Practice begins with immortality

Lingtian City, the capital of the ancient Suihan Kingdom. Suihan had been established for a million years, its capital city boasting a population of hundreds of millions, and countless aristocratic families, large and small. Within Lingtian City, it was practically impossible to throw a brick without hitting a few of the nobility.

In addition, Lingtian City is also divided into the inner city and the outer city. The inner city is naturally a place where only the royal family of Sui Han and the distinguished guests of the ancient country are qualified to enter. Therefore, it is heavily guarded. Under normal circumstances, there are more than a hundred first-level immortals guarding it.

In addition, Lingtian Inner City is originally a cave-type three-tribulation immortal weapon, which is also the foundation of the ancient country of Sui Han besides the three-tribulation ancestor.

In the center of the inner city, there is a nine-story pavilion. This is the Sutra Library of the ancient country of Sui Han. It contains many precious scriptures of the ancient country that have been collected for millions of years. It is also one of the forbidden areas of the entire ancient country.

"Who is coming?" A low shout came from the Sutra Library, followed by "Old Shuang, it's me." A low male voice was heard, and then a blue word "Yuan" appeared in front of the Sutra Library.

"So it's Prince Yuan. I wonder what brings you to the Sutra Repository?"

"Check the scriptures and records from the previous sect."

"Then come in!"

Before he finished speaking, the azure character "Yuan" turned into a cold wind and blew into the Sutra Library, and then turned into a middle-aged man.

............................

After a while, "There is only this little information about the Taoist Immortal Techniques, and they are all rumors related to the legendary Wanfa Tianzun. This is all nonsense! As the supreme beings, there are so many rumors about them! Apart from anything else, I also know that the legendary ancestor of time and space is a giant whale!" The middle-aged man cursed in a low voice with a bad face.

Then, "Speaking of which, this snowfield actually appeared shortly after the birth of this world. According to records, an ice dragon equivalent to a True Immortal of the Third Tribulation once perished here, and the ice power within its body erupted after its death, thus forming the snowfield. And considering the current abnormality of the snowfield, could it be..."

The more Yuan Wang Leng Yuan thought about it, the more excited he became. He felt that there must be a huge opportunity hidden here.

However, as a second-tribulation true immortal and a prince of an ancient country with more than 90,000 years of practice experience, Leng Yuan is not a reckless person.

"Calm down first. We need to plan carefully."

"As for the anomaly in the snowfield, only I and my subordinates know about it. We have to keep the news secret, otherwise, even if there are any benefits, I won't be able to benefit from it!"

"Besides that……"

Just as Leng Yuan was thinking carefully, someone called out softly: "Prince Yuan."

The person who came was an old man in blue clothes with white hair and beard.

"It turns out to be Old Shuang." Leng Yuan reacted when he heard the call and turned around pretending nothing had happened.

Then, Leng Yuan smiled and said, "I wonder what Master Shuang wants me to do?"

"I heard that Your Majesty Yuan was looking for some classics. Could you please tell me about them? I have been guarding this Sutra Library for nearly a hundred thousand years. I know almost all the books inside and can give them to Your Majesty Yuan for reference."

The old man called "Shuang Lao" touched his beard and said with a smile.

"Thank you, Old Shuang. I'm looking for books on our country's history or interesting anecdotes. I wonder if Old Shuang knows which ones they are?"

"That's a lot! And historical texts are basically official records. Anecdotes and unofficial histories basically only exist in oral accounts and some essays. You won't find them in the Sutra Library."

"However, if Prince Yuan is interested in these things, why not ask me directly? I have heard a lot about them. For example, the snowfields of the ancient country. It is said that our ancestors went deep into them before we founded the ancient country. There are rumors that the reason why our ancestors founded the ancient country was because of this snowfield..."

"Has the ancestor also ventured deep into the snowfield?" Upon hearing this, Leng Yuan secretly speculated in his heart...

.................

"Take care, Prince Yuan."

Finally, Leng Yuan casually took a few jade tubes and left. After seeing Leng Yuan off, the old man's face slowly showed a strange smile...

Ice City, Yuan Mansion.

"Your Highness, within the ancient kingdom, the reasons why our ancestors established the ancient kingdom are basically related to the environment and the orders of the clan."

A masked man in a black robe reported to Leng Yuan.

"Explore further! Go find some ancient people in the ancient country or some people who like unofficial history!"

Just listen to Leng Yuan's order.

Upon hearing this order, the black-robed man who was Leng Yuan's confidant said, "Your Highness, the ancients in the ancient country are all living fossils who have lived for nearly 500,000 years. The weakest are top-level first-tribulation warriors, and some are even second-tribulation True Immortals. There is no way I can get any information out of them!"

"Those who like unofficial history are basically immortals who have no hope of breaking through. The unofficial history they know is basically fabricated. They are all made up. They are all made from the same mold, and they all say that a certain important person sold ditches in his youth..."

"...I was inconsiderate. So, tell them I've become fascinated with history lately, and anyone with insights into history and archaeology can come to my palace to give lectures. And there will be rewards of immortal stones and even dharma gold!"

"If you cast a wide net, someone is bound to know something. Of course, those who like to talk nonsense will be kicked out!"

"Good. Your Highness, I'll do it right away. I'm afraid there will be quite a few people there!"

Beings in the upper realms, imbued with immortal energy, have a high probability of becoming immortals. Roughly one in every 100,000 cultivators can achieve immortality. However, achieving a True Immortal is incredibly difficult. Because the Dharma Gold is controlled by the royal family and aristocratic clans, they primarily cultivate only those within their own clan and their trusted followers. The amount of Dharma Gold circulating is limited, and even if a True Immortal were to emerge, they would likely establish their own sect, target the Dharma Gold, or simply join a prominent clan and become its retainer.

In addition, although there is no lifespan limit in the immortal realm, that is only internal; continued survival depends on external factors. Many immortals believe that as long as they don't fight or compete, they can live forever. However, this is not actually the case:

It's not uncommon for immortals, long-lived, to be found dead in their caves. Shockingly, their bodies remain intact, but their souls are gone. This is because they were taken away by a being called a "life-taker."

The soul-seekers, invisible beings, hailed from the underworld. The underworld is also known as Hades or Hell. Huo Dou, the source of the True Immortal Huo Yan's bloodline, is said to be Hell's watchdog.

In reality, no matter how high one's cultivation level, if one lives for too long, they will inevitably encounter beings from the Underworld seeking to take their souls. It's not uncommon for powerful individuals to attack them. It's said that an Eleventh Tribulation True Immortal once defeated a powerful Underworld resident of the same realm, but after that, the soul-stealing beings were often those at the Twelve-Level Immortal King level.

When the Immortal King took action, it was naturally easy to take away the immortal soul and true spirit. At that time, a being of the same Immortal King level asked why the Underworld was taking souls. The King of the Underworld replied: "By order of the Lord of the Underworld, firstly, to maintain the order of birth and death in the heavens, and secondly, to distinguish between good and evil in the human world."

Of course, Immortal Kings cannot be possessed by the spirit, because they have already unified the body and the spirit in concept. Without the spirit, there is naturally no possibility of being possessed by the spirit.

As for the underworld, a brave man once risked his life to sneak into the underworld and found out the composition of the underworld's personnel: the hierarchy of the underworld is chaotic, but there is a general classification. From low to high, they are the life-claimer, the underworld messenger, the judge, the underworld king, and the supreme underworld master.

There are nine Plutos among them, and they are all composed of two people, except for the most mysterious Pluto.

As for the most mysterious Pluto, he has no fixed image or identity. He may appear in any corner of the underworld with any appearance.

According to the warrior who had entered the underworld, he was able to escape alive thanks to the guidance of an old man who called himself "the Ferryman" whom he met deep in the underworld. After leaving the underworld, the warrior thought carefully and suddenly realized that the old man was most likely the ninth Hades!

The strong man and the old man had a pleasant conversation, and the topic of their conversation was how to avoid the underworld messenger. The old man said: "If you want to avoid the underworld messenger forever, there are only three ways. One is to become an immortal king, the second is to hide in the lower realm, and the third is to seek the protection of an enlightened person."

It's a pity that becoming an Immortal King is difficult, and those who have achieved enlightenment are even more transcendent. The lower realms are even more blocked by the Heavenly Dao, and being targeted by the Heavenly Dao is worse than death!