Chapter Twelve: Azure Sea Gate

Hua Ruoxue and Gu Zhenzhen followed Lan Yiyi and the others from the Bihai Sect to their headquarters on Bihai Star. Bihai Star was relatively close to the Celestial Fate Star, reachable through a series of five small teleportation arrays and three large ones. From the sky, Bihai Star appeared as a vast jade-green planet, almost entirely covered by ocean, with the Bihai Sect situated on its only landmass.

The land was circular and expansive, spanning some one hundred million square kilometers. It seemed carefully cultivated, protected beneath a faintly glowing barrier of defensive arrays. Within this shielded paradise, birds sang, fish swam, flowers bloomed fragrantly, cloud terraces and pavilions dotted the landscape, and mist lingered around the mountain peaks.

“A rare wonderland indeed!” Hua Ruoxue couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

“Don’t be modest. Our Bihai Wonderland is among the best in the entire Immortal Realm,” Lan Yiyi replied confidently.

“We’ve arrived. This will be your temporary residence. Settle in first. This jade slip contains an overview of the current state of the Immortal Realm,” Lan Yiyi said to the newcomers.

“Gu Xianyou, you should rest for a while before heading to the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect,” Lan Yiyi added, before departing with two assistants to handle formalities at the sect headquarters.

As night fell, three moons—large, medium, and small—rose slowly in a line above Bihai Star, accompanied by twinkling stars that lent the scene an ethereal beauty.

“I wonder which star Brother Tang is on now?” Hua Ruoxue murmured, gazing up at the sky from the small courtyard.

“It doesn’t matter. Brother Tang promised we would reunite someday. No need to rush. Let’s first study the jade slip, then I’ll call Hua Shaojie for real,” Gu Zhenzhen said, busy assembling a small signal base station that Tang Yifei had prepared before his ascension.

“Ha! Let’s see if this works. The Immortal Realm is so different from the cultivation world. Anyway, let’s focus on the jade slip first. The Immortal Realm is vast; who knows how long it will take,” Gu Zhenzhen said, clapping her hands.

Ten days later, Gu Zhenzhen had already left for the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect. On that day, the Bihai Sect held an assessment for new recruits—a comprehensive evaluation of their cultivation methods and abilities, to better tailor the transmission of personal Immortal techniques.

At the Bihai Sect’s training ground, new Immortals took turns demonstrating their powers. On the stands, Sect Leader Lan Qishan and several elders watched with smiles, nodding approvingly. Lan Yiyi stood quietly behind the leader.

“Not bad, Yiyi. The newcomers you’ve brought back are truly exceptional. Our sect’s overall strength is steadily improving,” Lan Qishan said with a smile to Lan Yiyi.

“Yes, this gives us more confidence in facing future challenges,” one elder nodded.

Future challenges? A flicker of doubt crossed Lan Yiyi’s mind just as an astonishing scene unfolded within the arena, leaving the spectators wide-eyed in disbelief.

The test involved a block of ten-thousand-year-old cold ice mystic iron from the depths of Bihai Star’s ocean—a material strong enough to withstand a full-force strike from a late-stage Earth Immortal. Yet now, the iron was riddled with holes.

Hua Ruoxue, currently a mid-stage Mortal Immortal and already one of the best among the newly ascended, had not yet broken into early Earth Immortal, but her attack power rivaled the lower threshold of a mid-stage Celestial Immortal’s, and she was using a Water-element technique, which emphasized softness. Even when transforming water into ice, its offensive power could not compare to the notoriously powerful Gold or Fire-element techniques. Hua Ruoxue’s talent was truly terrifying.

“Hua Ruoxue!” Lan Yiyi called instinctively.

“This girl is a once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigy,” Lan Qishan whispered. “We must devote all our efforts to cultivating her.”

“Yes!” the elders responded in unison.

It turned out that Hua Ruoxue had unleashed her full power during the test. A pale blue ice dragon formed around her, water streams swirling about her body. With a wave of her right hand, the ice dragon crashed into the ancient cold ice mystic iron, leaving it pockmarked.

In other words, Hua Ruoxue’s attack now rivaled that of a Celestial Immortal, despite her current realm being only mid-stage Mortal Immortal. She had leaped two major cultivation levels in one go—a testament to her extraordinary genius.

Inside the spaceship.

“Ah, forget it,” Duan Yu exclaimed. “I’m done playing this lousy Go game; I lose every round. I’ll just watch my movies instead—the entire Mission: Impossible series isn’t finished yet.” Saying so, he got up and walked away.

“Ah, the loneliness of a master…” Tang Yi sighed, reclining in his chair, idly playing with his fingers.

At that moment, the meditating Immortal Tianji opened his eyes. “How much longer until we reach the Immortal Realm?” he asked.

“Hm, soon. We’ve passed more than half of this spatial barrier after three years. Maybe another two years at most. It’s coming. Wait, why are you getting anxious now?” Tang Yi asked, puzzled.

Tianji said nothing and closed his eyes again.

“Tch, playing mysterious. I’ll try meditating too,” Tang Yi said, mimicking the pose. Soon enough, he slumped over in his chair, drooling in sleep—his meditation had turned into a nap.

The Demon-Trapped Star lay nearest to one of the Immortal Realm’s three great forbidden zones: the Polar Demon Abyss. The Polar Demon Abyss was actually a star region shaped roughly like a triangle, with two corners at the edges of the Immortal Realm and the third pointing directly at the Demon-Trapped Star. The star system of the Demon-Trapped Star formed the sword’s blade, with the star itself at the tip.

Over eighty million years ago, a great war erupted between the forces of good and evil in the Immortal Realm—the Immortal-Demon War. It lasted one hundred thousand years, ending with the victory of the Immortals. All demons were suppressed and confined within the Polar Demon Abyss star region.

Originally called the Immortal Cliff, this domain was famed for a special material known as Cliffstone, neither quite stone nor wood, prized as an excellent ingredient for forging Immortal artifacts. It could greatly enhance an artifact’s quality, but only if mined in sufficient quantities.

Because it was closest to the forbidden zone, all mid- and long-distance teleportation arrays in the Demon-Trapped Star system had been dismantled; the nearest array was in the neighboring Bright Moon star system. The teleportation arrays between Demon-Trapped Star and the Polar Demon Abyss had been thoroughly destroyed during the late stages of the Immortal-Demon War.

Even the fastest flying Immortal vessels took three days to travel from Bright Moon to Demon-Trapped Star. Despite this, Demon-Trapped Star remained bustling, thanks to the value of Cliffstone. The entire Polar Demon Abyss star region had other resources as well—though not all were top-tier, many held special worth.

The Demon-Trapped Star was a melting pot of all kinds, a place where many Immortals risked spending thousands of years aboard flying vessels to enter the Polar Demon Abyss in search of Cliffstone. Those fortunate enough could become overnight millionaires. Poverty was a crime in the Immortal Realm. Unless one was a godlike genius like Zhang Sanfeng, one had to rely on equipment to empower oneself.

As Tang Yi dozed, Zhang Sanfeng and two companions sailed steadily toward the Demon-Trapped Star system aboard a boat-shaped flying magic artifact.

“Master, this is the largest trading market on Demon-Trapped Star!” Two years later, Guan Zhiheng pointed to a massive building ahead.

No sooner had they entered the market than trouble found them—big trouble.