Chapter 1

The black storm covered the sky, and the treasure that could not be damaged even if the stars were shattered was as fragile as paper in the face of the black wind, shattering into pieces. Red lightning flashed in the sky, and the great array formed by countless stars seemed to be nonexistent, unable to hinder it in the slightest.

He stood on the platform connecting to the heavens, looking up at the lightning about to strike, his heart filled with despair.

After an unknown amount of time, the lightning finally fell.

Wu Jie let out a loud cry and suddenly woke up.

"Again, this dream..." The sky outside the window was still dark, and he could hear the distant rooster crowing. Sitting on the bed, his mind was unsettled, filled with confusion.

It had been fifteen years since he had crossed over to this world, which seemed like ancient China. Everything from his previous life seemed like a dream, but this dream within a dream became increasingly clear.

In his previous life, Wu Jie was just an ordinary person. Although he was relatively diligent and achieved some success, he was still insignificant among the masses. If there was anything special about him, it was that he often had the same dream.

A nightmare of being struck and killed by terrifying lightning.

To deal with this dream, Wu Jie traveled all over the country, seeking many experts—from neurologists to psychiatrists to psychologists... He even consulted fortune-tellers, receiving a variety of conclusions, but none of them solved the problem.

Later, he worked hard to earn a lot of money and decided to go abroad to seek foreign experts or foreign wizards.

The National Development and Reform Commission raised the oil price, and the plane made an emergency landing on the sea. Miraculously, there were no fatalities, only one person missing.

The earth lost a promising young man, and another world gained a wailing infant. Wu Jie had crossed over.

Life after crossing over was unremarkable. Born in an apothecary, Wu Jie learned medicine step by step, planning to become an outstanding doctor in the future. Once he gained a reputation, he intended to introduce the preventive and experimental techniques from his previous life, striving to emulate the great predecessors like Sun Simiao and Zhang Zhongjing, to achieve everlasting fame.

For fifteen years, everything went smoothly. He even mastered the legendary skill of using his hands as a scale, making great strides on the path to becoming a renowned doctor, with a bright future ahead.

The only thing that didn't go well was the increasingly clear dream and the restlessness he felt upon waking—like he had forgotten something extremely important.

"What a strange dream! What does it mean?"

Because today's dream was particularly vivid, Wu Jie's spirit was a bit worse. To refresh himself, he took his medicine basket and hoe and went to the small mountain outside the town to gather herbs after breakfast.

But for some reason, he felt unusually restless, more so than any previous time. He was so distracted that he even tripped and fell on a small hill he had walked countless times before.

This fall was quite severe. Wu Jie lay on the ground for a while before getting up, wincing in pain, and walked to a big tree, leaning against the trunk to rest.

"What's wrong with me today? It's so strange!" He muttered to himself, his gaze wandering over the forest.

Then, he froze.

He saw an incredible sight!

To the north of the town was a temple called San Shan Guan. The temple was old and dilapidated, rarely visited by worshippers. The only resident was a Taoist priest named San Shan, who was both old and miserly... This was all Wu Jie knew about San Shan Guan.

But today, his impression was completely overturned.

From here, he could see that San Shan Guan was enveloped in a thick, heavy black smoke, which gave off a sense of oppression and an indescribable chill. Staring at the black smoke for a while, he felt a coldness rise from his heart, making him shiver even in broad daylight with the sun shining overhead.

Just by looking at it.

If he were to touch that black smoke or accidentally inhale it, he would probably collapse on the spot, and even all the medicines in his apothecary would be unable to save him...

Wu Jie shivered as he looked at the sinister black smoke.

But there were people who were not afraid of this dangerous black smoke—two young men holding swords and a robust man wielding a massive golden sword like a door panel.

From his vantage point, he couldn't hear what the three were saying, but he saw the robust man speak a few words, and his massive sword exploded, enveloping him in a golden light. He roared and flew into the black smoke. The two young men's swords also glowed with golden light, but not as intensely as the robust man's. They did not rush in but stood side by side, guarding the path to the temple gate.

Black smoke, golden light, swords, and flight...

"There really are immortals in this world!" Wu Jie stood there, stunned, his eyes wide with shock. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, but he was too dazed to know what he was thinking.

It had been fifteen years since he crossed over to this world, where he had seen martial arts beyond common sense and heard many stories of immortals, but he never believed that this world, which seemed like ancient China, truly had immortals.

He always thought he had crossed over to a world similar to a martial arts novel, where the strongest could achieve great feats on the battlefield or face a hundred enemies in the江湖 (jianghu). This world still had a stable government structure, and the social status of martial artists was not higher than that of scholars.

But the scene he witnessed now completely颠覆 (upended) his understanding!

Because of the distance, Wu Jie couldn't see the faces or expressions of the two young men guarding the temple gate, but he saw that they were dressed in practical, simple clothing, looking like the guards from the small security agencies in town.

But when Wu Jie looked at their swords, his attention was immediately drawn to them.

The sun was strong, but the light from the two swords seemed even more dazzling. Just a glance at the sword light made his eyes hurt, as if he had been injured by the sword's brilliance.

Such precious swords were held by two ordinary-looking young men. The robust man, enveloped in golden light, looked like a divine general from a New Year's painting.

When the robust man rushed into the black smoke, the thick black smoke suddenly parted, as if torn apart by an invisible hand. Since he entered, the black smoke occasionally emitted闷雷般的响声 (thunderous sounds), echoing through the mountains and reverberating in his chest.

Wasn't this the scene of immortals subduing demons?

It turned out that this world was not a martial arts world but a world of immortals!

Wu Jie stared at the scene, his mind racing with countless thoughts. A surge of excitement welled up in his chest, but he couldn't find an outlet, making him feel suffocated.

After a moment, a loud boom came from the black smoke, and a golden light shot up, instantly dispelling the black smoke. The robust man, laughing heartily, held a golden sword in his left hand and a withered, thin old Taoist in his right, walking out of the collapsed San Shan Guan.

He spoke to the two young men, who nodded repeatedly. He also nodded, and the golden light from his sword intensified, enveloping him and the old Taoist, who was either dead or alive, and they flew into the sky, disappearing into the clouds in the blink of an eye.

"Riding a sword to fly!" Wu Jie couldn't help but shout in his heart, "These are true immortals!"

As the golden light shot into the sky, something in his heart seemed to be broken, and he felt a sudden clarity.

"I want to cultivate immortality!" He made up his mind, "There are no immortals on Earth, but there are here! Since there are immortals and I am here, I will cultivate immortality!"

For eternal life? For flying and teleporting? Or for something else? Wu Jie wasn't sure.

But he was very clear that he had found his goal in life.

He wanted to cultivate immortality!

With this thought, the restlessness he had felt since waking up from the dream vanished. His heart had never been so clear and determined, filled with unwavering resolve!

Just as Wu Jie made up his mind, the two young men discussed something and then put away their swords, each stepping on a golden light and walking toward the town.

Their steps were not hurried, but each step covered a great distance, like galloping horses. In no time, they reached the town...

Seeing this, Wu Jie ran toward the town as fast as he could, using all his strength, running faster than ever before.

From the small hill where he often gathered herbs to the town, it usually took him about fifteen minutes to run, but this time he only took less than half the time. When he panted and ran back to the town, the first thing he did was ask the militiaman at the gate about the direction the two young immortals had gone.

Following the militiaman's directions, Wu Jie ran to the mayor's house, finally meeting the two young immortals.

The two young immortals were asking the mayor about the old Taoist, San Shan, and they seemed to be quite wary of the captured Taoist. They initially thought Wu Jie was there to report on San Shan, but were surprised when he said he wanted to cultivate immortality...

"You want to cultivate immortality?" The more lively of the two young immortals was taken aback, looking at the panting Wu Jie and couldn't help but laugh, "Cultivating immortality is not that simple. You can't just decide on a whim."

"I'm serious! I want to cultivate immortality! Please let me go with you to cultivate immortality!"

The lively young immortal's smile gradually faded, becoming serious.

"Senior, he seems to be serious."

"So what if he's serious? What if he's not? We are just beginners, how can we guide others?" The calm immortal shook his head and said bluntly, "The path of cultivation is not as simple as you think... You saw us in battle, right? But do you know who the two opponents were?"

Wu Jie naturally shook his head. In his impression, San Shan was an ordinary old Taoist who had become a priest to escape famine thirty years ago, saved some money, and returned to his hometown to retire, living a poor life in the temple that even rats avoided. Clearly, this impression was wrong. With San Shan's abilities, making money was easy, and he couldn't possibly be poor!

"I can't tell you much about the specifics, but I can tell you that both of them are seniors who have cultivated for hundreds of years." The calm immortal smiled and asked, "How old do you think we are?"

Wu Jie carefully observed the two and tentatively asked, "Sixteen or seventeen?"

The lively immortal couldn't help but laugh, "I'm probably older than your father!"

Wu Jie was stunned and couldn't help but rudely stare at the other's face, trying to find some signs of age on the young-looking face.

"I started cultivating at the age of eight and finally achieved success last year, stepping onto the path of cultivation—by then, thirty-three years had passed since I entered the mountains."

Wu Jie looked at his face, unable to see any signs of being forty-two.

"Look at my senior, who started cultivating later, at nearly twenty. He has now cultivated for sixty years, overcoming countless difficulties to establish his foundation..." The lively immortal looked at Wu Jie with a smile, "Cultivating in the mountains, decades pass in the blink of an eye. Can you leave your parents and family behind?"

Wu Jie wanted to say "I can," but looking into the other's piercing eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Even if you can leave everything behind, you may not succeed." The calm immortal said coolly, "In the past sixty years, I have seen over a hundred people seeking immortality. Only a dozen or so have succeeded, while the rest have wasted their youth in lonely cultivation... Among them were martial arts experts, scholars, and ingenious talents, but they all failed and grew old in vain."

"Compared to them, why do you think you can succeed?"

Faced with the two immortals' gaze, Wu Jie was speechless, but his eyes remained firm, his resolve unshaken.

Seeing his determined gaze, the two immortals finally hesitated.