Supreme Golden Palace

Chapter 9: Immortal Path

Northern Sui Dynasty, Kaihuang three years,
"When will the struggle for fame and fortune end? We have no freedom to rise early and sleep late!

Riding a donkey and mule thinking of a steed, the official residence and the prime minister met the prince.

Just worry about food, food and hard work, so why don't Yan Jun take the hook?

The step-sons and grandsons seek wealth and honor, and not a single one is willing to turn back! "

In the Zhangtai Courtyard of the Duke of Qi's Mansion, Lu Shang, wearing a Taoist robe, lay on a bamboo couch, holding a red book and reciting softly.

Unlike Xu Boshang of Dahuang who had to work day and night for state affairs, Yanfu Lushang did not need to work hard and could just be a rich and idle man.

However, although he was a rich and idle man, Lu Shang was not idle this year. He used the power of the Duke of Qi's Mansion to search for immortals and collect ancient books. In addition, he usually wore Taoist robes and recited scriptures in the mansion. His reputation as a Taoist was once even heard of by the Sui Emperor Yang Jian.

However, compared to the arrogance, insatiable ambitions, and exploitation of the common people by some of the sons of the powerful and wealthy, Lü Shang's little habit was nothing. In fact, with the bad deeds of these sons of the powerful and wealthy before him, Lü Shang seemed honest and simple, which was commendable.

"Unfortunately, I've visited Mount Zhongnan, Mount Tai, and Mount Emei, but I've never encountered a true immortal. If it weren't for the fact that immortals and Buddhas truly manifested themselves, I'd have thought all these stories about gods and immortals were just the fantasies of fools."

In reality, Lu Shang at this moment was far from being as carefree as he appeared. He diligently sought the truth, yet had no chance of becoming an immortal. How could anyone else understand the anguish he felt during this time?

He also wanted to be like the great Marshal Tianpeng, who suddenly met a real immortal in his spare time, so he sat down and talked to Han Wen.

It’s a pity that even though Lu Shang showed an increasingly strong determination to pursue the Tao, he still failed to gain the favor of the True Immortal, let alone receive the true teachings in person.

The Taiyi Divine Way of the Great Wilderness of Mountains and Seas applies only to the natural environment of the Great Wilderness. After the Taiyi created the world, the divine beings walked the earth. They were the embodiment of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, possessing boundless magical powers. The so-called divine way practiced by the people of the Great Wilderness of Mountains and Seas in later generations is actually to use their own bloodline as a guide to gather the imprints of the Great Dao, which were scattered into the chaos and nothingness after the fall of the divine beings, and ultimately to re-certify their divine bodies.

However, the world of Jambu itself did not have the scattered imprints of the Great Dao in the chaos and nothingness for Lu Shang to condense, so in the world of Jambu, even though Lu Shang had the physique of Gonggong at the level of a real person, he still had to seek the path to immortality.

The Taiyi Divine Path was a dead end in the Yama World. Unless Lü Shang did not strive for advancement and waited for Xu Boshang of the Great Wilderness to improve his cultivation before pushing his own body forward, Lü Shang could only hope to achieve a higher realm in the Yama World by pursuing the Immortal Path.

The more he studied the Taoist scriptures, the more sincere Lu Shang became in his pursuit of the Tao. The immortal way of the world of Jambu was different from the Taiyi Divine Way of the mountains and seas. The immortal way system of the world of Jambu had gone through 3,200 kalpas, each of which lasted 129,600 years. After going through one kalpa after another, it had become almost perfect.

If he could embark on the path of immortality, with the accumulation of 3,200 tribulations in the path of immortality, he might be able to draw inferences from one instance to another and open up a new path based on the rough and primitive Taiyi Divine Way.

This was the ambition that suddenly emerged in Lu Shang's mind when his two true spirits merged into one.

"Xian Dao, Xian Dao!"

However, even though Lu Shang had great ambitions, he was not favored by the true immortals and could only sigh and lament to himself.

It's really a matter of fate, which has stumped so many heroes!
Just when Lu Shang was feeling down and depressed, the housekeeper of the mansion trotted into the Zhangtai Villa.

"Prince, someone has come to claim the reward. It's from Mount Zhongnan, Yuquan Pond."

"It's Mount Zhongnan again," Lu Shang glanced at the housekeeper, sighed, and said softly, "Well, let's stick to the old rules and reward them as they should be."

"Yes,"

The butler hesitated to speak, but finally took the order and left.

In order to seek immortals and learn the truth, Lu Shang has been publicly offering a reward for the traces of immortals for nearly a year. As long as anyone sees the traces of immortals and comes to the Duke of Qi's mansion to tell the time, place and even the process, he will give a generous reward.

Once the reward was issued, it caused a sensation in the capital. Every ten to twenty days, people would come to the Duke of Qi's mansion to claim the reward. There might be some fakes among them, but most people did not dare to cheat on the reward.

The title of Duke of Qi's Mansion, as the emperor's relative, does carry some weight.

But in the end, Lu Shang was shocked to find that the people who came to collect the reward, especially those in the capital, mostly pointed to one place when they talked about the immortal traces and traces.

Zhongnan Mountain!
It is a common consensus that there are immortals in Zhongnan. However, every time Lu Shang went to Zhongnan to seek the way, he always returned with nothing.

Lu Shang frowned, and after a long moment, he sighed, "Zhongnan!"

"Come on, saddle the horses,"

He pondered for a moment, and as if he had made up his mind, he instructed his attendants, "Also, from today onwards, the reward for the whereabouts of the gods will be abolished."

"Yes"

The attendant responded decisively.

"Prince, what are you doing?"

The steward, who had just given out the reward outside, was about to return to the villa to report to Lu Shang when he saw a servant holding the horse and handing him the whip.

Lu Shang took the reins, smiled at the housekeeper, and said, "Go to Zhongnan."

After saying this, he thought for a moment and then warned, "This trip to Zhongnan is different from the usual ones. This time, I swear I won't return home unless I receive the true teachings. When the Duke returns, tell him that I will be settling down in Zhongnan Mountain to practice asceticism. If you miss me, come to Zhongnan to see me."

"That's it," Lu Shang jumped onto the horse, and the colt under his crotch neighed.

"what,"

Upon hearing the prince's words, the steward panicked and attempted to stop the prince as he rode away. He hadn't expected the prince to abandon the Duke of Qi's mansion and settle in Zhongnan instead, which frightened him greatly. If he didn't stop him, and the Duke returned home and learned that the prince had left home to cultivate himself in Zhongnan, and he hadn't dissuaded him, his tenure as steward would be over.

If the Duke of Qi takes his anger out on the steward, he will be skinned alive if not killed.

But how could the butler stop Lu Shang? Lu Shang just turned his horse's head and rode away past the butler.

"Walk,"

Lu Shang rode out of Banzhengfang on horseback, passed Mingde Gate, and traveled smoothly all the way to Zhongnan Mountain.

------

Mount Zhongnan, also known as Taiyi Mountain, Difei Mountain, Zhongnan Mountain, Zhounan Mountain, and is simply called Nanshan.

People all say that one should be as blessed as the East Sea and as long-lived as the Southern Mountains. The Southern Mountains here refer to Mount Zhongnan.

It is eight hundred miles long and wide. People in the past said that among all the mountains, apart from Taihang Mountain, none is as big as Zhongnan Mountain.

There have been legends about gods and immortals in Zhongnan Mountain since ancient times. It stretches for 800 miles, and countless stories of gods and immortals have happened there!

At this time, Lu Shang was wearing a tattered Taoist robe and stumbling along the ancient mountain path.

Now, more than three months have passed since he left Daxing City and entered Zhongnan Mountain.

During these three months, Lu Shang completely abandoned everything worldly and devoted himself to being a seeker of truth. He had no possessions other than his body and wandered in the mountains every day, drinking morning dew when thirsty and eating fallen flowers when hungry.

After so many setbacks, I visited temples and Taoists in Zhongnan, hoping that a true immortal would have mercy on me and grant me a chance to become an immortal.

For this reason, he was ready to make Zhongnan his home. Since there were immortals in Zhongnan, he dared to give up everything and fight for a future as an immortal.

Since he was willing to do such despicable things as robbing graves in order to gain supernatural powers in his previous life, he can completely abandon all material possessions in this life for the sake of his Taoism.

His figure looked disheveled, but his steps were steady, and each step was extremely solid and powerful.

Although Lu Shang looked like he had suffered greatly, his almost inhuman physique allowed him to navigate the narrow mountain paths with ease. Even if a venomous snake or ferocious beast invaded, Lu Shang could easily crush it.

His Gonggong divine vein manifests itself in the world of Jambu as natural supernatural power, amazing physique, brute force and ferociousness, and he is not afraid of ordinary demons.

However, Lu Shang didn't know that this seemed to be an advantage, but at certain times it became a disadvantage.

Those who practice Taoism believe that when the mouth is open, the spirit will be dispersed, and when the tongue moves, trouble will arise.

People like Lü Shang, naturally brave and possessing incredible strength, are prone to impulsive behavior due to their abundant Qi and blood. If they achieve success in their cultivation, they are bound to become troublemakers. Examples of this include Sun Wukong, Yang Jian, Nezha, and Wang Lingguan.

What's more, Lu Shang was a relative of the Northern Sui Dynasty, and the cause and effect were serious, making him even more troublesome.

Therefore, the gods and immortals on Mount Zhongnan all avoided Lu Shang, not wanting to cause trouble, so as to avoid future troubles that would implicate their masters.

Lu Shang thought that he had no chance to become an immortal, so he wandered aimlessly in Zhongnan Mountain, not knowing that he had attracted countless gazes.

With the added bonus of a physical strength of the Shanhai Dahuang Zhenren level, the longer Lu Shang stayed in Zhongnan, the more eye-catching he became. His blood and energy were like wolf smoke, evolving into all kinds of strange phenomena that could be seen by anyone with eyes in Zhongnan.

This aura truly made many hidden immortals gasp in amazement. Just by looking at his aura, one could tell that Lu Shang was no ordinary mortal. Ordinary people did not have the ability to display such extraordinary visions.

Some hidden immortals secretly estimated that based on this strange phenomenon of qi and blood, even if he did not understand the immortal way, he could kill the transformed demons with just his fists.

If he really needs to be trained well, he may not be able to be on par with Yang Jian and Nezha in heaven, but he will be far superior to ordinary gods.

If he were to meet another famous teacher, his achievements would be even more astonishing, and he might even become the second Sun Wukong.

The Monkey King who caused trouble in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago left a deep impression on the immortals in Zhongnan Mountain.

"well,"

Another five months passed, and seeing that Lu Shang was still wandering around the narrow mountain roads in Zhongnan, as if he treated Zhongnan Mountain as his own backyard, a Taoist finally sighed helplessly.

"Never mind, never mind. Seeing that this kid is sincere, I will give him a chance and send him away early so that he won't be an eyesore in front of me."

The Taoist said quietly, "If you can't seize the opportunity this time, then you can't blame me. I've given you the opportunity, but you don't know how to seize it. Who else can you blame?"

"well,"

The Taoist looked at Lu Shang again, shook his head, and his figure gradually disappeared into nothingness.

At this time, Lu Shang didn't know that his nearly one-year stay in Zhongnan would actually lead him to his chance to become an immortal.

But it was different from the favor of the real immortal. The ancient immortal really couldn't stand Lu Shang hanging around in front of him every day, so he thought of giving him some things and sending Lu Shang out of Zhongnan.

But there is a prerequisite. Lu Shang must pass the test of the ancient immortal. Otherwise, the ancient immortal is not a good-tempered person. He can just stretch out his hand and throw Lu Shang thousands or tens of thousands of miles away without knowing it.

(End of this chapter)