"Help me locate Chen Xu." After pondering for a moment, Zhang Chen decided he still needed to contact Chen Xu and ask him to check out the setup in Prince Pingbian’s Mansion within the Daoist Temple. The more he understood Prince Pingbian’s Mansion, the more he felt their power was not to be underestimated.
He naturally had the capital for pride, but he would never act recklessly.
The seed of the Great Freedom Celestial Demon had long been planted in Chen Xu’s heart. Upon hearing Zhang Chen’s words, the Great Freedom Celestial Demon sensed briefly and pointed southwest: "That boy is hiding in a cave seventy li away, busy with something unknown."
Hearing this, Zhang Chen transformed into a droplet of water that seeped into the soil, and within a dozen breaths, he was outside the Daoist Temple. Then he transformed into a vampire bat, flapping its wings, hovering in the void, gazing down. On the ground, three thousand armored warriors were energetically surrounding the Daoist Temple from all sides, preventing Zhang Chen from escaping from it.
"Prince Pingbian’s Mansion has really tried every trick in the book to trap me," Zhang Chen coldly smiled in the void, then disappeared into the forest.
When Zhang Chen found Chen Xu, he saw him sitting in a mountain hollow, holding a compass, calculating something mystically.
"Mr. Chen, what are you calculating?" Zhang Chen asked.
Zhang Chen walked without a sound. Hearing his voice, Chen Xu was so startled that he almost jumped up, nearly flinging the compass from his hand.
"Mr. Zhang, how come your walking makes no sound? People scaring people can lead to fatal fright." Chen Xu complained, his voice filled with horror.
"If you do nothing wrong, why fear anyone?" Zhang Chen squatted down, picked up the compass, and placed it in Chen Xu’s hand: "What are you calculating?"
"The Prince Pingbian’s ancestral tombs seem off! It’s like... like... it’s shrouded in a layer of mist; I can’t quite figure it out." Chen Xu cautiously wiped the compass and replied.
Zhang Chen naturally knew the Prince Pingbian’s ancestral tombs seemed off because an earth-shattering change was happening within Prince Pingbian’s ancestral vein.
"What have you figured out?" Zhang Chen asked, looking at Chen Xu with interest.
"I deduced an opportunity to become immortal from the fate of Prince Pingbian’s Mansion. I’m starting to doubt life now; how can there really be immortals in this world? Could it be that I’ve lost my mind lately, to actually deduce such an absurd result?" Chen Xu fiddled with the compass, grumbling discontentedly.
However, as Chen Xu complained, the teasing expression on Zhang Chen’s face disappeared, and his entire demeanor became serious. Thinking of the Ascension Pool mentioned by the Great Freedom Celestial Demon, linking it with Chen Xu’s talk of an opportunity to become immortal, then considering his own qi cultivation and the name "Ascension Pool," Zhang Chen suddenly had an epiphany: "Ascension Pool, Ascension Pool, could it be that after achieving qi cultivation immortality, one must cleanse the body in the Ascension Pool to transform into an immortal body?"
Thinking of this, Zhang Chen’s thoughts expanded, leading to more conjectures and confusions: "If the Ascension Pool is as I speculate, then what do the thirty-three layers of the Spiritual World truly represent? Could the Thirty-Three Heavens really be the legendary Immortal Realm? Otherwise, how would there be such incredible legends and existences as the Jasper Pool and Li Spring, Peaches of Immortality, and Nine Revolutions Golden Pill?"
Zhang Chen’s gaze was filled with bewilderment: "Could the so-called thirty-three layers of the Spiritual World truly be the legendary Immortal Realm?"
Thinking of this, Zhang Chen suddenly felt invigorated. In that case, he would have to go to the Second Heaven. He might as well make another trip to the legendary Thirty-Three Heavens. If the thirty-three layers of the Spiritual World were truly the legendary Immortal Realm, and his soul could reach there directly, wouldn’t he profit immensely?
Zhang Chen’s heart pounded wildly, and a decision formed in his mind: "After returning, I’ll explore the Second Heaven to see what difference exists between the Second and First Heaven and whether I can find any clues about ’immortality.’"
While Zhang Chen was daydreaming, Chen Xu turned to look at him: "Your heartbeat is erratic. Why did it suddenly speed up so much? Are you excited about the news of becoming immortal?"
Chen Xu’s gaze was filled with the bizarre: "You mustn’t get too excited. We can be considered people of the Mysterious Realm now. Immortality has been a delusion since ancient times. The result I deduced is merely an error, and there must be an issue somewhere, which is why I keep getting miscalculations."
Zhang Chen paid no mind to Chen Xu’s discouragement and calmly said: "Becoming immortal and undying might not be a fantasy, or else how would the Ancient Gods and Demons exist? How would such Yang God-level beings capable of destroying the world exist? To those ordinary folks, our mastery of mysterious powers is also nearly beyond imagination, isn’t it?"
Hearing Zhang Chen’s words, Chen Xu scratched his head: "Are you being serious?"
Zhang Chen smiled without a word, just looking at Chen Xu, who gradually became solemn, lowered his head, and silently stared at the compass in his hand.
"Tell me about the opportunity to become immortal." Zhang Chen said.
Chen Xu fiddled with the compass and after some calculations, replied: "I don’t know the rest. I only know that three months from now, there will be an opportunity for the Immortal Dao, located at the ancestral tombs of Prince Pingbian’s Mansion. I can’t deduce any more details."
"Three months from now?" Zhang Chen mused: "Could there be something major occurring at Prince Pingbian’s Mansion three months from now?"
"For Prince Pingbian’s Mansion, the biggest event would be Zhang Shicheng’s transformation into a dragon. Could it be that Zhang Shicheng will walk as a flood dragon three months from now?" Zhang Chen had an inkling: "Three months from now should be spring, right? As spring thunder awakens all, by then, on the second of February when the earth dragon raises its head, wouldn’t it be the best time for transforming into a dragon?"
Thoughts whirled in Zhang Chen’s mind, furiously deducing the underlying keys. After a while, a thought flashed in his mind: "Maybe it’s true! Three months later is just the end of January, nearing the second of February when the dragon raises its head seasonally. When Prince Pingbian, Zhang Shicheng, uses the earth vein to raise his head as a dragon, his success rate should at least improve by half."
At this moment, a sense of urgency suddenly rose in Zhang Chen’s heart, as Zhang Shicheng was about to walk as a flood dragon three months later, and he hadn’t made preparations yet. Would it affect the sacrificial refining of his God-Beating Whip? Had his God-Beating Whip been completed? Would it be impacted?
"What is Mr. Zhang thinking about?" Chen Xu asked.
"I’m thinking that the opportunity for immortality you mentioned three months from now might actually be true." Zhang Chen said, his words almost making Chen Xu’s jaw drop. Of course, Zhang Chen wasn’t spouting nonsense. If Zhang Shicheng truly walked as a flood dragon on the second of February, it would definitely conceal the aura of the Ascension Pool, and even the great formation that the Ascension Pool carried would be affected. After three months of qi mechanism leakage and further influence from the earth vein, that great formation might be directly broken.
Didn’t the Great Freedom Celestial Demon say that if one could jump into the Ascension Pool to cleanse the body, there would be unimaginable benefits and creation?
Linking all these clues together, Zhang Chen’s thoughts grew clearer and clearer.
At this time, upon hearing Zhang Chen’s words, Chen Xu almost dropped his jaw: "Mr. Zhang, are you serious? Is there really an opportunity for immortality in this world?"
The concept of an immortal had always been elusive. It was known that it wasn’t as if the major families hadn’t extracted immortal cultivation and qi cultivation mantras from ancient texts, but what of it? It wasn’t cultivatable, was it?
"We’ll naturally find out three months from now." Zhang Chen replied.
Hearing this, Chen Xu clenched his fists tightly, his gaze fiery — that was an opportunity to become immortal!
"Let’s not talk about becoming immortal for now; I have something I need you to handle." Zhang Chen looked at Chen Xu with a smile, increasingly feeling that saving Chen Xu was the best investment.
"Please instruct me, Mr. Zhang. I will definitely comply." Chen Xu promptly replied with respect.