Taihe Mountain, the Holy Land for Taoists, was originally termed 'unparalleled wonder since ancient times, the first fairy mountain under the heavens.'
Ever since the founding ancestor of the True Martial Sect, Ancestor Sanfeng, established his school here, Taihe Mountain and the True Martial Sect have become thoroughly merged, inseparable and interdependent.
At dawn, when the break of day pierced through layers of clouds, and the sun rose, the brilliant sunlight spread dazzling golden rays, illuminating the golden summit of the True Martial Sect.
The current sect leader, Master Qingxu, ordained by the Great Ming himself, is sitting on a jade platform, inhaling the morning sunshine's Zi Qi.
"You've done a great deal of business again on Taihe Mountain." A man in white suddenly appeared behind him and spoke.
It seemed that the Taoist Qingxu was not surprised by the appearance of the man in white. He slowly opened his eyes and asked, "What news have you received this time?"
The man in white, about forty years old, dressed in white robes, held a black folding fan in his hand. When he spoke, he unfolded his fan, on which was written, "Know all, Understand all".
In the entire Great Ming, only one person held this fan, the so-called omniscient 'Bai Xiaosheng.'
Bai Xiaosheng, the man in white, gently shook his folding fan and said, looking at the back of Taoist
Qingxu, "Pei Xuanjing has broken through to the second-class realm."
An unusual look flashed in Taoist Qingxu's eyes, then he said: "It seems that our Taoist School has produced another prodigy. Cheers are in order."
"That's why I said you Taihe Mountain has made a good deal again." Bai Xiaosheng grinned, looking at the back of Taoist Qingxu, he had to admire his unscrupulous vision.
Taoist Qingxu stood, turned around, and his ordinary face wore a sunny smile: "There's no need to consider loss or gain too closely."
"Haha, How hypocritical." Bai Xiaosheng scorned.
Bai Xiaosheng's cold laughter was not unwarranted.
As the long-standing lineage of Bai Xiaosheng, they had an understanding of various forces throughout the Great Ming.
Master Sanfeng, the founder of True Martial Sect, was skilled and experienced. However, he was focused on Taoism and didn't invest much effort in the development of the True Martial Sect. Even when he established the sect, it merely consisted of a few Taoist temples with a handful of disciples.
But looking around, on the towering Taihe Mountain, there are Nine Palaces, eight temples, thirty-six temples, seventy-two temples, and twelve pavilions, totaling thirty-three architectural clusters.
The entire Taihe Mountain, with imperial architectural rules, forms an artistic effect of "unity of heaven and man" , spanning hundreds of miles, aiming to fully reflect the Taoist concept of "Unity of
Heaven and Man".
All these buildings were constructed by the Emperor Taizong himself after he commanded to build them as a sign of his favor and honor to the Taihe Mountain True Martial Sect.
Ever since then, every emperor after his succession had sent imperial envoys to Wudang Mountain to pay respect to Zhenwu and conduct sacrificial ceremonies.
From being a minor sect to its current status standing shoulder to shoulder with the Dragon Tiger Mountain Sect, this could not be dismissed by Taoist Qingxu's words of "not to consider loss or gain too closely".
If Taoist Qingxu or the True Martial Sect, in fact, was the kind of school that practiced in seclusion and despised the mundane world, where would they get the Taihe Mountain True Martial Sect today almost becoming Taoist's ancestral courtyard?
Taoist Qingxu saw Bai Xiaosheng's expression and simply laughed without explaining.
The Taoists have always been both worldly and unworldly. There has never been an era of the True Martial Sect, only a True Martial Sect in each era.
After so many years of development, the True Martial Sect has reached this point. They could only keep moving forward, otherwise where would they place the hard work of generations of ancestors and the disciples?
Bai Xiaosheng did not dwell on this matter too much. He said, "However, the rapid progression of Pei
Xuanjing's martial arts is good news for us, at least the help we can get will be larger."
"As for how to convince him, I presume you, the sect leader, already have a plan."
Just as Pei Xuanjing had guessed, the invitation from Master Qingxu, the sect leader of the True Martial Sect to visit Taihe Mountain, was not without motive, he had his own agenda.
Or rather, it was not just Pei Xuanjing. There were many other choices, but Pei Xuanjing was the first one to stand out.
Regarding Bai Xiaosheng•s words, Taoist Qingxu nodded, "This matter benefits that person as well, and since he has already broken through to the second-class realm. It is very likely that he will step into the first-grade realm before he is thirty. Then we will be companions on the same path."
Through the communication with Qingyang Zi, Taoist Qingxu knew more about Pei Xuanjing than Bai Xiaosheng and had some understanding of Pei Xuanjing's character.
He knew that this was a young man devoted to martial arts. But if one day he stepped into the first-grade realm, he would definitely go looking for the next path.
And the thing they wanted to do, had no harm to Pei Xuanjing, instead, they had common interests.
Bai Xiaosheng nodded, "In that case, it all depends on you."
The emperor's inspection tour was not a small matter, so even though the emperor was eager to leave Tiandu, he had to make proper arrangements before he could leave.
This time was neither long nor short, neither fast nor slow. It eventually dragged on for more than three months.
During this time, Pei Xuanjing first made a copy of the skill he obtained from the Netherworld and handed it over to the Brocade Guards. After that, he completely discarded all worldly matters, focusing on refining his Taoyun.
If the previous Pei Xuanjing needed to deal with some necessary and unnecessary social interactions, after he had broken through to the second-class realm and established his supreme status with the name of a second-class martial artist from the Netherworld, he was able to avoid many, previously annoying things.
So, when he chose to retreat again, ignoring everything outside, no one, including the other editors of the Martial Academy, found it strange.
Even Vice President Qingyang Zi opened up all access to the Scripture Pavilion for Pei Xuanjing. Except for that unique work "Innate Gang Qi" , he could browse the rest of the skills without any objections from anyone else.
And even though Pei Xuanjing had closed the door to his retreat, the powers that wanted to make friends with him still sent gifts as congratulatory presents for his breakthrough and left messages, saying that they could visit him whenever he finished his seclusion.
Pei Xuanjing knew nothing about all this, but at this moment, while refining the Netherworld Book, he received some surprising information..
Pei Xuanjing obtained this page of the Netherworld Book from the Fair Prince.
When he got the Netherworld Book, the simulator detected that if he could refine this page of the Netherworld Book, he could gain a hundred thousand Tao points.
A hundred thousand Tao points was undoubtedly a tremendous wealth for Pei Xuanjing, which could sustain him for two life simulations.
Thus, he chose to go into closed-door cultivation at this time, hoping to refine the Netherworld Book in a short period and thereby enhance his strength.
After more than two months of closed -door cultivation, Pei Xuanjing finally refined this page of the Netherworld Book, receiving a hundred thousand Tao points.
Yet, Pei Xuanjing's benefits from this closed-door cultivation weren't mere Tao points. The information he gleaned after refining the Netherworld Book was immensely beneficial, and his perception of this world became clearer.
The Netherworld Book was a cultivation skill, a treasured artifact with strange effects, a wonder indeed.
Indeed, it was a wonder born from the Blessed Land's Forbidden Place or a prized treasure from the higher-dimensional Forbidden Place's Cave Heaven.
The underworld has existed for a long time, even longer than the Great Ming Dynasty. It seems that, since recorded history, there has always been an underworld.
Everybody knows that the figures in the underworld use the names of legendary ghosts and gods as their codenames, like the Ghost Emperor of Fengdu, the Ten Halls of Yama, the Judge, and the Soul Hooking Emissary.
But why is the underworld called the underworld, and why do these people use these code names?
The reason is simple: the underworld truly exists.
The Netherworld Book came from the underworld; if someone could gather various Netherworld Books and refine them, they would achieve immense power, control life and death, and even gain immortality.
This is the true secret of the underworld.
"Netherworld Book, a wonder." Pei Xuanjing mutters to himself.
From this information, he quickly figured out something and made a bold speculation in conjunction with some legends.
In the legends, the gods of the underworld are considered part of the realm of ghost gods. According to the Taoist School's Five Immortals' classification, they should also be part of the Immortal lineage.
Immortals concede divine authority through their Immortal body and seek the Immortal Path through their divine form. They control the Heavenly Authority and comply with the Way of Heaven and Earth. As long as they don't lose their authority, Immortals won't perish.
Refining the Netherworld Book, controlling the lifespan of all beings, existing for an eternity in this world, achieving immortality.
How incredibly similar these two things are.
"The wonders from the Blessed Land's Forbidden Places can help one leap into the heavens in one go. Without the corresponding wonders, one cannot progress. Is this not a path where authority constantly expands and ascends?" Pei Xuanjing thought to himself.
At that moment, Pei Xuanjing had an epiphany and began to suspect the existence of wonders in Blessed Land's Forbidden Places.
"No, something is not right." Pei Xuanjing quickly dismissed this idea and a new thought took hold in his heart.
The existence of Blessed Land's Forbidden Places should not be so. Judging by the wonders produced from them, they represent a different authority, symbolizing another path to becaming immortal.
Earth Immortal!
Yes, it is the Earth Immortal!
Those who are Earth Immortals evolve the Blessed Land into Cave Heaven, transforming their bodies into a myriad of beings. The masses are of one heart, using the Blessed Land as their foundation, advancing the world into a multi-universe.
If the Immortals are continually refining and expanding Heavenly Authority, then the Earth Immortals are continually upgrading their Blessed Land's Forbidden Places.
This way, it explains why the wonders from the Blessed Land's Forbidden Places bring different effects.
The wonders from the Blessed Land's Forbidden Places are actually a kind of authority. However, they do not represent the true Heavenly Authority; they are more closely related to the authority of the Blessed Land and Cave Heaven.
When a Martial Artist refines a wonder from a lower- level Blessed Land's Forbidden Place, their path is set. From then on, they can only walk the Earth Immortal Path.
They need to advance their Forbidden Places to enhance their strength.
Or, they can do as the people in the Jianghu do now, looking for a suitable wonder produced from the Forbidden Places to improve their strength.
This is actually a kind of veiled plundering, plundering other Forbidden Places to nourish oneself and achieve advancement.
At this moment, all the doubts in Pei Xuanjing's mind were cleared.
"What a pity, I can't activate this page of the Netherworld Book at the moment," Pei Xuanjing said regretfully.
He tried to circulate his True Qi and Blood Qi, hoping to stimulate the page of the Netherworld Book in his hand.
However, for some unknown reason, he couldn't activate that page.
He put down the Netherworld Book and had a thought, "Perhaps, I sholuld try to break through to the first grade realm first, then attempt to refine a wonder from one of the Blessed Land's Forbidden
Although he had obtained a wonder, he had not yet truly refined it apart from the Tao points within it.
Given the current situation, an idea of trying began to rise in his heart. Once this idea formed, it was hard to quell.
However, Pei Xuanjing remained cautious. He would wait until he had advanced to the first-grade realm before attempting to refine one, or to find a wonder produced from the highest level of the Forbidden Place. This way, he could avoid many risks.
"I have gained a lot from this," Pei Xuanjing thought.
Regardless of what had happened in this world or whether the gods and immortals in the legends had existed.
The information granted by this page of the Netherworld Book was enlightening. It showed him the path forward; at least he was no longer lost and had found a direction.
Moreover, if the Road to Longevity truly exists for Immortals and Earth Immortals, then according to the division of Taoist School, there are five types of Immortals. What about the remaining three
What about the Heavenly Immortal Way, the Path of Human Immortal, and the Path of Ghost Immortal?
Pei Xuanjing believed that if the Road of Longevity for Immortals and Earth Immortals existed, then the other three types must exist as well.
"I still know too little about this world. Perhaps the long-established major forces have more records of information." Pei Xuanjing thought to himself.
In that case, he needed to expedite his visit to Taihe Mountain.
The pursuit of longevity is incredibly appealing to everyone.
Since Pei Xuanjing came to this world and was now able to access these things, how could he willingly miss out?
There might be many bones littering the Road of Longevity, but he would rather die trying to achieve immortality than to die a mediocre death.
With the help of the life simulator, Pei Xuanjing believed that he would definitely forge his own Road of Longevity.
Calming his turbulent emotions, Pei Xuanjing focused on the life simulator, preparing to initiate the next life simulation.
Originally, Pei Xuanjing needed to accumulate enough Tao points to initiate another life simulation, which would take at least several high-grade martial studies or half a year's time.
However, the page of the Netherworld Book he received from the Fair Prince solved his urgent need.
[Tao Points: 131,158 points.]
[Do you want to use the life simulator? Each use consumes 50,000 Tao points.]