Mortal: The Path to Immortality

Three days later, the morning mist had not yet dissipated.

Master Gu personally delivered the two documents bearing the red seal to the back mountain.

"With this guarantee document, the two immortal masters can go to the 'Ascending Immortal Pavilion' on Qingyun Mountain in the center of the island to apply for permanent residence and choose a cave dwelling."

As Master Gu spoke, he took out a sandalwood waist token from his pocket and handed it over as well.

"From now on, ten percent of the company's annual profits will be set aside as offerings to the immortal masters. Please keep this token safe; it is the proof of withdrawal of spirit stones from the account."

Lu Nanzhu took the document and the jade token, and casually tossed the jade token into his storage bag without even looking at it.

He unfolded the stack of documents and glanced at them.

He had only learned a rough outline of the Chaotic Star Sea script from Master Gu these past few days, and could only recognize about 70-80% of it.

After confirming that the signature and the name of the guarantor were not suspicious, he put away the documents and nodded, saying:

"That's excellent, thank you for your trouble, Master Gu."

Afterwards, the two bid farewell to the profusely grateful Old Man Gu and rode their magical artifacts to the "Ascending Immortal Pavilion." Qu Hun was left behind in the bamboo forest behind the mountain to continue serving as a door god.

After flying above the clouds for about half an hour, a black mountain peak suddenly rose up from the clouds.

The two flew straight down through the sea of ​​clouds and discovered a black mountain range stretching across the center of the island. The towering peak that pierced the clouds was the highest peak of this mountain range.

Besides this giant peak, there are several other towering peaks in the center of the mountain range, which are the secluded retreats of the island's lord and two deputy lords.

These giant peaks are surrounded by many smaller hills.

Lu Nanzhu slightly released his divine sense to sense the area and found that the spiritual energy emanating from these mountains was extremely rich, comparable to that of the Spirit Beast Mountain in Tiannan.

The sea breeze was humid, and large swaths of thin clouds were blown in from afar, crashing against the protective aura of the two and dispersing into water vapor.

Lu Nanzhu, who was born in the second life, and Han Li, an indigenous person, grew up in the inland.

It was the first time for both of them to see such a spectacular sea of ​​clouds on an island, so they slowed down and lingered in the air for a while to admire it.

Only then did he lower his head and ride his magical artifact straight to one of the mountain peaks with a pavilion.

The two landed one after the other on the bluestone platform in front of the small pavilion.

Pushing open the door and looking around, I saw two Foundation Establishment cultivators sitting by the window, drinking tea and chatting.

One of them saw the person who came in and immediately stood up to greet him. It was Yang Liansheng, whom he had met at the dock.

Sitting opposite Yang Liansheng was a middle-aged cultivator wearing a bright red coat, with a somewhat haggard face and sinister eyes.

"Haha, what a coincidence! It's Fellow Daoist Lu." Yang Liansheng smiled and bowed respectfully. "It seems Fellow Daoist Lu has already taken care of things for the Gu family. Are you here today to apply for permanent residency and choose a cave dwelling?"

Just as Lu Nanzhu was about to exchange a few polite words, the red-robed cultivator put down his teacup and interjected in a lukewarm tone:

"That's right. A Foundation Establishment cultivator like himself had to fight against a bunch of Qi Refining juniors. Naturally, he easily managed to snatch the merchant's license for the Gu family."

The atmosphere in the hall paused for a moment.

"Oh? Fellow Daoist Wang was also there?" Yang Liansheng frowned slightly and turned to ask.

The red-coated cultivator turned and glanced at Yang Liansheng, then shook his head and sneered, "I don't have that kind of free time."

"My disciple works in the island's guard force and was previously paid by another trading company. He also intended to try his luck on that arena."

At this point, he slowly stood up, put on a smile, and took a few steps closer to Lu Nanzhu.

He looked Lu Nanzhu up and down, and said with a veiled sarcasm:

"I am just curious, fellow cultivator, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, what benefits did the Gu family promise you?"

"To think that you, fellow Daoist, would disregard your status and compete with a group of juniors in the Qi Refining stage for a job—such a self-degrading act is truly unheard of in all my years on Kui Xing Island."

Lu Nanzhu heard the sarcasm in the words, but chuckled lightly, unconcerned, "Oh? Perhaps this Kui Xing Island is too comfortable, and Fellow Daoist Wang has stayed here for too long, which is why he speaks like this."

The cultivation world has always been a dog-eat-dog world. Cultivators, in their quest for opportunities, don't care whether their opponent is a junior Qi Refining cultivator or a fellow Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As long as the opportunity is present, it is a matter of life and death. As a rogue cultivator, cultivation is not easy, and resources are scarce, so naturally I will take whatever comes my way, no matter how small.

The red-coated cultivator was taken aback by these words, and his expression immediately turned somewhat ugly, but he couldn't refute them for the time being.

Seeing the tense atmosphere in the room, Yang Liansheng quickly stepped forward to smooth things over: "Hehe, since Fellow Daoist Lu is here to complete the formalities and choose a cave dwelling, you must have brought the guarantee documents, right?"

Lu Nanzhu took out two guarantee documents from his storage bag and handed them over.

Yang Liansheng took the document, turned around and stuffed it into the red-coated cultivator's hand, saying, "Fellow Daoist Wang, stop arguing about that useless matter. Let's hurry up and handle the important matters for Fellow Daoist Lu and that junior."

The red-coated cultivator twitched the corner of his mouth and said somewhat perfunctorily, "The two of them came at an inopportune time. Most of the peaks on this island already have owners."

If one wants to establish a cave dwelling, the only options now are to find caves or valleys with sparse spiritual energy, or to go to remote islands.

Lu Nanzhu's eyebrows twitched slightly, revealing a suspicious expression.

"Why would I lie to you? There really aren't any more mountains left."

Seeing everyone's gaze, the red-robed cultivator tossed a rolled-up map from the table.

"See for yourself. The areas with golden dots on the map have already been occupied, while the areas with white dots are unclaimed land."

Lu Nanzhu took the map and unfolded it to browse with Han Li. They found that what the cultivator surnamed Wang said was true; large areas of spiritual vein mountains were indeed shining with golden light.

Before long, he noticed a mountain peak at the northernmost point of Kui Xing Island, near the sea, with a conspicuous red dot flashing on it, and couldn't help but ask:

"Fellow Daoist Wang, what is the meaning of the area with the flashing red lights?"

"What you're talking about is 'Listening Sea Peak.' The cultivators living there have been in arrears on their cave dwelling rent for ten years."

The red-coated monk picked up his teacup, took a sip, and continued.

"I met that person once before. He claimed to be a cultivator from Red Moon Island and said he came here to travel and rented that cave dwelling."

As a result, more than ten years ago, that guy went out to seek opportunities and never returned.

"Then why not take back the cave dwelling and mark it separately?" Lu Nanzhu asked, puzzled.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, you may not know this, but before that cultivator left, he set up a powerful formation outside that cave."

"Several of us deacons tried together to break this formation, but we failed time and again," Yang Liansheng added from the side.

"Since this formation is so powerful, why not ask the island lord to deal with it personally?"

"These cultivation caves are already scarce, and it's really not right to leave that mountain peak abandoned." Lu Nanzhu continued to press for answers.

Yang Liansheng patiently explained, "Fellow Daoist is right. However, that place is remote and the spiritual energy is not abundant, so it cannot be considered a superior place for cultivation."

Moreover, the island lord, Master Mulong, and the two deputy island lords are all currently in seclusion and cannot handle such a trivial matter for the time being.

At this point, Yang Liansheng noticed Lu Nanzhu staring thoughtfully at the red dot on the map and asked curiously:

"Fellow Daoist, are you interested in that place?"

Upon hearing this question, the cultivator surnamed Wang, who was standing nearby, immediately perked up and interjected:

"That mountain is a treasure land. Although the spiritual energy is not abundant among the many mountains of Qingyun Mountain, it is still a good place for cultivation compared to other ordinary waters in the Kuixing Island sea area."

He took out two jade tokens from his storage bag and handed them over, continuing:

"This is the permanent symbol of Kui Xing Island; you two should keep it safe."

"If Fellow Daoist Lu can dispel the formation of 'Listening Sea Peak' and enter it, I, Wang, am willing to directly cover the rent for your cave dwelling for the next ten years."

Then, he spread his hands and sneered:

"However, if you are unable to dispel this formation and enter the cave, you will have to find another secluded place where spiritual energy is not abundant."

As for the rental fee, there's nothing I can do to help.

"Since Fellow Daoist Wang is so sincere, then I, Lu, will dare to give it a try." After pondering for a moment, Lu Nanzhu agreed on the spot.

After a thorough registration and conversation, Lu Nanzhu decided to try his luck at "Linghaifeng".

Prior to this, he selected a remote island that was not far from Linghai Peak and was shimmering with white light as a backup from the map.

If it turns out that the formation is truly difficult to break, then we can simply choose a backup island as our training ground.

However, Lu Nanzhu was indeed quite curious about the formation set up by the Red Moon Island cultivator.

Based on his memory, he had heard of Red Moon Island, which was skilled in array formations. He decided to try his luck there, hoping to find some legacy left by previous cultivators.

As for Han Li, the Qi Refining cultivator standing to the side, unsurprisingly, he chose a little-known island with extremely ordinary spiritual energy on the edge of the map as his base.