Chapter 210: Past Events of Constructing a True Immortal (2.5k+ words)

Xiao Heng rubbed his eyes, drowsily surveying his surroundings. The eerie atmosphere that emanated made him instinctively uncomfortable.

In the distance, five extremely conspicuous and strange white pillars stood, slanting and piercing the sky.

Xiao Heng looked down and noticed the ground was also made of this white material.

"Where is this..."

Xiao Heng was somewhat puzzled. He remembered being on a deserted island, right? Could it be a dream? Xiao Heng subconsciously pinched himself.

"Ouch!"

The intense pain made Xiao Heng instantly awake.

"Not a dream?"

Fear surged within Xiao Heng.

Shivering, he glanced around. In the distance, there was an endless void, permeated with an ancient and desolate aura.

The ground beneath his feet and the five white pillars in the distance were connected, floating in this space all alone.

Xiao Heng suddenly felt a sense of familiarity in this place, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

After careful observation, a scene flashed in his mind.

Various details became clearer the more he looked at them.

Suddenly, Xiao Heng was shocked, falling to the ground and trembling.

"This is... that bone-white jade hand?"

Such a bizarre event exceeded Xiao Heng's cognitive range.

Fear instantly seized his soul, causing him to instinctively curl up, burying his head in his arms like an ostrich.

However, after all, he was not afraid to face challenges.

After a long time passed without any other movements in this space, Xiao Heng's curiosity gradually overwhelmed his fear.

He got up and cautiously explored this space.

The area he was in, the palm-bone region, was relatively open, and there was no need to worry about falling into the endless void.

Mostly, there were ruins and debris, indicating that an extremely fierce battle had taken place, destroying all the buildings.

After wandering through the ruins for a while, something caught Xiao Heng's attention.

A broken long sword, straight and stuck in the ground.

The sword was covered in dark red bloodstains.

As Xiao Heng approached, he realized that the sword had first pierced through a skull before being embedded in the ground.

"I don't know how long this place has existed. This sword can be preserved for so long without much damage. It must be an extraordinary treasure, right?" Xiao Heng thought to himself and cautiously approached.

He gripped the sword with both hands and exerted force.

Pulled the sword out.

However, before Xiao Heng could examine this newly acquired treasure with joy, the ground beneath his feet suddenly violently shook.

"Deceptive Immortal Alliance!"

The skull that was pierced and stolen by the long sword suddenly roared and soared into the sky.

Xiao Heng, once again, was frightened by this scene and fell to the ground.

The long sword in his hand made a "clang" sound as it also fell to the ground.

Apparently, the sound attracted the attention of the skull. A pitch-black light shot out from its dark eye sockets, directly hitting the sword.

"Bang!"

The long sword exploded in a burst of light.

During the explosion, Xiao Heng, in an instinctive leap, managed to avoid the blast.

However, he was still drenched in cold sweat.

"Senior, spare me! Senior, spare me!" Xiao Heng knelt on the ground, kowtowing while shouting. He kept a close eye on the skull, ready to escape directly if things took a turn for the worse.

It seemed that Xiao Heng's shouts had an effect.

The skull's voice became somewhat puzzled, "Huh? Not from the Immortal Alliance? Where did this little kid come from?"

The skull then flew up into the sky, patrolling around. After a while, it returned to its original position, appearing lost and disappointed, "So much time has passed..."

Seeing that the skull seemed to have no hostility, Xiao Heng breathed a sigh of relief.

He cautiously asked, "Senior, where is this? Can you send me back?"

The skull coldly chuckled, "You, little kid, are quite strange. Since you can enter here, why don't you know where this is? You even come asking me?"

Xiao Heng looked somewhat innocent, "Senior, I'm not lying. I really don't know where this is!"

"Humph!"

The skull didn't believe him, quickly flew closer, and circled around several times, carefully examining him with its dark eye sockets.

"Hmm? No traces of the ceremony. How did you get in?" After a long time, as if discovering something, the skull questioned in amazement.

"Ah?" Xiao Heng was confused by the question. However, he quickly reacted, "Hand bone! I have a hand bone that looks exactly like this place!"

"Senior, is this place inside that hand bone?"

"Hand bone?" The skull suddenly realized, "So, that's how it is. Little kid, are you not from the Xuanhuang Realm?"

"Xuanhuang Realm? What's that?" Xiao Heng was a bit puzzled.

"Hehe, it's commonly known as the cultivation world. Little kid, in the world you come from, are there legends of cultivators?"

Xiao Heng's expression was strange. After thinking for a while, he honestly confessed, "Not hiding it from Senior. I used to be in a place called the Dalí Dynasty. However, not long ago, several of us, including my hometown folks, were brought by a cultivator senior to the cultivation world."

"What?" The skull seemed somewhat shocked and urgently asked, "Is your main body in the cultivation world right now? Do you have cultivators from the Immortal Alliance around you?"

Xiao Heng shook his head, "The cultivator senior who took us away from Dalí seemed to have encountered a cultivator from the Immortal Alliance. They claimed he committed some crime of betraying realms, and then they fought. We took the opportunity to escape to a deserted island."

"That cultivator senior eventually found us, but unfortunately, he fell."

"Humph, the Immortal Alliance is really unscrupulous. They helped ordinary people return to the cultivation world, but they even labeled it as a crime of betraying realms. They're just looking for excuses! Little kid, you must remember, never let the cultivators of the Immortal Alliance discover the white jade hand bone on you."

"Otherwise, your life will be in danger!"

The skull warned solemnly.

"How could this happen?" Xiao Heng widened his eyes.

"This involves a great existence and the grudges with the Immortal Alliance," the skull sighed, then began to tell Xiao Heng a story.

A long time ago, a true immortal descended into the Xuanhuang Realm.

He was compassionate and cared for all living beings in the world.

Knowing the difficulties of cultivation, he tirelessly taught the principles of cultivation to practitioners all over the world.

Many cultivators benefited from his teachings, rapidly advancing in their strength.

As a result, the cultivation world entered a period of unprecedented prosperity.

However, when the time for the true immortal to return to the immortal realm arrived, he was ambushed by a group of cultivators.

These cultivators had profound cultivation and were fearless in the face of death.

They directly shattered the passage connecting the immortal realm and the Xuanhuang Realm, leaving the true immortal with no escape.

Under the relentless attacks, the true immortal's injuries became increasingly severe.

In the end, he fell in the Xuanhuang Realm.

Although the true immortal's physical body perished, his lingering spirit persisted.

Before his demise, he took a final look at the Xuanhuang Realm, memorizing every detail. His lingering spirit then evolved over thousands of years, forming a vast consciousness realm known as the Fallen Immortal Realm.

And the group of cultivators who attacked the true immortal back then became the initial Immortal Alliance.

...

The story contained a massive amount of information, and it took Xiao Heng a while to digest it.

"Senior, why did the Immortal Alliance attack the true immortal?" Xiao Heng asked.

"Why? Naturally, for the sake of benefits! True immortals coming from the immortal realm carry countless immortal techniques and artifacts on them. Obtaining just one of them is a great fortune."

"For example, the Immortal Alliance's foundation, the Tianxuan Mirror, was one of the immortal artifacts carried by the true immortal in the past."

"It has endless uses."

The skull's tone was filled with resentment towards the Immortal Alliance as it explained.

Afterward, it introduced the extraordinary features of the Tianxuan Mirror to Xiao Heng.

Xiao Heng, who had never seen such treasures before, couldn't help but be fascinated.

Later, he couldn't help but say fiercely, "The Immortal Alliance is really despicable!"

After a while, Xiao Heng asked again, "Senior, who are you, and how did you end up like this?"

The skull fell silent for a long time, seemingly lost in memories.

Then, it slowly said, "Not all cultivators are as crazy as the Immortal Alliance back then."

"There were many cultivators who, grateful and respectful to the true immortal, pledged to avenge him upon hearing news of the Immortal Alliance's attack."

"They spontaneously formed the 'Revival of Immortals' organization to resist the Immortal Alliance."

"Unfortunately, the Immortal Alliance was too powerful, and the Revival of Immortals couldn't match it."

"After thousands of years of extermination, the members of the Revival of Immortals grew fewer and fewer. Now, only I remain, barely surviving in this fractured Fallen Immortal Realm."

In the skull's words, there was an endless sense of tragedy.

Xiao Heng, with a strong sense of justice, couldn't help but be affected, his eyes slightly reddened.

"Senior..." he wanted to offer some comfort but was interrupted by the skull.

"Haha, I don't need your sympathy, little kid!"

"Before, I only had consciousness, surviving in the cracks of the Fallen Immortal Realm. There was no successor for the Revival of Immortals."

"Unexpectedly, fortune favors the Revival of Immortals, bringing you to me!"

The skull's eye sockets emitted a faint light, enveloping Xiao Heng.

"You, this kid, are a rare genius in cultivation once every thousand years. Join our 'Revival of Immortals,' take up the banner to resist the Immortal Alliance. It couldn't be better!"

As it spoke, Xiao Heng felt a storage ring appearing in his hand.

At the same time, a plethora of information instantly appeared in Xiao Heng's mind. Most of it consisted of common knowledge needed for cultivation, even including a cultivation technique called the "Oceanic Divine Sword."

The skull retracted the faint light and slowly said, "I have imparted all the preliminary cultivation knowledge to you, enough for you to safely cultivate to the Foundation Establishment stage."

"However, remember, you must be careful to conceal yourself, do not expose your identity. The Longevity Supreme from the Immortal Alliance has an unfathomable cultivation base. After thousands of years, his strength may not be inferior to that true immortal from back then."

Xiao Heng's expression became serious. But then he asked somewhat awkwardly, "Senior, I'm so young, and alone. Is it a bit...?"

The skull rebuked, "Foolish! You can recruit people! If you encounter talented companions, you can invite them to join our 'Revival of Immortals.' We, the Revival of Immortals, have been dormant for thousands of years and now is the time for fresh blood to join."

"However, make sure the other party is trustworthy and not an infiltrator from the Immortal Alliance."

Xiao Heng was pleasantly surprised and said, "That's great!"

The skull continued, "I've consumed too much energy to transmit these techniques to you. I'm about to enter a deep sleep."

"For the time being, the affairs of the 'Revival of Immortals' will be in your hands."

"If there are new members, take them to the middle phalanx bone."

"There is an altar there, a treasure of our 'Revival of Immortals.' Through prayer, you can obtain techniques and items."

"However, the altar has its own consciousness and will only respond to reasonable requests. You'll understand the specifics when you need it."

The voice of the skull became weaker, but it continued to convey important instructions.

"Senior, how long will you sleep before waking up?" Xiao Heng asked with concern.

"Hehe, it's hard to say. I was originally a dead person, surviving only through a strand of obsession."

"It could be a year or two before I wake up, or I might never wake up again."

"However, if you are willing, in the future, when you have the ability, you can collect the foundational treasures left behind by deceased cultivators for me. These things have lost their wonder in the world but can help in my revival."

The skull spoke slowly.

Xiao Heng nodded repeatedly, keeping these instructions in mind.

"Remember one more thing. If you sense that my aura has completely disappeared, it means this place may have been exposed. Immediately destroy the hand bone and never come here again." The skull emphasized again.

"Alright, that's it." The skull seemed extremely weakened and couldn't sustain its presence.

"Senior!" Just as the skull was about to fall into a deep sleep, Xiao Heng hesitated for a moment and asked the lingering question in his heart.

"You haven't told me your name yet?"

"...You are not worthy of knowing my name right now. When you truly shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Revival of Immortals in the future, you will naturally know."

With these words, the skull vanished into the darkness.

"Senior? Senior?" Xiao Heng called out several times, but there was no response.

Sighing with regret, he looked at the empty surroundings. Xiao Heng took out a silver necklace from the storage ring.

Following the methods taught by the senior, he established a connection. The silver necklace emitted a radiant light.

Afterward, Xiao Heng's vision went dark. After a moment, he found himself back inside the flying boat on the deserted island.

His companions around him were still fast asleep. Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

However, the extra ring in his hand and the necklace hanging around his neck reminded Xiao Heng that it wasn't a dream.

At a young age, Xiao Heng bore the burden he shouldn't have borne.

With a tired mind, not long after, he fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, he woke up earlier than others.

He went alone to the seashore, recalling the cultivation technique imparted by the senior, closed his eyes, and quietly began to cultivate.

After half a day, Ye Feipeng, who couldn't find any trace of Xiao Heng upon waking up, sensed the spiritual energy fluctuation by the seaside and walked over.

He watched Xiao Heng, who was meditating with closed eyes, at first not noticing anything unusual.

But as he approached, Xiao Heng suddenly opened his eyes, and a faintly formed pale blue water sword appeared.

Guarding in front of Xiao Heng, the sword pointed directly at Ye Feipeng, ready to launch a deadly attack.

Ye Feipeng was suddenly shocked, stumbling and falling to the ground.

Pointing the sword at Ye Feipeng, Xiao Heng's eyes widened, ready to launch a fatal strike.

Ye Feipeng looked like he had seen a ghost, trembling and unable to utter a word.