From waterfowl, it began to transform into the Great Sun Golden Crow.

Gu Heting is quite an oddity among mythical beasts.

A demon from beyond the realm transmigrated to another world. Its intelligence developed early; even the River-Swallowing Fish, which had accompanied humans for over a hundred years, only began to speak as a toddler in the late Qi Refining stage.

How could it not be an accident if such a creature were left in the cultivation world?

"My surname is Fang, and my name is Fang Huaiqing."

"Among the three immortals of the Azure Wood Immortal Sect, my Daoist name is Purple Bamboo. I travel in this Eastern Region by boat. They all call me Fellow Daoist Purple Bamboo."

It was him.

Swallowing River Fish Whale Li finally came to his senses. He had also heard of this Purple Bamboo Master when he traveled around with the Taoist Master Yunlin.

The Green Wood Immortal Sect is also a strange sect.

Their entire sect only accepts those with wood-based spiritual roots. Any spiritual root with even the slightest impurity is excluded, and even those with twin spiritual roots are refused by the Azure Wood Immortal Sect.

The lineage within a sect is based on a master-disciple system.

They are divided into the Upper Three Immortals and the Lower Three Immortals.

Swallowing River Fish had heard of the Three Immortals. The foundation of a sect is not how many spiritual mines and magical artifacts it has, but how many Nascent Soul cultivators it possesses.

The Qingmu Immortal Sect has three Nascent Soul cultivators.

Purple Bamboo Immortal, White Plum Immortal, and Azure Lotus Immortal are all masters of the Wood Spiritual Root, and their Wood Cultivation techniques have long since reached their pinnacle.

Wood-based cultivation techniques allow one to grow roots in trees. All techniques learned focus on longevity. Those who specialize in wood cultivation have a higher lifespan than other Nascent Soul cultivators.

Even though the Purple Bamboo Immortal had a long lifespan...

But their time is drawing near. They will seek a successor, primarily through the apprenticeship system.

Those who inherit this legacy are the three lower immortals.

They will be provided with all available resources. The three lower immortals will then take over the mantle of the three immortals and reach the Nascent Soul stage.

Despite its ups and downs, the Green Wood Immortal Sect is one of the larger sects in the Five Domains.

The lineage of master and disciple has lasted for tens of thousands of years, so the sect still retains some of its foundational strength.

"May I address you as Senior Zizhu?" Gu Heting asked.

Zizhu shook his head, his steps never faltering, his gaze never leaving his disciple's grave.

"Purple Bamboo is just a title. My master is also called the Purple Bamboo Immortal."

No wonder I keep hearing the names of these three immortals.

It turns out that the name has always been passed down.

The River-Swallowing Fish and its master traveled far and wide. Its master, Daoist Yunling, had heard of these three immortals, as had the previous and even the generation before that.

It turns out it was a master-apprentice system.

"The name Zizhu will not exist again. It has ended with my generation. I am nearing the end of my life. I want to use the rest of my life to train a disciple."

"How unjust Heaven has been to me!" said Fang Huaiqing, the Purple Bamboo Taoist, with a sorrowful expression.

His voice sounded like a fishbone stuck in his throat.

His expression was unfocused, as if he were both crying and laughing. He turned his gaze to Gu Heting: "Little one, would you like to hear my story?"

The priority right now is to appease them.

Immortals are not heartless, nor are they bloodthirsty. This is a sect that stands in the name of inheritance.

Killing his disciple was also cutting off his lifeline.

Thinking of this, Gu Heting nodded.

"The long river flows past Huaiting."

"This is the result of a divination I performed 400 years ago. The divination said that I had a master-disciple relationship with the first person who appeared outside the Huai River Pavilion."

"At that time, he was still a third-place scholar in the imperial examination."

"I asked him, 'Do you want to enjoy the riches and glory of this world, or do you want to seek immortality with me? To seek eternal life?'"

In fact, Gu Heting could also deduce a general idea.

According to that biography of Lü Pingyang, this senior figure before us has a bit of the "Jiang Taigong fishing, waiting for the willing to take the bait" mentality.

Unfortunately, there is no universal principle to generalize about anything in this world.

Now that he is dead, this bond is severed.

"It was more than 200 years later when he and I sought immortality and enlightenment."

"At 45, he reached the late stage of Qi Refining. At 136, he reached the Core Formation stage. At 362, he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage with the cultivation of the late stage of Core Formation. I never thought there would be such a genius in the world."

"When he was 300 years old, he brought a child from the foot of the mountain."

"He told me that the child had a wood elemental root. He said he had found the child at the foot of the mountain and asked me to take him as my disciple."

"I agreed, and I made an exception and accepted a second apprentice."

"But, that child...that child." The Purple Bamboo Immortal's words began to pause. He clenched his teeth, and his true energy was constantly leaking out.

His anger had reached a breaking point.

"That child is a demonic cultivator!"

"He fooled us all! He was disguised as a child! He had already reached the Core Formation stage! But he was suppressing his true strength."

"My disciple's inner core was discarded."

"If my disciple lives, he will be the youngest Nascent Soul cultivator in our entire sect!"

"I will tear that traitor to his master to pieces!"

With the final roar of the Purple Bamboo Immortal.

Dark clouds rolled in the sky, accompanied by lightning and thunder.

A torrent of purple lightning swirled around him, mirroring the purple lightning in the sky. It was merely a single outflow of spiritual energy.

Purple lightning bolts streaked wildly across the entire blessed land.

Gu Heting and Jing Li inwardly cried out in alarm. So even immortals could lose their minds. This was terrible. Just one reckless outpouring of spiritual power...

This would cause the blessed land of Dongting to be struck by rolling thunder, causing the sky to collapse and the earth to sink.

That's freaking scary.

The two were somewhat frightened. At this moment, the River-Swallowing Fish was thinking about how to swallow Gu Heting whole and then hide at the bottom of the water.

Just then.

The barrier, which had been torn apart by the Purple Bamboo Immortal, suddenly began to exude a fragrant aroma. A blue lotus descended upon the world. The lotus, carrying boundless radiance, absorbed the rolling purple lightning within its petals.

A middle-aged man with graying temples was wearing a Taoist robe with blue clouds.

Dressed in dark blue robes, she possessed an extraordinary air about her.

He strode through the air, each step creating lotus blossoms. With each breath, he suppressed the raging, residual lightning.

Immediately afterwards, a gust of cold wind swept by.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky. In the early spring, snow was falling. The world was truly bizarre.

Gu Heting looked up and stared intently at the snowflakes.

These aren't snowflakes!

These are white plum blossom petals. White plum blossoms, like a plum blossom rain falling from the sky. Countless plum blossoms, scattered across the heavens.

A lingering fragrance lingers from a departed soul.

Gu Heting was captivated.

Accompanying the subtle fragrance was a woman of aloof elegance. Her white brocade robe fluttered in the wind, and white ribbons hung from her arms.

Her lips were crimson and her eyes were like crescent moons. When she closed her eyes and looked down, she exuded a compassionate aura.

The woman walked amidst a shower of plum blossoms.

Coming downwards.

One man and one woman, both Nascent Soul Immortals.

One of them walked on lotus blossoms, the other on white plum blossoms. With a wave of their hand, two fragrant scents wafted over. The subtle fragrance soothed the Purple Bamboo Immortal.

Lotus blossoms emerge from the mortal realm, a celestial being of the blue lotus.

Plum blossoms fall in the snow, a white plum blossom fairy.

The descent of two Nascent Soul Immortals threw the entire Dongting Blessed Land into complete chaos.