A journey through immortal realms begins with a phantom tale.

The Konoha Sect Master sighed softly, then looked up at Luo Cheng: "Senior Luo, you've come here seeking the Divine Wood Elixir, haven't you?"

When Luo Cheng first visited the Divine Tree Sect, Mu Ye had just entered the path of cultivation and witnessed this senior taking out the Light Spirit Water and a large number of spiritual pills.

As the personal disciple of the then sect leader, he not only received the Light Spirit Water but also a lot of elixirs, and was deeply impressed by Luo Cheng's generosity.

Compared to the immortals of the celestial realm, Luo Cheng was very generous.

Now that Luo Cheng has come to the Shenmu Sect again, the Muye Sect Master can guess Luo Cheng's purpose and is very welcoming of his arrival.

Luo Cheng nodded in agreement.

The sect leader of Konoha immediately instructed his disciples, "Bring over all the Divine Wood Elixir we've accumulated over the years." Before long, ten large barrels of shimmering Divine Wood Elixir were placed in front of the hall. "Senior Luo, this is the Divine Wood Elixir that the Divine Wood Sect has accumulated in recent years."

"Chenchen, put it away." Luo Cheng said to Lin Chen beside him.

"Okay." Lin Chen's divine sense fluctuated, and the ten buckets of divine wood liquid were put into his storage space.

At the same time, Luo Cheng took out ten drops of Light Spirit Water, some elixirs, and finally several rare materials obtained from Baoxing, and pushed them all in front of the Muye Sect Master.

The Leaf Village Sect Master beamed with joy as he gazed at the treasure before him, and the disciples of the Divine Wood Sect behind him were equally delighted. He quickly cupped his hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you so much for your generous gift, Senior Luo!"

"No need to be polite." Luo Cheng waved his hand, and suddenly remembered something in his mind—now that he was the master of the original world, he could travel at will with the power of the origin. He could go to Baoxing to find an ancient cultivation stone and move it to the original world in the future to create a holy land for cultivation.

However, there is no rush. There are no immortals in the Origin Realm yet, and the existing spiritual energy and resources are sufficient for cultivators to cultivate. We can wait until someone ascends to the Origin Realm in the future before we search for the Ancient Cultivation Divine Stone.

The Konoha Sect Master carefully put away the treasure and then said, "Senior Luo, a month from now, the Illusion Tree Star will hold a grand ceremony to recruit disciples. At that time, all ten major sects will open their gates to recruit disciples. I humbly request that you attend the ceremony."

"Oh? That's good." Luo Cheng laughed and readily agreed. "Perfect, I'll set up a teleportation array on Illusion Tree Star then."

He pondered the entry criteria for the teleportation array. Previously, the teleportation array that Li Qiang set up on Fengyuan Star allowed anyone who reached the Nascent Soul stage to travel to the Origin Realm.

The Primordial Realm is of the same level as the Immortal Realm. Before the Primordial Realm appeared, cultivators who reached the Mahayana stage could ascend to the Immortal Realm. If the standard is too low, it would be tantamount to competing with the Immortal Realm for cultivators.

However, since ancient times, the Immortal Realm has been the ultimate dream of cultivators. The ultimate goal of cultivators is to ascend to the Immortal Realm. Even though the original world has reappeared, most people still yearn for the Immortal Realm.

If teleportation arrays are set up on major cultivation stars, allowing cultivators to travel to the original realm at any time, they will not ascend to the immortal realm when they reach the ascension stage, but will remain in the original realm.

As the master of the original world, Luo Cheng naturally had to consider the future of his world—the original world could not be too weak, otherwise it would inevitably be bullied.

After much deliberation, Luo Cheng decided to adopt the standard of the Immortal Realm: using the Mahayana stage as the boundary.

When cultivators reach the Mahayana stage, they can choose to ascend to the Immortal Realm or choose to go to the Original Realm to cultivate.

The teleportation arrays on Fengyuan Star and Blue Star also need to have their rules changed. In the future, only cultivators at the Mahayana stage will be allowed to enter the Origin Realm. Moreover, once inside the Origin Realm, they will not be allowed to return to the cultivation world without an imperial decree from the Origin Realm's Heavenly Court.

Of course, there's no rush; we can adjust it in a few hundred years.

For the next month, Luo Cheng took Lin Chen on a journey around Illusion Tree Star, waiting for the disciple-acceptance ceremony.

The ceremony of accepting disciples is something that happens on every cultivation planet. Lin Chen has lived on Fengyuan Star for hundreds of years and has participated in many such ceremonies.

At this moment, Lin Chen was more interested in the Illusion Tree Star, and she dragged Luo Cheng around to play.

The two walked side by side down the street, chatting casually.

"Brother Cheng, are you still planning to take on disciples?" Lin Chen asked.

"Go ahead and collect them," Luo Cheng said with a smile. "There are still too few people in the Origin Realm."

In his mind, the Heavenly Court of the Original Realm should be like the one in ancient mythology, with four Heavenly Emperors, five Great Emperors of the Five Directions, twenty-eight constellations, and three hundred and sixty righteous gods... Before he began cultivating, he loved reading Buddhist and Taoist classics and knew about the positions and responsibilities of the gods in the Heavenly Court, which gave him a general framework in his mind.

However, all of this can only be achieved once the original realm has developed and there are enough immortals, before a true Heavenly Court can be established.

"Oh, right," Lin Chen suddenly remembered something, "I heard that besides humans, there are also many tree people on Illusion Tree Star?"

"You want to see it?"

"Hmm, I'm a little curious."

"Then I'll take you to see it."

The Illusion Tree Star is extremely large, much larger than Blue Star, because the Illusion Tree Star is a tree with layers upon layers of space, thus making the habitable area much more spacious.

On Earth, if you want to accommodate more people, you need to build taller buildings. Here, you can build houses freely on tree branches and leaves, which is much more convenient than on Earth.

On the planet Illusion Tree, the majority of humans live on the surface, where the environment is best. In the less desirable areas, various types of tree people live.

The two arrived at the side of the Illusion Tree Star, where waterfalls cascaded like curtains, rivers flowed across branches and leaves, and the sound of water murmured.

"Brother Cheng, where did these rivers come from?" Lin Chen asked curiously, looking at a stream cascading down from the edge of a leaf.

"Some of it is formed from morning dew, some from sap secreted by the tree trunk, and some from the melting of ice and snow on the high branches," Luo Cheng explained. The climate of the Illusion Tree Star is complex. Some of the top branches are frozen all year round due to the low temperature, while the lower branches form a humid and hot rainforest.

"Look, the flying tree people!" Lin Chen suddenly pointed into the distance.

A group of tree-people with fleshy wings leaped and tumbled among the branches, their wings, when spread, somewhat resembling wingsuits on Earth. They uttered "Oh, oh" cries, their movements agile, like monkeys or apes.

"These tree-people are more intelligent than monkeys, but unfortunately, they are not as clever as humans," Lin Chen said softly after observing for a moment.

"Yes," Luo Cheng nodded, "On Illusion Tree Star, the tree people are generally not very intelligent, and most of them are slaves of the human race."

He then took Lin Chen to see the Elf Treants—these treants are as handsome as elves and are the most beloved servants of cultivators, though they are not very intelligent. Finally, the two of them descended underground and encountered the Swift Treants.

These tree-people live year-round at the roots of the Illusion Tree Star, where they never see the sun. Their eyes have evolved in a different direction, allowing them to see objects in the dark but not in the light, and they can only move around in darkness for their entire lives.

"They live such miserable lives." Lin Chen looked at the thin figures moving among the decaying leaves and felt a pang of pity.

"Perhaps they don't realize it themselves," Luo Cheng said calmly.

A month passed in the blink of an eye, and the Illusion Tree Star's disciple recruitment ceremony officially began. Luo Cheng and Lin Chen returned to the Divine Wood Sect, and the Sect Master of the Leaf Village immediately stepped forward to pay his respects upon their arrival.

"After the ceremony, I will give each of the top ten disciples a spiritual weapon," Luo Cheng said.

"Thank you for your kindness, senior!" The Muye Sect Master was overjoyed. He knew that Luo Cheng's offerings were always of the highest quality. These spiritual artifacts were like an extra life-saving token for newly initiated disciples, making their cultivation path smoother.

Luo Cheng then laughed and said, "If I meet someone I like, I will take them under my wing."

The Konoha Sect Master was stunned for a moment, then realized—this senior wanted to take on a disciple.

Although it's tantamount to "competing" with the Divine Wood Sect for talent, for those disciples, being able to become a disciple of an immortal like Luo Cheng is an incredible opportunity. He personally witnessed Luo Cheng's great battle with the Immortal Luo Tian; such strength would hold a very high position even in the Immortal Realm.

Lin Chen chuckled from the side, "If I see someone I like, I'll take them on as an apprentice for fun."

Luo Cheng turned to her and asked, "You've never accepted this before?"

"I took on a few disciples on Blue Star, but I stopped taking on any more when I arrived at Fengyuan Star." Lin Chen shrugged. "I was considered a master on Blue Star, but when I arrived at Fengyuan Star, I realized that the Nascent Soul stage was just the beginning. How could I possibly take on disciples?" Now that she was at the Divine Transformation stage, she found it interesting and decided to take on disciples.

As they spoke, the plaza of the Divine Wood Sect had already been filled with people. As one of the three major sects of the Illusion Tree Star (the other two being the Green Wood Sect and the Ancient Tree Sect), the Divine Wood Sect possessed a wealth of cultivation resources, making it extremely attractive.

There were over 100,000 people in the square. Besides the young men and women who came to become disciples, there were also many accompanying family members. The square was bustling with noise and was incredibly lively.

"Senior Luo, the Shenmu Sect requires disciples to undergo three tests," the Muye Sect Master explained.

"Oh? Tell me about it."

"The first test assesses aptitude, measuring mental strength and physical constitution," the Konoha Sect Master explained. "The further one progresses in cultivation, the higher the requirements for mental strength become. Upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage, mental strength will condense into a primordial spirit; as for physical constitution, it is the foundation of cultivation."

Luo Cheng nodded to himself; the methods for testing spiritual roots in cultivation novels were similar. Speaking of which, Li Qiang possessed a fire-attribute heavenly spiritual root, which was why Fu Shan had waited for Li Qiang for several years until Li Qiang agreed to go with him.

"The second test of perseverance is to climb the Heavenly Ladder on the back mountain of the sect."

"The third test is on one's character and comprehension." At this point, the Konoha Sect Master's tone became somber. "Over the years, many talented disciples have cultivated to the Tribulation Transcending stage, but failed to overcome the tribulation of their inner demons, ultimately ending up as ashes."

When cultivating immortality and undergoing tribulations, one can ask for help to pass the lightning tribulation, just like Fu Shan invited many friends to protect him back then; but one can only rely on oneself to overcome the inner demon tribulation. If one's character and comprehension are not up to par, even the highest aptitude is useless.

The previous sect leader of the Shenmu Sect is an example. He survived the ninefold lightning tribulation, but failed to overcome the tribulation of inner demons and turned to ashes.

"Now, the cultivation world on Illusion Tree Star is becoming more and more restless," the Muye Sect Master sighed. "Many sects only look at aptitude and don't value character."

Luo Cheng and Lin Chen both understood the reason. It often takes thousands of years for a cultivator to go from a mortal to the Tribulation Transcending stage—even a genius like Fu Shan took more than two thousand years to ascend to the Immortal Realm from the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and ordinary cultivators take even longer.

However, major sects cannot only select those destined for immortality; they must also cultivate a large number of low-level cultivators to solidify their foundation. Even if a disciple only reaches the Nascent Soul or Spirit Division stage, they can still become the backbone of the sect.

The Shenmu Sect is strict in accepting disciples because it is one of the three major sects and has enough confidence to select the best. Smaller sects don't have as much room for selection. Anyone who can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage is considered a genius, but even if they can't, they will still be accepted. After all, a sect needs a lot of people to support it.

As the three were talking, the apprenticeship ceremony officially began. As the Konoha Sect Master had said, the first test was a grand formation set up by the elders to test the spiritual strength and physical resilience of the apprentices—these two aspects are the most crucial foundation on the path of cultivation.

Luo Cheng and Lin Chen sat on the viewing platform, looking down at the young men and women below. Lin Chen couldn't help but ask, "Brother Cheng, have you seen anyone you like?"