Chapter 1: Where Immortals Come From

The Daxuan Kingdom, Xuanjing, Grand Tutor's Mansion.

Holding a wine cup, Li Fan looked at the hall filled with civil and military officials who had come to wish him a happy birthday. Though he was already in his seventies, he couldn't help but feel a secret surge of pride.

Indeed, eight or nine out of ten of the imperial court's high-ranking officials were present in the Grand Tutor's Mansion today! What an impressive display of power!

Li Fan recalled that when he first transmigrated to this world, he was merely a poor scholar. Over fifty years, he rose from nothing to become the Grand Tutor, wielding immense power across the land. The story of his ascent could easily fill a multi-million-word novel.

What more could one ask for in life?

Li Fan stroked his beard and drained the fine wine in his cup.

"To the Grand Tutor's longevity!" the assembled officials cheered in unison.

Li Fan's pride swelled even further.

Just then, discordant shouts suddenly erupted from outside.

"Look! What is that?!""Fiery meteors falling from the sky – it's an auspicious sign, an omen of good fortune! Quick, go tell the Grand Tutor!""Why does it seem to be flying towards our Grand Tutor's Mansion?!"

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Fan furrowed his brow.

The previously lively main hall abruptly fell silent. Li Fan rose and was the first to step outside.

However, before he could scold his servants or express his displeasure, he was captivated by the sight in the sky. Far in the distance, two silver streaks of light, one behind the other, swiftly approached like meteors.

"This is..." Li Fan froze.

In the blink of an eye, the two streaks of light arrived above Xuanjing City, then suddenly stopped. Simultaneously, a voice, like thunder, descended from the sky, exploding in everyone's ears.

"Dao Xuanzi! You go too far!"

Everyone present was utterly astonished. Several even cried out "Immortal Master!" and prostrated themselves on the ground. Meanwhile, a word, deeply buried in Li Fan's memory and almost forgotten, suddenly sprang into his mind.

"Im... Immortals!" Li Fan froze, muttering to himself, "How is this possible..."

The two Immortals in the sky clearly paid no heed to the thoughts of the mortals below. Another voice was heard: "Kou Hong! Do you think I'll let you go just because you fled to this Immortal-Forbidden Land? Hand over the cultivation method you obtained that day, or I'll pursue you to the death!"

"Ridiculous! It's precisely because I lacked the Golden Core formation method that I've been stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage for nearly a hundred years, seeing my end approach, about to turn into withered bones. How could I hand over this Golden Core cultivation method to someone else after finally obtaining it!" Kou Hong snorted, his tone full of disdain.

"Indeed!" Dao Xuanzi sighed deeply. "The path to the Golden Core is for one, not two. Though there are many Golden Core formation methods in this world, there are even more cultivators stuck at the Foundation Establishment stage!" Dao Xuanzi's tone suddenly turned fierce: "Given this, with a method for longevity right before me, how could I possibly let you go? How could I *not* go too far?!"

Kou Hong laughed heartily: "It's just a fight! How laughable that we, brothers for a hundred years, now turn against each other for a glimmer of hope!"

Dao Xuanzi coldly sneered, not replying. But Kou Hong suddenly said: "I know I'm no match for you, and I probably won't escape today. However, with so many mortals here, I wonder if you can withstand such a high concentration of the Immortal-Mortal Blight!"

Dao Xuanzi's expression immediately changed: "Kou Hong! What are you trying to do?!" Kou Hong began to laugh maniacally: "Just seeking a glimmer of hope!"

Listening to the conversation between the two Immortals above, Li Fan felt a dreadful premonition. Yet, before he could react, he saw a crimson flame explode above Xuanjing City.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

A tremendous roar continuously erupted in Li Fan's ears, his vision instantly turning blood-red. Moments later, he lost consciousness.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Fan finally regained consciousness. Initially, he was disoriented. It took a while for him to recall what had happened.

Li Fan coughed, spitting out several mouthfuls of blood, then trembled as he pulled himself up and looked around. It was still night, and the once luxurious Grand Tutor's Mansion had been reduced to ruins. The air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt corpses.

The civil and military officials who had filled the court just moments before were all dismembered. Li Fan's wives and concubines, and his five sons, had also not been spared.

Li Fan's aged face was devoid of all expression. His gaze was vacant. After standing there for a long time, he dragged his weakened body out of the Grand Tutor's Mansion.

Xuanjing City, which had been incredibly prosperous and lively just moments before, had now clearly become a hell of blood and fire. As far as the eye could see, there were only shattered bodies and collapsed buildings. It was probable that fewer than one in a hundred of the common people survived this calamity.

All of this was because of the two "Immortal Masters" who had suddenly descended – two cultivators.

Li Fan lost all strength and slumped down haphazardly in a broken corner. His hearing had already been destroyed by the violent explosion. But it didn't matter anymore. At this moment, he only wanted to laugh.

How could there be Immortals in this world? From the moment he became an official, he had used his power to search for any traces of the immortal path. Once he became the Imperial Tutor, above all others, he had scoured the entire world! From the Ice Sea in the north to the Great Ocean in the south, from the Ruined Abyss in the east to the Linked Mountains in the west. There was not a single trace of an Immortal's existence in the entire Daxuan!

But today, decades later, when he was already on his deathbed, when he had completely given up hope, two Immortals descended from the sky and appeared before him, indiscriminately shattering everything he possessed.

Is this what an Immortal is? And where did Immortals come from?

His surging anger and unwillingness ultimately transformed into endless confusion.Heaven's will plays tricks on man!

At the same time, Li Fan felt incredibly fortunate. Fortunate that before his death, he finally confirmed the existence of Immortals! Otherwise, wouldn't he waste another fifty years if he started his next life without knowing?!

That's right! Li Fan, a mere mortal, rising from a humble scholar to the Imperial Tutor of the world, how could he have achieved this without reliance? This was also why he narrowly escaped death at the hands of an Immortal.

"Huan Zhen!"Li Fan silently chanted, and then, the surrounding scenery suddenly dimmed. It was as if a thick curtain of water separated him, making everything illusory and indistinct.

"When the true becomes false, the false also becomes true."Seven large characters lit up in the darkness, then abruptly scattered, forming a light screen.

"Charging complete.""Virtualize current scenario? Return to initial anchor point?"Two lines of small text appeared sequentially.

Simultaneously, a series of images appeared, rapidly filling the entire light screen. That was Li Fan's fifty years of life in this world.

Li Fan looked at himself in the various images, lost in thought for a long time. This was the name Li Fan had given to the exotic treasure he carried with him. It had only one function: to turn truth into falsehood, and reality into illusion!

"Turning reality into illusion" meant transforming everything Li Fan had truly experienced into a simulated, illusory experience, allowing Li Fan to return to his initially set anchor point, which was when he had first transmigrated to this world.

In fact, this was already Li Fan's second life. In his first life, although Li Fan had grand ambitions, he was just an ordinary person. He repeatedly failed imperial exams and finally gave up on the idea of studying and becoming an official after turning thirty. He started a small business, became an ordinary wealthy man, married, had children, and lived a mundane life. It was only when he was old and on the verge of death from illness that Huan Zhen finally awakened.

That's how Li Fan's rise to unstoppable power in his second life came about. It was just a pity that, as it seemed now, it had been used in the wrong place.

After pondering for a moment, Li Fan chose not to immediately end this life. He still had a few things to do first. Closing the light screen and returning to reality, Li Fan forced himself to gather his strength and deal with the aftermath of Xuanjing's severe damage by the Immortals.

After searching for some survivors, Li Fan, relying on his years of prestige, finally managed to slightly calm the people. Even though Li Fan couldn't hear, he could still find paper and pens. Although communication was difficult, it didn't prevent Li Fan's orders from being conveyed one after another.

First, Li Fan ordered his trusted Guards Battalion stationed outside the city to rush to Xuanjing City to maintain post-disaster order. Then he sent orders to surrounding cities to dispatch food supplies and officials to Xuanjing.

Most of Xuanjing's buildings were destroyed. After the Guards Battalion took control of Xuanjing, Li Fan simply stayed in the military camp to oversee the recovery efforts.

And with Li Fan's decrees, resources and personnel from surrounding cities continuously flowed into Xuanjing City.

A month later, the ruined Xuanjing City finally regained some semblance of life.

Once the Daxuan Kingdom had finally recovered from the Immortals' attack, Li Fan began to order various regions to collect intelligence about the two Immortals who had appeared that night. This included where they originally came from, where they went afterward, and whether they had any other conversations along the way.

Unfortunately, several months of investigation yielded nothing except the knowledge that these two cultivators seemed to have appeared from the direction of the Ruined Abyss in the east. The scenario Li Fan had hoped for – the two Immortals destroying each other – had not occurred.

"I shouldn't have expected such a thing in the first place," Li Fan sighed inwardly. "Since this is the case, there's nothing left for me to be nostalgic about in this life."

Standing in the newly constructed Grand Tutor's Mansion, Li Fan activated Huan Zhen once more.

"Virtualize current scenario? Return to initial anchor point?"

Li Fan no longer hesitated and chose yes.

On the light screen, countless vivid images simultaneously froze. Then, the strategies, the power, and the riches of this life shattered like a dream bubble, transforming into streaks of meteors that flew into Li Fan's mind.

Scene after scene flashed rapidly before Li Fan's eyes like a revolving lantern, finally settling on the image of the two Immortals confronting each other high above the Grand Tutor's Mansion.

"Dao Xuanzi, Kou Hong," Li Fan softly chanted their names. "Fifty years from now, I will still be waiting for you in Xuanjing City."

"Wealth and glory are mere fleeting clouds to me now." Li Fan's consciousness gradually blurred, but his will and goal became clearer and firmer than ever before.

"In the next life, I will capture Immortals!"

The light in his mind gradually faded, and Li Fan slowly fell into a deep sleep.