Immortality begins with meditation puppets

As spiritual energy revives, dragons and snakes rise from the land, and heroes emerge in Tianyuan. There are two powerful heroes who have made great achievements by relying on their own strength. Because of their merit in suppressing the evil tree and the evil kingdom, no one cares about their evil origins anymore. They are always talked about as unparalleled gods. There are also those with illustrious lineages. As long as any disciple of a sect is named after the sect and travels around the world, they can be treated as honored guests by major forces and be respected to the extreme. Such are the Yuanshi Sect and the Lingbao Sect.

Songshan Zhenjun respected all these people. Even Erqiang, though he might not admit it, respected him in his heart. After all, if Erqiang wasn't strong, his sect wouldn't have sought him out. But among the rising heroes of Tianyuan, Tong Chang, whose prestige surpassed Erqiang's, was someone Songshan Zhenjun truly looked down upon.

This old Taoist priest had no outstanding achievements and his own strength was average. However, he inherited the legacy of the Celestial Master and thus traveled among various forces as the Celestial Master of the present day. Because the ancient Celestial Master had such a great reputation and had indeed had karmic connections with various fellow Daoists, this old Taoist priest was able to associate with the powerful cultivators of the Refining Void and Transforming God sects based on his Nascent Soul cultivation.

Songshan Zhenjun looked down on them, but was also extremely envious. Seeing Tong Chang, Guangxian Zhenjun, and Gule Zhenjun chatting and laughing as they entered, he wished he could replace them and also feel close to these Zhenjuns!

But soon, the person he despised and envied changed to someone else!
It was none other than Feng Xiaozhen, the sect master of the Heavenly Artifact Sect!

What kind of status and identity does this old man have that he's mingling with True Lord Guangxian and True Lord Gule?
Wow, could it be that he's so good at sucking up that he can serve these True Lords as a sycophant? I never knew these True Lords had such a taste. If I had known earlier, my Songshan True Lord's sucking skills might not have been any worse than this old man's!

Songshan Zhenjun stared wide-eyed at Feng Xiaozhen, who was sandwiched between several Zhenjuns. To his surprise, Feng Xiaozhen had a distressed look on his face, like an old man who had been ripped off. Damn it, you're putting on an act, kid? You're probably secretly delighted right now. With several Zhenjuns raising your status, all the big shots in this place will look at you with more respect in the future!
Not only was True Lord Songshan surprised by Feng Xiao's appearance, but the cultivators upstairs were also somewhat puzzled.

"Is this person on the list? I don't remember them being there!"

"Of course not. The Heavenly Artifact Sect is just a minor sect at the Nascent Soul stage. It was founded by an outer disciple of the Primordial Beginning Mountain after he left the sect. It can't even be called a lower sect of the Primordial Beginning Mountain. This Feng Xiaozhen has a lifespan of over eight thousand years. He's just an old geezer. How can he be ranked alongside us?"

"The distinction between superiors and inferiors must be clearly distinguished. Even if several True Lords from the Yuanshi Sect and Lingbao Sect are with him, it is not a reason for him to usurp power!"

Many of the cultivators had doubts and spoke them out without any attempt to conceal them.

Songshan Zhenjun also loudly echoed, turning his envy of Feng Xiaozhen into resentment, which he vomited out with a sour smell. He also knew the reason why the cultivators were so dissatisfied.

This is because, ostensibly, this Heroes' Gathering is about determining who the heroes are and dividing them into groups of equal size, but in reality, it is a gathering to classify the various factions in Tianyuan into different social strata.

For example, the Yuanshi Sect and the Lingbao Sect were naturally the ancestral temples of the Dao lineage in ancient times, with the reputation of "all the Dao laws under heaven originated from Yuanshi and all the true scriptures are in Lingbao". But ancient times are ancient times and the present world is the present world. Who knows whether your Yuanshi Sect, Lingbao Sect and other sects still have the ability to be the best in the world after so many years of inheritance? Of course, the cultivators of the heavens know that these sects still have the ability and have led the way in the myriad realms for many years, but the cultivators of Tianyuan native to the world need to see for themselves before they are convinced.

Furthermore, since True Lord Songshan looks down on Gao Erqiang, Gao Erqiang also looks down on True Lord Songshan. How should these two forces get along in the future? Who is bigger and who is smaller? Who should be arrogant to whom? Who is whose sycophant? These things need to be clearly discussed!

Once strength is confirmed and ranks are established, it will be easier to determine the ownership of resources and the share of benefits in the future. Everyone can also form alliances peacefully to fight monsters, contributing power commensurate with their status in the struggle against evil spirits and reaping the rewards that belong to their respective class.

The hierarchy of this Heroes' Assembly is the preliminary list of this class division. It was formulated after careful consideration and deliberation by many members of the Assembly Committee. Although the attendees did not say it, they were still quite proud of themselves. In the future, when they talk to others, anyone below the 108th level is qualified to talk to them!

Although they knew that this was only a preliminary list and that the list would change depending on the performance of each participant in the Hero Tournament.

But that was after the Heroes' Gathering had begun. If Feng Xiaozhen came to this building now, that wouldn't work!
The word "I object" was held in the mouth of the True Lord of Songshan, but before it could be spat out, he swallowed it in time.

This was because his eyes caught sight of his lifelong enemy, Su Qing, the ruler of the Kaiyuan Kingdom.

This man had a face like jade, a handsome appearance, and walked with a powerful and vigorous stride. At first, he lagged behind several True Lords, but after only a few steps, he reached the front. Upon seeing the cultivators on the field, he greeted them one by one with grace and composure, displaying the magnanimity of a host with neither servility nor arrogance.

Even from the perspective of a lifelong enemy, Songshan Zhenjun could not feel any ill will towards this person because of his behavior. He only muttered to himself, "Transcending the divine, dashing like a banished immortal, this boy is like me!" This earned him a glare from Fenghua Zhenren, who couldn't stand him any longer, but he was completely unaware of it. His attention was focused on the hand that Fenghua Zhenren had slapped on Feng Xiaozhen's hand. He realized that Feng Xiaozhen was able to get to this building not through the channels of Guangxian Zhenjun or Gule Zhenjun, but through Su Qing's back door.

This 8,000-year-old man is definitely more shameless than me, who is only 3,000 years old. It's one thing for him to fawn over the elders and true disciples of famous sects like Guangxian Zhenjun and Gule Zhenjun, after all, we have been fawning over them for so many years in the heavens. But to be able to put aside the arrogance of the ancient lineage and fawn over Su Qing, a young man, is truly going all out.

Immediately after learning from Su Qing that the real reason Feng Xiaozhen was able to enter this building was that he gave the sect's most precious treasure, the Heavenly Fire Furnace, to all the forces present for a chance to use it free of charge, Songshan Zhenjun and the cultivators present all nodded in admiration of his magnanimity, thinking he was a fool.

It should be noted that the Heavenly Artifact Sect has nothing of value. The reason it has been able to continue to this day in the heavens is entirely due to the Heavenly Fire Furnace, which ranks 136th on the list of spiritual treasures of the heavens. This furnace can extract the essence of the earth's veins and burn it into pure heavenly fire. It is the fire that all weapon refiners, alchemists, and puppeteers in the heavens dream of. Under normal circumstances, if one wants to use it once, one will inevitably have to extort money from the Heavenly Artifact Sect. It is normal to spend at least hundreds of thousands of spirit stones and at most a million spirit stones.

This free giveaway is really not worth it just to walk up to the 108th floor.

However, after Su Qing explained the reason, Feng Hua Zhenren, seeing Feng Xiaozhen's bitter face, realized that there might be something else going on. He quickly calculated and understood what had happened below.

Feng Xiaozhen stood up for his disciple, but instead stubbornly ran into Su Qing. To save face for Su Qing, Feng Xiaozhen disregarded his own and killed his disciple with his own hands. Su Qing then forced him to add one million spirit stones to the tournament prize pool under the pretext of apologizing to the participants, and also made him hand over the right to use the Heavenly Fire Furnace.

Upon hearing this, when Songshan Zhenjun looked at Feng Xiaozhen again, he no longer felt envy or dissatisfaction, but only sympathy and pity.

Alas, he was once a powerful and arrogant figure who dominated the heavens, but how did he end up being bullied by juniors and unable to speak out?

Thinking back to how he himself had come to Tianyuan with the mindset of a mighty dragon crossing the river, yet had even hesitated to speak out at this gathering, Songshan Zhenjun couldn't help but feel a sense of shared fate and sympathy. He couldn't help but feel a surge of goodwill towards Feng Xiaozhen, and took the initiative to lead the somewhat awkward and hesitant Feng Xiaozhen to his side: "Feng Zhenren, there's no need to be so reserved. Now that you've come to this building, please feel free to sit down. We both came to Tianyuan from the heavens; we should help each other and grow closer in the future!"

Feng Xiaozhen looked at the Songshan True Lord opposite him with extreme fear. He had heard of the great name of Taoyuan Sect. In the past, he had tried to curry favor with him but had no way to do so. He never expected that after just one visit to this building, this True Lord would take the initiative to befriend him.

Looking at the kind and gentle Feng Hua Zhenren beside him, Feng Xiaozhen suddenly felt that the million spirit stones that Su Qing had knocked out, as well as the benefits of the furnace, were not so great. He could just consider it an investment in connections. Being able to enter this building and make connections with people from all over the world, this investment might not be a loss!
Having figured it out, Feng Xiaozhen's face grew even more bitter. However, he did it on purpose, using the identity of a victim among the heavens to evoke sympathy from Songshan Zhenjun and others. This would allow him to better integrate into the circle of these important figures as a fellow Daoist among the heavens. In the end, he would be surrounded by learned scholars and have no commoners among his acquaintances. He was willing to make a big bet, and in the blink of an eye, the world would be wide open. This wave of his Heavenly Artifact Sect might be about to take off!
At this moment, the attention of the cultivators upstairs was clearly no longer on him.

With the arrival of Su Qing and others.

The conference organizers confirmed that all representatives from various parties had gathered.

Based on the seating arrangement of the monks, the building was also divided into different classes.

Surrounded by stars in the center seat are: Guangxian Zhenjun, representing the Yuanshi Sect; Gule Zhenjun, representing the Taishang Sect; Li Zhenjun, representing the Lingbao Sect; Jiang Zhenjun, representing the Snail Emperor Palace; Kunwu Laoren, representing the Dongwang Sect; Qiuyue Zhenjun, representing the Lunhui Sect; Zhou Ying, representing the Immortal Qin Martial Kingdom; Liu Gandang, representing the Penglai Immortal Kingdom; and:
Su Qing, the representative of the Kaiyuan Immortal Kingdom and head of the Tianyuan Puppet Sect.

The representative of the ancient Heavenly Court—the Heavenly Emperor—is Su Qing.

Su Qing, the representative of the Taiyi Sect and its Grand Master.

Sixteen representatives were sent by the top forces of the eighteen directions and myriad realms.

This is the core of the power of the heavens, the pinnacle of strength.

They were the figures that the other cultivators upstairs looked up to, just as those downstairs looked up to them. However, the difficulty for the cultivators downstairs to sit in their positions was far less than the difficulty for them to replace these eighteen representatives.

After all the cultivators took their seats...

The one who dominated the situation and spoke up was not the host of the conference, Su Qing, who shamelessly occupied three seats, but the contemporary Celestial Master, Tong Chang, Celestial Master Tong.

This person is not very strong, but he is of a high generation. After all, each lineage has been passed down for dozens or even hundreds of generations, while the Celestial Master, who was once on the same level as their ancestors, only passed down the lineage to Tong Chang.

The advantages of seniority were evident at this moment. While everyone else was deferring to each other, Tong Chang stepped forward without hesitation.

His voice was as loud as a bell, resounding in the ears of all the cultivators on every floor of the Kaiyuan Grand Hall. It was also simultaneously transmitted by Su Qing's voice transmission puppet to several branch venues of the conference, including the Immortal Qin Martial Kingdom and the Penglai Immortal Kingdom.

"Looking back, the Celestial Master gathered celestial and human talents at the Celestial Master's Mansion, established an ancient covenant, and combined the power of gods and heroes to fight against evil spirits and demons. Only then did our Tianyuan Realm regain its former glory."

Today, we emulate the deeds of our predecessors and gather here once again. We will not dwell on the past causes and effects for now. Now that all cultivators have returned to Tianyuan, they should be like wanderers returning home. They should no longer be greedy for the splendor of the heavens and should know what is important. The cultivators of Tianyuan have suffered greatly from the evil demons, and they should also welcome their fellow cultivators and work together to fight against the evil demons.

For countless years, information between the heavens and the celestial realm has been blocked, making communication impossible. Fellow Daoists lack mutual understanding, leading to numerous misunderstandings, causing disillusionment among fellow Daoists, and even making evil spirits laugh. Thus, at the initiative of True Person Su and with the support of sects such as the Lingbao Sect and the Yuanshi Sect, this Heroes' Assembly, aimed at promoting the integration of all realms and the exchange among all cultivators, was convened as scheduled.

The significance of this conference is self-evident; I will not elaborate further. On behalf of the conference committee, I will simply reiterate the conference guidelines:

First: All participating forces are deemed to have fully agreed to the following principles and will be subject to the joint condemnation of all races if they violate them.

Second: This Heroes' Gathering will categorize each force into five tiers based on their total score: Super Tier 1, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4. These tiers will determine each force's position within the subsequent Alliance of Myriad Races. There will be five Super Tier 1 forces, twelve Tier 1 forces, one hundred and eight Tier 2 forces, three hundred and sixty Tier 3 forces, and seven thousand two hundred Tier 4 forces.

Third: This Heroes' Gathering has a total of 364 events. Each faction can choose any event to participate in, with no limit on the number. However, since the Heavenly Gate of Tianyuan Realm is currently only open up to the fifth level of Nascent Soul, for the sake of fairness, sixth-level Void Refinement cultivators are not allowed to participate. In addition, each event has its own rules, which must be consciously observed. Anyone who dares to violate the rules will have their total points deducted.

Fourth: This Heroes' Gathering uses a weighted scoring system, assigning different weights to events based on their prestige. For example, the Enlightenment Ranking, Combat Ranking, and Demon Slaying Ranking will award points hundreds or even thousands of times higher for the same ranking compared to less popular events. Fellow cultivators, if you're hoping to pull off an upset by sacrificing a less desirable event, you'd better carefully consider your options.

Fifth: In addition to the main venue in the Western City, this conference will also be held simultaneously in several branch venues, including the Immortal Qin Martial Kingdom, Langya Immortal Island, Penglai Immortal Island, Fangzhang Immortal Island, Xuanyuan Mountain in the Eastern Wilderness, Guiku Tan in the Southern Frontier, and Lion Camel Ridge in the Northern Border. After the preliminary selection, the winners from all venues will gather in the Western City for the final battle of the top 100 in each event. If there are fewer than 100 participants in a particular event, that event will be cancelled.

Six: This conference will begin today and last for one month. During this month, all factions are prohibited from fighting each other. Those who violate this rule will be disqualified from the demarcation line and will be listed as an insignificant faction.

Seven: This conference was generously sponsored by the Yuanshi Sect's Cultivation General Store, the Lingbao Sect's Sword Nurturing Hall, the Penglai Treasure Pavilion, the Kaiyuan Suji Group, and other shops. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of you for your support of the anti-demon cause. (End of Chapter)