Chapter 575: Slaying Soul Master Dinghai Zhenjun: A Thousand Years Ago I Already Lost My Father and Mother…

Immortal Capital Library.

A colossal, magnificent silver-white building, situated at the foot of the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, was the most central place of the Immortal Sect — without a doubt.

Even when facing the peril of a nation's fall and the extermination of its people, the relocation of the Immortal Capital Library had to be considered first, before the safety of personnel.

As long as the Immortal Capital Library still stood, within at most the lifespan of a single generation of Nascent Soul cultivators, the Immortal Sect could be rebuilt once more.

At high noon, people came and went.

An old man with greying hair and difficulty walking, a steady middle-aged man, a spirited young man, an elementary school student in the uniform of a nearby school — they moved through the library, picking up a book now and then, their footsteps light, their voices pressed low.

If they were martial artists or cultivators of the Internal Qi realm, they would usually choose to communicate by transmitted voice and divine sense.

At the entrance of the library,

a kindly old man in a plain blue robe, with no pressure emanating from him, occasionally looking dazed, like a puppet — walking a few steps, pausing a few steps, as though lost in thought at every moment.

Anyone who knew him would surely gape in astonishment.

The last time he had stepped out, Qingfeng University's principal, Master Dinghai Master Dinghai Zhenjun, probably wasn't even an embryo yet.

Even his avatars at Qingfeng University and Qingfeng Qingfeng Beidou sat firmly in their own classrooms, not moving at all except to teach.

"They must be close now."

Yuan!

This blue-robed old man was, shockingly, the Immortal Sect's ruler — Yuan — and he had appeared in person.

Someone added.

"What on earth is going on?"

A bespectacled middle-aged female cultivator of the Foundation Establishment realm complained to her friend, quite displeased: "They say it's because this year's fiscal revenue has dropped, base salaries stay the same, but the old bonuses and performance rewards have all been reduced. If this keeps up, how is my son's cultivation going to be funded?"

"My daughter works at an official Immortal Sect enterprise — I heard hers got cut too…"

The people around her offered comfort.

"Sigh, what's going on? We teachers were already poor to begin with, our salaries were never high, and now they're being cut too…"

No one knew when he had emerged from his closed-door cultivation. This was extremely unusual — this one had not appeared before the public for at least two thousand years.

"Salaries got cut again…"

"My Miss works in the military. From what she says, salaries haven't been cut, nor raised — it probably isn't that. And low-income groups, their wages haven't been cut either."

"Same for us at the bank."

"It won't come to that, it won't come to that. It's been three thousand years of peace — it won't be that our generation has to face disaster…"

"Could it be that we're going to war?"

Others were unconvinced: "Official Immortal Sect enterprises are simply too massive — every move they make affects every industry. In a month or two at most, they'll be in the same boat as us."

Someone said, panicked.

Yuan walked a few steps, paused a few steps, and while pondering certain things, also split off some attention to listen to the divine-sense discussions of the cultivators around him.

"Private enterprises haven't cut wages either."

A large crowd chattered away, all sharing the same plight.

"Seems to be related to the extraordinary citizens' assembly convened a year ago — they said it was to invest in revitalizing the Immortal Dao scientific research industry…"

The crowd chattered on, sharing the various bits of hearsay and speculation they had heard.

……

Yuan watched for a while, then threaded through the crowd and continued deeper into the library.

The further inward he went, the sparser the crowd became.

Until at last there was gradually not a single person left, making one wonder whether closing time had arrived.

However, the Immortal Capital Library operated twenty-four hours a day.

This brings in the first clause of the Immortal Sect's First Law: "provided one possesses the ability to read."

Much of the knowledge of the Immortal Dao was inherently extremely dangerous. Setting aside higher matters, even a Qi Refining cultivator rashly reading a Jin Dan Gong Fa risked damage to their Sea of Consciousness and qi deviation.

Beyond that, there were also unspeakable confidentiality concerns that raised the threshold for reading.

This was to prevent any loophole from ever appearing in the Immortal Sect's Da Zhou — the great curse that sheltered the souls of Immortal Sect citizens and prevented the leakage of knowledge — and thereby avert greater losses.

Yuan strolled forward slowly.

The patience of an immortal was terrifyingly vast. A mere few kilometers of library distance, and he had spent a full month walking it, without feeling there was anything amiss.

No matter how long the road, if one walked slowly, did not give up, did not lose heart, one would eventually reach the end.

Yuan looked up.

Compared to two thousand years ago, when he had last come here, there was no great change.

Many of the buildings were ones he had personally refined and inscribed with formations, and the books were ones he had personally placed inside — all very familiar.

Only at the center had a new palace appeared, gleaming with interwoven silver-white and golden-yellow hues, bearing three characters upon it.

Golden Imperial Palace.

The second sequence of the Immortal Capital Library's holdings — the Golden Imperial Palace.

"Those old fellows should all be in there, right?"

"It's been many years since we've met in the flesh — I do miss them a little."

Yuan murmured to himself.

In a single step he entered the palace, and the scene within came into view.

A look of blank stupefaction appeared on Yuan's face.

"Ouch, ouch, don't step on me!"

"Give way, give way — you're crowding me!"

"Are you blind…"

A massive crowd of people—at least several tens of thousands, all Nascent Soul cultivators or above—pressed together, packing the already not-very-large Golden Imperial Palace so tightly that not a drop of water could seep through.

Because of the spell-prohibition here, a group of Nascent Soul cultivators who were normally unaccustomed to being too close to others were squeezed together, shoulder to shoulder, constantly stepping on each other's feet and tugging each other's hair, immediately erupting into fierce arguments, saliva flying everywhere, feathers strewn across the ground.

They were all Nascent Soul cultivators of the same generation; no one feared anyone, no one put on airs, and they all immediately rolled up their sleeves ready for a brawl.

But even so, not a single Nascent Soul cultivator showed any sign of wanting to leave; they all crowded around individual Soul Transformation cultivators, gazing at them with eager eyes, each employing their own methods.

"Old Commander!"

Luling Master Dinghai Zhenjun blocked the path of the broad-hearted and portly Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun, hugging his thigh, his single eye blinking rapidly, tears and snot flowing freely: "A thousand years ago I already lost my parents; it was you who watched me grow up. Now I have only one request—please, please let me get a glimpse of immortal arts…"

"Watch your own snot."

Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun disgustedly kicked him flying several meters, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Old Commander!"

Before Luling Master Dinghai Zhenjun could crawl back over, several more Nascent Soul cultivators pounced, each grabbing onto Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun's hem, trouser leg, arm, surrounding him layer upon layer until not even water could pass through.

"Old Commander, do you still remember when we were at the Waste Copper Minor Realm, you even personally praised me for being brave in battle and having an inspired command…"

"Old Commander, the fiercest Nascent Soul commander within the last thousand years is me—take a look…"

"Old Commander…"

The crowd would flex their muscles one moment, beg and weep the next, then spout all sorts of excuses, turning the Golden Imperial Palace into a chirping, chattering vegetable market, without the slightest trace of the solemnity a library ought to have.

It wasn't only Cang Hai Canghai Tianjun here; the old monster of the Immortal Gate Academy of Sciences, Zhenjun Shenji Canghai Tianjun, who had been in closed-door cultivation for several thousand years, had also emerged from seclusion. Zhenjun Shuling Master Dinghai Zhenjun and a group of Nascent Soul cultivators clung tightly to him, pleading without end, giving him no end of annoyance.

In other places as well, many Canghai Tianjun had also arrived, pestered by large groups of Nascent Soul cultivators with whom they each had close ties, like a tangle of monkeys.

There were even more ruthless ones who simply rolled around on the ground, wailing and crying loudly, casting all shame aside.

"Teacher Yuan!"

Suddenly, someone shouted.

Numerous gazes turned over in unison.

The next moment, a massive swarm of Nascent Soul cultivators instantly surged forward, blocking the doorway so tightly that not even water could pass through.

(End of this chapter)