A journey through immortal realms begins with a phantom tale.

The news of Fu Shan's arrival on Tanbang Star reached the ears of the great god Campor immediately. However, the great god was preoccupied with important matters and could not return to Tanbang Star to meet Fu Shan in time, so he sent his divine messenger to receive him on his behalf.

Fu Shan was a humble man with friends all over the world, and he had no intention of making things difficult for the great god Campor. His only purpose in coming here was to find his trapped brother, Li Qiang.

Based on Luo Cheng's calculations and information from friends, everyone has confirmed that Li Qiang is in the Black Prison.

Fu Shan didn't delay any longer and immediately led everyone straight to the Black Prison.

Deep within the dark prison, Li Qiang had broken free from his confinement and, as a result, had one foot in the Out-of-Body Realm.

When Fu Shan released his divine sense to search for Li Qiang, a familiar wave of divine sense came towards him.

"Who?" Fu Shan asked in a deep voice.

Luo Cheng also caught the divine thought and immediately smiled brightly: "It's Brother Li Qiang!"

Fu Shan sensed the aura within that divine thought, a feeling that was both familiar and strange. Since their separation, Li Qiang's progress had been far too rapid, and his aura had changed drastically; for a moment, Fu Shan dared not be certain.

Hou Pijing also sensed the fluctuation in divine sense and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Mei Jingjing, who was standing nearby, couldn't contain herself any longer and exclaimed urgently, "It must be my brother!"

Hearing her say this, even those who had doubts subconsciously recognized the owner of that divine thought.

Hua Meiniang remained silent, her expression complex. Ultimately, she was the one who indirectly caused Li Qiang's perilous situation. If anything truly happened to Li Qiang, there would likely be no possibility left between her and Fu Shan.

Fu Shan knew the importance of cultivation and did not want to commit unnecessary killings, lest it affect his future tribulations. He took out a large drum and gently began to strike it.

The drumbeats weren't deafening, but they contained profound sonic magic. Affected by the drumbeats, ordinary people on the outskirts of the Black Prison collapsed unconscious, preventing innocent casualties.

Seeing that Fu Shan was having a great time, Hou Pijing laughed and said, "I'll go down first," and then he slipped underground and headed towards the depths of the Black Prison.

"I'll go find someone too," Luo Cheng said, and followed him down. Actually, he had another thought in his mind—he wanted to see the true face of the Black Prison with his own eyes.

However, when Luo Cheng actually stepped into the Black Prison, an indescribable stench assaulted his senses. A mixture of mold, decay, and various other strange, inexplicable smells mingled together, creating an atmosphere that was truly indescribable.

Luo Cheng immediately activated his internal energy cultivation technique, entering a state of internal circulation breathing. Even so, the strange odor seemed to have seeped into his mind and body, and he could still vaguely "feel" it, making him uncomfortable.

As he walked further in, he heard shouts of killing and explosions all around him.

"It seems a fight has broken out inside," Luo Cheng thought to himself.

On the other side, after entering the Black Prison, Hou Pijing immediately unleashed a sonic attack, letting out a roar like a lion. The sound reverberated throughout the depths, even causing the soil beneath the ground to tremble.

At this moment, Li Qiang was in extreme discomfort—his internal energy was violently disrupted by the backlash from the immortal artifact, almost bursting through his meridians. A little girl stood beside him, her face filled with tension and worry. In this treacherous dark prison, Li Qiang was her only support, the only person she could trust.

Luo Cheng was only one step away from the Nascent Soul stage, and his divine sense had already begun to take shape. He used his divine sense to explore the way and quickly found the direction by following Hou Pijing's voice.

Therefore, when Hou Pijing met Li Qiang, Luo Cheng followed closely behind.

"This is bad." Hou Pijing, a master cultivator, immediately noticed the abnormality in Li Qiang's body and frowned.

Luo Cheng understood: "It must be caused by the violent fluctuation of the immortal artifact's energy."

Immortal artifacts are treasures that only immortals can wield, a level higher than the magical weapons of cultivators. Forcing Li Qiang, who was still in the Nascent Soul stage, to use them was already extremely difficult. If it weren't for the Heavenly Fire and the Purple Flame Heart suppressing him within his body, he would probably have already exploded and died.

Standing next to Li Qiang, the young girl Qiao Yu became even more nervous upon seeing two unfamiliar and powerful cultivators suddenly appear.

"Don't worry, these two are my brothers," Li Qiang said reassuringly, which made Qiao Yu relax a little.

Seeing this, Luo Cheng couldn't help but joke, "Brother, you're really lucky to have a beautiful woman by your side in a place like this."

Li Qiang said helplessly, "Brother, please stop making fun of me."

Qiao Yu's cheeks flushed instantly, and she lowered her head, not daring to speak.

A moment later, Fu Shan arrived. Seeing Li Qiang's disordered breathing, his expression immediately turned serious: "Let's go!"

With a wave of his hand, Fu Shan enveloped everyone with a gentle yet irresistible force, and they quickly left the Black Prison.

As soon as she was released from the dark prison, Mei Jingjing could no longer hold back and threw herself into Li Qiang's arms, bursting into tears. This scene, witnessed by Qiao Yu, stirred a pang of sorrow in her heart, but she simply stood there, unable to utter a single word.

In her eyes, these people were like gods, while there seemed to be an insurmountable chasm between herself and Li Qiang.

Despite his poor condition, Li Qiang patiently comforted Mei Jingjing. He then looked at Fu Shan and Luo Cheng, asking them to help settle his brothers in the black prison.

Fu Shan said in a deep voice, "Alright, you don't need to worry about anything else. First, stabilize your internal energy."

"Okay." Li Qiang had always trusted Fu Shan, so he didn't say anything more.

Seeing that she was about to part ways with Li Qiang, Qiao Yu couldn't help but shed tears, but she just stood there silently, unable to say a word to persuade him to stay.

Hua Meiniang, unable to bear watching any longer, stepped forward and said, "This young girl has good aptitude; I will take her as my disciple."

What followed was simple—Fu Shan and Hou Pijing acted simultaneously, one attacking and the other defending, working together to suppress the surging immortal artifact energy within Li Qiang's body. A moment later, they finally freed him from danger.

After the crisis was over, Fu Shan wanted to take his two brothers back to Fengyuan Star, but Li Qiang refused. Luo Cheng also said he wanted to stay on Tanbang Star: firstly, he wanted to find the cultivation method of the "Eighteen Demon-Slaying Hands"; secondly, he was quite curious about the Buddhist realm and wanted to see it if he had the chance.

Mei Jingjing wanted to stay with Li Qiang, but Hua Meiniang pulled her away. Hua Meiniang warned her, "If you want to truly keep up with him, you must first improve your cultivation. Otherwise, sooner or later you won't even be able to see his back."

Looking at the brothers Li Qiang had made in the Black Prison, Luo Cheng understood—these people were the core forces who would help Li Qiang manage the Origin Realm in the future, and they would all become important figures in the Origin Realm.

After recovering, Li Qiang sensed Luo Cheng's presence and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother, your cultivation has improved so quickly?"

Luo Cheng smiled and said, "Since I have nothing else to do, I'll advance to the next realm first."

Everyone was shocked by these words.

Luo Cheng's cultivation level was already extremely stable, and he could break through at any time without any risk. Now that he had nothing to do, he actually began to attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul stage in front of everyone.

Everyone stared in disbelief: could a breakthrough in cultivation be so easy?

Li Qiang was speechless. When he himself advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, he almost lost his life due to the backlash from the immortal artifact. But this senior brother broke through the realm as easily as eating and drinking.

"Read more Taoist scriptures, comprehend the principles of heaven and earth, and it will naturally be easier to improve your realm," Luo Cheng said casually.

Is that really the case? Li Qiang didn't think so. He had an extremely high level of education on Earth, and after cultivating immortality, his understanding of cultivation far surpassed that of ordinary people. He knew firsthand how difficult it was to break through to higher realms. Just look at Fu Shan—he cultivated for hundreds of years before reaching his current level.

Luo Cheng didn't interfere much in how Li Qiang settled his brothers. He came to Tanbang Star mainly to experience the local customs and culture, and incidentally to search for traces of the "Eighteen Demon-Slaying Hands".

Having just escaped from the Black Prison, Li Qiang and his group wanted to explore Tanbang Star, so they walked the streets with Luo Cheng.

As a result, a group of men with different styles appeared on the street: some were silent and exuded a menacing aura; others could not hide their excitement, shouting and yelling all the way, full of curiosity about everything around them.

Zhao Hao followed closely beside Li Qiang, still maintaining his usual meticulous and respectful demeanor. Having climbed his way up from the bottom, he understood better than anyone the rarity of a chance encounter with immortals, and he knew how fortunate he was to have met Li Qiang, thus cherishing this opportunity all the more.

Luo Cheng glanced at Zhao Hao and nodded to himself: Although he is a bit old-fashioned, he is a loyal and reliable disciple.

Next, the group went to a local restaurant, where Luo Cheng finally got to see the local delicacies of Tanbang Star—but looking at the fried insects and pickled reptiles, he really didn't dare to eat them.

Before his transmigration, Luo Cheng had seen streamers eating insects in videos. Hearing the description of them being "crunchy," he had bought some to try himself, but they were hardly delicious.

Just as everyone was hesitant to approach the food, a masked woman led a group of guards into the restaurant.

Luo Cheng's heart skipped a beat: This must be Princess Lanqiu, right?

He knew that Princess Lanqiu had a good impression of Li Qiang, but Li Qiang had been hurt in a past relationship and was extremely averse to women, so he was afraid that he would find it difficult to accept her feelings.

Luo Cheng couldn't help but think of the girls he had met and sighed inwardly.

He had long since let go of Li Mengtian, but some shadows still lingered in his mind; Lin Chen had once wanted to leave with him, and if he had just nodded, she would have followed him without hesitation, but in the end, he said nothing; Luo Xian was also willing to go with him, but after realizing that he had no romantic feelings for her, she ultimately chose to stay and accompany her parents.

In that instant, Luo Cheng was filled with countless thoughts: How are those three girls doing now? What level of cultivation have they reached?

If one can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage, one will have a long lifespan, and there may be a chance to meet again in the future; if one cannot reach that stage...

Luo Cheng didn't want to think about it anymore and forcibly pulled his thoughts back to reality.

When the meal was over, Li Qiang and Luo Cheng realized they didn't have any Western Continent currency on them. Fortunately, Princess Lanqiu offered to pay for their meal.

After that, Li Qiang decided to find a way to make some money first. Luo Cheng then followed him around Tanbang Star, experiencing the local customs and culture while keeping the whereabouts of the "Eighteen Demon-Slaying Hands" in mind.