The immortal is beside me

Chapter 19: Lifespan Limit
The glass door of the building slowly slid open, and Lu Zhenhai, taking off his protective suit, stepped into the sunset outside the building and stretched his body vigorously.

It was almost eight in the evening, but since it was summer, it wasn't yet dark. He took a deep breath of the fresh air outside, which slightly relieved the throbbing pain in his brain.

They had stayed in the confidential room for twelve hours, and except for eating and going to the toilet, they had been reading documents non-stop. Now they suddenly walked into the open air and were a little overwhelmed for a while.

During these twelve hours, in addition to the history of the Jiuli Sect, they also read a lot of ancient books and materials, as well as the internal composition and inheritance of Taohuayuan handed over by various units.

If before this their understanding of Taohuayuan was roughly equivalent to Baidu Encyclopedia, now everyone's level is enough to complete a master's thesis defense.

Unfortunately, this defense wasn't a graduation defense, but a thesis proposal. Over the next two days, they would formulate an action plan based on the information they had seen and the intelligence they had. Then, the entire Liangzhou would be mobilized for that plan.

Lu Zhenhai raised his hand and rubbed his brow. Every specialist present had advanced skills, their mental and physical strength far surpassing that of an average person, but the continuous high-intensity information input still gave them a headache.

A specially made cigarette was handed to him: "Want one?"

Lu Zhenhai looked back at his subordinate standing behind him, took the cigarette and lit it. The two stood at the door, puffing smoke and looking at the setting sun in the sky, each thinking.

"Captain Lu, what do you think of Zhou Wuqing mentioned in the Jiuli History?" the subordinate suddenly asked.

Seeing Lu Zhenhai looking over, he waved the cigarette butt in his hand and said awkwardly, "Nothing much, I just had a deep impression of it, so let's just chat."

Lu Zhenhai took a deep breath of cigarette and exhaled puffs of smoke.

"There are many reasons why Jiuli ultimately triumphed in the Civil War. For example, during the early years of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when Peach Blossom Spring rose to power, many sects were destroyed one after another, leading to the emergence of a large number of independent cultivators. Jiuli's policy of opening up its treasury to distribute funds and attract talent attracted this group of people, allowing them to rapidly grow in power, creating a snowball effect that ultimately led to the formation of the Immortal Alliance with them as its core."

"From the enemy's perspective, Taohuayuan has too many factions under its command. This certainly gave it an advantage in the early stages of the war, but as its sphere of influence expanded, the interests of the immortal sects, Buddhist sects, barbarians, demon tribes, and other factions became unbalanced."

"The most obvious manifestation was that each faction sought to support a mortal emperor who represented their own interests. The result was frequent changes in power in the Southern Dynasty. In less than two hundred years, four dynasties changed. This factional fighting led to internal divisions in the later period, giving the Jiuli faction an opportunity to exploit."

"But no matter what, the emergence of Zhou Wuqing is an important historical turning point."

He took out the cigarette butt and exhaled the smoke accumulated in his mouth and nose.

"It's a bit of an exaggeration to say that he single-handedly turned the tide of the North-South War, but his immense combat power undoubtedly saved the Jiuli from disaster and greatly boosted the confidence of the various sects in their fight against the Peach Blossom Spring. More importantly, his appearance allowed the various sects to discover the value of independent cultivators, whom they had previously ignored. In today's terms, he was a prime example of united front work."

"Without him, Jiuli would have been without a symbolic figure to attract independent cultivators. Even if they hadn't perished during the Northern Wei split, they would never have risen to become the foremost power in the world of immortal cultivation in just a few decades. The unification of the north and the south might have been delayed by decades or even centuries, and the subsequent Sui and Tang dynasties would have been a questionable outcome."

"Captain Lu, what you said is truly academic," the commissioner said with a smile as he smoked. "If I'm ever lucky enough to be sent to study for further training and have to write a report, I'll use Zhou Wuqing's deeds as the theme and copy your analysis. It's absolutely invaluable, and I might even be recognized as an advanced student."

"Then you have to confirm it first. According to the regulations, cultivators who can be included in the training report must have been dead for more than two hundred years. If Zhou Wuqing doesn't meet the standards this time, you won't pass the review."

"Not really?" The commissioner smiled and exhaled a puff of smoke. "It's been over fifteen hundred years since the Northern and Southern Dynasties. If he hadn't practiced Yishu, even a Spiritual Transformation would have died. Besides, judging by the description of Zhou Wuqing's strength, he must have been at least a Nascent Soul during the Civil War, so he'd have lived for at least a few hundred years. By now, the grass on his grave must have been there for over two hundred years, no matter how you calculate it."

"You're quite accurate." Lu Zhenhai nodded noncommittally. Although it was a joke, he couldn't quite laugh.

Although the history of the Jiuli Sect was written very briefly, through those words, they seemed to have truly touched upon the war hidden fifteen hundred years ago and witnessed the life of the legendary monk named Zhou Wuqing.

During the long period of chaos, he was like a meteor across the sky of the Central Plains. Those who witnessed his brilliance were invincible. Even he, a descendant who was separated from him by more than a thousand years, could not help but stand in awe.

Without him, the Jiuli Sect might not have been able to defeat Taohuayuan and rise to prominence, and the Environmental Sanitation Bureau naturally would not have been able to gain such an important ally at the beginning of its establishment. In this way, it is not an exaggeration to say that his influence spans thousands of years.

But even such an existence could not escape the fate of heaven and ended up being buried in the mortal world.

Longevity is not immortality. Cultivators will eventually grow old and die, and all brilliant legends will eventually fade silently, becoming a thin layer of history left before future generations for their own judgment.

Thinking of this, both of them fell silent, using the curling smoke as a silent mourning.

This moment of mourning lasted less than a minute before it was interrupted by the vibration of my phone. I picked it up and saw it was an internal number from the Environmental Sanitation Bureau.

"A call at this hour?" Lu Zhenhai's heart skipped a beat. A call at this hour must be about an emergency. Could it be a new announcement from higher-ups?

With extreme vigilance, he answered the phone, and then his eyes flickered slightly.

"A member of the Peach Blossom Spring suddenly appeared in Liangzhou City and is moving towards the residential area?"

Meanwhile, Liangzhou Park.

The fiery afterimage of the setting sun swirled across the lake, and the buzzing of insects echoed through the surrounding grass. Looking around, the vast park was completely deserted. Aside from the two people in the woods, there wasn't a single person in sight within a mile.

Qin Jiajia glanced at Zhou Qing beside her. He was rubbing his eyes, and a hint of sleepiness was already on his face. She knew Zhou Qing always went to bed early, so it was almost time for him to go back.

Completely different from the tense situation she had expected, the negotiations over the past few hours were like an ordinary walk and chat, except that the content of the conversation changed to cultivation and the world of immortals.

With each conversation, she felt her perceptions shatter and rebuild. If the worldview could have a dynastic shift, then today she might have jumped directly from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Chenqiao Rebellion.

Before this, she thought she knew Zhou Qing well enough, but after such a deep conversation, she felt that she could no longer understand this man.

He looked about the same age as me, but his memory was filled with thousands of years of time. Everything he said was so far away from me.
She suddenly remembered something. Unlike those distant rumors, this one was right before her eyes.

"I heard from the people in the bureau that a month ago, you killed a few evil cultivators who passed by?"

(End of this chapter)