Chapter 79: Immortal Immortal

Fortunately, Chi Xulong and his lot were old hands at this game; they weren't about to spill the secrets of the demonic cult just because they had been locked up, otherwise Branch Master Chu would have to consider silencing them permanently.

Branch Master Chu dispatched someone with a message, summoning the trio of Lu Yang to the Yanjiang Branch to formally conduct their initiation ritual.

As for that bunch of brainless fools, they could first be kept in the great prison for ten days to sober their minds.

Branch Master Chu sat indolently upon a jade chair, lifting his eyes to glance at the three individuals standing before him, and offered his approval: "Your barbecue shop idea is quite good, keep it up, this is a channel through which we can establish contact with the official constables."

Branch Master Chu dismissed the attendants; these servants were merely entry-level cult members who had not undergone the true trials and were unqualified to know the deeper secrets of the cult.

"Let us go, I shall take you to pay homage to the Immortal Immortal."

Branch Master Chu led the three toward another floating stone, where the architecture atop it was of an unknown era, having already collapsed under the erosion of time, and the sourceless light appeared dull and oppressive, giving one a heavy sense of walking through history as they strode amidst the complex.

Even one as erudite as Meng Jingzhou could not distinguish which era these buildings belonged to.

This was absolutely not an architectural style from the hundred-thousand-year span of the Great Xia!

Meng Jingzhou was secretly alarmed; these structures had a history of at least a hundred thousand years!

"Could it be the Dayu Dynasty?"

According to historical records, the last emperor of the Dayu Dynasty was boundlessly debauched, causing the dynasty to fracture and collapse into grand chaos across the world, whereupon the ancestors of the Meng family and the ancestors of the Xia Emperor rose in rebellion to contend for the Central Plains.

The Dao Seeking Sect was established twelve hundred thousand years ago, which was precisely during the Dayu Dynasty, though at that time the Dayu Dynasty was in its absolute prime, its position unshakable by anyone.

At the very end of the architectural complex stood a statue roughly four meters high, its appearance identical to what they had seen at Qin Yuanhao’s home, with blurred facial features and clad in a long robe, rendering its gender indistinguishable; it was none other than the Immortal Immortal.

Branch Master Chu held high three lit sticks of incense, bowing deeply to the Immortal Immortal, then turned to speak to the three: "Meditate for half an hour to dispel the stray thoughts in your hearts."

These three sticks of incense were no ordinary items; upon smelling the fragrance, their restless hearts actually calmed down gradually.

Dispelling stray thoughts from the mind was a basic skill for the three of them, and seeing how quickly they settled their minds, Branch Master Chu nodded slightly.

Even with the assistance of precious incense, this speed was remarkably fast; most cultivators of the demonic path were impetuous, refining their bodies but not their minds, making these three truly rare finds.

Presumably, they had obtained some stroke of fortune somewhere.

If he had known they possessed a fortuitous opportunity in the past, Branch Master Chu would have tried every means to get his hands on it, but these three were different—they were objects of the Cult Leader’s focused attention, and he lacked the courage to make a move.

Half an hour later, the three awoke and followed Branch Master Chu's instructions, paying homage to the Immortal Immortal step by step according to the protocol.

Once the tedious steps concluded, the three officially became members of the Immortal Cult.

With his hands behind his back, Branch Master Chu said: "Before entering this cult, you perhaps only knew that we were the Immortal Cult and that we worshipped the Immortal Immortal, and that becoming a member could extend your lifespan; as for what the Immortal Immortal truly is, you ought to know very little."

The three nodded; they could be said to know nothing at all about the Immortal Immortal, who was the only immortal they had ever heard of.

Branch Master Chu spoke in a reverent tone: "The Immortal Immortal, his very existence is a taboo, possessing a lifespan equal to heaven and earth, witnessing the rises and falls of the mortal world; even if his physical body is destroyed, his immortal soul decayed, and his last speck of spiritual light worn away in the red dust, so long as someone still remembers him, he can resurrect on the spot, living eternally without decay!"

The hearts of Lu Yang and the other two shook, uncertain how much of Branch Master Chu's words were true and how much were false.

As long as someone still remembered the existence of the Immortal Immortal, the Immortal Immortal would be undying and imperishable; such a thing had never even occurred in myths and legends!

With such divine wondrousness, it was entirely fitting to call him an "Immortal."

They heard Branch Master Chu continue: "His Old Seniority attained immortality and verified his Dao in the ancient era, knowing the secrets of myriad eons and mastering a power far beyond what we ordinary mortals can contend against."

"Now that the great ancient era has arrived, the old monsters buried within the barren mountains and vast wilds are crawling out of their coffins; if one wishes to preserve their life and property in this great era, the only way is to resurrect the Immortal Immortal to protect us!"

Lu Yang hesitated for a moment and asked: "Then how are we to resurrect the Immortal Immortal?"

"The Immortal Immortal verified his Dao through war and became an immortal through slaughter, favoring bloodshed above all else; we must stir up bloody disasters and warfare in this world, using the deaths of hundreds of millions of the human race to please the Immortal Immortal—this is but the first step, and the subsequent steps are not for those of your rank to know."

"The deaths of hundreds of millions of the human race?!" Meng Jingzhou was greatly shocked; just how many people would have to die, a landscape littered with corpses would fail to describe it!

"Is it a lot? It is not a lot at all." Branch Master Chu shook his head; most people had a similar reaction when they learned of this figure, but calming down to think about it, the Central Continent was boundlessly vast, and while hundreds of millions seemed like a lot, when spread out evenly, it was merely one death out of several thousand people.

"Do you know how many people are worked to death by life each year, how many commit suicide because they are driven to a dead end by unbearable pressure, how many die of illness each year, how many die from the treatments of quack doctors each year, and how many ownerless corpses the Great Xia Dynasty discovers each year?"

Branch Master Chu sneered: "Do you know? Of course you don't know, because the Great Xia Dynasty simply doesn't dare to publish the real data!"

"If we do not resurrect the Immortal Immortal, who will protect the grand Central Continent? When the old monsters wake up one after another, the dead will be far more than just this small amount of people."

"Is the ancient great era truly that terrifying?" Lu Yang felt a chill down to his bones as he listened.

Branch Master Chu said nothing more, gesturing for the three to follow him.

Bypassing the statue of the Immortal Immortal, Branch Master Chu led them through a stretch of ruins, speaking as he walked: "This ruin has been handed down from the ancient era, becoming decayed and dilapidated under the erosion of time; ten thousand years ago, the Cult Founder accidentally discovered this ruin and learned of the Immortal Immortal's existence here."

"The existence of the Immortal Immortal is too distant in the world, and the people of the world have all forgotten the immortal who once guarded the world. It was the Cult Founder who allowed the Immortal Immortal to reappear in the world!"

"The Cult Founder replicated the ruins and preserved them at various strongholds, and this place is one of them, already possessing a history of ten thousand years."

Meng Jingzhou thought to himself that it was actually a replica of an ancient ruin, no wonder he couldn't tell; only legends had been handed down from the ancient era to the present day, with extremely few physical things surviving.

Branch Master Chu stopped his steps before a stone wall: "It is right here, this is a scene of sacrifice from the ancient era."

What first entered their sight was the Immortal Immortal on the stone wall with arms spread wide, holding countless spheres in his embrace; the spheres varied in size, and some spheres had a ring-like object around them, though it was unclear what it was.

Upon each sphere knelt a tiny human figure, holding high offerings to present to the Immortal Immortal.

"What are these spheres, and why are people standing on them?" Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu were bewildered, finding it utterly incomprehensible.

When Lu Yang saw the mural, his pupils contracted slightly; these spheres looked exactly like the planets of his previous life, and the ring-like objects around the spheres were meteorite dust.

Branch Master Chu spoke slowly: "These are called planets; in the ancient era, there was no Central Continent, and no matter the race, everyone lived on planets."

"At the end of the ancient era, an unknowable existence refined all the planets, turning them into the Central Continent of today!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all three were struck with shock!