Vol 7 Chapter 16: The True Mandated One

In this cultivation world, the strongest faction was the sect where the Dragon Tiger Mountain Taoist Zhu Yan belonged.

The last time Lin Jing discovered him, the other party was still cultivating diligently.

But when Lin Jing returned after more than a thousand years, he found that Zhu Yan had disappeared.

Moreover, it wasn't through ascension, nor had he left this realm for other domains.

Within his sect stood a memorial stele, carved with Zhu Yan's name, indicating that he had already passed away.

Lin Jing immediately felt a headache coming on—this Taoist, as an Earth transmigrator, was a crucial link in his search for Earth's ascension path.

If it were anyone else, they might not cooperate well with him.

Moreover, this ascension path was currently very important,

because as Earth's rules became more complete, he discovered that the treasure seized from the Evil Moon Demon General, which allowed illegal crossing to Earth, could no longer be used, since the Ancient Immortal Realm was no longer the broken, leaky place it once was.

In other words, if he and his pet beasts wanted to go to Earth, they could only take the ascension route from now on.

"This shouldn't be."

"Although he wasn't the strongest in the lower realm, he shouldn't have died so easily either."

Lin Jing's divine consciousness enveloped the entire cultivation world, indeed finding no trace of the other party. He couldn't help but descend near this memorial stele...

"Tracing cause from effect."

With a single wave of his hand, time power reversed its flow, and the surrounding environment immediately became illusory, as if he himself had stepped into another spacetime.

Time power.

After Lin Jing obtained the Reincarnation Immortal Body, although he hadn't undergone reincarnation yet, aside from specific abilities, this Reincarnation Immortal Body also provided some enhancement to the Time Dao. Even though Lin Jing hadn't cultivated the Time Dao much over the years, his comprehension of it had grown increasingly profound.

Through time backtracking, Lin Jing saw one day when Zhu Yan suddenly left this planet, then returned after an unknown period, covered in wounds.

After using his last strength to return to this realm, he died not long after, ultimately buried here by his sect.

"What did he encounter?" Lin Jing was puzzled. To fully understand such matters, mere Time Dao supernatural powers were helpless.

It seemed he still had to...

He directly sat cross-legged on the spot, quietly waiting. Several years later, a turtle descended from beyond the heavens.

Divine Scripture.

People often came here to pay respects, indicating that Zhu Yan was also a patriarch-level figure in this cultivation world, possessing some faith, which met the Divine Scripture's resurrection criteria.

Soon, Zhu Yan's projection slowly appeared before Lin Jing.

Opening his eyes and seeing Lin Jing, Zhu Yan directly showed a confused and mistaken expression.

"Why didn't you come find me, and even secretly died on your own?"

Lin Jing inquired. When the other party left Earth, Lin Jing had promised that he could come seek him out, and Lin Jing would compensate for his loss of Heaven's Mandate. Yet, this guy never came before dying.

"The struggle for Heaven's Mandate naturally goes to the stronger;

I lost it because my skills were inferior," Zhu Yan said with nonchalance.

"After the ascension path reopened, you didn't choose to ascend either?"

"No." Zhu Yan shook his head: "I have no interest in ascension. Even if I were to ascend, I'd hope to ascend to the Ancient Immortal Realm, not the current Immortal Realm."

Lin Jing nodded, just as he had anticipated—people who transmigrated from Earth all had no interest in ascending to the current Immortal Realm.

This was also because Earth transmigrators hadn't received the cultivation world's conceptual influence since childhood;

ascending to become immortals wasn't a pursuit carved deep into their bloodline.

"Fellow Daoist manifested me in this form, probably wanting to know how I died, right?"

"Correct."

Zhu Yan gave a bitter smile and said: "When I transmigrated back, I was thinking if there was any method to quickly become stronger. Soon, I thought of the Ancient Immortal Realm."

"Since Fellow Daoist could obtain Heaven's Mandate from Earth, one of the Four Great Immortal Realms, what about the other two ancient immortal realms that also experienced spiritual energy decline? Might they also have some opportunities?"

"Therefore, when the Emperor's envoy sent me back, I once asked it about the current state of the other two ancient immortal realms."

"The other two ancient immortal realms are still in a dormant state, unable to even produce Qi Refining Stage cultivators, with environments even more harsh than Earth's. Even living beings are extremely rare."

"And then?" Lin Jing became interested.

"I don't know whether to call myself lucky or unlucky, but I actually... investigated some things out." Zhu Yan said: "I found a place—a dao field left in the lower realm by an Immortal Emperor."

"Just like Earth, the other two ancient immortal realms also had Immortal Emperors who brought groups of people across realms to seek new cultivation lands, passing through the cultivation world. Among them, one Immortal Emperor, for unknown reasons, failed to successfully cross realms himself, instead passing away in the lower realm and leaving behind a dao field that constantly moves and drifts through the star realm."

Lin Jing understood and said: "You suffered heavy injuries in that dao field."

Zhu Yan sighed: "Correct. I originally thought that even if I couldn't obtain the Immortal Emperor's inheritance, I might still obtain an immortal artifact that could change destiny, like the Fishing Elder. But I was still too naive. The Immortal Emperor's will still remained within the dao field, and it had a strong attacking consciousness. Before I could even explore, I was... severely injured by that foreign Immortal Emperor's will in one strike."

"After finding a random place to recuperate from my injuries for a while, I quickly returned, no longer thinking about it. But who knew that the Emperor's injury was fundamentally difficult to reverse? Not long after, my injuries recurred and I died."

"So that's how it was." Lin Jing said regretfully: "In a certain sense, being able to discover this dao field, Brother Zhu, you could be considered quite fortunate. You just lacked sufficient strength."

"That it didn't kill you with one strike shows that will was already very weak. What a pity."

"Don't rub salt in the wound." Zhu Yan also wished he had been stronger.

"Then, Fellow Daoist, would you like to be resurrected?" Lin Jing asked.

"Huh???" Zhu Yan was stunned and said: "Resurrected?"

Lin Jing nodded: "The projection manifested by the 'Divine Scripture' can reshape a body under certain conditions, but the conditions are quite demanding. And even if resurrected, you might lose your original power and have to start over from scratch."

The First Ancient Emperor had actually been revived like that in many places, and had also ascended away.

Although the conditions were extremely demanding, as the current Upper Realm Supreme, I could still meet these conditions.

Zhu Yan smiled: "Let's talk about that after successfully resurrecting first. You just want to discuss ascending to Earth with me, and also, matters related to that Immortal Emperor's dao field..."

"I'll tell Brother Lin everything, but this dao field is constantly moving, making its location difficult to find."

"No need to tell me, tell it instead." Lin Jing pointed at the Mechanized Turtle and said: "It has plenty of time, let it search for it itself."

The Mechanized Turtle revealed a sharp expression, scrutinizing Zhu Yan.

This kid has some skills.

It had wandered for so long, at most discovering a True Immortal-level relic, yet this guy discovered an Immortal Emperor's dao field?

Truly worthy of being the original Mandated One. Must find a way to drain dry his Personal Fortune.