Longevity begins with alchemy master

"The Zhou family, grandfather and grandson, have come to pay their respects at the mountain!"

Zhou Yunshen's calm voice, amplified by his magical power, spread like a surging tide.

The entire Tiannan Dao Palace could be clearly heard.

Powerful auras surged into the sky, with five of them being particularly eye-catching.

Five beams of light shot into the sky, all looking this way.

Zhou Fuyou stood behind Zhou Yunshen, looking at the five people: one woman and four men. Naturally, the only woman immediately caught Zhou Fuyou's attention.

A long, flowing dress of silk and satin, shimmering with the light of rosy clouds.

A hairpin is set into her hair at an angle, and a hair ornament sways gently.

Her jet-black hair framed her snow-white skin, and her overall demeanor was as aloof and proud as a snow lotus from the Tianshan Mountains.

Especially her striking features; each individual feature may not be exceptional, but when combined, they create a breathtaking beauty.

"Rumor has it that the Dao Palace is now divided into one temple and four halls. The hall master of the Houtu Hall is a female cultivator, and it must be this one! Fairy Qinglan!"

Fu Qinglan's attention was originally focused on Zhou Yunshen, just like everyone else's.

But her keen senses detected the spying of others, and she couldn't help but glance at the young man out of the corner of her eye.

With just one glance, a strange sense of familiarity and warmth flashed through my mind.

But the next moment, that inexplicable feeling disappeared.

The woman frowned slightly without realizing it.

A hearty laugh rang out from the side.

"So it's Fellow Daoist Zhou. It's been forty years. How have you been?"

"Elder Gray, oh no, I should call you Lord Gray now." Zhou Yun Shen smiled, then sighed, "You should know my situation best, how can you say I'm unharmed!"

Hui Yuanhong laughed heartily, "Fellow Daoist still looks full of energy, why be so self-pitying?"

Seeing that the other four were puzzled, he simply transmitted a message through his divine sense.

"His lifespan is nearing its end; he will soon pass away peacefully!"

The group of people suddenly looked enlightened.

If we're talking about understanding Zhou Yunshen, among the five people present, it's definitely Hui Yuanhong, the former elder of the Star Gate, who has the deepest understanding.

After all, Zhou Yun Shen was just an ordinary guest elder in the Star Gate back then.

With his strength, he could have easily become a higher-ranking retainer, but he joined the Star Gate too recently and his lifespan was too short, so he was just an ordinary guest elder.

During the brief exchange, more and more people inside the Taoist Palace began to look towards the sky in this direction.

Tianyuan Temple's chief warrior, Tao, stepped forward.

He said in a deep voice, "What brings you here, fellow Daoist?"

Zhou Yunshen also stopped smiling and glanced at Zhou Fuyou beside him.

“Naturally, we will send the Zhou family’s prodigy to the Dao Palace for cultivation.”

At this moment, all five True Immortals turned their gazes to Zhou Fuyou.

The young man was extremely handsome, with a delicate and feminine demeanor, and his slender body seemed to contain boundless energy.

Facing the gazes of the five great masters, he stood there quietly, neither humble nor arrogant, maintaining his composure as before.

This composure in the face of immense pressure alone is enough to earn praise.

In particular, they all remembered the news that Yuheng Academy had brought back nine years ago.

The Zhou family of Bailuze has produced a young man with extraordinary talent, whose aptitude is comparable to that of Shi Ju, the prodigy of the Shi family back then!
In an instant, everyone's gaze became intense.

Zhan Bingtao exhaled a breath of turbid air and smiled for the first time. "Fellow Daoist is willing to send your own Qilin child to Tiannan Dao Palace. Your heart is commendable and your ambition is worthy of praise. The grand spectacle before made us misunderstand."

However, Zhou Yunshen shook his head, "No rush."

Everyone was stunned.

Zhou Yunshen spread his sleeves, and Hongshan's white robes billowed up automatically without wind. A powerful Nascent Soul domain slowly spread out from him, pressing down on the five people.

"Before that, I need to know if you fellow Daoists are truly capable of guiding my Zhou family's prodigy. Otherwise, it would be better to keep him by my side and have me personally teach him."

Faced with such blatant provocation, Zhan Bingtao made no attempt to hide his anger.

This is the pride of being a disciple of the once strongest holy land in the world!

He disdained to hide his emotions and was furious at Zhou Yunshen's provocation.

Once upon a time, when faced with the recruitment of Tianyuan Dao Sect, not to mention provoking and questioning, kneeling and kowtowing to express gratitude were common occurrences. How could we tolerate others being so presumptuous?
"Lord Gray Palace!"

Hui Yuanhong nodded slightly and also released his own Nascent Soul Domain.

He was one of only two great cultivators among the five Great True Men of the Dao Palace.

At this moment, the domain of the late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was released, and in terms of momentum, it was in no way inferior to Zhou Yunshen's.

However, after just one contact, Hui Yuanhong's expression changed drastically.

He felt that his surrounding spiritual energy was being greatly suppressed, and he was retreating at a visible speed, unable to withstand Zhou Yun Shen's domain pressure.

"You've broken through to the late Nascent Soul stage?"

A series of melodious sounds arose simultaneously, accompanied by exclamations of surprise.

"The true meaning of the laws, the power of origin!"

Zhou Yunshen looked at Fu Qinglan with approval in his eyes.

"It is said that under the protection of the Wild Hermit, Fairy Qinglan comprehended the true meaning of the laws in the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven and even won the first place in the five-hundred-year grand competition. Now it seems that it is hard to say how she did it, but her insight and knowledge are undeniable!"

As he spoke, his previously unremarkable Nascent Soul domain suddenly erupted with the sound of a raging tidal wave.

Vast spiritual energy swept in, forming clusters of dazzling corals that huddled together and spread continuously, almost blotting out the sky.

Domain imaging is not a particularly sophisticated technique.

But few in the world can do that.

Unlike ordinary realms, Zhou Yun Shen's realm, now at a higher level, subtly resonated with this world, causing everyone to tremble.

Under pressure, Hui Yuanhong could only compress all his domains and concentrate them around himself, so that he would be unaffected.

The other two palace masters, on the other hand, looked quite distraught, their faces showing shock.

Fu Qinglan sighed softly, and without any visible movement, a ray of green light slowly unfolded, concealing the coral formed from spiritual energy.

"Humph!"

Just then, a cold snort broke the deadlock.

Zhan Bingtao took a step forward, his imposing momentum transforming into a sharp halberd that pierced the vast ocean and shattered the boundless coral.

The spears moved with unstoppable force, advancing straight ahead.

Coral reefs rise and fall, disappearing only to be reborn, constantly suffocating this battle halberd.

Such a strange sight, which appears dazzling to outsiders, is in fact the purest collision of the two realms!
When Zhan Ge was within three feet of Zhou Yunshen, a solemn expression finally appeared on Zhou Yunshen's face.

With a flick of his sleeve, the battle halberd vanished into thin air.

On the other side, Zhan Bingtao also appropriately retreated from the step he had taken earlier.

They looked at each other in silence, and finally smiled at one another.

"As expected of the Zhan family patriarch, who is the strongest in the giant house, it is said that you once withstood an attack from the ascended great power Youli Divine Lord without dying. Now it seems that you are indeed worthy of praise."

"You flatter me. That was merely an indiscriminate attack from Lord Youli, not something I could claim to have taken head-on. It's a pity that you, Fellow Daoist, possess such skill and such a high level of cultivation."

Zhou Yunshen felt helpless; he knew what the other person meant by "what a pity."

By witnessing the growth of Zhou Fuyou firsthand, he finally grasped the essence of water, but his lifespan ultimately prevented him from making further progress.

"With Fellow Daoist Zhan overseeing the Southern Continent, I am at ease."

Zhan Bingtao didn't take it seriously and his gaze fell on Zhou Fuyou once again.

"Now, I wonder if Fellow Daoist Zhou still thinks my Tiannan Dao Palace is qualified to teach your Zhou family's prodigy?"

Zhou Yunshen smiled and nodded, "That's certainly enough."

The vast territory has vanished like smoke.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhan Bingtao extended his hand in invitation, "Please!"

The Zhou family grandfather and grandson did not refuse, and under the welcome of the five Great Immortals, they gracefully entered the Tiannan Dao Palace.

Behind them were countless admiring gazes.

Each gaze held a different meaning, and most were fixed on Zhou Fuyou. The old man who had overpowered the four Great Masters and challenged the Abbot was not there to swagger. His purpose was clear to everyone—to elevate Zhou Fuyou!

In this way, Zhou Fuyou's cultivation in the Dao Palace will surely be smooth sailing, and he will be able to get whatever he wants!

……

Tiannan Daogong, within Tianyuan Temple.

The six great immortals sat together, with Zhou Fuyou attending to the ancestor behind him.

He remained silent, simply listening quietly to the six people chatting.

This wasn't boring for him, because the six Nascent Soul cultivators didn't exchange any cultivation insights; they mostly talked about things on the Southern Continent and the Northern and Eastern Continents.

Or rather, it's about the "Central Plains"!
"That battle back then was truly devastating. The vast Central Continent was shattered into pieces, turning into what it is today. Even we Nascent Soul level experts were powerless in a battle of that level, and less than two or three out of ten survived."

"Yes, if I hadn't been on the battlefield in the North Sea, I'm afraid I wouldn't have escaped this calamity either."

"I was the same way; I was fortunate enough to survive because I was on the battlefield in the Eastern Wilderness."

"You are all well. The dangers that Sect Master Lian and I encountered in the Southern Frontier were no less than those of the Great Calamity in the Central Plains. That Youli Divine Lord has kept a low profile for over a thousand years, but I never expected his cultivation to be so profound. With a single strike, he resolved the crisis at the Gate of Life and Death, and even seriously injured me. It took me a full forty years to recover."

"None of you were in Zhongzhou and didn't directly witness the power of the Demon Phoenix, but I did. The scene is unforgettable! Riding four great wild beasts and controlling nine great ghost gods, it landed in Zhongzhou. Wherever it passed, mountains collapsed and the earth cracked, and cultivators fell like rain. The previous sect leader, Mo Daneng, joined forces with the nineteen elders of our Star Gate to forcibly activate the Star Gate and seek help from the upper realm. However, no matter how many Nascent Soul stage avatars descended, they could not stop the Demon Phoenix's advance. Until the Great Array of Heaven and Earth was broken, and Heaven and Earth Peak collapsed!"

……

Zhou Fuyou stood behind, listening with a surge of emotion that made it difficult for her to contain herself.

Surrounded by members of the Zhou family in Bailuze, his status was as high and mighty as that of his ancestor. His talent was also enough to make him stand out among all his peers. Especially after easily defeating his Seventh Uncle, a sense of arrogance welled up within him.

But after witnessing the ancestor casually destroy Hanjiang Valley and Zhan Bingtao withstand the ancestor's Nascent Soul domain with his profound cultivation, he realized that there are always people more powerful than him and heavens beyond heavens.

But this is still not the end!

Beyond the Tiannan Continent, there are ascended powerful beings who can defeat a million-strong army with a wave of their hand.

In the boundless North Sea, there is a powerful array master who refines mountains and seas and roams freely without restraint.

Deep within the mountains of the Eastern Wilderness, there dwells the peerless and wicked Qixia Yuanjun, who, despite the attacks of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, forcibly seized the Star Gate, one of the sect's three treasures.

These legendary tales, told by relatable elders, seem to have happened right before our eyes.

Zhou Fuyou's arrogance had vanished, but a new sense of pride arose within him.

With his own talent, he can do it one day!
Zhan Bingtao's words, transmitted from above, were crystal clear and carried the same sense of pride and magnanimity.

"Although Li Canghai's array formations are incredibly advanced, he is restrained by the two ancient demons of the North Sea. Although Youli Divine Lord is strong, he has already ascended to immortality, and the Gate of Life and Death is nothing more than a skeleton in a tomb. The brutal demonic phoenix has extraordinary abilities and can be called invincible. However, after participating in several major battles, and with the Five Elders of Tianyuan sacrificing themselves to fight him, we finally severely injured him and he was no longer able to touch the Central Plains."

"Now, there are no holy lands in the Eastern Wilderness, no great powers in the Southern Frontier, the Buddhist sects in the Western Desert are closed, and the Northern Sea is a disorganized mess. Although my Tianyuan Dao Sect has suffered heavy losses, it is still the strongest holy land in the Mountain and Sea Realm!"

"With our profound heritage and the tireless efforts of our generation, we will finally be able to reclaim our lost lands and restore the glory of the Daoist sect!"

"At that time, we shall carry on the aspirations of our predecessors, unify the mountains and seas, and conquer Cangwu!"

His words, spoken with resounding force, echoed throughout the Taoist temple.

Of the four hall masters, three echoed in unison without hesitation.

"Reclaim our lost lands and restore the glory of our ancestors!"

"Unify the mountains and seas, and crush Cangwu!"

Although the Palace Master of the Hall of Stars, Hui Yuanhong, lagged behind, he quickly said, "This Palace Master will strive together with you!"

Zhou Yunshen stroked his beard. "Unfortunately, I am willing but unable to witness that scene."

Everyone knew about his lifespan and understood that what he said was true.

Zhan Bingtao laughed heartily: "Although Fellow Daoist Zhou will not be able to see him, your descendant possesses unparalleled talent and will surely surpass his master. At that time, he will undoubtedly be a leading figure among the younger generation of our Tianyuan Dao Sect, leading the Zhou family and the younger generation of Tianyuan forward bravely and invincibly!"

All eyes fell on Zhou Fuyou behind him.

Zhou Yunshen waved, and Zhou Fuyou stepped forward at the opportune moment.

"Perfect timing! While I'm still here, let's determine his master today!"

There was a moment of silence.

Zhou Yunshen nodded to Zhou Fuyou.

The young man then disregarded everything and immediately unleashed a surge of magical power.

At this moment, everyone was astonished.

"Golden elixir?"

"No, it's the Foundation Establishment stage!"

"So fast?"

Zhou Yunshen stroked his beard and said, "As you can see, Fuyou is progressing extremely quickly. He could completely skip the basic learning stage of the Seven Star Academy and directly enter the Four Halls for cultivation. I don't want him to waste his time, which is why I've come here today. I just wonder, which fellow Daoist is willing to take him as a disciple?"

The Tianyuan Dao Sect of today is far from its former glory.

Due to the loss of a large number of talented individuals, and with only nine of the twelve great families remaining, the sect is desperately seeking talent.

Relying solely on the traditional family system is not enough to quickly cultivate a large number of strong individuals.

Therefore, the once-declining master-apprentice system has naturally risen again.

The establishment of Tiannan Dao Palace and the rule of the four hall masters selecting disciples based on merit were specially formulated by Tianyuan Dao Sect in order to quickly restore its vitality.

Regardless of family background or past traditions, we concentrate our resources and dedicate ourselves to nurturing talent!

This system exists not only in the Southern Continent, but also in the Northern Continent and the Eastern Continent.

If some people were still wary of the new rules established by the Daoist ancestral temple in the Rotten Axe Mountains, after Zhou Fuyou displayed a cultivation level completely out of character for his age, the four hall masters in the Daoist temple became even more unrestrained.

With such extraordinary talent, we must take him under our wing!
Hui Yuanhong was the first to speak.

"Our Hall of Stars is willing to accept Zhou Fuyou as our disciple!"

The other three halls, not to be outdone, each expressed their own wishes.

Seeing this, Zhou Yunshen smiled with satisfaction.

"You all want to take Mayfly as your apprentice, but he only has one person!"

This is a problem.

Zhan Bingtao raised an eyebrow. "Zhou Fuyou, what do you think?"

Is this handing the power of decision over to this 21-year-old?
Zhou Fuyou calmly said, "I don't know the cultivation direction, teaching philosophy, or even the individual abilities of the four seniors. I don't know who is suitable for me, so I would like to consider it further."

Further consideration?

Everyone was taken aback, then looked at the young man with amusement.

This is setting conditions!
Despite being favored by four true immortals, he still dared to make demands.

But surprisingly, no one was angry; instead, they were even more pleased with Zhou Fuyou.

In spiritual practice, talent and ability alone are not enough; one must also have the mindset of a strong person.

Judging from Zhou Fuyou's demeanor and bearing at their first meeting, and his current behavior of daring to make demands of the real person, his mentality is indeed not bad.

Hui Yuanhong spoke again: "I am the master of the Hall of Stars, specializing in earth element. Perhaps this doesn't seem like a good match for you, but the Hall of Stars has inherited most of the essence of the former Star Gate. It contains countless classics, covering the five continents. Once you enter the Hall of Stars, there will always be something suitable for you!"

Then someone else followed up, saying, "I am Long Ting, the master of the Longevity Palace, and the Supreme Elder of the Long Family. As long as you are willing to become my disciple, you will have hope of achieving immortality. I can even pass on the True Dragon Divine Technique of my Long Family to you."

Zhang Bairen, dressed in purple, coughed lightly. "Although the four halls are nominally equal, the Ziwei Hall is ultimately ranked first. I possess the most orthodox cultivation method of the Tianyuan Dao Sect. As a disciple of the Dao Sect, I should be admitted to my Ziwei Hall."

The Azure Fairy, who had been quiet for some time, smoothed her hair and said calmly, "I am the champion of the five-hundred-year competition, a disciple of the great master Chun Yuan, and I comprehended the true meaning of the laws at a young age. If your goal is not just the Nascent Soul realm, then you should choose me."

After the four had presented their conditions, before Zhou Fuyou could even make a choice, they began attacking each other.

"Inheriting most of the essence of the Star Gate? Fellow Daoist Hui, you are far too confident. I know that you only joined the Elders' Seat at the very end, inheriting the position left behind after the ascension of the Pill Saint. How much do you really understand and master the Star Gate's legacy?"

"True Dragon Divine Arts are merely a formality; they are nothing more than that. They have no real supernatural power, yet the entry requirements are extremely high."

"The orthodox teachings of the Tianyuan Dao Sect? Which of our four halls doesn't have them?"

"Fairy Qinglan is far too arrogant. You yourself are only at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, how can you talk about the Path to Deity Transformation!"

……

Amid the chaos, Zhan Bingtao coughed heavily.

"How dignified!"

The hall fell silent instantly.

Then, Zhan Bingtao looked at Zhou Fuyou.

"The four halls of the Dao Palace are not ordinary beings. With your aptitude, you can successfully form your core and condense your nascent soul with the guidance of any one of them. As for the Nascent Soul stage, that will require more of your effort."

"Give me your choice!" (End of Chapter)