Chapter 303 – Ten-Thousand-Year Arrangement, New Pine Mountain Biyou Palace

Transforming Pine Mountain into his transit hub in the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms was something Lu Chen decided immediately after understanding the situation in the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

This was not only to secure a good foothold for his future visits to the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

It was also in preparation for the eventual counterattack against the Ancient Fiend Nine Realms.

With his unique talent, the Fairy Lotus Womb, Lu Chen could ignore the Karma permeating the Ancient Fiend World and remain unaffected.

However, other cultivators, and even Immortals, might not be so fortunate.

Prolonged exposure to this Karma could lead to minor consequences like Heart Demon outbreaks and damage to one’s mental state.

In severe cases, it could cause distorted consciousness and a shaken Foundation.

Thus, enabling other cultivators to operate normally in the Ancient Fiend World became a problem Lu Chen had long pondered.

The solution he devised was the special Azure Cloud Apricot Tree before him.

Cultivated from the corpse of the Pine Mountain Mountain God and his own Primordial Qi, this Azure Cloud Apricot Tree combined the “Comprehension Ability” of the “Deer Pine Tree” with the purifying effect on Spiritual Power of the “Azure Cloud Apricot Tree.”

Gazing at the sapling with its jade-white trunk and emerald-green leaves, Lu Chen softly said, “From now on… you shall be called White Deer Pine.”

As he spoke, Lu Chen gently traced his finger along the tree’s trunk.

Soon, three shimmering golden characters appeared on its bark.

These three characters represented more than just a “name.”

While carving them, Lu Chen infused his Sword Intent into the characters.

In a way, these characters indirectly bestowed upon the White Deer Pine an innate Sword Intent.

Once the White Deer Pine Awakened its True Spirit in the future, it could directly comprehend this Sword Intent.

This was a unique form of “Innate Sword Physique.”

Whether it was his imagination or not, after naming the White Deer Pine, Lu Chen sensed that something special had changed within it.

Though he was unsure of the exact nature of this change for now.

Watching the White Deer Pine begin to absorb the worldly Karma and convert it into Primordial Qi, Lu Chen felt that his journey to the Ancient Fiend World was nearing its end.

His main mission required him to slay ten Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator Families.

Although he had already eliminated two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator Families, this did not guarantee similar success in the future.

After all, situations like the conflict among the three Sects were not everyday occurrences.

This time, he had the advantage of timing, location, and unity, coupled with decisive methods and thorough preparations.

Thus, he did not need to worry about exposure or pursuit by the Great Thousand Mountains.

However, if he rushed headlong into hunting down nearby Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator Families, even a fool would notice something amiss and take precautions.

By then, even if the Great Thousand Mountains did not intervene, the surrounding Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator Families would either hide or unite against him.

Rather than rashly alerting the enemy, a gradual and careful plan to deal with the nearby Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator Families was undoubtedly more prudent.

Therefore, after this, he must lie low for a while and find an opportunity to establish the rebranded Pine Mountain’s reputation.

Only then would he have a pretext to take action against other Ancient Immortal Sects in the future.

And all of this depended on the White Deer Pine growing strong first.Only in this way could the Spiritual Qi of New Pine Mountain sustain the cultivation of all living beings within the mountain.

After all, a school cannot thrive on its Ancestral Master alone.

It requires a sufficient number of Disciples as its foundation.

Although Lu Chen intended to bring trusted Cultivators from the Central Province to the Ancient Fiend World in the future and have them operate as Disciples of New Pine Mountain, he still needed time before he could achieve this.

Currently, he lacked such capability.

Therefore, he needed to establish the framework of New Pine Mountain beforehand.

As for the name of the Sect at New Pine Mountain, Lu Chen had already conceived an idea.

Biyou Palace—this was the school Lu Chen planned to establish at New Pine Mountain.

The name was chosen not only because Lu Chen intended to teach without discrimination, accepting Disciples from all walks of life, including humans and other beings, but also due to a touch of his mischievous humor.

Having already cultivated the Immortal Slaughtering Sword Formation and the Dharma Body of the Supreme Purity Multitreasure Celestial, wouldn’t it be fitting to create a Biyou Palace reminiscent of the “Jie Sect’s Biyou Island”?

The first batch of Disciples Lu Chen prepared for Biyou Palace were the surviving White Deer Pines on Pine Mountain.

The so-called White Deer Pines were a unique type of Spirit Tree with deer-like appearances.

Once their Dao attainment reached a certain Realm, the White Deer Pines could “shed their tree forms and become deer,” existing as Spirit Trees straddling the line between flora and fauna.

The original Pine Mountain Temple had treated these White Deer Pines merely as Materials for cultivation—a practice Lu Chen viewed as utterly wasteful.

After all, White Deer Pines possessed both the longevity and serene temperament of “tree spirits” and the robust Physical Bodies of Spirit Beasts.

Although only one in ten thousand White Deer Pines could complete this transformation, each successful one had the potential to become an exceptional foundation for cultivation.

The approach of Pine Mountain Temple was essentially one of “plunder,” forcibly grafting the innate talents of the White Deer Pines onto themselves.

While this method wasn’t inherently wrong, Lu Chen had no desire for Disciples who, in their pursuit of cultivation, would distort themselves beyond recognition, becoming neither human nor ghost.

The tree spirits transformed from White Deer Pines perfectly aligned with his vision for Disciples.

Even if it meant investing considerable time to nurture the first generation of Disciples, the long-term benefits made it a worthwhile endeavor.

Moreover, Lu Chen sought to use these White Deer Pines to test another hypothesis: the relationship between the game world and the Ancient Fiend World.

White Deer Pines were unique Spirit Trees of the Ancient Fiend World, and the White Deer Pine was a special variant he had personally crafted.

If he could later find traces of White Deer Pines, or even the White Deer Pine, in reality, it would prove that his presence in the ancient era—facilitated by the “True Immortal Cultivation” mini-game—had genuinely influenced that period.

At this stage, a lingering question occupied Lu Chen’s thoughts: were the events that would unfold in the Immortal Cultivation World predestined outcomes from a timeline where he never appeared, or were they consequences shaped by his very presence?

To verify this, he needed to find evidence of his existence in the ancient era within reality.

In this regard, the long-lived tree spirits were ideally suited to his requirements.After all, with the same cultivation level, although tree spirits are inferior in strength to human cultivators and spirit beasts, their lifespans are equally unattainable by the former two.

Lu Chen believed that as long as he planned carefully in the future, it shouldn’t be a problem to ensure Biyou Palace survived into the post-cultivation era after the ‘Great Calamity’.

Thinking this, Lu Chen couldn’t help but place his hand on the Little White Deer Pine that had just sprouted tender buds and was only about one meter tall.

“I hope… you won’t disappoint me.”

As he spoke, Lu Chen summoned his Fiend-Trapping Sword and unreservedly released his Primordial Qi, beginning to fully nurture the other deer pines around him.

Under the influence of the Primordial Qi and the Fiend-Trapping Sword, the Karma within these deer pines began to be continuously purified. This not only made them more agile but also faintly revealed a rich vitality.

Although Lu Chen wanted to nurture more deer pines, not every deer pine had the capacity to withstand his baptism.

He searched all over Pine Mountain but ultimately found only these twelve deer pines with the potential for ‘spirit transformation’.

And this was the result of who knows how many years of accumulation on Pine Mountain.

Time passed imperceptibly during this process…

Reality, Immortal Alliance Nine Provinces, Wildlands Province, Great Wilderness City.

As one of the largest cities in the Immortal Alliance, although Great Wilderness City is located at the westernmost edge of the alliance, its prosperity is in no way inferior to cities within the alliance’s interior.

However, unlike the modern architecture prevalent in the Immortal Alliance, while Great Wilderness City bears traces of modern technology, it also preserves many ancient-style blackstone structures.

Thus, Great Wilderness City is known by another name among many: Blackstone City.

And these blackstones in Great Wilderness City are no ordinary objects. They are not only much harder than regular stones but also far heavier than most metals of the same volume.

For Great Wilderness City, where body cultivation practices thrive, these stones are undoubtedly the best body refining materials.

Therefore, throughout Great Wilderness City, you can commonly see groups of bare-chested, muscular men exercising with ‘blackstone locks’ to temper their physiques.

To summarize Great Wilderness City in one sentence: this place… is filled with an aura of strength and hormones.

At the city gate of Great Wilderness City, four outsiders with simple temperaments and plain clothing passed through the gate inspection and entered the city.

“Wow, big brother, look! Is this what a big city is like? There’s delicious food everywhere? It’s just too awesome!”

The fat one among the four, smelling the aroma of roasted meat coming from both sides of the street, couldn’t help but sniff excitedly and shout out.

But before he could finish, a large slap landed on the back of his head.

“Eat, eat, eat, that’s all you think about! Have you forgotten why we came here?”

Hou Ping scolded Zhu Zhong angrily, looking utterly exasperated.

Seeing this, Ying Yuan and Gou Fen beside him chimed in: “Old Zhu, Boss Hou is right, stop thinking about food all the time.”

“Fairy didn’t send us here to tour and eat, but to find someone.”

“Although Fairy didn’t specify a deadline for finding the person, think about her methods.”

“If we delay Fairy’s important business, be careful she might come to the Immortal Alliance herself, strip off your pigskin, and make roast suckling pig out of you.”Hearing this, Zhu Zhong, whose true form was a pig demon, showed no fear. Rubbing the back of his head, he said with a simple grin, “Hehe, the Fairy is a vegetarian. She wouldn’t eat old pig me.”

Beside him, Ying Yuan, with his cold expression, sharp eagle-like eyes, and hooked nose, responded icily, “Old Zhu, the Fairy may be a vegetarian, but there are plenty of people in Biyou Palace who aren’t.”

“Guess why those mountain lords revere Biyou Palace as if it were divine?”

“They dare to cause trouble for the Immortal Alliance, yet no one dares to mess with Biyou Palace.”

“It’s because they know the Immortal Alliance can’t enter the Ten Thousand Mountains to hunt them down, but Biyou Palace is different. If they truly anger them, even a single person coming out would be enough to make them suffer.”

“It’s just that, for some unknown reason, Biyou Palace can’t easily leave their grounds.”

“Otherwise, the Overlord of the Ten Thousand Mountains would have emerged long ago.”

“Focus on the task at hand. Once it’s done, you can eat whatever you want.”

Scolded by the demons, the pig demon glanced somewhat regretfully at the surrounding food stalls.

He turned to the others and asked, “So what should we do now?”

“Tell me, old pig will listen and make sure to complete the task as soon as possible!”

Zhu Zhong thought that with his words, the cleverest monkey demon and the calmest eagle demon would surely come up with a plan.

Unexpectedly, the atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

Because at that moment, aside from knowing they were looking for someone with lotus pupils, they knew nothing else.

As for delivering the ‘White Jade Branch’ given to them by the Fairy to that person—that was even more far-fetched.

How could they deliver it if they couldn’t even find the person?

After an awkward silence, the quick-witted monkey demon finally offered a suggestion.

“Let’s set aside the search for now. First, we need to figure out the rules of the Immortal Alliance and protect our identities.”

“Don’t forget, we’re currently substitute-assessed aliens and need to report regularly to the Immortal Alliance’s ‘Alien Accommodation Bureau.'”

“Only after we all pass the assessment and obtain the Immortal Alliance’s ‘Red Card’ can we move freely within the alliance.”

“By then, we’ll be in a better position to help the Fairy.”

“And the best way to get the Red Card boils down to just two words…”

“What two words?”

The pig demon looked curiously at the monkey demon, his eyes reflecting a kind of clear foolishness.

The monkey demon stared at him as if he were an idiot and said, “What else? Work, of course!”

“Didn’t you read the alien handbook issued by the Alien Accommodation Bureau? It states that we can only apply for the Red Card after working steadily in the Immortal Alliance for five years, paying full medical and social insurance, and having no criminal record.”

“So there’s nothing more to discuss—everyone, go find a job.”

“Oh, oh, oh!”

The pig demon rubbed his clearly not-so-bright head, indicating he understood.

Whether he truly understood or not, only he knew.

With a clear goal in mind, the four demons immediately embarked on their job-hunting journey.

Their first stop was the famous talent exchange market in Great Wilderness City—Chen Fatty Plaza.

But they soon discovered that finding work wasn’t as easy as they thought!

Although they all had Golden Core Stage cultivation, they were demon cultivators. Apart from being physically strong, they didn’t know many spells or divine abilities.Not to mention they couldn’t freely use their cultivation here.

Otherwise, the ‘Flawless Magic Robe’ they wore would no longer be able to conceal the demonic power within them, making it easy for the Shanhai Bureau of Great Wilderness City to discover their true identities.

With nothing but brute strength, no specialized skills, and little understanding of Great Wilderness City…

After much searching and inquiry, the four demons finally obtained their first jobs.

Standing before the gates of Ronghua Electronics Factory in Great Wilderness City, the four demons looked at the buckets in their hands containing newly purchased bedding and toiletries, feeling that something wasn’t quite right—though they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

Could they… truly accomplish the task assigned by White Deer Fairy properly?

“What are you standing around for? Hurry up! Do you still want this job or not?”

Just as the four demons hesitated, a supervisor from the factory came out and urged them to enter quickly.

Hearing this, the four demons immediately snapped back to reality and entered the factory carrying their buckets…

(End of Chapter)