CHAPTER 165: IMMORTAL STIRRING

At 10:00 PM, Mu Wanxuan slowly sat up while rubbing her long hair. Wang Sheng, who was nearby refining his flying sword, immediately opened his eyes.

"Senior Sister?"

Although the light in the room was off, they were both at the Illusory Core Realm. They could see in the dark without any problems.

Mu Wanxuan yawned groggily. "Food..."

Wang Sheng instantly grinned. "It's all ready. We're just waiting to eat."

"Woah!" Mu Wanxuan immediately perked up. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds as she sprang to her feet. Since she had already been halfway done preparing the New Year's Eve dinner earlier, she was well aware of what a feast it was.

"Get dressed first, Senior Sister."

Mu Wanxuan blinked and quickly turned around. She then beckoned her sweater to her with a wave, swiftly slipping it on.

As Wang Sheng got up and turned on the room lights, Mu Wanxuan combed her smooth, long hair with her fingers. For cultivators, tending to long hair was quite simple. Since their true essence nourished it, it remained dark and silky.

Once she had tidied up, Wang Sheng opened the door. A mix of delicious food aromas and incense wafted in.

As they stepped out, Mu Wanxuan turned left, heading straight for the table filled with freshly reheated dishes. Wang Sheng turned right and looked at the living room.

His father had already hung the two-meter-wide Divine Position Diagram[1], set up an altar, lit two candles, and laid out an incense burner and a lavish spread of offerings. In front of the image, he had also placed photos of their deceased grandparents and great-grandparents.

This spirit tablet image, which had become widely circulated in the past two years, was rather fascinating. The deities depicted on it resembled an orthodox Daoist pantheon[2], but it also appeared to have a blend of various folk legends.

The composition ran from the Lingxiao Temple to the Southern Heavenly Gate. Drawn with only a few strokes at the top were three elderly immortals—the Three Pure Ones. They sat above the Lingxiao Temple, amid clouds and mist. Though rendered in just a few brushstrokes, the reverence of the artist came through clearly.

They dared not overly depict them with mortal ink.

Below the Three Pure Ones, behind the Lingxiao Hall, were several figures. On either side of the hall were dozens more. Some were celestial maidens, while others were heavenly generals. However, most were veiled in clouds, their features obscured.

The most detailed part of the composition was the Lingxiao Hall itself. Pillars of cloud swirled within, and seated inside was the Heavenly Emperor of folk worship. The stern-looking imperial figure's image was the largest and most prominent. Thanks to Journey to the West

, he closely resembled how the Jade Emperor was commonly portrayed on television.

Beside him was a title that read "Jade Emperor."

Next to him was a regal goddess sitting on a seven-colored throne—another famous being in folk mythology. Her title read "Queen Mother of the West."

Beneath the Heavenly Emperor were four deities dressed in imperial robes: the Purple Tenuity Emperor[3], Longevity Emperor, Gouchen Emperor, and Houtu Earthly Sovereign. Together, they were famously known as the Four Sovereigns. Their images were about half the size of the Heavenly Emperor's.

Below them were the Five Regional Emperors: the Azure Emperor of the East, Vermilion Emperor of the South, Yellow Emperor of the Center, White Emperor of the West, and Black Emperor of the North. The Four Sovereigns and Five Emperors ranked among the highest in the celestial hierarchy, second only to the Heavenly Emperor. Hence, they were depicted prominently.

Beneath them were several rows of deities: the Four Celestial Masters, the True Lords of the Five Elements, the Seven Lords of the Northern Dipper, and the Six Lords of the Southern Dipper. They were followed by the Twenty-Eight Constellations, the Eight Immortals, and countless tiny celestial soldiers and generals.

The higher one's status, the larger their image. It reflected the level of incense offerings they received.

Their Forefather Master was one of the Eight Immortals. Since the Eight Immortals were considered wandering immortals in myth—officially registered in the celestial court but rarely present—their placement on the image was not especially prominent.

Below the Southern Heavenly Gate was another section.

Wang Sheng stepped back and looked down. Beneath the gate, swirling clouds surrounded a modest area that depicted the deities of the underworld.

Wang Sheng stared for a while with his hands behind his back. As a disciple of the Dao, he had to pay respects to the Three Pure Ones, and even more so to the forefathers—even if their image was just a speck up there...

Seeing the incense burning low, Wang Sheng took three sticks and lit them over the candle. He then bowed respectfully with a Daoist salute and placed them into the incense burner.

His father chuckled. "Just offering incense won't do. You have to kowtow. Otherwise, it won't work."

Wang Sheng nodded. He might as well kowtow to the Three Pure Ones and the countless deities. Maybe one day, after ascending to immortality, he'd receive a red envelope from one of them.

He knelt and kowtowed three times. Three for the gods, four for the ghosts—as was the custom. Just as he looked up to rise, his spiritual consciousness caught something strange.

Frowning, he stood and stared at the Divine Position Diagram. His gaze followed the curling strands of white smoke, through which he thought he glimpsed a celestial palace. However, when he focused, it was still just a mass-produced print.

Was it truly imbued with spirit?

Perhaps so. The path of cultivation had now been opened. These deities, who had once passed down the Dao, likely existed in some form.

They could be the first to pioneer the cultivation path and ascend to immortality as humans, but they could also be inherently transcendent beings who had descended to Earth to enlighten the ancients. Either way, they had to have once walked this world.

Wang Sheng turned his head toward the three already digging into the meal and smiled helplessly. They did not even wait for him.

"Senior Sister, come pay your respects too. Our forefather is up there."

"Oh!

" Mu Wanxuan reluctantly left the table and padded over in her slippers. With practiced ease, she kowtowed three times before the spirit tablet.

Still staring at the image, Wang Sheng concentrated on sensing whether the so-called power of incense truly existed. Yet now, what he sensed shook him to the core and left him drenched in cold sweat.

When Mu Wanxuan kowtowed, a faint ripple of spiritual consciousness drifted within the curling white smoke. It was subtle but undeniably present, and it seemed to carry her heartfelt wish.

Though extremely weak, it had to be the so-called power of incense.

Wang Sheng was about to focus more intently on it when he suddenly saw something strange. In the mist beside the Lingxiao Hall, a sketchily drawn figure labeled "Nameless Female Immortal" seemed to come to life. Her eyes, formed with only two simple brushstrokes, appeared to shine with awareness and gaze directly at him and his senior sister.

Wang Sheng felt a chill race down his spine, making his hairs stand on end. He instinctively grabbed his senior sister's arm and pulled her behind him protectively.

However, the next moment, everything returned to normal as if what he had just seen was an illusion. Wang Sheng's fingers trembled slightly as he stared at the Divine Position Diagram. It was still hanging there quietly, and the image of the unnamed female immortal now looked completely ordinary.

The white smoke curled upward as before, gently pulled away by the exhaust fan nearby. There was not the slightest disturbance.

"Mm?"

A small hand reached over and touched Wang Sheng's forehead. He turned to look at his senior sister and smiled, though his brow soon furrowed again as he stared at that female immortal in the image.

The more he looked, the more familiar she seemed, though he couldn't quite place where he had seen her before.

"Dad, where did you get this Divine Position Diagram?"

"A coworker at the office got a bunch wholesale. It only cost a few dozen yuan," his father replied, then chuckled. "Come on, let's eat first. It's New Year's Eve. You can study it later."

Mu Wanxuan pulled Wang Sheng over to the dining table and pressed him into his seat. The New Year's Eve dinner was the true centerpiece of the night. Everything else could wait.

Wang Sheng slipped back into the living room for a moment, snapped a photo of the Divine Position Diagram with his phone, and ran a quick online search. Failing to find anything useful, he sent the picture to Mou Yue.

Before long, Mou Yue replied to him.

Mou Yue: Big holiday like this and you can't even say Happy New Year, Dao Master Wang?

Wang Sheng: Happy New Year.

Mou Yue: Pfft. Happy New Year to you, too. Anyway, what's up? This image has been really popular over the last year or two. I think I've heard someone mention it. Is there something wrong with it?

Wang Sheng swiftly revealed his main concern.

Wang Sheng: Try to find out who's promoting this Divine Position Diagram. I don't fully understand the power of incense, but it definitely exists. Just make sure corrupt cultivators aren't exploiting it.

A few minutes later, Mou Yue sent another message. First came an awkward emoji, followed by a short explanation.

According to her, the government was the one who promoted the Divine Position Diagram. Otherwise, it wouldn't have spread across the Hua Republic so quickly over the past two years. She didn't go into detail, only mentioning that it seemed to be for some kind of research.

Research? Does that mean it came from the Cultivation Research Institute? That group of top scholars had already begun studying the power of incense?

Wang Sheng sighed in relief. As long as it wasn't the work of corrupt cultivators, it was fine.

Sensing the stern gaze of his father from the side, Wang Sheng hurriedly set his phone down, picked up his drink, and raised it with a grin.

"Happy New Year!"

His parents and senior sister raised their glasses in unison. His parents called out "happy new year," while his senior sister simply said "happy," pretending to blend in.

Wang Sheng blinked. "Mom, are you allowed to drink carbonated beverages?"

His young-at-heart mother laughed sheepishly. "Just a little. A small sip."

"It's New Year's. Your mom's not a prisoner. Why wouldn't she be allowed to drink soda?" his father asked in a gruffy, lecturing tone.

Wang Sheng quickly lowered his head and focused on eating.

The family hierarchy was quite evident.

***

At that same moment, several hundred meters under a remote mountainous region at the heart of the Hua Republic.

A few minutes earlier, sharp alarms had suddenly echoed through the headquarters of the Cultivation Research Institute. Now, a group of middle-aged and elderly researchers in white coats was rushing excitedly toward the lowest level of the institute.

At the center of the underground floor was a tall isolation chamber surrounded by a wide array of precision instruments. Inside it, the lunar corpse, which had lain still for years, had suddenly begun to change. Her long hair floated around her as she slowly rose into the air once more.

Faint cracks were beginning to spread across the isolation chamber, which was designed to completely block out primal qi. Gusts of wind were converging on the chamber from all directions, pressing against it with increasing force.

In the gathering crowd, an elderly man in a wheelchair shouted, "She's waking up again! Open the chamber now! Don't trap her. Give her a path out!"

"Deputy Director, the Aerial Containment Team isn't in position yet. What if she escapes? Who's going to be responsible?" someone immediately objected.

"We won't be able to contain her..."

The old man had barely finished speaking when the isolation chamber shattered. Streams of primal qi surged inward, and multicolored celestial light burst into view around the suspended female figure.

1. A ritual diagram or altar display used in ancestral and deity worship ☜

2. Daoist pantheon refers to the vast and complex hierarchy of gods, spirits, and deities within Daoism. ☜

3. also known as Ziwei Emperor ☜