Back then, when I couldn't understand, I was a high school senior. Now, post-understanding, I am an elderly person with three highs.
He turned and left, instructing his butler, who was constantly beside him like a shadow, to call in the concubines from the sixth and third rooms.
Fifteen years have passed, and many of the seven concubines he married back then have aged, while he has remained in his thirties thanks to the Stay Young Pill he took at an early age.
Among the seven concubines, only the women from the sixth and third rooms remained young and beautiful, with skin smoother than a young girl's and unbeatable charm.
Three months prior, he had fully mastered the Diamond Vajra Zen Dharma and there were no obstacles in his path.
Before his departure, Chen Dengming wanted one last outburst of madness to leave progeny and live a life without regrets in this mortal world.
Otherwise, if something dangerous would happen during his pursuit for immortality, wouldn't he have lived in vain, leaving no significant traces and no one to inherit his vast family wealth?
"Chen Zhong."
Chen Dengming said calmly.
"Your servant is here!"
Butler Chen Zhong was tall and thin, with a simple and honest face, but the gleam in his eyes showed his unyielding spirit. At this moment, he was waiting for Chen Dengming's orders.
Chen Dengming said calmly, "If the women from the third and sixth rooms are pregnant, regardless of the child's gender, I want you to protect them as they grow up and then pass my family business on to them. There's no need for them to be exceptionally capable, I simply wish for them to be healthy and safe."
"Your servant will not fail your trust, Master!"
With great emotion, Chen Zhong knelt down, took the token and instruction from Chen Dengming, his eyes brimming with tears.
He knew that this was the greatest trust Chen Dengming had placed in him.
After being bestowed the surname Chen and changing his name to Chen Zhong, his life was dedicated entirely to the Chen Family and its master.
After many years of struggling in the Jianghu, Chen Dengming would not prepare only one backup plan, but the impeccable and utterly loyal Chen Zhong was his first choice to oversee the family after his departure.
In addition, he had also selected other candidates from his loyal death soldiers to ensure nothing goes wrong.
That evening.
In the family head's room in the Chen family's backyard, an old man with grey hair was in the company of eighteen young brides. Paired mandarin ducks were embroidered on the duvet inside the room, a pear tree in full blossom stood contrasted against a begonia outside.
That same evening, firecrackers and fireworks set off around the Chen residence filled the sky, a thousand trees of pear blossoms bloomed in the courtyard under the dim night sky.
The concubines from the third and sixth rooms burst into tears of joy. After awaiting for so many years, the master finally intended to have offspring. Little did they know, Chen Dengming was about to depart, in pursuit of the path to immortality.
...
The following day.
The first group of death soldiers from the Chen family set off for the Misty Cliff in the Ice Wind Forest, north of the Nanxun Kingdom.
In hope to obtain immortality, Chen Dengming searched for several decades, but never found any trace of immortality.
As for the Ice Wind Forest, he had sent people to explore multiple times, but they found nothing.
Now, the closer he gets to the Immortal Ascension Ceremony, the calmer he becomes. Instead of rushing, he plans deliberately, first sending his death soldiers to explore. This would give him time to avoid any dangers.
After all, the inheritance he received from the Gu Way Immortal was only obtained from a corpse.
Why would an immortal die? Is the Immortal Ascension Ceremony a scam? All these remained unknown.
As a transmigrant, Chen Dengming's mindset and horizons were not comparable to those native to this world.
When it comes to immortals, the natives might be extremely reverent, even blindly obedient.
However, Chen Dengming's reaction was possibly 'the so-called Immortals might just be individuals who sought truth and from humans, transformed into powerful beings.' He had seen too much of this in novels in his previous world.
Of course, he hadn't really seen any 'immortal' in person yet, so he didn't know whether these individuals who sought truth in this world would be different from those in his imagination. All of this remains unknown.
One week after the first group of death soldiers left.
Outside the well-known dangerous area, the Blood Centipede Cave, a well-dressed man suddenly appeared.
The cave got its name due to the numerous venomous blood centipedes inside it. The sinister glow from several caves was reminiscent of ghostly fires.
Every day at noon, a pale green poisonous mist would gush out from the cave, excreted by the blood centipedes from a skull-shaped hole in the cave ceiling. Anyone who accidentally inhales it would die from poisoning.
In the past, some people in Jianghu mistakenly believed that there was treasure in the cave, that it was a tomb of a former dynasty's royal family. This led to many greedy Jianghu people attempting to take the treasures.
Who would have known that the Blood Centipede Cave was only a place for Chen Dengming, the patriarch of the Chen Family, to refine his Gu?
At that time, while Chen Dengming had not yet reached the Innate stage, he was a well-known heroic figure in Jianghu. He once tried to warn the greedy people about the dangers in the cave, but no one heeded his advice, some even thought he just wanted to discourage everyone so he could monopolise the treasures.
Left with no choice, all Chen Dengming could do was to control the blood centipedes in the dark as best he could to prevent them from harming people.
However, the greedy Jianghu patrons entered the cave in droves and conducted a thorough search. In the end, the blood centipedes were inevitably disturbed, which resulted in numerous casualties.
For many years afterwards, people continued to enter the cave either due to their unwillingness to give up on the rumored treasure, or their greed for the secret skills and weapons left behind by the dead Jianghu patrons. Only after more people died or were injured and few treasures were found, did the Blood Centipede Cave gradually become known as a dangerous place, and no one dared to enter rashly again.
"Without the lesson of blood, without hitting the south wall, human greed will never stop."