Traveling through countless heavens, an immortal being

The scene at Jade Emperor Peak quickly appeared on the internet. Some of Ye Fan's classmates came down the mountain with smiles on their faces, while others were crowding in the main hall to offer incense and pray for blessings.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo stood under the eaves, watching the crowds pouring into the courtyard as if in a dream.

"Ye Zi, do you think we're dreaming?"

"I don't know either... This experience is too dreamlike..."

"Ouch! Pang Bo, why are you pinching me?!"

"I want to confirm if this is true."

"Ouch! Ye Zi, you hit me way too hard! Ouch, my arm is all bruised from your pinching..."

Ye Fan and Pang Bo exchanged bewildered glances, their faces contorted in pain. What was supposed to be an ordinary class reunion had unexpectedly turned into a dramatic scene: Laozi re-appointing the Eastern Peak Emperor. This greatly excited the two young men.

……

Lear, riding his blue ox in the sky, looked down at the two of them. He raised his large sleeves and opened the cuffs, and a powerful suction force pulled Pang Bo and Ye Fan, who were standing under the corridor, into the sky from a distance of a thousand meters.

This is the "Hidden Universe" technique that Lear acquired after being listed as a secondary deity.

……

Ye Fan and Pang Bo, one clutching their waist and the other rubbing their arm, were discussing staying a little longer to go into the main hall to offer incense before heading down the mountain. Unexpectedly, a strong suction force pulled them both into the sky.

The two struggled and cried for help, but the tourists in the courtyard seemed not to see them at all, kneeling and praying towards the main hall without looking to either side.

……

The howling wind high in the sky made it impossible for Ye Fan and Pang Bo to open their eyes. Instinctively, they grabbed each other and continued to fly into the sky. After a while, they felt themselves landing on the ground, and only then did they open their eyes one after another, still shaken.

……

"Where are we? Ye Zi, have we been captured by monsters?"

"Don't talk nonsense! Do you think the two of us could even fill a monster's teeth with our meager meat?"

"What exactly is this place?"

Ye Fan looked up and around. He saw that everything above, below, in front of, and behind him was composed of a hazy, unidentified bluish substance. He couldn't tell which way was north, south, east, or west; he could only see up, down, left, and right.

He struggled to his feet and walked forward, only to find that no matter how many steps he took, he would always return to Pang Bo's side. After walking back and forth a dozen times, he gave up and returned to his good friend's side, sitting down helplessly.

"Don't struggle anymore, Ye Zi. What if we've been taken to a cave by the gods?" Pang Bo patted Ye Fan on the shoulder to comfort him.

Ye Fan rubbed his face wearily with both hands and sighed. What else could he do now?

These two unfortunate brothers looked up at the sky and resignedly began to accept their fate.

……

Lear had already ridden his blue ox, ascending through layers of barriers to reach the Nine Dragons Coffin in outer space. He raised his hand and channeled his magic power into the coffin, and the nine dragon corpses seemed to come alive, pulling the enormous coffin and rapidly flying towards Mars.

Lear then channeled his magic into the blue ox, which, as if it had taken a powerful stimulant, leaped across the clouds and chased after him.

Before long, a huge, dark red celestial body was almost within reach.

As if arriving at a station, the nine dragons pulling the coffin descended directly towards an altar on this planet.

Lear stopped paying attention and waited until the blue ox landed on the ground before releasing Ye Fan and Pang Bo with a flick of his sleeve.

"Ouch, my back... Yezi, pinch me again! Is this Earth? Am I dreaming again?"

Ye Fan and Pang Bo tumbled and crawled from their sleeves onto the sandy ground. Pang Bo looked up at the dark red sky and asked Ye Fan to pinch him to make sure he wasn't sleepwalking.

Ye Fan ignored him, rolled his eyes, and looked around. He quickly spotted the nine-dragon coffin on the altar and the old Taoist priest in front of him, riding a blue ox, wearing a purple Taoist robe and with white hair and beard.

Ye Fan raised his hand and nudged Pang Bo's arm. "Brother, it's like we've met a god."

"What are you saying, Leaf? Didn't the immortals disappear from Mount Tai? Let me see where they are..." Pang Bo turned his head and saw Li Er, grinning.

"Grandpa Lao Jun... Grandpa Lao Jun!!!" Pang Bo turned around and knelt down to kowtow to Lear.

Seeing his good brother's smooth movements, Ye Fan quickly knelt down before Lear. This was a divine being from Laozi, hadn't he called himself Lear when he conferred the title of the new Heavenly Emperor on Mount Tai? To not seek the Dharma from a deity was absolutely not in line with the Chinese character.

Even if you can't become a disciple of an immortal, it's good to stay by the immortal's side for two years and watch over the furnace. Who knows, the immortal might be in a good mood one day and reward the boy with one or two elixirs to eat like candy.

Ye Fan and Pang Bo were indeed good brothers; at this moment, they were thinking exactly the same thing: they had to hold on tightly to the powerful figure in front of them.

This is the hope of becoming an immortal! Who could ignore it? The two brothers were more devout than the other.

……

Lear watched them kneel with an indifferent expression, then with a flick of his sleeve, he used his magic to lift them up.

"Ye Fan, Pang Bo, you two have extraordinary physiques and the opportunity to become immortals. Now look ahead."

Upon hearing this, Ye Fan and Pang Bo turned to look behind them and saw a shadowy building about a hundred meters away, with an old tree with gnarled branches to the left of the building.

"May I ask the immortal, is it to guide my brother and me to that place to seek our destiny?" Ye Fan asked, bowing respectfully and adopting the tone of an ancient person, since the immortal wouldn't let them kneel.

Lear stroked his beard and laughed, "As expected of a seed of immortality, you are indeed a promising young man. You are the one to whom you two find your destiny. Go, go."

After receiving a definite answer, Ye Fan bowed again and said, "Thank you, Immortal. I understand." He then called Pang Bo, who had just followed suit and bowed in thanks, and together they walked toward the building.

………………

In less than half an incense stick's time, Ye and Pang returned to Lear's side, carrying a pile of Buddhist ritual implements in their arms and hands.

In Ye Fan's hands were a bronze lotus lamp with only a little oil left, a chipped alms bowl containing scattered, unjoined Buddhist beads and a small, golden stupa.

In Pang Bo's hands were a vajra that was only half intact, a wooden fish hammer shaped like a flower bud, a stone Buddha statue with a blurred face, and a stone bowl with lotus-shaped carvings on its outer wall.

Lear watched the two brothers return laden with their spoils, then with a wave of his hand, he brought the dilapidated plaque of the Great Thunder Temple and the nearly withered Bodhi tree with only a few leaves and a single Bodhi fruit before him.

"You two brothers should keep these Buddhist treasures around you. When a great demon is born, as long as you don't leave my side or the area around the Buddhist treasures, nothing will happen."

The Ye brothers, Fan and Pang, quickly followed the instructions, arranging the Buddhist treasures around themselves in a circle and standing nervously inside the circle.

Just as the two of them were nervously swallowing and looking around, the Great Thunder Temple, which had been stripped of all its Buddhist treasures, finally collapsed with a roar.

With a loud "thud," there was a whooshing sound like arrows piercing the air. Ye Fan and Pang Bo couldn't see what it was, but when those things hit the circle formed by Buddhist treasures, they created golden ripples.

The two brothers couldn't help but look to Lear for help, only to see that the deity's expression was normal, and the purple robe he wore emitted a layer of purple light that blocked those things from entering.

"Roar!"

With a terrifying roar, the place where the Great Thunderclap Temple had stood collapsed into a huge pit. Two dark yellow lanterns, as big as manhole covers, appeared in the red dust. When the dust dispersed and slowly settled to the ground, Ye Fan and his brother realized that they were not lanterns at all, but clearly the two big eyes on the face of a monster that looked like a crocodile.

………………

"Hehehe~ After a thousand years, that bald monk's seal has finally broken! Was it you who released my Crocodile Ancestor?"

The great demon lowered its head and looked at Ye Fan and the other two, its eyes flashing with a dangerous light that seemed ready to kill anyone it encountered.

"Oh my god! Great Immortal! Great Immortal! Grandfather Laozi, save me!"

"Pang Bo, calm down."

Lear's lips twitched as he watched the two brothers, one howling like a banshee and the other calm and collected. How did these two brothers become friends?

Lear turned to look at the great demon who called himself the Crocodile Ancestor. He did indeed look like a large crocodile, but much uglier.

Crocodile Ancestor noticed that one of the two children, a white-bearded one, had heard him speak and saw him come out but didn't run away. He thought something was amiss. "Cultivators these days are quite bold! They dare not be afraid of me?"

"There's not enough meat, but let's taste it first and have a little treat! Mmm!"

Having been sealed away for a thousand years, the Crocodile Ancestor had long forgotten what meat tasted like. Now, seeing the few snacks offered to him, his appetite was whetted, and he opened his mouth wide to bite at the three of them.

Pang Bo saw the gaping mouth and closed his eyes in fright. Ye Fan's legs also went weak, but he believed that this deity who called himself Lear and was suspected to be Laozi would not put them in danger.

It must be said that Ye Fan, as the protagonist, is very much in line with his personality.

Lear tossed the diamond bracelet he had just taken off into the air.

Seeing that the three men neither dodged nor avoided him, and that only the white-bearded one flicked a small circle at him, Crocodile Ancestor couldn't help but wonder if the three men were idiots.

But as the Vajra Bracelet struck its head, cracking it, a powerful force shattered its skull along the crack. As its eyes closed in a daze, its last thought was, "This cultivator lacks martial ethics."

With a "plop," the crocodile ancestor's massive body fell onto the red sand, stirring up a cloud of dust. Neil raised his right hand and caught the flying golden bracelet, putting it back on his wrist.

…………

Pang Bo was still trembling with his eyes closed, while Ye Fan, though weak-kneed and frightened, had clearly seen the entire process of Riel killing Crocodile Ancestor.

If he had any doubts before that Lear was Laozi, he was now 100% certain that the person in front of him was Laozi. Why?

First look at his white hair and beard, then look at the scroll and gourd tied to the dragon-headed cane in his hand, then look at his purple Taoist robe that emits a hazy purple light, then look at the blue ox he sits on and the bracelet he just used to kill the Crocodile Ancestor.

Who else besides Laozi himself could produce such a set of equipment?

Ye Fan's worldview was being reshaped at this moment. In a daze, he seemed to see himself dressed in Daoist robes with two buns in his hair, fanning himself, and Pang Bo sitting in front of a tall Bagua furnace, fanning themselves with banana leaf fans...