My low-key cultivation of immortality was discovered by the emperor in my diary.

Chapter 484 Pulse Gazing, Immortals Within the Painting

Become an immortal?

Chu Lengyu raised an eyebrow, but instead of answering, she asked, "Is Headmaster Tang making fun of me?"

She didn't believe it at all.

What are the Dao Foundation levels and the nine ranks of Golden Core? All these methods are merely for protecting the Dao. No matter how much they are touted, none of them are as important as "becoming an immortal."

With the system's assistance, she has now merged with the body, has a good chance of achieving the Great Ascension stage, and transcending tribulation to become an immortal is a natural progression.

Therefore, no matter what temptation she faces, she has the composure to deal with it calmly.

Moreover, based on their conversation, she was quite certain that the information Tang had gathered was only superficial; he didn't know her true situation at all, nor did he know about the system's existence!

He thought he had enough intelligence to gain the upper hand, but little did he know that the intelligence was not true.

Tang, the manager, chuckled, like a shrewd businessman who had finally revealed his true colors.

He suddenly changed the subject, saying, "There are many painting spirits in the Zhu Lou. Have you ever wondered about that?"

Chu Lengyu thought of Danzhu and nodded slightly.

Ghosts, spirits, demons, and monsters all require certain opportunities and circumstances to form.

However, with Danzhu, a high-level painting expert, cultivating some similar individuals shouldn't be too difficult.

Moreover, painting spirits are generally weak and have obvious weaknesses, making them easy to control. They also possess many advantages such as beauty and intelligence, and are often kept by cultivators as servants, which is indeed suitable.

Although Chu Lengyu was curious, she wouldn't be foolish enough to inquire about such "trade secrets," lest she offend Danzhu.

That being said, she had very mixed feelings about this woman; instinctively, she didn't want to get close to her, nor did she want to ruin her relationship with her.

Chu Lengyu attributed this feeling to the fact that Danzhu, being an anomaly, might possess some powerful and mysterious trump cards, thus making him respectable but not approachable.

Now that Master Tang suddenly mentioned the Painting Spirit, it made her heart flutter. Could it be that the "art of becoming an immortal" he spoke of was related to the Painting Spirit?

As she was pondering, Master Tang unfolded a painting of a lady playing the zither.

"Fellow Daoist, why don't you come and take a look?" With that, he took the lead and walked into the painting.

Chu Lengyu followed without hesitation.

Stepping inside, the world instantly transformed.

They moved from the cabin of the Star-Traveling Immortal Ship to a quaint and elegant room.

The lady playing the zither in the painting is sitting behind a beaded curtain, concentrating on her music, seemingly oblivious to the presence of the two people, her fingers plucking the strings with perfect precision.

Chu Lengyu scanned the area with her divine sense and was surprised to find that she had returned to the Zhu Lou.

If you open the window, you can see the bustling scene of the first floor with its dazzling array of shelves and people coming and going.

Just now they were clearly sailing through the sea of ​​stars and traversing the abyss of stars. The void outside was so strong that she dared not release her divine sense, otherwise she would be instantly crushed.

But in the blink of an eye, she found herself back on Jingu Island in the Minghai Realm, where the wind was calm and the zither music was gentle.

She was surprised and wondered: Could this be the reason why Commander Tang was so confident in leaving the Minghai Realm without fear of chaos in the branch?

Tang led her back to her cabin and rolled up the painting of the lady, giving it to her as a gift: "This painting is for you, fellow Daoist. Wherever you go in the future, you only need to unroll the scroll to return to the Zhu Lou."

"However, this painting itself is very fragile and cannot withstand fire, water, or weapons." He joked, lest Chu Lengyu accidentally destroy it when testing it later.

Chu Lengyu took the scroll and questioned, "Can you return from anywhere?"

Does he realize how arrogant he is to say that?

Tang, the head of the sect, stroked his chin and replied, "I have been to the Holy Realm, the Star Palace, the Five Elements Divine Palace, and the Five Elements Divine Sect. At least these places cannot stop me."

Chu Lengyu made no attempt to hide her suspicion.

If he truly possessed such extraordinary abilities, why would he need to be relegated to a branch office within the Myriad Stars Alliance? He could easily build an organization comparable to the Myriad Stars Alliance himself.

This teleportation that ignores distance is truly astonishing.

Looking at it another way, perhaps they've already secretly organized something, and this time they're trying to recruit her; it's still uncertain.

She put away the scroll, then boldly asked, "What is the purpose of Master Tang's trip to the Holy Realm and the Star Palace?"

The sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

She keenly noticed that he had used the word "block" in his previous words, which clearly indicated that he was not leaving peacefully.

This time, Manager Tang fell silent, his hands behind his back, remaining silent for a long time.

His expression didn't seem troubled; he was just carefully choosing his words, as if he had some secrets he couldn't fully reveal to her.

Too much talk between strangers? They are clearly far from that point.

To this day, they are both keeping half of it hidden, merely testing each other.

After a long while, Master Tang finally spoke, his voice rising as if from the bottom of a deep pool: "Back then, I was very curious as to why there was such a huge gap, that even a Nascent Soul cultivator could not defeat a Qi Refining cultivator."

"So I secretly followed that person to the Holy Realm."

“That place…is really nice,” he concluded with a very complicated expression.

The scene of his family being wiped out suddenly resurfaced in his memory.

A "divine being" descended from the sky, killing people as easily as weeding.

At that time, he huddled in the spatial rift, watching the stars in the sky turn crimson by the blood mist, and the whole world silently explode into a gray firework.

He tried every possible means to secretly follow them to the Holy Realm.

Crystal palaces float high in the sky, children laugh and chase cranes and fish, people bathe in spiritual springs and eat spiritual fruits, unaware that everything beneath their feet is drawn from another world.

He witnessed firsthand that the "gods" were actually just cultivators, and that they were also mortals, just like humans.

The stars in the sky are all different worlds, and what he thought of as the "celestial realm" was just one of them.

Ascension wasn't as wonderful as I had imagined.

It was precisely because everything in the higher world was so wonderful, and even the most ordinary mortals lived lives that were unimaginable in the smaller world, that he was in such great pain.

The destruction of the microcosms went unnoticed, as if it were only natural.

The continued existence of the Middle Thousand Worlds is nothing more than a longer process of sucking marrow from bones.

They consider it an honor to make even a small contribution to the world.

Even though he had traversed countless star systems over the past few centuries, he had not found a shred of solace.

On the contrary, the more I came into contact with it, the more shocking it became.

The Star Palace is like this, and so is the Myriad Star Alliance; one is external, the other internal; one conquers by force, the other knocks on doors with goods.

Those big shots have been high and mighty for too long, and no one like "Killer Star" has suddenly appeared out of nowhere to give them a shock.

Tang, the head eunuch, took out a wooden box and opened it. Inside was a somewhat old book.

"This book contains the method to become an immortal, called Pulse Observation."

"Fellow Daoist, would you like to give it a try?"

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Note:

According to the immortal scriptures, "When a bookworm eats three times the characters of immortals, it transforms into this creature called 'Pulse Gazing.' At night, if you shine an arrow at a star in the sky, a celestial messenger will immediately descend. You can obtain the elixir of immortality by mixing it with this water and drinking it; you will instantly undergo a transformation and ascend to heaven." He then took an ancient book and read it. Several places were punctuated by bookworms. Upon further reading, he found that they all contained characters of immortals. He was filled with admiration and reverence. (From *The Record of Original Transformation*)

To put it simply: a bookworm accidentally eats the word "immortal" printed on a book page three times, and then transforms into Maiwang, whose head drips water when severed; eating him makes one an immortal.

Of course, the process is not that simple; not every bookworm can become a hopeful reader.

Danzhu's identity as a painting spirit is just a disguise; she is a fairy in a book who possesses the status of a "deity," but whose strength has not yet accumulated to the corresponding level.

The world within the book (or painting) is one she absolutely controls; she is the "creator."

(The term "creator" comes from Zhuangzi.)

Therefore, Chapter 430 is titled "The Bookworm's Exquisite Paintings, the Vermilion Pavilion and the Golden Bell".

I don't know if anyone has used this setting before. If there is any coincidence, it is purely coincidental.