A journey through immortal realms begins with a phantom tale.

Honestly, Luo Cheng also wanted to take Lin Chen to see the Illusion Tree Star. It's a tree-shaped planet, said to have grown from a seed dropped into the universe by a god.

However, he had calculated using divine arts that the opening time of the Ancient God's Treasury was drawing ever closer, and it would open within three hundred years. He did not possess the supernatural powers of the Azure Emperor, Yuan Gu, or Bo Ju, so he could only travel to Xinbo Cape with Qian Shanyong on the Starry Sky, which would take at least two hundred years—and that would only be if the journey went smoothly.

The journey to Xinbo Cape is perilous. It requires traversing ancient god teleportation arrays, passing through treacherous star belts like Xunfengliu, and finally crossing the starry sky of the Bona people. Just look at Gu Xing and Xuan Long; both are Luo Tian Shangxian, yet only Gu Xing made it through, while Xuan Long was severely injured and fled back to the cultivation world.

Luo Cheng calculated the time and said to Lin Chen, "Chenchen, the road to Illusion Tree Star is a bit far. I'll take you there after I return from the Ancient God's Treasury."

"Alright," Lin Chen replied softly, knowing in her heart that her cultivation level was still too low. With Luo Cheng's cultivation level, if she didn't use the teleportation array, she could travel much faster using the Starry Sky Great Teleportation, but she was only at the Nascent Soul stage and couldn't withstand the spatial pressure of void teleportation at all.

In addition, Lin Chen has been away from Blue Star for over a hundred years and actually wants to go back to take a look, but his cultivation level is still not high enough.

In the days that followed, Luo Cheng continued to accompany Lin Chen on his travels, occasionally leaving behind some serendipitous encounters. Sometimes they would go to the city to enjoy local delicacies, and sometimes they would go to shops to pick out a few outfits they liked. Their days were pleasant and peaceful.

That day, Lin Chen was tired from shopping when he suddenly smelled a rich aroma and his eyes lit up: "Brother Cheng, the aroma of these wontons is exactly the same as the ones on Blue Star."

In fact, most of the residents of Tianting Star are immigrants from Earth, with only a very small number being natives. For example, the Chu witches that Li Qiang encountered, a race that can predict fate, had helped Li Qiang with his fortunes twice, each time paying a great price.

Seeing the two stop, the stall owner greeted them with a smile, "Gentlemen, this is made with my own broth, would you like to try some?"

"Great!" Lin Chen had been craving it for a while. Although she no longer needed to eat mortal food after cultivating immortality, and even if she did, she would have to spend a lot of effort refining it, for her, tasting these flavors was more like a kind of nostalgia.

The two sat down, and Lin Chen said, "Two small bowls, please." They just wanted to taste the flavor, not to fill their stomachs.

Soon, the owner brought over two bowls of wontons: "Enjoy your meal, gentlemen."

Lin Chen handed over a small piece of silver: "Boss, here you go."

"Thank you!" Just as the shopkeeper put away the money, a man with sunken eyes and bloodshot eyes walked over and shouted at him, "Old man, give me some money!"

"I have no money." The shop owner's smile vanished instantly, replaced by distress. "What terrible things have I done to deserve this..."

The man ignored everything, walked to the box containing the money, emptied out all the copper coins and silver pieces, stuffed them into his pocket, and turned to leave.

"You can't leave! That's money for your wife's medicine!" The shopkeeper hurriedly tried to pull him away.

"Hmph!" The man shoved the boss away, who staggered back two steps and fell to the ground.

Lin Chen couldn't stand it any longer and asked in a low voice, "Who is this person?"

"He's a debt collector," Luo Cheng said calmly. "Judging from his appearance, he should be his son."

"What kind of son is this?" Lin Chen frowned.

The boss lay on the ground, sighing helplessly, "I've really done something terrible..."

"Hmm?" The man's eyes lit up when he saw Lin Chen; he had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. Blinded by gambling losses, he lost his senses and stared intently at Lin Chen, reaching out to grab her hand.

Lin Chen wouldn't let him get close. With a casual wave of his hand, an energy wave slammed into the man. The man screamed and flew dozens of meters away before crashing heavily to the ground.

"Immortal!" The shopkeeper finally realized that these two were no ordinary people. Seeing Lin Chen hit his son, he hurriedly tried to stop him, "Immortal, spare him! He was just confused for a moment..."

Lin Chen had initially wanted to help the boss out of pity, but seeing his state, he immediately lost all interest in helping and even lost his appetite.

"Brother Cheng, let's go."

Luo Cheng could sense that Lin Chen's mindset had subtly changed—this was a transformation of a cultivator's state of mind.

Lin Chen said softly, "Brother Cheng, life is too hard for ordinary people."

"Isn't cultivating immortality painful?" Luo Cheng asked rhetorically.

Lin Chen smiled and grabbed his arm: "Cultivating immortality will allow us to be together forever."

With a thought, Luo Cheng secretly used his divine power to soothe the stall owner's body, hoping to alleviate his suffering—it was something he could do.

The stall owner suddenly felt the soreness in his body lessen considerably, and immediately knelt down in the direction where Luo Cheng and Lin Chen had left, repeatedly expressing his gratitude.

Lin Chen turned around and saw this scene, then smiled brightly: "Brother Cheng, is this the compassion of the gods?"

"I suppose so," Luo Cheng replied, then added, "Cultivating divinity is different from cultivating immortality."

"What's the difference?"

"Cultivate immortality by severing one's nature; cultivate divinity by elevating one's emotions."

Lin Chen seemed to understand, but Luo Cheng didn't say anything more.

The cultivation of divinity involves the nine hearts of the celestial gods, and he is currently still in the second heaven, also known as the second desire heaven. This trip with Lin Chen gave him a deeper understanding of the realm of the second desire heaven—perhaps it would be more apt to describe it in the words of Confucius: "At thirty, one stands firm; at forty, one is free from doubt; at fifty, one knows the mandate of Heaven; at sixty, one's ear is attuned to the truth; at seventy, one can follow one's heart's desire without transgressing the rules."

After a century of contemplation, his understanding of this realm gradually became perfect, and he could even directly break through to the fifth level while maintaining stable cultivation without the risk of his body exploding. Of course, reaching the sixth level would be somewhat dangerous.

There are nine levels of cultivation. Only by perfecting all nine levels can one break through to the realm of gods and ascend to the divine realm.

However, Luo Cheng was not in a hurry.

Five years have passed in the blink of an eye.

That day, a sword light streaked through the air. Luo Cheng caught it, a smile playing on his lips: "Junior brother's here." He then teased, "This guy's too slow!"

He teleported Lin Chen to the Holy King's Mansion of the Later Song Dynasty, where he immediately saw Li Qiang. When he saw Li Qiang's condition, Luo Cheng's face darkened: "Junior brother, have you taken my words lightly?"

Li Qiang knew his senior brother was concerned about him, but he was also a little frustrated: "Senior brother, I didn't want to either. I just went into seclusion for a while, and I ended up at Wu Qingtian."

"Do you know that the Five Heavens Realm is the most dangerous realm?" Luo Cheng emphasized.

Wu Qingtian possesses two states of mind: a mad heart and a bloodthirsty heart. These are the most difficult to comprehend, and one can easily go astray if one is not careful.

Seeing that his senior brother was really anxious, Li Qiang laughed heartily: "Senior brother, life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by heaven."

"What will happen to Yun Yu if you fail to cultivate to godhood?" Luo Cheng's question left Li Qiang speechless.

He knew Yunyu's feelings. If something happened to him, Yunyu wouldn't kill herself, but she would be heartbroken.

"Never mind." Seeing his silence, Luo Cheng only wanted to warn him not to improve too quickly and to stabilize his realm as much as possible. He knew in his heart that Li Qiang had just finished writing and still had the Heavenly Venerable's inheritance, so he wouldn't explode.

Unfortunately, Li Qiang arrived too late from Fengyuan Star—Hou Pijing had already gone to Huanshu Star to help at a friend's invitation.

After thinking for a moment, Luo Cheng decided to take Li Qiang to see the Chu Wu tribe first and save the race.

"Junior brother, I'll take you somewhere."

"Okay." Over the years, Luo Cheng had learned about the Chu Wu Clan's residence while accompanying Lin Chen on his leisurely strolls.

The two used teleportation magic to take Lin Chen with them, and they arrived at their destination in a short time. A short Chu shaman came forward and respectfully said, "Three distinguished guests, please follow me."

Li Qiang asked, somewhat puzzled, "Senior brother, why did you bring us here?"

"Look at their lives."

The Chu Wu tribe lived a very hard life, with extremely backward living conditions. They lived in thatched huts, like a primitive society. Lin Chen stepped into the settlement and frowned upon smelling the odor in the air.

Luo Cheng, seeing this, said, "You wait for us outside."

"I want to be with you," Lin Chen insisted.

"OK."

Led by the Chu Wu tribesmen, the three arrived at Shequan and met an old man with white hair and beard.

"The three of you, this is our Elder Wu."

Li Qiang and Lin Chen were full of doubts, and Luo Cheng explained, "The Chu Witch Clan has a magical ability to predict the future."

"This is nothing, right?" Li Qiang remembered that Yuan Gu and Luo Cheng could both make calculations.

"Their calculations are quite different from mine," Luo Cheng said.

Li Qiang then realized that his senior brother must have had a reason for bringing him here.

When the old shaman saw the three, he was somewhat surprised—he had predicted that only one person would come, and that person was the one who would save the Chu shaman clan. But he could also tell that these three possessed great supernatural powers and that they absolutely could not be offended.

Then, Elder Wu recounted the calamity facing the Chu Wu clan: the clan leader had fought a Nascent Soul cultivator, resulting in both being severely injured. However, the Nascent Soul cultivator had a hot-tempered and fiercely protective master. If that master were to find out that his disciple had been injured by the Chu Wu clan, he would annihilate the entire Chu Wu clan.

After listening, Li Qiang and Lin Chen finally understood Luo Cheng's intention.

The old shaman said, "To thank the three of you for saving the Chu shaman clan, I can perform a divination for you."

Luo Cheng turned to Li Qiang: "Junior brother, let him do the calculation."

"Great!" Li Qiang found it interesting and wanted to see how Wu Lao's calculation method differed from Luo Cheng's.

In his divination efforts, Master Wu paid the ultimate price, ultimately revealing to Li Qiang that Hou Pijing was in mortal danger!

Luo Cheng pondered to himself: If he were to ask Elder Wu to predict his own affairs, he probably wouldn't be able to figure it out either, would he? When he met Yuan Gu, Yuan Gu had said that he didn't belong to this world.

Upon learning of Hou Pijing's danger, Luo Cheng immediately began treating the Chu Wu clan chief and the injured Nascent Soul cultivator. Both he and Li Qiang possessed Rejuvenation Pills, making treatment relatively easy; they recovered in just half a day.

Luo Cheng warned the Nascent Soul cultivator: "After you return, you are not allowed to retaliate against the Chu Witch Clan."

The Nascent Soul cultivator readily agreed, for Luo Cheng's cultivation was so profound that he dared not disobey.

After thinking for a moment, Luo Cheng left some Light Spirit Water and ten Xiuxian Pills for the Chu Wu tribe, and set up a defensive formation around the tribe to protect them.

"Walk!"

Luo Cheng first sent Lin Chen back to Fengyuan Star, and then went to Huanshu Star with Li Qiang.