Side story: now this was a protagonist's life!

The Immortal Realm currently divided its immortals into the Spirit Immortal Realm, True Immortal Realm, Heavenly Immortal Realm, Golden Immortal Realm, and Profound Immortal Realm.

Like the God Realm, it had five realms.

As its name suggested, the Spirit Immortal Realm meant that the soul had already reached the level of an immortal, but the body still fell a little short, retaining traces of mortal substance from the lower realm. Thus, cultivators at this stage could only be called Spirit Immortals.

At the True Immortal Realm, one truly became an immortal with an immortal body.

Both lifespan and strength were entirely different from those of a Spirit Immortal.

Heavenly Immortals already possessed enough strength to establish immortal sects and build their own factions in the Immortal Realm. Above them, Golden Immortals were generally supreme elders or patriarchs of the various immortal sects. They rarely appeared, usually remaining in secluded cultivation.

A Golden Immortal patriarch showing himself was an exceedingly rare event.

As for the Profound Immortal Realm, that was the legendary level of an Immortal Emperor.

They were all striving for transcendence and ascension.

Only a scant handful of such figures existed throughout the Immortal Realm. They essentially no longer participated in any of its conflicts or disputes, unless something like a supreme treasure relevant to their ascension was involved.

Thus, Jiang Chen reaching the late True Immortal stage less than ten years after ascending—

Though it attracted considerable attention—

Only drew the eyes of Heavenly Immortals at most.

Some Heavenly Immortals wanted to take him as a disciple, some wanted to capture him and force him to reveal his secrets, and some wanted to recruit him while they were at it. There were also descendants of Heavenly Immortals who envied Jiang Chen and stirred up trouble in secret, as