The Immortal Court was the most central feature of the game Ancient Immortal Court. It was the creator, ruler, and supreme guardian of the Immortal Realm.
The Immortal Court governed the boundless Immortal Realm through the [Celestial Official System].
The Celestial Official System stipulated:
Sect Masters and meritorious elders of immortal sects, city lords and meritorious officials of immortal cities, as well as a few rogue immortals who had made outstanding contributions, could be entered into the Immortal Register, take their place among the celestial officials, and receive a stipend from the Immortal Court.
Holding a place among the celestial officials was the Immortal Realm's iron rice bowl: the stipends were generous, and dismissal was rare.
However, qualifying for a place among the celestial officials was incredibly difficult in the game. It had nothing to do with a player's talent or cultivation; instead, it tested their conduct, moral character, contributions to society, and even their connections. It was damn realistic.
Even someone as powerful as Lu Ya had spent five years grinding in the game, only to remain off the Celestial Register because he had killed too many people.
That was why, after transmigrating into the real Immortal Realm, Lu Ya—a salted fish—had made securing a place among the celestial officials his first priority. His goal was to become an Immortal Realm Sun Liancheng, someone who lived off the stipends, waited for death, and kept the universe in his heart.
The place among the celestial officials Lu Ya had in mind was really just an unofficial sinecure that paid a stipend without requiring any work. It was equivalent to honorary status—or a place in the celestial-official reserves.
The celestial officials who truly wielded power were called—
Immortal Court Deacons!
Immortal Court Deacons came from the Immortal Court Continent.
In addition,
the Immortal Court established branch offices in every major immortal sect and city. These housed large numbers of Immortal Court Deacons, who managed personnel matters for the celestial officials in each immortal domain, assessed their performance, investigated wrongdoing, and handled cases involving immortals and criminals alike.
The Colored Cloud Immortal Domain, where the Bamboo Spring Sect was located, had an Immortal Court branch office in East Floating City, a thousand li away.
The Immortal Court Deacons who had come to review Lu Ya's qualifications had traveled from East Floating City.
Normally, Sect Master Liu would have needed to take Lu Ya to East Floating City herself to resolve such a matter.
But given Sect Master Liu's constitution, the Immortal Court branch office in East Floating City had made an exception and sent two deacons to the Bamboo Spring Sect to handle Lu Ya's enrollment among the celestial officials and the Black Lotus bounty.
Two cries rang out from the horizon.
The three looked up. Two figures stood with their hands behind their backs atop a pair of enormous Immortal Falcons, looking rather imposing and cold.
They seemed to be a man and a woman.
Sect Master Liu furrowed her sword-like brows, then flashed back to her bedchamber and concealed her aura as an Immortal Sect Master.
It had become instinct. She didn't want to hurt anyone.
The sect's day-to-day affairs were always handled by Ning Zhongzi.
The two giant falcons drew nearer, and their imposing silhouettes soon came into view.
Lu Ya glanced up.
The falcons were over a zhang long, with carved-looking heads and hooked beaks. Their black wings were covered in dense yellow markings, and golden rings encircled their sharp black eyes.
Lu Ya knew them well. They were the most common low-tier mounts of the Immortal Court in the game—
Hunting Falcons.
The two falcons circled above the Bamboo Spring Sect a few times, then dived down and landed on the leaning pines by Sword Terrace.
They stood tall on the main branches, their four falcon eyes continually shifting focus as they surveyed everything in the Bamboo Spring Sect.
Sharp, alert, and even rather handsome in their feathers...
Soon, a man and a woman climbed down from the giant falcons.
Both were under two thousand years old and had the cultivation of nine-star Immortal Masters.
They wore Auspicious Cloud Immortal Robes, with the Sword Cloud Court Emblem engraved on their chests. High-level defensive formations were carved into the emblems, radiating an oppressive force that dared no one to look upon them or defy them.
Their lofty Immortal Court bearing was on full display.
Lu Ya swept his gaze over them.
The woman was plain-looking, with high cheekbones that gave her a cold, mean appearance.
The man had sharp, sinister features and a slightly lecherous air. His face was pale, and his nose was somewhat crooked.
Coming to the Bamboo Spring Sect without any protection at all, Lu Ya thought, this guy must be a brave soul.
Ning Zhongzi frowned slightly. She did not seem to recognize the two, but still clasped her hands and greeted them:
"I am Ning Zhongzi, Discipline Elder of the Bamboo Spring Sect. Greetings to both deacons."
The cold woman looked around, her gaze repeatedly sizing up Lu Ya.
"A sect with five people, including two tiger immortals and one mortal..."
The sinister man stood beside Ning Zhongzi, turned slightly away from her, and didn't even look at her.
"In the five hundred years I've served as a deacon, this is the first time I've personally come out to the provinces to process someone's celestial-official paperwork. Your Sect Master must have quite the clout."
His sinister voice dripped with the icy authority of an official.
Ning Zhongzi knew they had not come with good intentions. Her expression darkened as she asked, "Where is Deacon Black Stone?"
"You expect a big shot like him to deign to come to a place like this?"
Ning Zhongzi showed no anger. She simply asked, "May I ask what the two deacons are called?"
The sinister man gave a perfunctory, slight bow.
"Zhang Pingzhi."
The woman continued looking around and answered coldly.
"Tahongzi."
Ning Zhongzi had never heard of either of them. They must have been new deacons transferred to the East Floating Immortal Court from somewhere else.
"Deacon Zhang, would you like me to call the Sect Master?"
The sinister man froze. His brows twitched and the muscles in his cheeks jumped. He seemed to feel challenged, and after frowning for a long while, ultimately declined.
"No need. Let's get this done quickly."
Lu Ya thought the guy sounded rather malicious. A closer look revealed—
He was a eunuch!
No wonder he had dared to come to the Bamboo Spring Sect without any protection.
The Immortal Court really did have all kinds of people.
The two kept dancing around the subject instead of examining him right away. Bored, Lu Ya looked up at the sky, paid no attention to the faint fluctuations of spiritual power, yawned, and headed toward the leaning pines by the cliff.
Just then,
Muyu Feifei woke up too. She leapt from the deck of the Immortal Boat onto the branches of two leaning pines.
When she saw the two big birds, her eyes immediately lit up. Awe filled her timid gaze.
"Wow, spirit beasts at the Immortal Master stage!"
"They're way stronger than us."
"They haven't even been enlightened yet..."
"Look how pretty they are!"
"Since they're so strong and pretty, why are they still being ridden by people?"
"Those awful immortals."
Speaking of getting things done quickly,
the sinister man and the cold woman both turned toward the black Immortal Boat on the Bamboo Platform by the cliff.
The cold woman even stepped into the cabin to inspect it carefully.
"It really is Black Lotus's Immortal Boat."
"You really did defeat Black Lotus?"
"And killed Yunzhongzi?"
"Could it be... Sect Master Liu's condition has worsened again?"
The bias in their words was obvious, making them uncomfortable to hear.
Ning Zhongzi's face darkened.
"Yunzhongzi was killed by our sect's Sword-Wielding Elder, Lu Ya. It had nothing to do with the Sect Master."
"Him?"
The sinister man sneered and shook his head without even looking at Lu Ya. His strange smile was rather chilling.
Ning Zhongzi took out two black urns and tossed one each to the sinister man and the cold woman.
"These are Yunzhongzi's ashes, and these are the ashes of the rest of Black Lotus. The two deacons may verify them."
But neither of them even looked. They simply put the urns away in their storage rings.
"It's far too easy to fake something like this. You think a few urns of ashes are enough to pin the credit for wiping out Black Lotus on a mere mortal? You're underestimating the Immortal Court."
"Think what you like. In the end, our sect wiped out Black Lotus. We just need to collect the bounty."
Ning Zhongzi felt that the two were deliberately giving her a hard time. She didn't want to argue further, so she got straight to the point:
"As for Elder Lu Ya's place among the celestial officials, it is one our sect has reserved ever since its founding. The Sect Master decides who receives it, and it goes to someone who has made a major contribution to our sect."
The sinister man suddenly smiled.
"You know it's been reserved since the sect's founding? How long ago was that? No matter which of you killed Yunzhongzi, you have to hand over the spoils to claim the Immortal Court's bounty."
The spoils...
Ning Zhongzi finally understood. After all that circling around, the two of them wanted to pocket the spoils from Black Lotus!
After all, Black Lotus had run rampant through the Colored Cloud Immortal Domain for over five hundred years and rarely suffered a defeat. They must have amassed plenty of treasures.
On the whole, the Immortal Court was an organization that benefited the prosperity of the Immortal Realm, but it had its share of parasites. In remote places like the Colored Cloud Immortal Domain, it was common for a few deacons to demand bribes and take kickbacks.
Most of Black Lotus's spoils were in Lu Ya's hands. Ning Zhongzi had no intention of letting him lose any of them, so she set her expression and addressed the two firmly:
"I've never heard of any such rule in the Immortal Court."
The sinister man looked haughty. His tone seemed to appeal to reason and stir sympathy, but it carried a threat.
"Rules are made by people. There are exceptions to every case. The bounty on Yunzhongzi isn't much, but the Immortal Court can issue your sect an official reward document, which will do wonders for your reputation."
"Surely you don't want Sect Master Liu investigated?"
Facing west, toward where Liu Xuanye was, the sinister man pointed his long, pale finger at Lu Ya.
"And as for this one... What was his name again?"
Ning Zhongzi said, "This is our Sword-Wielding Elder, Lu Ya."
"Sword-Wielding Elder?"
The cold woman shook her head, arms folded around her sword. With an indifferent expression, she turned her back on Lu Ya and slowly walked toward the sinister man.
The sinister man knew Lu Ya was watching birds by the cliff with the two little girls. He suddenly sneered.
"Could you stop insulting the title 'Sword-Wielding Elder'?"
His laugh was quiet, yet as jarring as a swarm of frenzied bees and butterflies—horrifying, twisted, and utterly bizarre.
"This is just some Immortal Commoner you dragged in to make up the numbers, isn't it? And you expect him to take his place among the celestial officials? His temperament is childlike. The Bamboo Spring Sect is in this state, and he doesn't have the slightest sense of crisis. Guess what he's doing—"
As he spoke, his crooked nostrils suddenly flared. He caught a whiff of something scorching.
"Where's that smoky smell coming from?"
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