Chapter 70: The Path to Immortality - Excerpt

Once it was confirmed that Wen Xinyun was safe, everyone gradually departed. After all, Yuhua Sect was quite busy at the moment, with many visitors coming to seek apprenticeships, request teachings, or hope to break through the Ninth Forbidden Level.

Li Jiu Feng didn't keep them around. After everyone left, he said to the White Fox, "Go ahead and continue your cultivation. I'll take some time to sort through these ancient texts."

The White Fox nodded and went off to cultivate.

Li Jiu Feng stood before the hundreds of large boxes placed in the Scriptures Pavilion and couldn't help but feel eager. "The Wen family has been a great family for five thousand years, with an uninterrupted legacy. There must be many ancient texts here. Even if they don't activate any profound insights, they could help me understand past events," he thought. After all, the Wen family's ancestors had once followed the Painted Skin Scholar, so they surely knew things that others did not.

He began gathering the boxes with his true Qi and moved them to another room. The study had been given to Wen Xinyun, so he headed to a room near the cliff. Outside, the clouds rolled by and the mountains rose steeply, with a sheer cliff just beyond the window.

Once he had sorted through the Wen family's collection of books, he started to read.

He quickly discovered that many of the texts were about the Painted Skin Scholar—memoirs written by the Wen family's ancestors, chronicling their time together.

Li Jiu Feng picked up one of the books and began reading.

It detailed the experiences and memories of the Wen family's ancestor with the Painted Skin Scholar. Li Jiu Feng continued reading, eager to learn more.

Over five thousand years ago, on a cold winter night, the wind howled.

The Wen family's ancestor, then a young boy, was freezing, barely clothed, and shivering in the cold wind.

At that moment, a man dressed in a green robe, holding an oiled paper umbrella, appeared before him. He asked, "I need a bookboy. Will you come with me?"

The boy, shivering and looking up, saw the Painted Skin Scholar for the first time. He was elegant, noble, and otherworldly.

Without hesitation, the boy nodded, and from then on, he followed the Painted Skin Scholar, traveling south, through the desert, witnessing the vast ocean, and climbing the highest mountains...

The boy grew from a child into a man, learning cultivation under the Painted Skin Scholar's guidance. He saw that whenever the Scholar arrived in a new place, he would carefully sketch a painting of the landscape and then burn it.

One day, the boy, now grown, asked, "Master, why burn such a beautiful painting? So many people would pay a fortune to own a piece of your work."

The Painted Skin Scholar smiled and said, "As I paint the landscape, I have already imprinted it in my heart. What is the value of the painting if measured by money?"

"Master, we have been traveling for ten years. Do we continue?" the boy asked.

"No, I wish to paint a mysterious realm for fun," said the Painted Skin Scholar, suddenly taking a brush and pointing it at the air, sketching a circle.

Thus, the Wen Family's Mysterious Realm was born.

Li Jiu Feng was astonished. Could it be that the Wen family's ancestor exaggerated? A Mysterious Realm—this is a miniature world attached to the vast universe, and creating one isn't easy. Even the Tenth Forbidden cultivators face a great risk of failure. But the Painted Skin Scholar casually drew one with a simple stroke.

Unbelievable!

Is this the terrifying power of the top ten kings?

The Sword God Emperor, Liu, mastered the sword arts as easily as eating and drinking.

And the Painted Skin Scholar—he created a Mysterious Realm with no effort at all.

Li Jiu Feng couldn't help but marvel. The world is never short of geniuses.

After the moment of reflection, Li Jiu Feng continued reading, eager to find out just how strong the Painted Skin Scholar was, based on the Wen family's ancestor's writings.

The Mysterious Realm was created, and the Painted Skin Scholar settled in it with the Wen family's ancestor.

At first, the Mysterious Realm was empty, devoid of people. So, the Painted Skin Scholar instructed the Wen family's ancestor to bring in some poor souls to settle there and begin cultivating the realm.

For ten years, the Wen family's ancestor worked diligently, bringing in people and even gathering craftsmen to help develop the Mysterious Realm.

A decade passed, and when the Wen family's ancestor turned thirty, the Painted Skin Scholar emerged from seclusion.

"Master, where are you going?" the Wen family's ancestor asked.

The Painted Skin Scholar replied, "I'm going to fight for the title of the world's number one."

The Wen family's ancestor watched him leave.

Later, he wrote, "It was only later that I learned that Master had gone to meet with a group of prodigies. They had an agreement to meet at the North Sea. That was where Master showed off his immense drawing skill and shocked everyone. His name spread far and wide, and he became one of the Top Ten Kings."

"But that time, Master did not claim the first spot, or perhaps no one did. The top ten were in a constant battle, with no clear victor. So, the world grouped them all together as the Ten Kings."

Li Jiu Feng continued reading, realizing that this was how the Ten Kings had come to be—gathered at the North Sea, discussing philosophy, then fighting for supremacy, ultimately forming the legendary Top Ten Kings.

He was already familiar with these names. He knew enough about Liu, the Sword God Emperor, and the Painted Skin Scholar.

He read further.

"After claiming the title of one of the Ten Kings, Master didn't care for the recognition. Instead, he thought the competition revealed many flaws that needed improvement, so he went into seclusion once more."

"This time, he remained in seclusion for fifty years."

"After fifty years, Master came out of seclusion once again."

"This time, he said he was going to the Immortal Tomb, and that he was leaving the Mysterious Realm to me. I would be its master from now on."

"I promised to wait for Master's return, but he only smiled and said that the world couldn't contain him anymore. He was going to another place."

"I didn't understand, so I asked him where he was going."

"Master said he was going to a place where one could become immortal, a place only reachable through the Path to Immortality."

"Thus, I remembered the Path to Immortality."

"And from then on, I never saw Master again. I don't know whether he became immortal or what happened to him, but I firmly believe that he did."

At the end of the book, the Wen family's ancestor wrote these words, stubbornly believing that the Painted Skin Scholar had ascended to immortality.

Li Jiu Feng closed the book, lost in thought.

"The Painted Skin Scholar went to the Immortal Tomb... I once saw a vision of the past. It was when the King of Hell discovered the Immortal Tomb and invited the other Ten Kings to join him. But none of them returned. Did they all perish there?"

"Or did they pass through the Immortal Tomb and leave this world for the so-called place where one can achieve immortality?"

"Also, did the Path to Immortality appear back then?"

Li Jiu Feng's mind was racing, full of thoughts and speculations.

Just then, a line of text appeared before him.

[You have uncovered a historical mystery, activating your heavenly insights, and you now comprehend fragments of the Path to Immortality.]

Li Jiu Feng's eyes widened in shock and joy.

Fragments of the Path to Immortality! Without hesitation, he began to absorb the knowledge.