Chapter 1

In the Receiving Pool, a white light flashed, and a tall young man with tattered clothes suddenly appeared.

This was Chen Taijun, who had just transcended the tribulation to become an immortal. He had cultivated for two hundred years in the human world and finally ascended as he wished.

"Is this the Immortal Realm?" He looked around and found himself standing in a circle of green jade, about five to six meters in diameter.

In the next moment, he took a deep breath and was instantly intoxicated. "No wonder it's the Immortal Realm, the aura of immortality here is so dense."

He knew that the Earth was now spiritually barren, with the aura of immortality extremely thin. However, it was only after feeling the dense, almost tangible immortal aura here that he deeply realized what the end of the Dharma era meant.

As he looked around, he heard a cold snort. "Kid, have you had enough? If you're done, come over and register your identity... Do you know the rules?"

Rules... Chen Taijun frowned and looked in the direction of the voice, only to find a man and a woman sitting at a stone table nearby, looking at him casually. Both were young, the man in white and the woman in black.

He had scanned this angle before but hadn't noticed anyone. Now, a man and a woman suddenly appeared, which startled him. To verify that his eyes hadn't deceived him, he released his divine sense to scan them.

"Rude!" The man in white snorted. A newly ascended person dared to release his divine sense to observe immortals; this wasn't just a matter of rudeness but a blatant provocation.

Without hesitation, he released his divine sense to suppress and pushed it heavily forward.

Chen Taijun grunted, then took a step back, his face turning pale. After a few rapid breaths, he said with great dissatisfaction, "Do you feel very accomplished by bullying me with your divine sense?"

"You deserve it!" The man in white didn't bother to explain. "Do you know the rules?"

Chen Taijun was stunned for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "No."

So, you're from a small place, the man in white became even less interested. "State your sect and background."

Why should I tell you? Chen Taijun was even more angry, but the other party's strength was clearly superior to his, so he could only suppress his anger and answer, "I'm a solitary cultivator, from Earth."

"Solitary cultivator," the man in white's lips twitched. After a moment's thought, he took out a jade slip.

For the receptionists, solitary cultivators were always more troublesome. Those who could cultivate to the point of ascending were all people of great perseverance, determination, and wisdom, and some even had great fortune.

However, solitary cultivators were also the hardest to manage. They knew nothing and had no ties to sects or families, acting very recklessly.

So he wanted to first look at the jade slip to understand what kind of place Earth was.

However, he didn't know that since the blue planet was called Earth, no one had ascended from there again.

The man in white flipped through the jade slip for a while, his eyes narrowing sharply. "Are you sure you're from the Earth Realm?"

"I'm sure," Chen Taijun answered impatiently. He wasn't good at socializing and had just suffered a slight loss, so his tone wasn't good.

"This is strange," the man in white muttered, waving his hand, and a black stone tablet appeared beside him.

The shape of the stone tablet was a bit peculiar, like a washboard on Earth, with ridges.

The man in white said coolly, "Use your most powerful immortal technique to strike the testing tablet."

Is this a testing tablet? Chen Taijun thought for a moment, took out a green jade wall, and approached the tablet.

He doesn't seem to be a spy, the man in white observed. The green jade wall showed no reaction—this Receiving Pool had several complex arrays, not only responsible for receiving ascended immortals but also for identifying spies.

If a fake ascended person tried to leave the Receiving Pool, it would trigger an alarm.

Chen Taijun didn't notice these details. He stepped forward and punched the stone tablet hard. A green light flashed on the testing tablet, and a gray-white bar lit up at the bottom.

After a moment, the light at the bottom of the stone tablet faded.

"From a Dharma-depleted plane," the woman in black finally spoke, with a look of disdain. "The lineage is probably broken."

The testing tablet could measure more than one thing. The bottom bar represented the basic level after ascending, which was a first-level wandering immortal. Gray-white indicated a declining quality of spiritual energy, while yellow-white indicated a thriving quality.

If it were yellow-white, it would definitely be highly regarded, indicating that the plane was still rapidly developing—definitely an unknown plane. The person not only had the great fortune of the plane's development but would also have a continuous stream of people ascending.

But knowing that Earth was a Dharma-depleted plane, the disdain of the two was understandable. The woman in black's words were clear: the lineage was broken, and there was no hope.

"First-level wandering immortal," the man in white sneered, then his face darkened. "I told you to use an immortal technique, not your fist."

"I cultivate the Way of Qi," Chen Taijun answered confidently. According to the cultivation techniques he had, the Way of Qi mainly relied on qi, momentum, and divine sense, with techniques being secondary.

"The Way of Qi also has immortal techniques," the man in white looked at him, pondered for a moment, and then said impatiently, "Since you don't know the rules, I'll tell you. Ten spirit stones to get an identity."

"You know I'm from a Dharma-depleted plane, where am I supposed to steal spirit stones?" Chen Taijun glared, knowing what spirit stones were, but he had searched the entire world and never seen one, let alone ten.

"Be careful not to get caught as an unregistered person," the man in white said casually.

"I ascended openly, why won't you give me an identity?" Chen Taijun was furious. "I think you just want a bribe."

"Do you want a beating?" The man in white was angry. In fact, the newly ascended person was right; he did want a bribe. In this immortal realm, the work at the Receiving Pool was boring and monotonous, and he couldn't leave.

If a fake ascended person tried to sneak in, he would be fired.

The price he set wasn't high; ten spirit stones were just a token amount, not enough to harm the ascended person's foundation—many who ascended from the lower realms were penniless, despite their dominance in the lower realms, they were nothing in the Immortal Realm.

"Try to beat me and see if you can find a place to complain," Chen Taijun snorted, feeling justified. "You already know I'm from a Dharma-depleted plane, where would I get spirit stones?"

The man in white glared, but the woman in black coughed lightly and shook her head slightly—there were surveillance stones set up in the Receiving Pool, not just the two receptionists.

Taking a bribe wasn't a big issue, but beating an ascended person without cause could easily be used against them.

This kid's mouth is really foul, the man in white thought, his anger rising. Just as he was about to vent, the Receiving Pool lit up again, and then twice more, with three people appearing.

The leader was a young gentleman, wearing a high hat and a green robe, with a dignified and graceful demeanor, holding a folding fan.

Beside him were a man and a woman, clearly a book boy and a maid.

The two receptionists exchanged glances, and the woman in black stood up, speaking expressionlessly, "Receiving Pool of Greenstone City, do you know the rules, ascended person?"

"How did I end up in Greenstone City?" The young gentleman muttered, then snapped open his folding fan, fanned it twice, and slowly said, "Nangong Buwei from the Four Directions Realm, with book boy Nangong Shijian and maid Peng Qin, has ascended. Please register us."

"Wow," the two receptionists sucked in a breath of cold air. This young gentleman clearly had a distinguished background, even bringing attendants when ascending. However, they hadn't expected his status to be so high.

The man in white asked tremblingly, "Nangong family of the Four Directions Realm... is it the Nangong family of Jiubo?"

"Indeed, it is my ancestor," the young gentleman in the green robe nodded, and without any effort, the three of them leaped out of the Receiving Pool.

The book boy raised his hand, and an orange gem flew toward the woman in black, who said, "A gift from my young master."

"Is this a mid-grade spirit stone?" The eyes of the woman in black and the man in white lit up. The ten lower-grade spirit stones they had asked Chen Taijun for were nothing compared to this one mid-grade spirit stone, which was equivalent to a hundred lower-grade spirit stones.

"Thank you, Young Master Nangong," the two bowed.

"Please inform us of the nearest Nangong family contact point," the book boy said boldly.

"The Nangong family contact point is quite far from here," the man in white said with a smile. "We can arrange for a spirit escort for you... the price can be negotiated, who would dare to cheat Jiubo?"

"Then let it be so," Nangong Buwei nodded proudly.

The woman in black took out a paper crane, wrote some words on it, and threw it. The paper crane flapped its wings, screeched, and disappeared in an instant.

The man in white took out a compass-like device, waved it in front of the three, and the compass spat out three jade tokens. He marked them and put away the compass, then presented the three jade tokens with both hands. "These are your identity tokens, please keep them safe. Losing them would be troublesome... of course, it's not a big deal for Jiubo."

Chen Taijun watched coldly from the side, his lips twitching, feeling a bit disdainful—relying on the legacy of ancestors, what kind of skill is that?

Nangong Buwei took the jade token and noticed the stone tablet beside him, his eyes lighting up. "A testing tablet... I should test it."

Without waiting for the receptionist's response, he raised his hand, and a weapon shaped like a shuttle flew toward the stone tablet.

A dull thud sounded, and two bars on the testing tablet lit up, with a bright white light—the most thriving immortal aura.

"Second-level wandering immortal," the man in white sucked in a breath of cold air. "Young Master Nangong, with such a deep family background, to already be at the second level upon ascending, I am truly impressed."

"Ha ha," Nangong Buwei smiled slightly, without much pride in his eyes. He had used countless spiritual materials and elixirs when ascending, and if he were only at the first level, it would be embarrassing.