavenly truths.

Though Lan Chang'an had turned 300, it had been less than three centuries since he embarked on his cultivation journey—beginning when he awakened the memories of his past life at the age of eighteen.

Over the next few months, Lan Chang'an dedicated himself to carefully observing the subtle changes in the Xuanmu Vine. His powerful spiritual sense, combined with the Nascent Soul-level insight, enabled him to perceive what few others could.

This once withered Xuantian relic had brought great chance to the two spirit pets, the Profound Water Turtle had even undergone a bloodline mutation, elevating it to at least heaven grade.

Through meticulous observation and calculation, Lan Chang'an discovered that the sprouting of the Xuanmu Vine brought about an intangible benefit—fortune!

As a third-rank divination master, Lan Chang'an’s sensitivity to the flow of fate and fortune far exceeded that of ordinary cultivators.

After the Xuanmu Vine sprouted, he noticed that the spirit vein mountain range where his cave abode was located began to slowly gather heavenly fortune.

This change was so gradual and subtle that it would have been imperceptible to even high-level cultivators. Only Lan Chang'an, through long-term observation and with his expertise in divination, was able to detect it.

In the cultivation world, the rise and fall of fortune over hundreds or even thousands of years was a common occurrence for sects and territories.

For example, Xuan Yin Pavilion has been experiencing smooth development in recent years, and its fortune had already been slowly increasing.

As such, even if another high-level cultivator were to notice this phenomenon, they would likely dismiss it as a natural part of the sect’s ongoing prosperity.

“Unfortunately, this gathering of fortune doesn’t belong to an individual. Instead, it’s tied to the spirit vein mountain range and benefits the collective fortune of the sect or faction established here!”

He sighed with some regret. If the accumulated fortune could be concentrated on a single person over a long period, it might even allow that individual to become a child of fortune—a peerless figure favored by the heavens.

As the owner of the Xuanmu Vine, Lan Chang'an was surprised to find that he had no special privilege in receiving this fortune. The benefits were distributed equally among all cultivators associated with the spiritual vein, even those who were unaware of the vine’s existence.

For individual cultivators, this collective fortune only brought about an indirect and negligible boost, barely noticeable in the grand scheme of things.

Still, Lan Chang'an consoled himself: something is better than nothing.

Going forward, Lan Chang'an would have a clear conscience when he ran away!

This was because, instead of bringing disaster to the sect he joined, he would also bring about a slight increase in fortune.