After a thousand years of cultivation, he returns at the pinnacle!

The pork ribs in the casserole were still bubbling away, the dark brown broth swirling around the bones. The cartilage was translucent and easily broken with chopsticks. Jiang Xueqin ladled a full bowl of rice for Jiang Chen, the grains piled high like a small mountain, topped with two of the largest pork ribs. Jiang Chen bent down and took a bite, the steam rising to his face, carrying the faint metallic smell unique to the rice cooker's inner pot.

The living room was quiet. The only sounds were the soft clinking of chopsticks against bowls, the bubbling of broth in the clay pot, and the ticking of the old-fashioned wall clock. Jiang Xueqin barely touched her chopsticks; her bowl contained only a small amount of rice with a piece of pork rib on top, which had gone cold since it was served. She simply sat there, watching Jiang Chen eat, occasionally picking up her chopsticks to put food on his plate, then putting them down again.

Jiang Tianyi ate more than usual. He had already asked for more rice twice; this was the third time he had stood up and gone to the rice cooker that evening. He scooped the rice slowly, as if using these repetitive actions to distract himself from thinking too much.

The light from car headlights swept past the window; another interview vehicle was probably parked at the entrance of the residential area.

But at this moment, in this living room, amidst the aroma of braised pork ribs and the steam of rice, the whole world is shut out. Only the broth in the clay pot continues to simmer and bubble, only the old-fashioned clock on the wall continues to tick, only the sound of chopsticks touching bowls continues to echo softly.

However, the outside world has been completely blown up.

In the first hour after the collapse of the Twelfth Apostle's Palace, Weibo's trending topics list experienced an unprecedented domination of the entire screen. The top fifty trending topics were all occupied by items related to Jiang Chen. From successfully challenging the First Apostle's Palace to wearing the same school uniform, from whether cultivation really exists to Jiang Chen's live stream replay, from who Su Wanniang is to where the Qingyun Sect is, from the difference between immortals and mortals to "I also want to cultivate immortality"—each trending topic garnered over a billion views.

The top trending topic was firmly held by a three-character phrase followed by a gold-plated "Explosive" word. Within just one hour, the phrase garnered over 12 billion views, breaking all records since the birth of the internet.

The entry for this term is: Immortal Emperor Chen.

"Immortal Emperor! Immortal Emperor! He really said Immortal Emperor! The ultimate goal of cultivation is Immortal Emperor! Brother Chen didn't admit it in the Apostle Hall, it was the twelfth Apostle who said it herself! She said Jiang Chen has lived in the cultivation world for a thousand years, cultivating from the lowest level to the highest peak! Immortal Emperor!"

"He's not 'powerless,' he's a cultivator! A Celestial Emperor! The strongest being in another universe!"

"I'm completely stunned. Just a month ago, he was the world's first person without superpowers, and a month later he's become a Celestial Emperor who returned from another world. I wouldn't even dare to make up something like this in my wildest dreams, and it's actually true?"

"Do you guys remember what those reporters asked him on Awakening Day? 'Do you think your life is over?' I really want to throw that live stream replay in that reporter's face right now. His life didn't end; he just came back from a universe where he lived for a thousand years and became an Immortal Emperor!"

The topic's readership continues to surge at a visible rate, with tens of thousands of new comments flooding in every second. Amidst this overwhelming discussion, an inevitable question begins to surface—what exactly is cultivation?

On a certain Q&A platform, a post titled "How to understand Jiang Chen's 'Cultivation of Immortality' from a scientific perspective?" reached the top of the site within ten minutes of being posted. The questioner wrote in the post: "Jiang Chen himself stated in the 100th floor of the Twelfth Apostle Hall that his power comes from 'cultivation of immortality,' and that he has lived for a thousand years in another 'cultivation world.' What is cultivation of immortality? What is its fundamental difference from the Awakened system we are familiar with? Is it possible for ordinary people to cultivate immortality?"

The most upvoted answer came from a user verified as a "former researcher at the Awakener Research Institute of the Dragon Kingdom Academy of Sciences," with over 500,000 likes.

"As a former researcher who has studied the Awakened system for thirty years, I can only say that the power Jiang Chen displayed is indeed outside the scope of any Awakened system we know of. The power of an Awakened comes from spiritual energy—a power that can be detected by Awakening Stones, measured by a spiritual energy fluctuation meter, and follows the law of conservation of energy. But the abilities Jiang Chen displayed in the Apostle Hall—Sword Domain, Heaven-Burning Fire, Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, Boundless Sword Finger—none of them could be detected by a spiritual energy detector. Our instruments all failed in front of him. This indicates that he uses a completely different energy system. My personal speculation is that the core of the cultivation system might be a power form more fundamental than spiritual energy, closer to the origin of the universe. As for whether ordinary people can cultivate immortality—that question, perhaps only Jiang Chen himself can answer."

The comments section below this answer exploded even more.

"So Brother Chen really isn't an Awakened One? His power comes entirely from cultivating immortality?"

"So he wasn't wrong to call himself 'powerless'! He really doesn't have the ability to awaken spiritual power! But he's a cultivator! A Celestial Emperor!"

"I have an even bolder idea. Brother Chen said he traveled to the cultivation world the day he was hit by a car, lived there for a thousand years, and only spent one night back. Does that mean the flow of time in the cultivation world is different from ours? Is a thousand years in that world equal to one night in ours? So if Brother Chen were willing to teach us cultivation—"

"Stop dreaming. Brother Chen cultivated for a thousand years in that world before reaching the Immortal Emperor level. Who among us do you think can live for a thousand years?"

"You don't necessarily have to become an Immortal Emperor! Cultivating to the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stage is fine too! As long as you can fly on a sword! As long as you can prolong your life!"

"Calm down, everyone. Brother Chen just said on TV that he cultivated for a thousand years in the cultivation world before reaching the Immortal Emperor level. A thousand years. We only live for seventy or eighty years from birth to death. Cultivating immortality sounds wonderful, but not everyone has Brother Chen's opportunities and talent."

"But at least it proves that cultivation is real! Not just something in novels! It's real!"

Similar discussions are growing exponentially on every social media platform. The term "cultivation" soared to the top ten of the trending search lists in all languages ​​worldwide within the next few hours. What is the cultivation system? Which is stronger, a cultivator or an awakened being? Why was Jiang Chen, a cultivator, judged as powerless? Countless questions were repeatedly raised, discussed, and debated online.

However, in the command center of the Awakened Ones Administration Bureau in the Dragon Kingdom, the discussion took on a completely different dimension.

Zhou Tianze leaned against the control panel, a new military water bottle clutched in his right hand, the barley wine swirling gently inside. His left eye was fixed on the holographic projection screen, which was still looping the image. The black specks of light from the collapse of the Twelfth Apostle's Hall were reflected in his eye, which had been healed by Jiang Chen.

"Cultivating immortality." He repeated the two words, his voice hoarse. "We trained the Awakened System for thirty years, and when we faced Astra, we couldn't even make him flinch. That kid cultivated immortality for a thousand years, ground Astra to ashes, and sent Morgiana to her death with a single sword strike."

He unscrewed the kettle cap and tilted his head back to take a swig. The liquor flowed down his chin, over the scar on his neck inflicted by Astra's palm strike—the scar had already healed under Jiang Chen's treatment, leaving only a very faint white mark.

"Old Ye, what are you thinking about?"

Ye Wuhen stood by the window, his back to everyone. Outside, the night view of the capital city stretched out, a tapestry of lights and bustling traffic. His right hand still gripped the longsword, now only the hilt remaining, his thumb repeatedly tracing the thirty-year-old wear mark on the guard. He had been silent for nearly two hours since Jiang Chen uttered the words "cultivation world."

"I've been thinking," Ye Wuhen finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse, "that thirty years ago, I emerged alive from the First Apostle's Hall and declared to the world, 'Humanity has hope.' At that time, I believed hope lay with us, the Awakened. Now I know—hope does not lie with us."

He turned around and looked at everyone in the command center: Chu Tianxiong, Luo Qinghe, Zhou Tianze, and the technicians who had been staring at the screens the entire time.

"I hope it's him. That high school student who cultivated to immortality for a thousand years in another world and returned."

The command center was so quiet you could hear the hum of the air conditioner vents. Then Luo Qinghe spoke. She sat in a chair in the corner, her right hand fingers repeatedly flexing and straightening—a habit she had developed since regaining feeling in her right arm, as if repeatedly confirming that the regained sensation was not an illusion.

"His cultivation wasn't innate. It was achieved step by step. From the lowest Qi Refining stage, to Foundation Establishment, to Golden Core, to Nascent Soul, to Deity Transformation, to Body Integration, to Mahayana, to Tribulation Transcending, to Immortal Emperor. Each of the realms he just mentioned took him hundreds of years. He lived in that world for a thousand years."

She raised her head, her clear, cold eyes reflecting the stark white lights of the command center.

In other words, cultivating immortality is something that can be learned.

These words were like a pebble thrown into a deep pool, creating silent ripples in the command hall. Everyone understood the subtext of her words in that instant—if cultivation could be learned, and if Jiang Chen was willing to teach, wouldn't humanity have a completely new path? A path different from the Awakened Ones system? A path that might lead further?

Chu Tianxiong leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest. On the holographic projection screen in front of him, Jiang Chen's battle data in the Twelfth Apostle's Hall was being analyzed frame by frame—the energy fluctuations when the sword domain unfolded, the temperature curve of the Heaven-Burning Flame, the penetrating power of the golden sword shadow, and the structural analysis of the Soul Mirror Array. All the data jumped, updated, and refreshed on the screen, but each piece of data was followed by the same label: Out of Measurement Range.

"I've already reported this to Elder Chen," Chu Tianxiong began, his voice low and restrained. "The General Administration's position is simple. The cultivation system is real; it doesn't belong to our Awakened Ones system, but its owner is Jiang Chen, a citizen of the Dragon Kingdom. That's enough. No one, no organization, no country is allowed to disturb Jiang Chen and his family under any pretext. Anyone who dares to even consider it—"

He paused for a moment, then tapped his fingers on the armrest with a crisp sound.

"Let's ask General Administration if they agree."

No one questions the weight of this statement.