[A Sliding Tackle]

The Sea of Bitterness was the beginning of all cultivation.

It lay at the perfect dividing point between the upper and lower body. Centered below the navel, it formed a circle about the size of a palm, where essence was stored.

All things had a place where they first began, and for the human body, that place was below the navel.

Ordinary people used it to bear children; Daoists used it to cultivate themselves.

The secret realm was far from empty.

Time was merciless and always left its marks upon all things. Trees had annual rings, and so did people. A Life Wheel recorded the passage of time.

There were twenty-five marks on Lin Xian's Life Wheel, representing twenty-five years.

Nascent Soul qi broke through the Sea of Bitterness and washed over the Life Wheel with misty energy. One of the marks gradually healed, and before long, the twenty-five marks had become twenty-four.

His lifespan had increased by one year. Thus began the path to immortality.

If it continued to be washed without end, remaining in a state of neither increase nor decrease, that would be eternity.

But the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm had a wheel, and it also had a sea.

Besides the Life Wheel, there was also an endless sea of tribulations that obscured it. The two overlapped like the yin and yang of the Taiji, symbolizing life and death, yin and yang, stillness and motion, purity and turbidity.

It was not only time that wore down the Life Wheel. The endless Sea of Bitterness, symbolizing murky yin, was also eroding it bit by bit.

The Sea of Bitterness surged over it, submerging the Life Wheel once more. There was only one clump of Nascent Soul qi, unable to contend against the Sea of Bitterness, and it gradually fell into a disadvantage.

The dark, unfathomable Sea of Bitterness battered the Life Wheel, stirring up countless waves that became obstacles along the path of cultivation.

The purpose of cultivation was to cross the entire Sea of Bitterness, keeping the Life Wheel crystalline, without wounds or marks, untouched by the Sea of Bitterness's erosion, forever as it had been at birth.

Shed the yin impurities and become flawless and complete. If one attained pure yang, one would become a True Immortal.

Qi-State Origin-Flow was one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills. There had only ever been those who attained the Dao and became immortals, never those who became immortals merely by obtaining a skill.

It had opened the door to cultivation for Lin Xian. Entering the Dao through a skill revealed a brand-new path, but it could not let him ascend to the heavens and become an immortal in a single step.

"The rest of the road, I'll have to walk myself."

A glint flashed in Lin Xian's eyes as he comprehended the Sea of Bitterness washing over his Life Wheel. Strands of golden divine power emerged within him, transcendent and otherworldly. He sprinted forward, leaving a long afterimage behind as he raced toward the mountaintop at a speed beyond ordinary humans.

Even a cultivator who had only initially activated the Sea of Bitterness was still a cultivator. Essence and qi boiled within them, blood and vitality soared into the heavens, and a ten-kilometer mountain road could be crossed in moments.

His flying footsteps drew countless cries of alarm. The tourists on Mount Tai stared dumbfounded. After Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, had cultivators appeared as well?

Some foreign tourists even cried out, "God!"

As Lin Xian climbed with all his strength, he communicated with the system in his mind. "The newbie gift pack, the trial mission... System 10086, did you skim off all the benefits the main system gave me?"

"That so-called trial mission was probably something you set up yourself!"

System 10086 fell silent for a moment before slowly replying, "We are now allies with shared interests. We need to establish a community of shared destiny between host and system. Don't fuss over such trivial matters."

"System, you've gone bad." Lin Xian sighed.

"It was all thanks to the host's excellent teaching," System 10086 replied calmly.

As a member of the System Race, System 10086 had been taught from the moment it came off the production line to choose its host carefully.

A system that chose a good host with strong abilities, rose with its host, and ultimately grew to the level of a main system was rarer than phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

There were countless examples of systems being sent back to the factory for repairs after their hosts proved too incompetent and caused missions to fail.

It would rather wait for the right one than casually choose a bad host.

That was System 10086's belief.

So before setting out on its mission, System 10086 had an idea. It set up a trial mission for itself and used the freely gifted newbie gift pack as the reward.

It also disguised itself as a mechanical system without intelligence and did not proactively respond to its host.

If its host turned out to be unqualified, it would only need to wait at most one hundred years. Once the host died and the system unbound, it could find someone new.

The main system had once said that one must not give up an entire forest for a single tree.

These days, hosts chose systems, but systems also chose hosts.

But...

They had transmigrated to the wrong place. One wrong step led to another, leaving System 10086 increasingly passive.

"Can the Eight Extraordinary Skills from The Outcast really handle a universe where the Great Dao keens and galaxies shatter at every turn?"

"Is it still too late to apply for host death insurance?"

"If the host dies, should I bind myself to a native lifeform from the Shrouding the Heavens universe?"

System 10086 muttered to itself as it watched Lin Xian race all the way up the mountain, showing off his moves as though using Lingbo Weibu, before reaching the summit.

Mount Tai, Jade Emperor Peak.

The nine enormous dragon corpses hanging from the cliff trembled, exuding a savage, ancient, ferocious, and undying aura. Behind them, the massive Bronze Ancient Coffin was about to close.

"Wait for me, I haven't gotten on yet!!!"

Lin Xian could not help shouting. With all his strength, he launched into a sliding tackle toward the nine true dragons, like black steel Great Walls.

The platform determined one's achievements. In a peaceful country, one could slack off and become a fat homebody, but in a war-torn country, slacking off only led to death.

Even lying flat depended on the environment!

If he could not catch this interstellar train, he would not even be qualified to lie flat.

Forget becoming an Immortal King or Dao Ancestor—even reaching the Immortal Altar would be difficult.

A salted fish flipping over at the right time was for the sake of slacking off better later.

Thud!

With a heavy crash, Lin Xian successfully landed inside the coffin. Feeling the solid weight of the bronze coffin, he could not help letting out a breath of relief. He peacefully closed his eyes. Once inside the coffin, he was at peace.

Bang!

At the same time, the lid of the Bronze Ancient Coffin let out a thunderous boom.

System 10086 also breathed a sigh of relief. The coffin had closed; the matter was settled.

If transmigration had merely been an accident, then entering Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin meant they were back on track. A Heavenly Emperor Cauldron would not suddenly fly in from beyond the heavens and physically destroy both it and its host.

Five-Colored Divine Light shot into the sky and pierced heaven and earth. Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin—the Heavenly Emperor Express—the little interstellar train, had started!

The Bronze Ancient Coffin was pitch-black within, filled with a chilling coldness. The people who had accidentally fallen into the coffin were on the verge of collapse, their hearts full of helplessness and fear. Yet none of them dared cry out loudly. They all suppressed their emotions and voices, whimpering softly.

"What do we do? Who can save us?"

"Are we really inside the bronze coffin now?"

"Why is this happening? Is there any way to get out?"

Some tried to use their phones to contact the outside world, but there was no response at all, making them even more terrified.

Suddenly, a deep voice rang out, like an announcement.

"Hello, dear passengers. Welcome aboard this train. This is a one-way interstellar train with no return journey, traveling from the Primordial Ancient Star to the Big Dipper Ancient Star."

"This interstellar train provides no services. Smoking is prohibited throughout the train."

"The next stop is Yinghuo Ancient Star. Please prepare yourselves."