The Nine Provinces Realm-Guarding Grand Formation was a concept born long ago from the minds of Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu. Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons came from worlds beyond this one, and the place of their appearance was always random.
Although Jiang Li could easily defeat them, before doing so he still needed to know where they would appear, and then rush to the landing point. In the time it took for him to arrive, those demons could already wreak havoc across a vast region, leaving behind millions of corpses.
To reduce casualties and buy time, the Nine Provinces Realm-Guarding Grand Formation was conceived. In their blueprint, this great array would envelop the entire Nine Provinces. Whenever an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon arrived here, it would take the creature an entire quarter-hour to break through the formation.
During that brief period, Jiang Li would receive notice of the demon’s descent, hurry to the breach, and slay the intruder. But this array faced two great difficulties. The first was maintenance.
Keeping such a vast grand formation running demanded an unimaginable amount of spiritual energy. To solve this, Jiang Li gathered the Six Great Sects and the Nine Great Imperial Dynasties.
He required them to take turns supplying six cultivators of the Union Stage, while the Human Emperor Palace provided two more, making eight in total, constantly transporting spiritual energy to sustain the formation. Do not underestimate the Six Great Sects and the Nine Dynasties.
Though they were mighty pillars of the Nine Provinces, only the Red Dust Pure Land’s Sect-Protecting Formation could truly withstand the might of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon. All other forces were helpless before them. None wished to perish at the hands of a suddenly manifesting fiend, so they all agreed to Jiang Li’s plan.
The second difficulty lay in the design itself. Never before had any formation encompassed all of the Nine Provinces. It wasn’t a simple matter of magnifying an existing formation; one had to consider terrain, transmission of spiritual power, relay nodes, and other conditions.
The complexity was astonishing. Even if a Union Stage cultivator were to take charge of the design, he would have to pour out all his heart and soul. For that reason, Bai Hongtu began formal design work only after attaining the Tribulation Transcendence Stage.
“To use an Immortal Artifact as the Formation Core?”
Jiang Li’s eyes flickered slightly. Though he had not known beforehand, he was not surprised. Such an enormous formation carried monumental karmic weight.
Naturally, only a treasure capable of shouldering such cause and effect could serve as its core.
“Yes,” Bai Hongtu answered.
“I consulted Ancestor Changcun. The old man said that the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal communicates directly with Heaven and Earth. It bears the power to enlighten and awaken—most suitable as the core of a formation.”
“Is Immortal Elder Changcun well?”
Jiang Li nodded slightly.
“Perfectly well,” Bai Hongtu chuckled.
“Judging from the old ancestor’s spirit, I suspect even if I die of old age, he will still be alive. Do you want to see him?”
“I have some questions for him.”
“May I join as well?” asked Holy Maiden Jing Xin, pointing at herself.
She had heard of Immortal Elder Changcun’s name for as long as she could remember, yet she had never seen the old man in person.
“Of course,” Bai Hongtu smiled.
“Ancestor Changcun enjoys lively company. The more visitors, the happier he is.”
“I still need to prepare for the Immortal Artifact Appreciation Assembly. You two go on ahead; he’s still in the Sealed Abode Cave.”
After saying this, Bai Hongtu departed in haste. Dong Zhongren had heard from Wang Bian that Jiang Li already knew about his past deeds. Feeling too embarrassed to linger, he fled swiftly from the scene.
The Enlightenment-Stopping Buddha Child was deeply intrigued by the upcoming Immortal Artifact Appreciation Assembly. Though it had yet to begin, many cultivators had already arrived to display their weapons. Bidding farewell to Jiang Li and Holy Maiden Jing Xin, he wandered off gleefully to look around. …
“Is Immortal Elder Changcun truly the oldest person in all of the Nine Provinces? Is he really an Immortal?”
As they walked along the mountain path toward the Sealed Abode Cave, Holy Maiden Jing Xin asked curiously.
“He truly is an Immortal,” Jiang Li answered.
“As for whether he’s the oldest, that depends on how old your Red Dust Ancestor truly was. Leaving aside the uncertainty around Red Dust Fairy, he indeed is the oldest man alive.”
“I suspect he may have been a disciple of the Dao Ancestor, though he has never admitted it.”
Before Jiang Li had become the Human Emperor, he had already sought Immortal Elder Changcun’s counsel many times. He greatly respected this old being. Jing Xin was slightly taken aback.
If the rumor was true, and this man was indeed the Dao Ancestor’s disciple, then Immortal Elder Changcun truly lived up to his name—Changcun, the Everlasting—undying through eternal ages. A disciple of the Dao Ancestor would date back at least fifty thousand years. A cultivator of the Union Stage could live two to three thousand years.
In such a lifespan, one could witness the rise and fall of countless powers. But Immortal Elder Changcun had watched countless Union Stage cultivators grow, flourish, and meet their ends. When the Nine Provinces and the Immortal Realm were still connected, many Immortals had visited this world, though none stayed long.
After a few centuries, they would all return to the Immortal Realm. Only Immortal Elder Changcun remained—a native of the Nine Provinces. After his ascension, he found the Immortal Realm less endearing than this mortal land and chose to return, never leaving again.
Jiang Li always thought the old man had simply returned to spend his twilight years here.
Yet it was thanks to this ancient relic that many questions were answered: what the Immortal Realm was like, how one truly achieved Immortal Ascension, that becoming an Immortal after the Tribulation Transcendence Stage was not the end, that the Red Dust Fairy was the embodiment of the Heavenly Dao’s concept of “Beauty,” and so on.
Moreover, in past eras when even successive Human Emperors could not resist the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons, Immortal Elder Changcun would occasionally take action and personally slay those fiends. However, his interventions were rare. Once one ascends to the Immortal Realm, all spiritual energy within one’s body transforms into Immortal Power, supporting the existence of the Immortal Body.
But that Immortal Power exists only in the Immortal Realm. When an Immortal descends back into the mortal world, every bit of Immortal Power expended is gone for good. Initially, Immortal Elder Changcun thought it was no big matter—when his Immortal Power ran low, he could simply return to the Immortal Realm to replenish it.
After all, he could come and go freely. Who would have thought that the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Ladder would later suffer a breakdown, severing passage to the Immortal Realm entirely? That turned everything troublesome.
Once his Immortal Power was exhausted, his body would begin to deteriorate, suffering the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, and he would die! Thus, he avoided taking action whenever possible.
“Elder Changcun! Are you there? I’ve come again with questions!”
Jiang Li called out at the stone gate of the Sealed Abode Cave. The gate swung open automatically. Stepping inside, the two found the cave filled to the brim with ancient tomes.
Some lined bookshelves neatly; others lay scattered across the floor. Of course, “ancient tomes” was a relative term—perhaps to Immortal Elder Changcun, they were newly published works.
“Every time you come here, it’s because you’ve run into problems. Can’t you ever just visit to see an old friend?”
Immortal Elder Changcun feigned irritation, though Holy Maiden Jing Xin could easily see the joy behind his eyes at Jiang Li’s arrival.
“Huh, and you’ve even brought someone this time. That’s rare.”
Immortal Elder Changcun looked like any common old farmer: lean, slightly hunched, sun-spotted, with calloused hands and dressed in rough hemp garments. It was the ultimate manifestation of blood and vitality perfectly retracted within. He gazed at Jiang Li—the man now revered as the Human Emperor—and sighed inwardly.
Who could have imagined that the little Nascent Soul cultivator from back then would now have become such an unfathomable existence? Even as an Immortal, he could not see through Jiang Li’s power.
“This little girl is quite pretty. Whose child is she?”
“Replying to Elder, Jing Xin hails from the Red Dust Pure Land. She’s a descendant of the Ancestor of Red Dust.”
“The Red Dust Fairy,” Immortal Elder Changcun chuckled softly.
“That’s a name I haven’t heard in ages.”
He then warmly received them both, brewing fine spirit tea and offering delicate pastries. Though cultivators in inedia did not need food, that hardly meant they couldn’t enjoy delicacies. Perhaps it was her imagination, but Holy Maiden Jing Xin felt that once she mentioned being a descendant of the Red Dust Ancestor, Immortal Elder Changcun’s enthusiasm increased noticeably.
His gaze softened as if he were looking at a cherished junior of his own household.
“This old man has personally met the Red Dust Fairy,” Jiang Li’s voice transmitted quietly to her via sound transmission.
Holy Maiden Jing Xin suddenly understood—so the old man was still taken with her sect’s founding ancestor even now.
(End of Chapter)