Zhou Xuan listened intently.
The Northern Lands had no complete legacy of this knowledge.
Even Ye Changqing could only deduce a rough outline from fragmented texts.
Wuchen continued in a lowered voice.
“The Seventy-Two Immortal Veins of Central Province allow Cultivators to pass this hurdle reliably.”
"The Immortal Vein Origin bears the backlash of laws for those in the Longevity Realm and provides an endless supply of anchoring power."
“That is why Immortal Vein Lords are the most stable.”
"But not everyone in the Longevity Realm comes from an Immortal Vein."
Zhou Xuan picked up the thread.
"You can break through without an Immortal Vein?"
"Yes."
Wuchen nodded.
"But the price is immense."
"Anyone without an Immortal Vein who seeks longevity must bind themselves to something equivalent."
At this point, Wuchen's steps slowed a fraction.
Zhou Xuan heard the weight behind those words.
"Something equivalent?"
"Yes." Wuchen lowered his voice. "Immortal Vein lords use their Immortal Veins as anchors. Those who attain longevity without one must use something else in its place."
"For example?"
Wuchen hesitated.
"A nation's fortune, for example, or a clan's bloodline, or some rare treasure born of heaven and earth. Some even use the lingering will of slaughter on the Ancient Battlefield as their foundation. There are many paths, but none are easy."
Zhou Xuan lightly pressed his fingers against his palm.
The dark gold mark remained.
He had suppressed the Supreme One Token's pull within his palm, but the sensation of fine needles burrowing into his meridians had not stopped.
He did not press for more.
With Wuchen having explained this much, the people he was about to meet were most likely those who had attained "longevity without an Immortal Vein."
At the end of Purple Gold's main avenue, the main hall's doors stood open.