Chapter 364: 364. Chapter 361: Immortals Must Also Look for Jobs

364. Chapter 361: Immortals Must Also Look for Jobs

Jian Zhengyan tugged at Ding Huan's clothes: "Brother Ding, one bowl is fine."

The waiter scanned Ding Huan coldly: "What? Trying to extort us?"

"Then one bowl it is." Ding Huan smiled, didn't argue further, and sat down.

Jian Zhengyan exhaled in relief and sat across from Ding Huan.

The waiter sneered: "This is what you call causing trouble here?"

Ding Huan acted as if he hadn't heard, instead asking Jian Zhengyan: "Brother Jian, could you clarify—is the Fourth Immortal Realm that place over there?"

Jian Zhengyan nodded: "Yes, but it's hard to enter. Many newcomers want to enter the Fourth Immortal Realm, but there are only three entry opportunities each year."

"I'd like to ask further," Ding Huan said quickly.

Jian Zhengyan said: "The first method is the normal entry: at the start of each year, the Fourth Immortal Realm's gate opens, and cultivators must pay ten thousand immortal crystals to enter…"

"Immortal crystals are so hard to obtain—how do you gather ten thousand?" Ding Huan asked, puzzled.

Jian Zhengyan said: "Opportunities to strike it rich are everywhere in the Void. The most common is the Void Immortal Qi Bud—this forms after countless years of condensing Void Immortal Qi."

"One single bud can be exchanged for ten immortal crystals; a double bud for a hundred; a triple bud is even more valuable, but triple buds are virtually unattainable."

Ding Huan finally realized: his hundred immortal crystals' worth of goods had been paid with just one immortal crystal—these heartless bastards.

"If you have a triple bud, sometimes one plant alone can secure entry into the Immortal World. Even without immortal crystals, if you have many Void Immortal Qi Buds, you can directly exchange them for entry into the Immortal Realm."

Ding Huan silently thought: Void Immortal Qi Buds must be rare; double buds even rarer.

One single bud only fetches ten immortal crystals—ten thousand crystals would require a thousand plants. Too difficult.

"The second opportunity is Immortal Sect recruitment…"

"Immortal Sect recruitment?" Ding Huan didn't want to ask, but he couldn't help himself—this completely exceeded his understanding.

On Earth there were job fairs—how could Immortal Sects have recruitment too?

Jian Zhengyan smiled: "It's no surprise you don't know, Brother Ding—you just arrived. The Fourth Immortal Realm is rumored to be the worst, where all Immortal Qi is already claimed…"

Ding Huan was speechless: "Brother Jian, Immortal Qi is claimed? So even if I cultivate in an open, unclaimed place, that Immortal Qi still belongs to someone?"

In Ding Huan's understanding, Immortal Qi being claimed was like air being owned.

Even the most oppressive and arrogant rulers on Earth wouldn't dare claim ownership of air.

Jian Zhengyan said seriously: "It's true. In the Fourth Immortal Realm, every location that generates Immortal Qi is occupied by major Immortal Sects."

"If you want to absorb Immortal Qi for cultivation in the Fourth Immortal Realm, you must first join an Immortal Sect—that's what I mean by Immortal Sect recruitment."

Ding Huan frowned: "Brother Jian, if Immortal Qi is fixed, then the Immortal Qi within Sects is also limited—why recruit new disciples to dilute it further?"

Jian Zhengyan said: "Brother Ding, don't judge the Immortal Realm by Dao Realm norms. In the Immortal Realm, Immortal Qi is never fixed."

"You can discover new Heavenly Qi Dao Patterns to open new Immortal Qi springs."

"To obtain new Immortal Qi springs, someone must constantly experiment with methods and techniques…"

"Brother Jian, I still don't understand. If Immortal Qi springs are obtained by discovering new Dao Patterns, shouldn't any place work? Why must you join a Sect?"

Ding Huan grew more confused by the minute.

What Jian Zhengyan described sounded exactly like mining Bitcoin on Earth.

Jian Zhengyan said: "I didn't understand it at first either. Later I learned: Immortal Qi springs in the Immortal Realm can only be found in specific locations."

"Opening new Immortal Qi springs sounds simple, but it's far more complex. Sects recruit talented cultivators every year specifically to search for Immortal Qi springs."

Ding Huan asked: "If new Dao Patterns can create Immortal Qi springs, why don't Sect members search for them themselves? Why hire outsiders?"

Jian Zhengyan chuckled: "Searching for Immortal Qi springs consumes enormous time and energy."

"If you hold a certain status in a Sect, would you spend your time improving your own power—or wasting it searching for Immortal Qi springs for others?"

"Besides, if a Sect has abundant Immortal Qi, it can support many Immortal industries."

"Like alchemy, artifact forging, growing Immortal herbs—all highly profitable, and all require manpower."

So that's how it was.

Jian Zhengyan added: "Moreover, across all Immortal Realms, there are Immortal Thieves—bugs that love to gnaw through Sect protective arrays, then burrow into Immortal Qi springs."

"Once these bugs enter an Immortal Qi spring, the spring is essentially useless. Even if you block them from entering, their gnawing on the protective array lets them devour massive amounts of Immortal Qi."

⊙C〇

"All of this requires dedicated personnel to guard and repel them—so Sects must constantly recruit."

Ding Huan sighed inwardly: How different is this from the Mortal World?

"The third opportunity for entry is when major Immortal families hire Immortal servants—fewer positions, and the life inside the Immortal Realm is the worst."

After speaking, Jian Zhengyan still hadn't seen the Immortal Qi tea arrive—he sighed inwardly.

▲co

Ding Huan had offered two top-grade Spirit Veins—he might not even see the tea bowl.

Ding Huan thought of the cultivator who had just exited the Immortal Realm and asked: "If the Immortal Realm is so hard to enter, why do people leave?"

Jian Zhengyan said: "Being recruited by an Immortal Sect doesn't mean you're safe."

"If you have no ability—can't help find Immortal Qi springs, can't cultivate herbs or forge artifacts, can't repel Immortal Thieves—the Sect can expel you."

"Once expelled, you're left wandering the Immortal World. Outside Sects, almost nowhere has Immortal Qi."

"So it's better to leave—then you can search the Void for Void Immortal Qi Buds, or, like me, linger in Void City, barely surviving."

"Entering is hard, but leaving is easy—you can walk out of the Immortal Realm's barrier from anywhere."

Ding Huan fell silent. This had nothing to do with the paradise he imagined—where feasts of peaches and ginseng fruits happened every few days.

Jian Zhengyan's words made it clear: without talent, you can't even survive in the Immortal World, let alone attain Immortality.

"If you're not ordering Immortal Qi tea, get out—we don't offer free seating."

At that moment, the waiter finally arrived—no Immortal Qi tea in hand, just shooing Ding Huan away.

Ding Huan said to Jian Zhengyan, "Jian, you go ahead—I have something to attend to."

"Understood." Though Jian Zhengyan had not drunk Immortal Qi tea, he dared not linger here any longer and turned to leave the teahouse swiftly.

After Jian Zhengyan departed, Ding Huan spoke:

"I paid you two superior-grade spiritual veins. You dropped from two bowls of Immortal Qi tea to one, and now you've given me none at all. Not only is there no spiritual tea, but am I not even allowed to sit here?"

"Daring to swindle the Void Teahouse? You're asking for death…"

The waiter raised his hand and slapped toward Ding Huan.

He had spent years drinking Immortal Qi tea here; his aura was no weaker than the man Ding Huan had killed earlier.

Almost the instant the waiter moved, Ding Huan acted too—he still punched forward.

As his fist struck, he locked the waiter within his domain, while a Yellow Flower Kill surged into the waiter's primordial energy domain.

Though the waiter had consumed much Immortal Qi tea, he remained merely at the Immortal-Commoner Bridge realm; his primordial energy had not yet transformed into Immortal Qi.

Here, he could barely maintain his aura from collapsing.

Sensing Ding Huan's domain was overwhelmingly powerful, the waiter was stunned—where was the time to swing a slap? He frantically retreated, trying to break free from Ding Huan's domain restraint.

Before he could escape, a Vortex Kill surged into the depths of his spiritual perception, shattering it instantly.

The aura of death crushed down; the waiter screamed wildly: "You dare kill me—"

Ding Huan indeed did not kill the waiter—but his punch shattered the waiter's Zi Fu.

The waiter spewed blood from his mouth, his eyes flickering with despair.

He was neither a core disciple of an immortal sect nor a nurtured scion of a great clan.

With his spiritual sea shattered, how could he possibly survive?

In this moment, regret filled his heart—he had thought he'd encountered a naive newcomer he could easily bully, never imagining he'd met a ruthless killer who had just taken his own life.

Ding Huan stepped on the waiter's head and said calmly, "Why bother? You saved two bowls of Immortal Qi tea—how much did you gain?"

The waiter's eyes glazed over; he did not even beg for mercy.

He knew that even if Ding Huan didn't kill him, he was already dead.

Dozens of figures rushed over, surrounding Ding Huan.

Some cultivators drinking tea in the teahouse immediately fled outside—once entangled in such affairs, they risked being dragged into death.

Ding Huan saw that all who arrived were at the Immortal-Commoner Bridge realm; he breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn't surprising—true immortals would never take up such a trade in this dump.

"You've got quite the nerve," said the first speaker—a fierce-looking woman.

Seeing this woman, Ding Huan suddenly recalled the Tou Jie he'd met when he first arrived on the Four Directions Star Continent. This woman, though fierce in expression, still looked like a woman.

Ding Huan said calmly, "If you want to reason, I'll present evidence. If not, get on with it—after we're done, I've other matters."

Hearing Ding Huan's words, not only the fierce woman, but all others stared at him in shock.

Ding Huan was clearly a newcomer—why wasn't he afraid of their dozen-plus men?

None of these dozen men had grown weak from prolonged lack of heavenly primordial energy.