Chapter 1 The Immortals Fall

Those Red Sky immortals fell like kites with broken strings, several streams of light shooting into the sky before plummeting back down at great speed. The old immortal from Laoshan fell, wreathed in immortal light, and dozens of great cultivators rushed forward to support him. The old immortal staggered, and when he could finally catch his breath, the surrounding cultivators were horrified to find that he was bleeding from all seven orifices and trembling uncontrollably.

"Damn it all… there really are no free lunches in this world! I thought that after passing through the Heavenly Gate and attaining immortality, I could roam freely across millions of miles of mountains and rivers, but who knew a Demon King would pop up!"

The Laoshan immortal struggled to calm the qi in his chest. The incense and wishes that Laoshan had accumulated for two hundred years were all bestowed upon him. As the protector of the largest sect in the East Sea, he never expected to return to the mortal world in such a sorry state after his first ascent to immortality.

Equally disheveled was the old Taoist Pei from Mount Longhu.

"This old Daoist has never heard of any Yuanshi Demon King. That really hurt. What power was that just now… Even as an immortal, this old Daoist was almost torn apart. If my immortal form had shattered, I would have become a false immortal."

Fortunately, this unfamiliar Demon King had given them a break, only meting out a slight punishment. But just a light touch was already so mighty, which made Old Taoist Pei grimace. Then he thought of the rules set by the Demon King. So, avoiding the Demon King's exam to ascend to immortality meant having your true name taken and having to accumulate ten thousand good deeds as a make-up exam…

Indeed, not all shortcuts can be taken.

"Forget it, ten thousand good deeds it is. Although any single act of evil will undo all previous efforts, generally speaking, I've already entered the realm of immortals. I've achieved that goal, so I can worry about the demon test later..."

Old Taoist Pei adjusted his mindset. He had cultivated on Mount Longhu for so many years, but he was still not as good as the three from Mount Wudang. The phenomena of Mount Wudang had already spread horizontally to Mount Longhu, so how could he not know that three immortals had emerged from Mount Wudang?

So all his years on Mount Longhu had been for nothing.

Looking at the other junior who had ascended to immortality, the next generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, who was also the father of the Little Celestial Master who went to Korea, he too had stepped into the threshold of immortality. This was largely thanks to the deep foundations accumulated by Mount Longhu.

After all, it was a thousand-year-old sect, and compared to Mount Wudang, which was only a few hundred years old, it had a great advantage. Even someone whose cultivation was far behind could be forcibly pushed into the threshold of immortality.

Northeast Changbai Mountain.

The huge immortal pillar naturally belonged to the Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor. Draped in thick fur, wearing a mask, and holding a slender nine-pronged branch, he stood atop Heaven Lake.

For him, after many years of seclusion, he finally had a moment to raise his eyebrows and exhale, but it didn't last long. He also saw the blood-red sky, knowing full well that even though he cultivated not the Daoist arts, perhaps this Yuanshi Demon King would not spare him.

This net was cast quite wide.

"I was careless. I might have been implicated. I should have staggered my ascent with theirs..."

He felt a bit annoyed, feeling that he had been inexplicably dragged into this.

The Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor's true form was the Eastern Sky Nine-Pronged Divine Tree. He was conferred a title during the Jin Dynasty, becoming the Mountain God of Changbai Mountain. He never expected that as a local deity, he would still have to be examined by a Demon King, which made him shake his head repeatedly.

The owner of another small immortal pillar had also ascended to immortality, and the spirits and monsters of Changbai Mountain, those "Xianjia" (household spirits), were celebrating this.

"Congratulations! Congratulations to Old Granny Hei for ascending to immortality!"

"With Old Granny Hei guarding Tiesha Mountain, the Northeast is worry-free. We hope you will take care of us!"

"It seems that Nurhaci died at just the right time! He left us such a great inheritance. He couldn't use the essence of the sun, but we can!"

The Five Great Xianjia – the Fox, the Weasel, the Hedgehog, the Snake, and the Wolf – surrounded the great protector of the Xianjia, Old Granny Hei, and congratulated her continuously. Old Granny Hei looked tired, but seeing Grandfather Fox and Grandmother Bai, she couldn't help but be happy:

"My accumulation was insufficient. I only just stepped into the threshold of pure Yang last year. Although I obtained a few drops of sun essence and barely managed to refine my form with the sun, there was always a possibility of failure. If it weren't for this opportunity to ascend to immortality, I'm afraid I wouldn't have lasted until the end of the month and would have died because of the sun refinement."

"As for who this Demon King is, I don't care. Anyway, I don't plan to take the exam any further."

Grandfather Fox laughed heartily: "This is what they call destiny. Something that was going to fail succeeded because of some opportunity. Our Changbai Mountain has exhausted most of its foundations since the Jin Dynasty, but we finally managed to push you into the ranks of immortals. The rest is up to the Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor. With an immortal guarding our Xianjia, we may not be able to expand, but we have more than enough to protect ourselves!"

"Who is that Demon King? Who cares who he is, let him be!"

The Xianjia cheered loudly.

It wasn't that they didn't want to take the exam, but they also knew that Old Granny Hei's ascent was forced. Even the immortal pillar that was condensed was very reluctant. In this situation, there was no need to expect Old Granny Hei to go even further. Her own potential was insufficient, so this was the end of the road.

Knowing when to give up is also knowing when to cut losses.

West Mount Hua.

That immortal still looked up, watching the blood-red sky, and as his aura rose, his true name in the sky fluctuated.

"Hmm?"

Ji Xiang's thoughts instantly appeared in this sky, seeing the Daoist on Mount Hua, holding a gourd, his body ablaze with immortal light, like a descending true sun, his aura surging like a vast ocean, and his body overflowing with the golden light of merit.

A round, purplish-gold pill phantom floated沉沉浮浮in his niwan palace (third eye region), revealing itself!

"A Purple-Gold Pill?!"

Ji Xiang was shocked. Besides himself, there was another person in the world who had cultivated a Purple-Gold Pill, but his name was unknown to the world until he ascended to immortality. This person's good deeds had already exceeded ten thousand, and now he seemed to be hesitating whether to immediately take the next step of the demon test to retrieve his true name!

Ji Xiang looked again.

There were countless wishes and incense offerings in the world, and even various phantom images of ordinary people talking manifested outside his body, as if one person was the mortal world itself. This indicated that he had works circulating in the world, or that he was a "character" in those works!

"Interesting!"

"Do you wish to proceed with the demon test?"

Ji Xiang's voice rumbled and shook, and those immortals who were still in doubt, or were happy, or were simply giving up, all gave a surprised "Eh?" They thought this voice was directed at them, and were startled at first, but soon understood and a storm of emotion instantly arose in their hearts.

Who?

Everyone ascended to immortality together.

How could someone suddenly have ten thousand good deeds and be about to start the Yuanshi demon test?

How could someone be secretly studying!

"Yes."

That voice reverberated, synchronizing with all the blood-red skies, and the faces of those immortals immediately changed, as unpredictable as the weather forecast on opening day.

"What is this new Demon King? Before he's even established himself, he dares to conduct this kind of demon test? Arrogant!"

"He will definitely fail!"

The old immortal from Laoshan in the East Sea had the worst temper. Hearing this unfamiliar voice, he immediately became angry and started yelling wildly.

And among the immortals whose expressions changed and whose moods fluctuated accordingly, were also the three ascenders from the South Sea.

Thunder King hadn't been happy for long when he discovered that there was an unheard-of great demon above his head. He asked the Buddha-Ghost, but the latter, a seasoned old monk who had once caused the Song Dynasty great losses, was also blank-eyed. This made Thunder King's heart alarm bells ring, and now someone wanted to take back his true name, which had just been reflected in the Red Sky Demon Heaven, right in front of his face?

What was going on?

Was this how the script was written?

Shouldn't he be the strongest in the South Sea, with the faith of the entire South Sea supporting him? Now that he had ascended to immortality, he should be able to go head-to-head with that old so-and-so who was messing around with the divine kingdom in Japan, right? As for Celestial Master Zhang and the Bixia Yuanjun (Princess of Azure Clouds), he didn't even care about them anymore.

He should be able to go five-five with that Ming Dynasty Daoist who once single-handedly fought his way to Japan! After all, he heard that that person was still weaker than Xu Fu.

But now, where did this strongman come from?!

A certain place in the Nine Border Garrisons.

The soldier-ghost Tang Sheng, a divine monster that appeared during the Jiajing Emperor's reign, was a thing formed by the collective wishes of the army.

"Heh, so it's this guy. As a successor of the Chunyang Emperor and having been written into Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin, he naturally has the qualifications. He's more than just praised by ten thousand people. If only someone would write a book about me too."

"I'll go to the capital to talk to the Wanli Emperor. This Investiture of Gods decree won't exclude me, will it?"

In the garrison town, an armored man walked among them, the immortal pillar retracting, and the soldiers searched but could not find his trace.

Above Mount Hua, that immortal had already begun his Yuanshi demon test.

In Ji Xiang's eyes, his true name was reflected.

Similarly, there was another, a "false name" that was spread among the people! The appearance of this false name, rather than the true name, made Ji Xiang raise his eyebrows, quite interested!

"Lu Xixing! Successor of the Chunyang Emperor."

"Xu Zhonglin, in writing Investiture of the Gods, transformed him into it—"

"Referred to as 'Lu Ya Daoren'!"