Chapter 1: Where Do Immortals Come From?

Great Xuan, Xuanjing, the Grand Preceptor’s estate.

Li Fan held a wine cup, surveying the hall filled with civil and military officials who had come to celebrate his birthday. Though he had already reached the ripe old age of seventy, he couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride in his heart.

Nearly all the high-ranking ministers and nobles of the court had gathered at his estate today! Such prestige!

Li Fan was in truth not a person of this world; he had transmigrated here, and he had found himself as nothing but a destitute scholar.

Over the past fifty years, he had risen from a nobody to the Grand Preceptor, wielding power that shook the realm. His journey alone could fill a million-word epic.

With a life like this, what more could he ask for?

Li Fan stroked his beard and drained the cup in one gulp.

“A toast to the Grand Preceptor’s health!”

The assembled officials cheered in unison.

Li Fan’s satisfaction only grew.

But then, a discordant wave of exclamations erupted from outside.

“Look! What is that?!”

“Fire falling from the heavens—an auspicious omen! Quick, inform the Grand Preceptor!”

“Why does it seem to be heading straight for the Grand Preceptor’s estate?!”

The clamor outside made Li Fan frown.

The lively hall fell abruptly silent.

Li Fan rose to his feet and strode out.

Yet before he could even reprimand his servants or voice his displeasure, his attention was seized by the sight in the sky.

Far on the horizon, two streaks of silver light, one chasing the other, streaked toward them like meteors.

“What in the...” Li Fan froze.

In the blink of an eye, the two meteors reached Xuanjing and, shockingly, halted right above it.

At the same time, a voice like thunder boomed from the heavens, shaking the ears of all present.

“Dao Xuanzi! Do not push me too far!”

The crowd trembled in terror. Some even dropped to their knees, crying out, “Immortal Masters!”

At that moment, a word buried deep in Li Fan’s memory, nearly forgotten, suddenly surged to the forefront of his mind.

“Cultivators...!” he muttered, stunned. “How... how is this possible?”

The two cultivators in the sky clearly had no regard for the mortals below.

Another voice rang out, “Kou Hong! Did you truly think fleeing to the Immortal Forsaken Land would save you? Hand over the core formation method you stole, or this ends only with one of us dead!”

“Ridiculous!” Kou Hong sneered. “For a hundred years, I’ve been trapped at the Foundation Establishment realm. My time is nearly up, and I’ll soon be reduced to dry bones. All I lacked was the method to form my Golden Core. Now that I finally have it, you expect me to just give it up?”

“Exactly!” Dao Xuanzi sighed. “Only one can walk this path to the Golden Core realm. There are countless methods, yet more cultivators than ever remain stuck at Foundation Establishment!”

His tone suddenly turned vicious. “And so, with this core formation method before me, how could I possibly let you go? How could I

not

push you too far?”

Kou Hong laughed wildly. “Then let us settle this! How pitiful—a hundred years of brotherhood, only to end up fighting for survival!”

Dao Xuanzi only snorted in response.

But then Kou Hong’s voice took on a dangerous edge. “I know I’m no match for you. I don’t think I’ll be able to escape today. But tell me, Dao Xuanzi, with so many mortals gathered here, can you withstand the concentration of Immortal-Mortal Miasma?”

Dao Xuanzi’s face twisted in alarm. “Kou Hong! What are you planning?!”

Kou Hong’s laughter turned maniacal. “Just seizing my last chance to live!”

As Li Fan listened to the exchange above, a sense of dread gripped him. But before he could react, a crimson explosion erupted over Xuanjing.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Deafening roars assaulted Li Fan’s ears. His vision flooded with red, then darkness swallowed him whole.

***

He had no idea how long he lay unconscious.

When he finally awoke, confusion clouded his mind. It took several moments for the memories to return.

Li Fan coughed, spitting up blood, then shakily pushed himself up to survey the devastation.

Night still reigned. The once-opulent Grand Preceptor’s estate was now a smoldering ruin, and the stench of charred corpses choked the air.

Every high-ranking official who had attended his banquet now lay in pieces, their souls departed.

His wives, his concubines, his five sons—none had survived.

Li Fan’s aged face was devoid of expression. His gaze was hollow.

For a long time, he simply stood there. Then, with great effort, he dragged his weakened body out of the estate.

The once-bustling Xuanjing had become a hell of blood and fire. Ruined buildings and mutilated bodies stretched as far as the eye could see.

Perhaps fewer than one in a hundred denizens had survived.

All of this happened because of two so-called “Immortal Masters.” Two cultivators.

Weakened and exhausted, Li Fan slumped against a shattered wall.

His hearing had been destroyed by the blast. But it no longer mattered. At this moment, all he wanted to do was laugh.

How could cultivators exist in this world?

From the moment he had gained power, he had used his influence to scour the land for any trace of the immortal path.

Once he became the Emperor’s tutor, standing above all others, he had searched the entire realm. From the frozen seas in the north to the boundless oceans in the south, from the Abyssal Chasm in the east to the endless peaks in the west, not a single trace of immortals had ever been found in all of Great Xuan!

And yet, now, in his twilight years, long after he had given up hope, two cultivators had descended from the heavens and obliterated everything he had built.

So these were immortals?

Where did they come from?

Rage and bitterness churned within him, only to dissolve into utter bewilderment.

The heavens were mocking him!

And yet, he also felt an overwhelming sense of relief. Relief that, before his death, he had finally confirmed the existence of immortals!

Otherwise, in his next life, would he not have wasted another fifty years in futile searching?

Indeed! Li Fan, a mere mortal, had risen from a lowly scholar to the Emperor’s tutor. How could he not have his own trump card?

It was also how he had narrowly escaped death at the hands of the immortals.

Li Fan silently recited a short phrase.

Return to Truth.

The world around him dimmed, phantasmagoric and slightly out of focus, as though viewed through a thick, rippling curtain.

[When truth becomes falsehood, falsehood becomes truth.]

Seven glowing words appeared in the darkness before scattering into a shimmering screen.

Then, two lines of text appeared in succession.

[Charging complete.]

[Virtualize current scenario and return to the initial anchor point?]

At the same time, countless images flashed across the screen. Fifty years of Li Fan’s life replayed in an instant.

He stared at the scenes, lost in thought.

Return to Truth.

This was the name Li Fan had given to the esoteric gift he possessed.

It had but one function: to turn truth into falsehood, and real into fake!

To “turn real into fake” meant transforming all of Li Fan’s lived experiences into a simulated illusion, allowing him to return to his initial anchor point: the moment he had first transmigrated into this world.

In truth, this was already Li Fan’s second life.

Though he had harbored grand ambitions in his first life in this world, he was just an ordinary man. Repeated failures in the imperial examinations had forced him to abandon his scholarly pursuits by thirty. He had turned to business, becoming a modestly wealthy man, marrying, raising children, and living out an unremarkable life. It was only on his deathbed, as illness claimed him, that he awakened Return to Truth.

Thus began his second life. It was a meteoric rise, unstoppable.

Yet now, it seemed he had wasted it.

After a long moment of pondering, Li Fan chose not to end this life just yet. There were still matters to settle.

Dismissing the screen, he returned to reality and forced himself to focus on managing the aftermath of Xuanjing’s devastation.

Gathering a few lucky survivors, he relied on his prestige built over decades to stabilize morale.

Though deafened, he could still write. Communication was cumbersome, but his orders were still carried out.

First, Li Fan ordered his trusted garrison stationed outside the city to rush to the capital of Xuanjing and restore order. He then dispatched decrees to neighboring cities, commanding them to mobilize grain supplies and officials for Xuanjing’s relief efforts.

With much of Xuanjing lying in ruins, Li Fan remained stationed at the garrison camp, personally overseeing the city’s recovery.

Under his direction, resources and personnel poured into Xuanjing City.

A month later, the ruined city showed faint signs of life.

Only after the Great Xuan Kingdom had somewhat recovered from the havoc did Li Fan finally issue orders to gather intelligence on the two immortals who had appeared that night.

Where had they come from? Where had they gone? Had they spoken further during their chase?

Yet after months of investigation, the only clue was that they had likely emerged from the Abyssal Chasm in the east. Nothing else.

Li Fan’s hope that the two immortals had perished together went unfulfilled.

I should never have expected such luck. He sighed inwardly. In that case, there is nothing left for me in this life.

Standing in the newly rebuilt Grand Preceptor’s estate, Li Fan activated Return to Truth once more.

[Virtualize current scenario and return to the initial anchor point?]

Without hesitation, he selected “Yes.”

On the screen, countless vivid images froze. Then, like bursting dream bubbles, the glory and wealth of this life shattered, exploding into streaks of meteors that flooded Li Fan’s mind.

Scenes flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern, finally settling on the image of the two cultivators locked in a standoff high above his estate.

“Dao Xuanzi. Kou Hong.” Li Fan whispered their names. “Fifty years from now, I will be waiting for you in Xuanjing once more.

“Wealth and honor are but fleeting clouds.” His consciousness blurred, yet his resolve burned brighter than ever, and his goal was unprecedentedly clear.

“In my next life, I will hunt immortals!”

As the lights in his mind faded, Li Fan slowly slipped into slumber.