On this day, the Immortal Palace erupted into a frenzy.
The instant Li Ji'an stepped into the Immortal Palace, holding the token that marked him as the top-ranked grandmaster, all the experts guarding the palace were alerted.
They appeared one after another to take a look.
"What kind of prodigy could have caught Old Li's eye?"
"Anyone Old Li takes an interest in is bound to be extraordinary!"
"Could he have been born with a Dragon-Tiger Visage?"
Watching a crowd of old acquaintances in silence, Li Ji'an let a hint of innocence show.
"Nothing special..."
At last, the expected voice of dissent came—late, but it came all the same.
Everyone looked up and saw that familiar figure atop the tower.
Lei Jingchuan!
The fifth son of the Yan Province Lei Family, and the father of the current Empress.
He had been ninth on the Grandmaster Ranking. During the Nine Dragons Seizing the Heir, the imperial palace experts had either died or been gravely injured and weakened, allowing him to claim the top spot.
But just as he came to the imperial capital as the top-ranked grandmaster to rescue his daughter and son-in-law, Li Ji'an had burst onto the scene and snatched away the throne he had barely warmed.
He challenged Li Ji'an three times in a row and lost each time. Swearing that one day he would defeat him fair and square and reclaim the top spot, he had stayed at the Immortal Palace.
He was rough around the edges, cold on the outside but warm at heart, and stubborn to a fault.
After a year of Li Ji'an putting him in his place, though, he had improved somewhat. At least he no longer dared to talk tough to Li Ji'an's face, because Li Ji'an would start swinging without a second thought, no matter the occasion, and leave him not a shred of dignity.
"Old Lei, watch your tongue. Old Li is such a cautious man, he might be secretly protecting the lad right now," someone quietly reminded him.
Lei Jingchuan snorted. "Hmph. I'm just telling the truth. Surely he wouldn't attack me over that?"
Whoosh! Though his words were casual, he took off without the slightest hesitation the very next moment.
He continued speaking as he flew away. "Not only will I beat him fair and square myself, my disciple will beat his, too. Just you wait and see."
Li Ji'an couldn't help smiling faintly.
Of Zhao Yunsheng's children, the Ninth Princess, Zhao Shuyao, was the most gifted. She was naturally bright and had excellent Root Bone.
Last year, when she was seven, Zhao Yunsheng had wanted Zhao Shuyao to become Li Ji'an's disciple. But Lei Jingchuan had used his status as her maternal grandfather to forcefully take her as his own.
"That old rascal..."
Just after Lei Jingchuan left, Emperor Zhao Yunsheng arrived at the Immortal Palace as well.
Everyone saluted him. "May Your Majesty enjoy good health!"
"I am well. Rise!" Zhao Yunsheng immediately spotted Li Ji'an in the crowd.
But at first glance, he was taken aback.
Most of the people here had never seen Li Ji'an as a young man, so they felt nothing.
But when Zhao Yunsheng had arrived at the Immortal Palace as a hostage at the age of seven, Li Ji'an had been nineteen. After spending nine years together day in and day out, Zhao Yunsheng still remembered what Li Ji'an had looked like back then.
The child before him bore a clear resemblance to the Li Ji'an of those days.
"What's your name?" Zhao Yunsheng asked, coming back to himself, his voice tinged with excitement.
Li Ji'an had reached sixty without marrying or having children. Zhao Yunsheng had even considered arranging a marriage for him. Now, with wives and concubines aplenty and his children gathered around him, he sometimes couldn't help worrying about Li Ji'an.
What good was being so skilled in martial arts? What good was being the best in the world? If he never married or had children, what would he leave behind after a hundred years?
"Your Majesty, my name is Li Chang'an."
"Li Chang'an!" Zhao Yunsheng repeated, his breath catching.
"Chang'an... Chang'an... It suits Brother Li's nature. Could this be Brother Li's kid? Already this big, and I never knew? He even hid it from me? He's already reached the pinnacle of martial arts, so why keep it secret? Could it be some kind of expert's hang-up..."
In an instant, Zhao Yunsheng was both annoyed and amused.
"Good, good. Come take a walk with me." Since Brother Li wanted to keep it secret, Zhao Yunsheng would respect his wishes.
Having made his guess, he asked no more questions. Instead, he took Li Ji'an for a stroll around the Immortal Palace.
"Where has your master gone?"
"He said he was going to root out some evils. He'll be back when he's done," Li Ji'an replied.
Hearing this, Zhao Yunsheng understood at once. "Then he shouldn't be gone long. I've already issued an edict: in my realm, the trafficking and mutilation of children will never be tolerated."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Li Ji'an praised him with a smile.
If the emperor of this world had acted sooner, how could Li Ji'an have suffered so much the first time he "grew young again"?
With Zhao Yunsheng's departure, Li Ji'an's life in this world officially fell into place.
This life had begun unusually smoothly, but Li Ji'an did not let it make him careless.
On the surface, it seemed that Li Ji'an's unmatched martial strength from his previous life had made it so. In truth, the root cause was that martial arts in this world had a ceiling—and after the insights of his four lifetimes had accumulated, that ceiling seemed rather low.
What mattered in this life, too, was that he understood Zhao Yunsheng after nine years spent together day in and day out, and that Zhao Yunsheng had never seen him at eight years old. Otherwise, Li Ji'an could not have guaranteed that such a start would be completely foolproof.
But... if there was such a thing as being completely foolproof...
Perhaps it could only come on the day he truly attained immortality. Otherwise, every time he "grew young again," all his formidable strength would be wiped clean in an instant. No one could truly feel at ease facing such a gulf and helplessness.
In the days that followed, Li Ji'an kept up with the finest medicinal baths and supplements available, nourishing and training his sinews and bones.
When he was thirteen, the Immortal Palace held a special Bone-Reading Ceremony for him, confirming his Dragon-Tiger Visage.
Lei Jingchuan brought Zhao Shuyao along that day. Though he had already examined her and confirmed she had a Phoenix Body, he still pretended not to know, insisting that Zhao Shuyao show it off in front of everyone.
And so began the contest between Dragon and Tiger, Phoenix and Phoenix.
Of course, that was all in Lei Jingchuan's head. Li Ji'an merely smiled and let it pass.
What left Li Ji'an somewhat at a loss for words, though, was Lei Jingchuan's idea of fairness. Seeing that Li Ji'an had stayed out of sight for five years, and that the other instructors didn't dare supervise him, Lei Jingchuan worried that without anyone keeping an eye on him, Li Ji'an might neglect his cultivation. So every so often, he went to check up on him.
He warned Li Ji'an not to slack off or get distracted by other things.
In the end, he even brought Li Ji'an to his own courtyard, where he could receive instruction alongside Zhao Shuyao.
This put a stop to Li Ji'an's plan to start practicing his self-created external martial arts, which could replenish his vitality and blood. In the end, he had no choice but to write Lei Jingchuan a letter himself, warning him not to meddle.
The letter sent Lei Jingchuan into a towering rage, but he couldn't find Li Ji'an to argue with him face-to-face. He was nearly angered into a fit.
Zhao Shuyao also developed a prejudice against the famous Li Ji'an, and eventually turned her ire on Li Chang'an.
For Li Ji'an, all of this was seasoning in an otherwise calm and repetitive life of cultivation.
This was already the third time he had begun his martial path from stance training, so there was nothing interesting or challenging about it. With his Dragon-Tiger Visage, his self-created martial arts from his previous life replenishing his vitality and blood, and his spiritual strength growing further in this life, he reached the initial stage of Blood Transformation in just two years.
The result left everyone so stunned they could hardly believe it. He had set the record for reaching the Blood Transformation Realm fastest in the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty—and by a wide margin.
When he was eight, one year had passed since the previous Immortal Ceremony, and nine years remained until the next one. The ceremony after that was nineteen years away.
He was fifteen when he entered the Blood Transformation Realm, with the next Immortal Ceremony just two years away.
Under normal circumstances, two years would have been more than enough for him to reach the Marrow Cleansing Realm.
But he deliberately slowed down for the time being.
Two years later, at the Immortal Ceremony, he had reached minor mastery in Blood Transformation but did not become an Immortal Seedling.
Despite doubling her efforts, Zhao Shuyao had only managed to catch up to him. She, too, reached minor mastery in Blood Transformation and missed her chance to become an Immortal Seedling.
This gave Zhao Shuyao the mistaken impression that she and Li Ji'an were on the same level.
It wasn't until the next ten years that she lost all hope.
After the Immortal Ceremony, Li Ji'an reached perfection in Blood Transformation in half a year, perfection in Marrow Cleansing in two years, and perfection in Organ Refining in three. He then spent four years tempering his vitality and blood, until they surged like a dragon!
On this day, Li Ji'an finally entered the Immortal Hall and waited quietly for the immortal master to descend...
It was time to set out for the Cultivation World!
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