A journey through immortal realms begins with a phantom tale.

After his sudden enlightenment, Li Qiang's cultivation had reached the fifth level of the Divine Cultivation Realm—the Five Heavens, three realms higher than Luo Cheng. Luo Cheng was still deliberately controlling his cultivation level, remaining at the Second Desire Realm. The Five Heavens Realm was only one step away from the Heavenly Monarch Realm.

Li Qiang was worried about Hou Pijing, so while the two traveled, Li Qiang led Luo Cheng to use teleportation magic. Along the way, Luo Cheng transmitted his thoughts telepathically: "Junior brother, I gave Brother Hou a lot of life-saving items. Even if we don't make it in time, his life won't be in danger."

"Senior brother, do you know what danger Brother Hou might encounter?" Li Qiang asked, puzzled. Logically speaking, Hou Pijing had already reached the pinnacle of the lower realm after his tribulation. As a Mahayana cultivator, he already possessed immortal energy within his body, and only needed to completely convert it into immortal energy to ascend to the immortal realm. With such strength, even if he encountered a rogue immortal, he could escape even if he couldn't defeat them.

He couldn't help but wonder, "Could it be an immortal?"

Li Qiang didn't know many immortals, so he really couldn't think of which one it could be.

Luo Cheng said calmly, "Junior brother has already guessed, so why ask any more questions?"

Li Qiang exclaimed, "When it comes to divination skills, my senior brother is still the best."

Luo Cheng didn't explain further. As a transmigrator, he knew more secrets, and combined with divine calculations, he could naturally know more details.

Li Qiang possessed profound cultivation and abundant divine power, yet the vastness of the starry sky, coupled with the continuous use of the Starry Sky Great Teleportation, had left him somewhat exhausted. The two took turns traveling; when Li Qiang was tired, Luo Cheng would carry him through the teleportation. After more than a month of this arduous journey, they finally arrived at Illusion Tree Star.

As the two stood in the void gazing into the distance, they were awestruck by the sight before them: a giant tree rooted in the void.

The image of the "World Tree" flashed through Luo Cheng's mind. He remembered that in the Xuanhuang Great World of the Immortal World, there was a World Tree whose branches could extend to the Immortal Realm. Cultivators could climb up the branches to reach the Immortal Realm.

The tree in front of us can't compare to the World Tree.

Luo Cheng estimated that the tree was about the size of a hundred blue stars. From a distance, it looked like a towering tree, and a single leaf was equivalent to a piece of land.

After a brief moment of surprise, Li Qiang exclaimed, "This tree is alive!"

Yes, it is a living giant tree with roots that penetrate into the void, as if it can draw free energy from nothingness.

This isn't the time to admire the scenery, Li Qiang said, "Let's go inside and take a look."

As the two approached the tree, they sensed the life energy it released, which formed a huge life magnetic field that protected the creatures on the Illusion Tree Star.

"Life force field?" Luo Cheng's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly thought of Superman. The reason why Superman was so powerful was because he had a life force field around him. He immediately passed on his understanding of the life force field to Li Qiang.

Upon receiving the information, Li Qiang's eyes lit up: "So that's how it is!"

"Junior brother, haven't you noticed? Besides the Divine Chess Power, we also have a life force field on our bodies," Luo Cheng said.

Now that you mention it, I really do feel that way!

Through observing the Illusionary Tree Star, the two actually grasped the method of using the life force field, deepening their control over the Divine Chess Force. Li Qiang thought to himself: In terms of comprehension, his senior brother is indeed much stronger than him.

Landing on the planet Illusion Tree, one truly grasps the immense size of the leaves—newly sprouted leaves are the size of a football field, while the ancient leaves, which have grown for thousands of years, are comparable in size to an entire province of the Xia Kingdom. Layer upon layer of leaves form the landmass of this planet.

They saw people living in the leaves and building houses on the branches, the trunks of which were thick and sturdy, and uninhabited.

Li Qiang formed a hand seal and cast a communication talisman. A moment later, a sword talisman flew in from the void. He caught the talisman, examined it, and said, "Let's go to the Divine Wood Sect."

The two used teleportation techniques and instantly arrived at the plaza where the Divine Tree Sect was located—which was a thick tree branch.

After Li Qiang stopped, he immediately spotted Hou Pijing and called out, "Brother Hou!"

"Brother, how did you manage to follow me all the way here?" Hou Pijing's face lit up with surprise upon seeing the two, but he was even more moved.

Seeing that he was unharmed, Li Qiang breathed a sigh of relief: "Brother, since you're ascending to the Immortal Realm, of course I had to come and see you off."

"I'm ascending to heaven, not dying, so what's there to give me?" Hou Pijing said gruffly, but his heart was warm.

Luo Cheng laughed and said, "I've heard that the Divine Wood Liquid from Illusion Tree Star is a good thing?"

The Illusion Tree Star is unique; its true form is a giant tree, so it lacks cultivation resources like spirit stones, but it does possess a special product—Divine Wood Liquid. This substance offers numerous benefits to cultivators; it can be used for Foundation Establishment and to cleanse the physical body, making the path of cultivation smoother.

Because of the preciousness of Divine Wood Liquid, cultivators on Illusion Tree Star exchange it for cultivation resources with other planets. Divine Wood Liquid is produced from Divine Wood Wells, which are the core resources of Illusion Tree Star and are controlled by various cultivation sects. The Divine Wood Sect alone has several Divine Wood Wells with extremely high yields.

Hou Pijing was on good terms with the Shenmu Sect, and he had come to help at their invitation. However, the Shenmu Sect had concealed something—the one who clashed with them was actually an immortal. Of course, even knowing it was an immortal, Hou Pijing, given his nature, would still have come.

Under Luo Cheng's questioning, the sect leader and elders of the Shenmu Sect finally revealed the reason: the Ancient God's Treasury was about to open, and many immortals were descending to the mortal realm.

In the cultivation world, there aren't many things useful to immortals, but Divine Wood Liquid happens to be one of them—adding top-grade Divine Wood Liquid to a Star Essence can upgrade its rank. A Star Essence is an immortal's mode of transportation; upgrading its rank significantly increases its speed.

Several immortals have now come to Illusion Tree Star to demand Divine Wood Elixir. Faced with these immortals, the cultivators of Illusion Tree Star dare not resist and can only offer it. However, these immortals have lived for too long and are ignorant of human relationships; they take the Divine Wood Elixir without giving anything in return. Helpless, the Sect Master of the Divine Wood Sect invited Hou Pijing to help reason with the immortals.

After hearing this, Li Qiang angrily exclaimed, "These immortals have really wasted their time cultivating!"

"Exactly!" Hou Pijing also said indignantly.

These are the rules of the immortal realm: immortals cannot steal from other immortals, but they can steal from cultivators.

In the eyes of immortals, they would not feel any guilt about taking anything from cultivators.

This is like how ordinary people, upon seeing honey, wouldn't reason with the bees; instead, they would shoo them away and then take the honey.

Immortals and mortals are two different forms of life.

Since they were already there, they naturally wanted to get some Divine Wood Liquid. Luo Cheng asked for some, and the members of the Divine Wood Sect immediately looked troubled.

Luo Cheng remained silent, watching them quietly.

Hou Pijing understood the two brothers' personalities and knew they were always generous and possessed many treasures, so he didn't interrupt and just watched the show from the sidelines.

The sect leader and elders of the Divine Wood Sect gritted their teeth, brought out ten large barrels of Divine Wood Liquid, and said with bitter faces, "Seniors, this is a small token of our appreciation."

"Then I won't be polite." Luo Cheng accepted half, and let Li Qiang keep the rest.

Li Qiang understood Luo Cheng's meaning. After accepting the Divine Wood Liquid, he immediately took out hundreds of drops of Light Spirit Water, as well as Xiuxian Pill, Guiyuan Pill, and some Yuanshen Pills refined by Lin Mingxing, and explained the effects of each of these items.

Upon hearing this, everyone from the Divine Wood Sect was dumbfounded. The Light Spirit Water alone was far more valuable than the Divine Wood Liquid—this substance was extremely rare even in the Immortal Realm, requiring a grand formation to be set up in a place rich in immortal spiritual energy and to undergo a long period of sedimentation before it could be condensed.

The reason Li Qiang and Luo Cheng have so much ethereal water is because they obtained it from the Illusionary Star Temple back then. That place is the residence of the Celestial Venerable.

Luo Cheng wasn't stingy either, taking out some more Spiritual Water—he had filled quite a lot of it back then. In addition, he brought out some elixirs beneficial to cultivators, and even two spiritual artifacts.

Upon seeing this, the sect leader of the Shenmu Sect quickly waved his hand, saying, "Too much, far too much!"

Luo Cheng chuckled: "Sect Master, do you really not want it?"

The sect leader wished he could slap himself; there was no reason for him to complain about having too many benefits.

Seeing the change in his expression, Luo Cheng smiled and said, "Take it."

"Thank you, senior!" The sect leader quickly expressed his gratitude, his heart filled with joy. The gains from this exchange were even greater than the harvest from thousands of years of trading with other planets; the Light Spirit Water alone was priceless in the entire cultivation world.

After this incident, the Divine Tree Sect became even more enthusiastic towards Luo Cheng and Li Qiang. The two originally wanted to stroll around the Illusion Tree Star, but worried that the immortals might suddenly visit, so they stayed and chatted with Hou Pijing.

This wait lasted for more than half a month.

On this day, a golden light pierced through the sky and landed on a branch of the Illusion Tree Star, immediately spreading out a terrifying pressure.

"They're here!" Li Qiang's eyes narrowed.

He was very disgusted with these immortals: "They're all so unreasonable."

Back then, Qian Shanyong and Dai Nanfengyu were the same; they would fight whenever they met. If it weren't for their abilities, they wouldn't have had any recourse. Luo Cheng knew that in the original story, Dai Nanfengyu had stolen Li Qiang's treasure and thrown him into the Battle Circle Continent.

Luo Cheng stood up: "Let's go take a look."

Before he finished speaking, he had already moved towards the location of the immortal, with Li Qiang and Hou Pijing following closely behind.

Upon seeing Li Qiang and Luo Cheng, the immortal was first surprised, then a hint of excitement flashed in his eyes: "Two cultivators? Which one of you is Li Qiang?"

"It's your grandfather!" Li Qiang said arrogantly.

"How dare you!" the immortal said, slightly annoyed. "I'd like to see what a cultivator of divinity can do!"

Clearly, the Azure Emperor foresaw Li Qiang but not Luo Cheng, which is why Li Qiang is more famous.