The Oldest Person in the Nine Provinces

The World Protecting Array of the Nine Provinces had been a concept Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu came up with long ago.

Extraterrestrial Demons came from other worlds, and the location of each appearance was random. Though Jiang Li could easily defeat them, he first needed to learn of their arrival and rush to where the demon had descended.

That interval was enough for a Heavenly Demon to wreak havoc over a vast area, leaving millions upon millions dead.

To reduce casualties and buy time, the World Protecting Array of the Nine Provinces was born. In their design, the array enveloped the Nine Provinces. When an Extraterrestrial Demon arrived, it would need a quarter-hour to break through the array. By then, Jiang Li would have received news of the attack and could swiftly reach the point of breach to kill the Heavenly Demon.

Yet this array presented two difficulties.

First, maintaining it at all times consumed an oceanic amount of spiritual energy. Jiang Li therefore gathered the Six Great Sects and Nine Imperial Dynasties, having them take turns supplying six Integrated Body Realm Cultivators, while the Human Emperor Palace supplied two more. A total of eight continuously transported spiritual energy to sustain the array.

Though the Six Great Sects and Nine Imperial Dynasties were powerful colossi within the Nine Provinces, only the Sect Protecting Array of the Red Dust Pure Land was certain to withstand an Extraterrestrial Demon. All other factions were helpless before Heavenly Demons. No one wished to be killed by a demon that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, so they agreed to Jiang Li's proposal.

Second, the formation was simply too vast. Never before had any array encompassed the entire Nine Provinces. It was not merely a matter of enlarging a formation; terrain, spiritual energy transport, relay points, and other issues all had to be considered. The design difficulty was extraordinarily high. Even an Integrated Body Realm Cultivator would have to bleed their heart dry designing it.

It was precisely for this reason that Bai Hongtu only began designing it after breaking through to the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.

"An Immortal Artifact as the array core?" Though he had not known beforehand, Jiang Li was not surprised.

This array had an enormous purpose, so naturally it required a treasure capable of bearing such immense karma as its core.

"Yes. I asked Ancestor Changcun. The old man said the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal communicated with Heaven and Earth and possessed the ability to awaken spirits and bestow transformation. It was the most suitable choice for the array core."

"Is Immortal Elder Changcun well?" Jiang Li asked, moved.

"Of course he is. From the look of Ancestor Changcun's vigor, he might still be alive even after I die of old age. Do you want to see him?"

"I have a few questions I want to ask him."

"Can I come along to see Immortal Elder Changcun too?" Pure Heart Saintess pointed at herself. She had only heard of Immortal Elder Changcun's reputation and had never met the old man.

"You can. Chang Cun Grandmaster likes liveliness—he wishes there were even more people." Bai Hongtu nodded.

"I still need to make some preparations for the Immortal Artifact Appreciation Conference. You can go on your own. He is still in Sealed Self Cave." Bai Hongtu hurried away after speaking.

Dong Zhongren had heard from Wang Bian that Jiang Li already knew about him. Too embarrassed to remain, he hurried away as though fleeing.

Enlightened Zhi Buddhist Son was very interested in the Immortal Artifact Appreciation Conference. Though it had not yet begun, quite a few cultivators had already come here to display their weapons. He too bid Jiang Li and Pure Heart Saintess farewell, then wandered about in high spirits.

"Is Immortal Elder Changcun truly the oldest person in the Nine Provinces? Is he really an immortal?"

On the way to Sealed Self Cave, Pure Heart Saintess asked.

"He truly is an immortal. As for his age, that depends on exactly how old your Ancestor Hongchen is. Setting aside the uncertain Red Dust Fairy, he truly is the oldest person."

"I suspect he is Dao Ancestor's disciple, but he has always refused to admit it."

Before becoming the Human Emperor, Jiang Li had sought Immortal Elder Changcun's guidance many times and held this old man in great esteem.

Pure Heart Saintess was slightly surprised. If he truly was Dao Ancestor's disciple, then Immortal Elder Changcun really lived up to his title—enduring through the ages, living forever and never dying.

Dao Ancestor's disciple would at the very least have been someone from fifty thousand years ago.

Integrated Body Realm Cultivators could live for two or three thousand years. Across their long lives, they could witness the rise and fall, flourishing and ruin of countless forces.

Yet Immortal Elder Changcun could witness the growth and natural deaths of countless Integrated Body Realm Cultivators.

When the Nine Provinces and the Immortal World still had contact, many immortals visited the Nine Provinces. Yet they all stayed only a few hundred years before returning to the Immortal World. Immortal Elder Changcun alone was a native of the Nine Provinces. After ascending, he found the Immortal World less intimate than the Nine Provinces, so he returned and never left again.

Jiang Li felt that he planned to retire in the Nine Provinces.

Yet it was also thanks to this old fossil that many mysteries had been answered: what existed in the Immortal World, how one became an immortal, how there was more beyond the Tribulation Transcendence Realm than merely becoming immortal, that Red Dust Fairy was the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao's "beauty," and so on.

Moreover, when successive Human Emperors could not withstand the Extraterrestrial Demons, Immortal Elder Changcun had also stepped in to help, slaying the demons.

But Immortal Elder Changcun could not intervene too often.

After becoming an immortal, all spiritual energy in one's body transformed into Immortal Power, which was what sustained an immortal's body. Yet Immortal Power existed only in the Immortal World. Once an immortal descended to the lower world, every bit of Immortal Power used was one bit less.

After descending, Immortal Elder Changcun had planned to replenish his Immortal Power in the Immortal World once it ran low. After all, he could freely travel back and forth between the Immortal World and the lower world. Who could have expected the Immortal Ascension Ladder to develop a problem, preventing him from reaching the Immortal World?

That was troublesome.

Once he exhausted all his Immortal Power, his body would collapse, and he would die after experiencing the Five Signs of Decay!

He avoided taking action whenever possible.

"Immortal Elder, are you in there? I have come with questions again." Jiang Li shouted before the stone door of Sealed Self Cave, and the door opened on its own.

The two entered the cave and found that its most numerous contents were all manner of ancient books. Some were neatly arranged on shelves, while others lay scattered across the floor. Of course, ancient was relative—for Immortal Elder Changcun, these were all newly published.

"You brat, every time you come, you always have questions. Can't you simply come visit this old man?" Immortal Elder Changcun put on an indignant act, but Pure Heart Saintess could tell that he was delighted by Jiang Li's arrival.

"Mm, you even brought someone else along. That is truly rare." Immortal Elder Changcun looked like any old man one might find in the countryside: lean and shriveled, bent-backed, covered in age spots, with calluses on his hands, dressed in ordinary coarse hemp clothes.

This was the manifestation of his vital blood being restrained to the utmost extreme.

Immortal Elder Changcun looked at Jiang Li, honored as the Human Emperor Jiang, and sighed inwardly. Who could have imagined that the little Nascent Soul Realm child from back then had now become so unfathomably profound?

Even as an immortal, he could not see just how strong Jiang Li truly was.

"This little girl is quite pretty. Which household's child is she?"

"In reply to Immortal Elder, Jing Xin comes from the Red Dust Pure Land and is a descendant of Red Dust Ancestor."

"Red Dust Fairy... that truly is a name I have not heard in a very long time." Immortal Elder Changcun chuckled and warmly entertained them both, bringing out excellent Spirit Tea and pastries.

The three had naturally long since abstained from food, but that did not mean they could not enjoy fine cuisine.

Perhaps it was merely an illusion, but Pure Heart Saintess felt that once she mentioned being Red Dust Ancestor's descendant, Immortal Elder Changcun became considerably more enthusiastic, and even the way he looked at her changed.

How should she put it? It was like the indulgent gaze one reserved for a junior of one's own household.

"He is someone who personally met Red Dust Fairy," Jiang Li transmitted to Pure Heart Saintess.

Pure Heart Saintess understood. He still remembered her ancestor.