Chapter 980

From a broad perspective, it was clear that this was a fractured mountain.

Though incomplete, it seemed this mountain was merely a corner of some vast mountain range.

Even so, it stretched for a million li.

In the middle-rear section of the range, two peaks stood vertically, piercing the sky.

The front peak was shorter; the rear peak was taller.

Further ahead, amid the lush mountains, several flat areas had been cleared, upon which numerous houses and palaces had been built.

Though not a single person or living being remained—perhaps countless eons had passed—the palaces and structures still looked brand new.

Array light membranes flickered everywhere.

Those enveloped by light membranes were the two peaks and certain flat architectural zones.

And more besides.

Too far away, He Pingsheng could not discern the rank of these immortal arrays.

“Ahead should be where ordinary outer disciples lived!” the Red Luo Woman suddenly spoke. “Behind is where inner disciples reside; further still lie the cultivation grounds of core disciples and sect elders!”

“Of course, this is merely our earlier speculation—not necessarily true—but the layout of these buildings does appear orderly.”

“Even if our speculation is inaccurate, it’s close enough.”

He Pingsheng was genuinely stunned: “Senior, have you been here before?”

“Mm.” The Yinming avatar nodded. “To be precise, it wasn’t me—it was my original body.”

“Back then, she had not yet ascended; she was still in the Mahayana Emperor realm.”

“In the blink of an eye, over six hundred thousand years have passed.”

This time, He Pingsheng was truly speechless.

No wonder so many called Red Luo Woman an ancient relic of humanity.

She truly was…

Extremely old.

After all, a Transcendent Immortal possesses a lifespan of a million years.

Yet Red Luo Woman’s remaining lifespan was likely very limited.

For instance, her natural lifespan had already exceeded six hundred thousand years; then she intervened twice, losing twenty thousand years of life.

At most, she had only about ten thousand years left.

“Oldster, you’ve been here before, haven’t you? You’re even older than her!” He Pingsheng asked Jin Ku.

Jin Ku smiled bitterly: “Yes… I am indeed older than her, but I’ve never set foot here. Last time this place opened, I was sealed within that small world, so… I missed it.”

So that was it.

He Pingsheng understood.

“Let’s go!” Red Luo Woman said. “Go take a look!”

“If you don’t move, none of them will dare advance.”

Red Luo Woman gestured with her chin toward the rear.

The Mahayana Emperors blown away by the Immortal Mountain tide had returned one by one.

Seeing He Pingsheng had not entered, they dared not proceed.

He Pingsheng glanced behind and called out loudly: “Items within the Piaomiao Immortal Mountain are granted by fate—everyone may enter!”

With that, He Pingsheng transformed into a streak of light and flew upward with the others toward the true Immortal Mountain range.

He Pingsheng noticed a problem.

That is, while flying, speed here was vastly slower.

One could even say it was infinitely slower!

Too slow.

It gave He Pingsheng the illusion that this speed was nearly equivalent to his own during his Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment days in the cultivation world.

This…

But it was understandable. Though not the Immortal Realm, this place operated under Immortal Realm rules.

Thus, one could imagine that after ascending to the Immortal Realm, flight speed would be much the same.

Countless streaks of light flashed past.

Some arrived at the nearest cluster of buildings; others flew straight past toward the rear.

He Pingsheng and Luo Bingyao descended directly onto the first flat ground.

Red Luo Woman also landed.

Luo Bingyao said: “Master, this place has been opened countless times—we must go further back. The front won’t yield anything valuable; it’s long been stripped clean by predecessors, right?”

He Pingsheng smiled: “Your mind isn’t dull. But do you think the rear hasn’t been stripped clean too?”

“Precisely!” Red Luo Woman said. “These structures have been ransacked countless times—front or back, the outer and inner disciples’ quarters hold nothing of value anymore.”

“No worthwhile items remain.”

“But!” Red Luo’s gaze swept across the surrounding mountains. “This is still an Immortal Mountain—perhaps Immortal-grade materials grow wild in these mountains. We could search for them.”

“Yet… even if found, they’d likely be useless.”

“Because the mortal world lacks the corresponding elixir formulas to refine such substances.”

“Materials of Immortal grade yield Immortal Elixirs.”

“The mortal world cannot produce Immortal Elixirs.”

“Unless you find an Immortal Fruit!”

Luo Bingyao said: “Senior, that’s not right… Ninth-rank elixirs are also Immortal-grade, aren’t they?”

“Like… the Flying Immortal Elixir!”

“And my master once refined the [Earth Mother Blood Elixir]—both are Ninth-rank!”

“Correct!” Red Luo Woman said. “Theoretically, a Ninth-rank elixir should match the lowest-tier First-rank Immortal Elixir in the Immortal Realm.”

“But in practice, though the rank is the same, the rules differ.”

“One follows Immortal Realm rules; the other follows Spirit Realm rules.”

He Pingsheng nodded: “That’s true.”

He suddenly recalled something.

Previously, when he used the Treasure Basin to enhance the Ninth-rank [Earth Mother Blood Elixir] and [Flying Immortal Elixir], there was no issue—they could be enhanced overnight.

But the [Qianyuan Golden Dipper], an Immortal artifact of the same rank, could not be enhanced in a single day.

It had taken a full year.

He Pingsheng had never understood this before, but now, after Red Luo Woman’s explanation, he finally grasped it.

“Huh…” Luo Bingyao turned, staring at a nearby blue stone tablet. “What’s that?”

“There seem to be inscriptions on the tablet!”

“But we don’t recognize these characters either!”

He Pingsheng frowned, his gaze settling on the inscriptions.

Indeed—he didn’t recognize them.

These characters were from the Immortal Realm.

“Senior, do you know what this is?” He Pingsheng turned to Red Luo Woman for clarification.

Red Luo said: “I don’t know myself, but based on this location and certain legends, some have speculated this tablet is the [Hua Xian Stele]… the inscriptions are likely the [Hua Xian Method].”

“The [Hua Xian Method]?” He Pingsheng was confused again.

Red Luo continued: “In our Spirit Realm, cultivators absorb low-grade cosmic energy—spiritual energy. But upon ascending to the Immortal Realm, their internal magic power fails to perfectly align with the external cosmic rules, rendering many techniques unusable!”

“Thus, the first step upon reaching the Immortal Realm is Hua Xian.”

“Hua Xian means transforming one’s true spirit energy into the Immortal Realm’s immortal spirit energy.”

“The [Hua Xian Method] inscribed on this stele is the technique for converting true spirit energy into immortal spirit energy.”

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