Old Master, Times Have Changed - Chapter 725 (Patreon)

Chapter 725: Prelude to a New Era

Not long after, at Chi Jiuyu’s cave abode.

Zhao Ruohan stood in front of the wooden rack outside the cave abode, studying that Xuan Candle Fruit Tree that looked as if it had been carved from glazed white jade. In her hands, she held a Xuan Candle Fruit and ate the flesh in small bites. Brilliant rosy radiance surged out, coiling around her.

She was already stunning to begin with. Now, with rainbow haze circling her, she seemed even more ethereal—calm, otherworldly, like an immortal.

“Why is it that when it’s me, it’s just… funny…”

Off to the side, Chi Jiuyu couldn’t help muttering under her breath when she saw the scene.

Those photos from earlier had been turned by their master into reaction stickers, which were constantly used in their master-and-disciples group chat.

Thankfully, Xiao Yunlu respected her senior sister a lot, so the stickers hadn’t leaked outside…

But she was obviously good-looking too, and she was a sword cultivator famous for being “dashing” and “cool”!

So why did she look so ridiculous when she ate a Xuan Candle Fruit?!

Ancestor Jiuyu felt a little unbalanced inside.

She lowered her head and sulked for a long while, until her “Supreme Wisdom” kicked in and she finally raised her head again.

Yes!

It had to be that this style just didn’t suit her!

Little Zhao was a spell cultivator, and on top of that she was a fairy—of course she matched these special effects.

She, on the other hand, was a sword cultivator. The image that suited her should be cold and powerful, like their master.

As she was thinking about whether to go find a set of black clothes to change into—

“What’s wrong with you?”

A voice sounded by her ear.

Zhao Ruohan, who had been standing by the rack, had turned to look over at some point. Her gaze was a little strange.

Chi Jiuyu’s expression had changed again and again just now. Zhao Ruohan had noticed.

“Nothing. Just thinking about something,” Chi Jiuyu brushed it off casually.

There was no way she was going to admit that she’d just gotten emotionally unbalanced because she remembered how she’d been photographed eating Xuan Candle Fruit, and their master turned it into reaction stickers.

“Mm.”

Zhao Ruohan didn’t think too much of it, assuming Chi Jiuyu was thinking about the sparring match from not long ago.

After all, even though the match hadn’t lasted long, both of them had used their strongest methods.

Even while Zhao Ruohan was eating the Xuan Candle Fruit, she’d been replaying it in her head.

“Hey, Little Zhao—does this Xuan Candle Fruit Tree help you? If it does, why don’t you take it back and raise it for a while?” Chi Jiuyu changed the subject.

Zhao Ruohan froze, but quickly shook her head slightly.

“No need. The spiritual plant seed Sword Ancestor gave me was just planted. It’s not suitable to come into contact with other spiritual plants right now.”

Especially not a top-tier spiritual plant like the Xuan Candle Fruit Tree.

After a pause, she added, “But later on, I really will need to borrow your Xuan Candle Fruit Tree.”

The spiritual plant Sword Ancestor gave her leaned toward “extreme yang.” Through her innate divine technique, she could use its spiritual essence to temper and refine her mana.

But if she did that for too long, the nature of her mana would definitely shift, making it violent and hard to control.

So once she reached a certain stage, she would have to use the essence of some “yin” spiritual plants to balance it out, so her mana could return to a calm state.

“Hah! Whenever you need it, just tell me!” Chi Jiuyu said grandly. “What are we to each other, huh!”

“Thank you.”

“What’s there to be polite about? If you took it back to raise it, you’d even save me a batch of spirit-liquid money!”

This Xuan Candle Fruit Tree was absurdly delicate, and the nurturing spirit liquid it used had to be the top-tier kind.

If not for Ancestor Jiuyu’s peerless talent and outstanding execution—getting plenty of contribution points from every mission, and even occasionally receiving red packets from Uncle Ji—

If it were an ordinary cultivator raising it, they would’ve gone bankrupt ages ago!

“Right.” Chi Jiuyu picked up the watering pot beside her and walked over to Zhao Ruohan. While she poured spirit liquid onto the Xuan Candle Fruit Tree, she asked, “Little Zhao, your Ascension mission cooldown is almost over, right?”

“One more week, but the missions are hard to grab.”

Among cultivators in the Immortal Sect, Ascension missions were already universally recognized as the missions with the highest return rate.

But even though the immortal network covered both the Realm of Earthly Immortals Realm-Domain and the Xunyuan Realm-Domain…

Not every world’s condition was suitable for an Ascension Envoy to carry out a mission.

After filtering layer by layer, each cycle of Ascension missions released to the Immortal Sect’s mission board only numbered a dozen or so; even at the most, it was never more than close to a hundred.

Close to a hundred missions per cycle might sound like a lot, but compared to the massive number of Immortal Sect cultivators, it was practically nothing.

Someone like her, an Ascension Envoy who had already executed one Ascension mission, would be placed a bit farther back in priority.

Zhao Ruohan sighed softly. “The Supreme Dao Sect’s Ascension point price has been pushed up to 1,300 contribution points.”

You had to know: contribution points were the highly valuable currency you could only earn from Immortal Sect missions, and the exchange rate to spirit coins was 1:1000.

In other words, you needed over 1.3 million spirit coins to exchange for a single Ascension point.

Chi Jiuyu curled her lips. “Sword Sect is already at 1,400.”

To load her starship with the newly launched module, she’d even sold ten points.

She thought it would take a while for them to move, but the moment she listed them, someone messaged her.

Damn it—those rich dogs really had money!

Ancestor Jiuyu could barely count as a second-generation immortal herself, but compared to those rich dogs, she was basically a pauper.

Sigh.

If the Tai Xuan Immortal Net ever opened Ascension-point trading, the price would be pushed even higher.

But that also proved, from another angle, just how valuable Ascension points truly were.

“I heard the first batch of Ascension Envoys got the highest-value contribution point rewards. They also had a corresponding Ascension Points Exchange Center, and it only closes after they spend all the Ascension points they earned from that mission.”

Now, after adjustments, the items in the Ascension Points Exchange Center were standardized.

“That’s normal.” Chi Jiuyu put down the watering pot.

She’d read the mission reports from the first batch of Ascension Envoys. The difficulty was simply not on the same level as the missions that came afterward.

If she were the one doing them, she probably wouldn’t score very high either.

“Speaking of which, Little Zhao—aren’t you a fairy? Why not ask Lord Hong to arrange a mission for you?” Chi Jiuyu teased.

Zhao Ruohan raised an eyebrow. “Then why don’t you ask Sword Sovereign to arrange one for you?”

“I’m not the kind of person who does that sort of little trick!” Chi Jiuyu said solemnly.

Zhao Ruohan stared at her expressionlessly.

So I am?

“Hehe! Just kidding.” Chi Jiuyu grinned.

But soon, the smile on her face vanished.

Her gaze shifted toward the distance, watching clouds unfurl and gather at the horizon. A strange light flickered in her eyes.

“Little Zhao… what do you think the future’s gonna turn into?”

The Tai Xuan Immortal Net, Ascension missions, the Ascension Hall…

Every single thing was changing this world continuously. They moved forward with the flood of the era, sailing into an unknown future.

Zhao Ruohan pressed her lips together, following Chi Jiuyu’s line of sight to the distant horizon as well.

“I don’t know. But we will witness it.”

…

…

Time flew.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed.

During that time, Zhao Ruohan returned to the Supreme Dao Sect and camped the mission board for more than two weeks before she finally managed to grab an Ascension mission.

Now, she had already left the Tai Xuan Realm.

As for Chi Jiuyu, her Ascension mission cooldown had also ended, but since she couldn’t grab a mission, she could only remain in Sword Sect and consolidate her improved Sword of Annihilation.

Meanwhile.

The Alliance of Righteousness.

With the Ascension Hall completed and the relevant mission worlds confirmed, the Alliance of Righteousness…

More precisely, Chen Yuanlin welcomed his first Ascension mission as well.

At the bottom of Xuanxu Sea, where the Alliance of Righteousness Supreme Council was located.

Beside the Speaker’s Tower.

Looking out, a golden arched gate stood in solemn sanctity. Three vigorous characters were carved above it—

Ascension Hall.

Neat steps of azure spirit jade formed a long stairway—eighty-one steps in total—stretching straight upward. Immortal mist drifted on both sides, like a paradise in the mortal world.

At the end of the jade stairs stood a magnificent holy hall. Its white walls overflowed with radiance, and profound runes appeared and vanished faintly.

To avoid affecting the Tai Xuan Immortal Net’s function, its specifications were made perfectly identical to the Immortal Sect’s Ascension Hall, without the slightest deviation.

“Hoo…”

Chen Yuanlin, the executor of this Ascension mission, stood before the entrance. Looking at the pale-gold translucent curtain of light hanging down from above, he let out a soft breath.

Inscriptions flowed. Through the translucent curtain, he could vaguely see the interior.

His feelings were complicated.

He’d already heard.

When he was selected as the Ascension mission’s executor, many of the first-generation councilors had opposed it. It was the first-generation Speaker who overruled everyone and protected Chen Yuanlin’s identity as an Ascension Envoy.

“So this is the opportunity you spoke of?”

With that thought, Chen Yuanlin took a deep breath and stepped inside.

A cool sensation washed over him, as if he passed through a thin film of water, and his view suddenly opened up.

Before he could even observe the hall’s interior, he felt gaze after gaze—heavy beyond imagination—fall upon him. His entire body tensed in an instant.

But it only lasted a brief moment before that oppressive sensation disappeared.

“You should already understand the details of this Ascension mission,” a familiar voice said by his ear.

Chen Yuanlin looked up and saw Yuan Zheng, dressed in a black coat, watching him from across the hall.

Around him were many people—every one of them a famous figure within the Alliance of Righteousness.

Of the current thirty-six councilors, thirty were present. Besides them, there were also some faces he didn’t recognize.

“Yes,” Chen Yuanlin said.

“Then don’t waste time. Depart immediately,” Yuan Zheng said succinctly.

“Yes!”

Chen Yuanlin saluted. Under the gaze of many high-level cultivators, he walked to the highest platform of the Ascension Platform hub.

At that moment, his personal interface popped up.

Tai Xuan Immortal Net

Name: Chen Yuanlin

Age: 26

Realm: early-stage Soul Transformation

Profession: spell cultivator, body cultivator

Affiliation: Alliance of Righteousness

…

Voom!

As a dazzling halo like a star river expanded outward, Chen Yuanlin heard solemn, mysterious echoes ring in his ears.

His personal interface, which rarely changed, now began updating rapidly line after line.

“Connecting to Dao marker… connection successful!”

“Mission item: Ascension Platform has been placed into your personal storage space. Please deploy it after the total progress of the three Ascension missions reaches 70%.”

“Mission world: Unnamed World 17965 (Soul Transformation).”

“Mission world type: hive plane.”

Hive plane?

It was actually this kind of world.

Good thing it wasn’t the “starry cosmos” type.

According to the Ascension Envoy mission reports he’d read recently, the starry cosmos type was the most troublesome.

Chen Yuanlin kept recalling what he knew about hive-plane mission worlds.

“Immortal network power injected. Coordinate calculation complete. Activating Cross–Chaos Sea: World-Seeking Program!”

“Mission world coordinates confirmed: Xunyuan Realm-Domain.”

“Attention! This mission’s time limit is ninety days in the Tai Xuan Realm’s Central Continent. Converted to mission-world time, it is three years (without using spacetime-type auxiliary modules). At expiration, mission progress will be calculated directly!”

Three years?

The time limit was pretty generous.

And this “Xunyuan Realm-Domain”… could it be related to the first-generation Speaker?

“3, 2, 1. Cross-realm transfer begins!”

He didn’t have time to think further. His vision flashed, and he vanished from the Ascension Hall.

…

The hall was quiet to an excessive degree.

Everyone stared at the spot where Chen Yuanlin had just stood, their eyes carrying complicated emotions.

They couldn’t understand it…

They couldn’t understand it at all!

Everyone present was at least at the Integration realm, and the strongest had even reached the Soul Transformation realm, yet not a single one could see through the immortal network’s operating principle.

This was the Tai Xuan Immortal Net!

Even a Soul Transformation cultivator who had comprehended the essence of the universe was no different from an ordinary mortal who had never entered the Dao, standing before it.

That feeling…

It was like facing a True Immortal.

No—wrong.

The immortal network itself used Sword Ancestor’s immortal energy as its core. Calling it an extension of a True Immortal wasn’t an exaggeration…

“I don’t know if doing this is right or wrong…” a councilor sighed softly.

But as soon as he spoke, his heart clenched, as if some extremely terrifying existence had fixed its gaze on him.

He turned back with difficulty—and saw that beside the first-generation Speaker, a burly man holding a long blade was looking at him.

The man’s gaze was calm, yet it made the councilor’s scalp prickle.

It was Gu Mo, who had only just returned to the Alliance of Righteousness not long ago.

“A True Immortal’s decision will never be wrong.” The calm voice echoed through the entire Ascension Hall.

If you had never endured the hardships of that era, you would never understand the weight of the word “immortal.”

Gu Mo understood clearly: everything happening now was already the “dignity” True Immortals had granted them.

The atmosphere inside the Ascension Hall became heavy.

In the end, Yuan Zheng spoke to break it.

“Next comes the construction of the Ascension Web connection nodes.”

Mingyu and Ning Wanzhu, who had been silent all this time, stepped forward.

Along with them was a female cultivator at the Integration realm.

“This time, we’ll be relying on Senior Fu Meng.”

Fu Meng—Fu Yuan’s younger sister, the Thousandfold Dao Lord.

“You’re too polite…” Fu Meng’s expression was stiff.

She had originally come to argue with Yuan Zheng, but after just a few exchanges, Yuan Zheng led her around in circles—until, somehow, she ended up becoming this so-called “Ascension Web Expansion Envoy.”

Not only did she fail to achieve her goal—she even dragged herself into it and became free labor.

Of course she wouldn’t look happy!

“Please.” Yuan Zheng smiled gently.

Toward this Senior Fu Meng, whose temperament was rather straightforward, he didn’t feel any dislike.

And now she would be accompanying Ning Wanzhu and Mingyu to complete the grueling work of constructing Ascension Web connection nodes.

…

Fu Meng walked forward in silence.

Beside her, Fu Yuan’s face was dark.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand how his little sister had, for no reason at all, become this so-called “Ascension Web Expansion Envoy.”

When he asked her why, she wouldn’t say.

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