I am about to die of old age, and I have awakened the character of longevity.

Chapter 193: Seeking Immortality is Difficult, the Five Old Monsters Come from the Demon Court!

When asking this question, Xie An, who had always been calm, became unusually nervous.

Emperor Tianbao failed to open up the Dayin Mountains.

Emperor Jingtai failed to open up the Dayin Mountains.

Now the King of Huainan is willing to collude with the four old monsters to rebel in order to break through Dayin Mountain.

From this point of view, there seems to be something outside Dayin Mountain.

But Su Yuqing had also said that in the 5,000-year history of the Daqian civilization, there had never been a record of anyone exceeding the 400-year lifespan limit...

Su Yuqing picked up the teacup and gently lifted the purple bamboo leaves floating on the surface of the tea with the cup lid. Then she opened her red lips and took a sip of tea.

After moistening his throat, Su Yuqing spoke slowly, "Ever since the beginning of civilization in Daqian, countless talented and ambitious people have tirelessly searched for immortality. Some have explored famous mountains and rivers, hidden tribes within the thirty-six states of Daqian, trying to find clues."

Some people also turned their attention to the South China Sea Islands south of Daqian, while others turned their attention to the Sixteen Kingdoms of Northern Liang north of Daqian.

According to the initial deductions of our dynasty's Sitianjian, there is a chance for immortality in the south. That's why my father sent two martial arts masters into Dayin Mountain to slay demons and expand the territory, but they returned empty-handed.

Isn’t the Sitianjian an institution for observing astronomical phenomena?
Can you still speculate on the fate of immortals?

Is this serious?
Su Yuqing glanced at the puzzled expression on Xie An's face and chuckled, "Don't you think it's unreliable?"

Xie An felt that the way Emperor Jingtai was looking for the immortal fate was extremely unreliable, but he said: "I don't know the deduction method of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, so I dare not say anything."

Su Yuqing turned around and looked at Xie An, and suddenly couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Xie An felt his scalp tingling. "Why is the princess laughing?"

Su Yuqing pursed her lips. "It just reminded me of something funny. Our Imperial Astronomical Bureau has always been accurate in studying astronomical calendars, but their deductions of immortal fate... are truly not up to par. Do you know why my father didn't continue his attack on Dayin Mountain?"

Xie An felt this was indeed a problem. The Jingtai Emperor, a man of great talent and vision, initially sent two martial arts masters to slay demons in Dayin Mountain in an attempt to open up shipping to the South China Sea. After one failure, why not continue?

This is unreasonable.

You should know that there was a Martial Saint named Canglong during the Jingtai period.

If the Martial Saint takes action, killing the five old monsters should be a piece of cake, right?
Now Xie An learned that the reason Jingtai sent people to Dayin Mountain was actually because of the deduction of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and Su Yuqing laughed like this...

Xie An then made a deduction, "Could it be that the Imperial Astronomical Bureau later deduced that the immortal fate was somewhere else?"

Su Yuqing nodded. "That's right. Just when my father was planning to open up the Great Yin Mountain, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory's second deduction indicated that there was a chance for immortality in the sixteen kingdoms of Northern Liang. My father then turned his attention and sent people to Northern Liang to open up shipping through the Great Yin Mountain, but the plan was abandoned."

Xie An held his forehead, feeling speechless.

This Si Tian Jian was somewhat similar to the ancient Qin Tian Jian in the previous life, mostly for the purpose of creating mystery and making the emperor happy...

The emperor believed it all.

Perhaps after becoming an emperor, one would feel lonely and at a high position, and would seek some psychological comfort. Even an emperor with great talent and wisdom was no exception.

Su Yuqing continued, "Later, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory deduced various results. Some said it was within Daqian, some said it was in the Eastern Wasteland, and some said it was in the Western Regions. Father initially held out hope and made several trips. But later... he stopped paying much attention to the Imperial Astronomical Observatory's deductions."

Xie An could understand Emperor Jingtai's thoughts.

Tired and exhausted.

If he met a tyrant, he would probably kill all the guys in the Imperial Observatory in anger.

However, this world is different from the past. Most of the sorcerers in the Imperial Observatory are extraordinary people. Xie An would not completely reject it. "Princess, do you think the Imperial Observatory's deduction is credible?"

Su Yuqing pondered for a moment, frowning as she spoke, "I've reviewed the Sitianjian's deductive logic files several times, and they're not completely groundless. While I wouldn't say there's a connection to the immortals, there are definitely significant differences that are difficult to explain with common sense. If we follow the direction of those deductions, we might find something strange and bizarre, but whether it's a connection to the immortals or not, no one knows."

Xie An felt that the Imperial Observatory was indeed quite useful, otherwise Emperor Jingtai would not have gone to such great lengths to investigate it.

Xie An has never left Qingwu County since he traveled through this world, so he naturally doesn't know much about the outside world.

But I also heard that sixteen kingdoms in Northern Liang were eyeing Daqian covetously, and that pirates were invading and wreaking havoc in the south.

Neither of these areas is a safe place.

The risks of exploration are so great that it is almost impossible.

If it were simple, the Daqian royal family would have found it long ago.

Si Tianjian!
Xie An remembered this keyword.

Su Yuqing saw the excitement in Xie An's eyes and immediately poured a bucket of cold water on him. "Direction alone doesn't mean much. The South China Sea covers more than 100,000 miles of water, with countless islands and some island nations. Even if Daqian dispatched a million troops, entering the South China Sea would be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Beiliang, on the other hand, encompassed tens of thousands of miles of territory belonging to the Sixteen Kingdoms, riven by war and chaos. It was a sworn enemy of our Great Qian. My father wasn't so foolish as to launch a war and waste the people's resources and resources over some vague predictions from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory.

In my opinion, stories about immortals are mostly just rumors. Some religions, in order to win over noble warriors, will deliberately fabricate legends about immortals and use them to seek profit. Of the cults eradicated during the Jingtai reign alone, 70% to 80% relied on legends about immortals to deceive people.

Xie An sighed deeply after hearing this.

How similar is this to the previous life?
For example, Hong Xiuquan claimed that he was the second son of God and the brother of Jesus, and then founded the God Worshipping Society, which later led to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

The same is true in Daqian. Legends about immortals are prevalent, and most of them are propaganda, with interests behind them.

It is already difficult to seek immortal fate, and you also have to distinguish between true and false information. If you accidentally fall into a "pyramid scheme organization" that claims to be an immortal, your whole life will be ruined.

Seeking immortality...how difficult it is!
Even the Daqian royal family was at a loss, let alone himself, a bachelor.

Xie An sighed and lowered his head to drink tea.

Although he had long known that seeking immortality was difficult, after hearing the eldest princess' words, it seemed even more difficult.

Su Yuqing saw Xie An's expression and sighed softly, "The path to immortality is inherently difficult. No one has found the opportunity in the past five thousand years of Daqian. If you have this ambition, you can follow me to the capital after the matter in Qingwu County is over. There are abundant resources there. The records of immortal fate in the imperial library are piled up in several buildings. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau has also set up a department dedicated to deducing immortal fate. Even my master is looking for immortal fate."

Xie An's dark eyes suddenly became much brighter, "Thank you, Princess."

The Jingtai Emperor had been searching for immortal connections for over a hundred years, so the amount of information recorded was naturally immense. If one could visit the capital to learn more about it, it would be of great benefit.

Having connections makes it convenient to get valuable information.

You know, Xie An's four brothers had no resources in this area and could only search for it on their own, spending half their lives without any results. But Xie An, with the support of the eldest princess, had the opportunity to easily go to the palace library to see what was going on.

This is the difference between platforms and also the benefit of having noble people.

The two of them had a brief discussion about the fate of immortals. The more Xie An listened, the more desperate he felt, and in the end he didn't dare to ask any more questions.

After a long pause, Xie An finally came to his senses.

Don’t worry, you still have a hundred years to live.

If one were to unlock the secrets of the human body and become a martial arts master, combined with nourishing exercises to compensate for the physical damage caused by martial arts training, one could live for three hundred years.

Three hundred years is enough time for me to seek immortality!

After finishing the work in Qingwu County, and improving his Mingyu Gong, or becoming a martial arts master, and having enough strength, he can start planning to seek immortality.

Now it is too weak, it needs to develop first.

After making up his mind, Xie An breathed a sigh of relief and asked about the business: "What does the princess think we should do about Master Huang?"

If Su Yuqing didn't know Master Huang's identity, Xie An planned to just make a deal with Master Huang and be done with it.

Since she knew it, she still had to ask, to show her attitude.

Su Yuqing collected her thoughts and murmured, "Master Huang and the four old demons have had a conflict. You could try to win them over. Maybe you could be of great help and make another great contribution."

With the eldest princess speaking, Xie An felt relieved and no longer had to worry about being criticized for contacting the big monster.

……

"Seeking immortality is difficult, difficult!"

Xie An returned to the courtyard, still thinking about what Su Yuqing had just said.

During the five thousand years of the Daqian era, countless people sought immortality, generation after generation, without a break. Yet, no one ever found their destiny.

Xie An was naturally not so arrogant as to think that he would be the exception. But Xie An had a long-lived character.

It has also been upgraded to level two, and can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and sense strange beasts and spiritual objects.

This gave Xie An confidence.

"Although seeking immortality is as difficult as ascending to heaven, others may have reasons to give up, but I have no reason to give up!"

Soon, Xie An made some plans in his mind.

First, you need to improve your strength before you can travel all over the world. Otherwise, if you encounter a big bandit or monster on the way, they will kill you directly. In addition, even if you find the immortal fate, you need to have enough strength to protect it.

The strength of a martial arts master is relatively safe.

Then, after completing the tasks in Qingwu County, I'd head to the capital, browse the Imperial Library, and then look into how the Imperial Astronomical Bureau deduces the fate of immortals. Perhaps I'd find some clues there. However, before heading to the capital, it would be best to achieve a great deed here, perhaps earning a title or higher official position, to facilitate my work.

In Qingwu County, Xie An was a fifth-rank general manager and had free access to all kinds of libraries.

But the capital was different. There, a random brick could easily knock out a bunch of high-ranking officials. If your official position was too low, who would care about you?
I'm afraid I can't even get into the gate of the Imperial Observatory.

You can't rely on the princess for everything, right? She'll get annoyed.

In everything, you still need to have the ability and status.

Strength, official position, and title.

Nothing less.

After making up his mind, Xie An felt that his future path suddenly became much clearer.

So the most important thing at the moment, besides improving his strength, is to secure his position as the fifth-rank general manager of Qingwu County and make another great contribution.

If I could naturalize Master Huang, help the Princess dismantle the Five Elder Demons, and thwart the Huainan King's rebellion, wouldn't that be a great achievement? Add to that my own journey to becoming a martial arts master. A second-rank official position of real power should be a piece of cake.

After all, Su Yuqing had said before that any Grandmaster who served the court could be granted a second-rank official rank at the very least. If they also achieved great merit, getting the second-rank duke shouldn't be a problem.

The impact still fell on Master Huang.

"Master Huang, you are my lucky star."

……

The next day.

Xie An got up early and handed Chunlan two silver notes worth one hundred taels after breakfast.

Chunlan was startled and quickly refused, "Master, He Ge'er does some teaching work at the Weisheng Martial Arts School on the side, and his income is enough to cover the family's daily expenses. No need..."

Although Xie An had paid for the house, Chunlan and He Chunli did not want to live there for free. He Chunli did some work to supplement the family income, and Chunlan also occasionally helped the neighbors with some odd jobs.

Xie An repeatedly told them that this was unnecessary, but the two men persisted, insisting that they would feel uncomfortable if they didn't do some work and couldn't sit still. Xie An didn't force them any more.

"This is for entertaining Master Huang. Go buy some good fruit and pastries later, and use the purple bamboo leaves from my room for tea. It's cold, so get a bigger stove in the east wing, and use good charcoal. And Master Huang has a bad back, so put a cushion on the chair..."

After giving his instructions, Xie An left.

Chunlan was stunned, thinking to herself, isn't Master Huang just a mirror polisher? Why would a master from the Fifth Rank General Office spend so much money?
Fortunately, Chunlan was not a nosy person and did it immediately.

At the beginning of noon, Master Huang arrived and followed Chunlan into the east wing.

As soon as I entered the room, I felt a warm breeze blowing towards me.

Brand new chairs, comfortable cushions, new pen holders, wolf-hair brushes, and even the rice paper was replaced with expensive cloth...

This treatment...

Master Huang was flattered.

"Master Huang, I'm busy outside. If you need anything, just call me." Chunlan made tea, bowed and left.

Master Huang sat on the chair. The cushions were very supportive and comfortable.

"Humans are the ones who enjoy it! What's irritating this kid? Why is he suddenly so friendly? He's not a friendly person, after all. But I like the feeling of being valued."

Master Huang waved his hand, rolled up his sleeves, and began to write. "Good pen, good ink, good cloth... My calligraphy looks much better now."

……

Xie An was bored in the Demon Suppression Division all day, and when the office was dismissed, he hurried back home.

"Chunlan, has Master Huang been here?"

"I have been here. I came at noon and just left."

"Did he say anything?"

"He said Wufangzhai's pastries are good, and it would be nice if we could get an extra batch tomorrow. But they're expensive. Should we get some for Chef Huang?"

"Prepare, prepare two more."

For the next three days, Master Huang came every day.

Three days later, at dusk, when Xie An returned home, he finally received all the manuscripts from Master Huang, and all the answers suddenly came to him:

Demon Court!

Four hundred years ago, there was a demon court in Beiliang!
Four hundred years ago, there was a civil war in the Demon Court. A demon king who was comparable to the human Canglong Martial Saint was seriously injured and fled south, but he was almost dead when he fled to Dayin Mountain.

Finally, the demon king settled down at Wulao Peak and died there.

Because the Demon King was comparable to the Azure Dragon Martial Saint, his essence, blood, and flesh could influence external objects, leading to the rampant evil spirits and frequent monsters on the Five Elder Peaks. In the end, five monsters developed the best, and they later became the Five Elder Monsters.

Master Huang was originally an ordinary fox, but because he was nourished by the blood of the demon king, he mutated and transformed into a nine-tailed red fox.

Those white pupa stones, ancient books, and drinking utensils... were all used by the Demon King before he died. The Nine-Tailed Red Fox brought them out when he escaped, and the bronze mirror was also an item from the Demon King before he died.

hiss!
After reading all the manuscripts, Xie An took a deep breath and felt his scalp tingling.

There is actually a demon court in this world!

There is also a demon king who is comparable to the human Canglong Martial Saint!
Scary.

No wonder the Five Old Demons became a hidden danger on the border during the Tianbao and Jingtai dynasties. It turned out that they were nourished by the essence and blood of the Demon King.

Could it be that the drop of Martial Saint's blood from the Fairy Queen came from the Demon King?
In this way, Daqian's Sitianjian is quite capable, able to deduce the South China Sea and the Northern Liang... Perhaps what they deduced was not the immortal fate, but the demon court?

Xie An's imagination continued to expand.

"I wonder what kind of demon king that is... And the co-lord of the Demon Court should be called the Demon Emperor, right? If the Demon King is comparable to a human Azure Dragon Martial Saint, then wouldn't the Demon Emperor be even more perverted?"

"Above the Azure Dragon Martial Saint... is the Immortal?"

Su Yuqing once said that the Canglong Martial Saint is the limit that humans can achieve!

The Tianbao Dynasty lasted for three hundred years, and no Azure Dragon Martial Saint was born. This shows how rare it is for a Azure Dragon Martial Saint to appear.

What if there is something above the Canglong Martial Saint?
Demon King?

Will finding this demon palace lead to finding immortal fate?
Xie An paced around the room with the manuscript, and finally went to the backyard to find Su Yuqing.

The previous manuscripts have been shown to Su Yuqing, so there is no reason not to show the latter ones... What's more, to Xie An, the value of this eldest princess is far greater than this stack of manuscripts.

Su Yuqing looked through the manuscript carefully, and suddenly looked up at Xie An. Her beautiful eyes widened, and her hands holding the manuscript trembled a little.

This was the first time Xie An saw the princess so excited.

After a long moment, Su Yuqing regained her composure. "Xie An, you are truly a lucky star for our dynasty. Although my father and master have suspected the existence of a demon court, they have never verified it. Your verification of this matter this time will be a great achievement. I will immediately write to my father and master to claim the credit for you."

Xie An: “…”

Turtle, is this just a middle level skill?
(End of this chapter)