164: Fairy Helps the Poor

In the Void Realm's turbulent currents, the Laws of Space-Time were like billions of fine steel wires, frantically slicing through the Physical Bodies of intruders.

Before his departure, Lin Chen took one last look at the mountains and rivers he had conquered. The myriad lights of the Great Qian Imperial Capital had not yet extinguished, and in the imperial bedchamber, Empress's still-warm body might still be longing for last night's intimacy. He had left the women of his harem with enough resources and promises to guard the empire—once he had built a golden platform in the Nine Heavens Immortal Realm, he would ensure that all the beauty of his garden would Ascend.

“Break!”

Lin Chen's eyes were wide open, and the dark golden Dragon Qi around his body erupted with dazzling light. He did not choose the 'Ascension Immortal Platform' which was monitored by the Immortal Realm and required layers of reporting. Instead, relying on the star map coordinates plundered from Xiao Tiance's Sea of Consciousness, he used his Human Emperor status to forcefully tear open a gaping maw in the Void Realm's barrier.

This method of 'smuggling' was extremely perilous, with the risk of getting lost in the endless planar rifts at any moment. But only by doing so could he avoid the 'Corpse Guardians' who waited at the Ascension Platform in the Immortal Realm, specifically to hunt down Prodigies from the Lower Realm.

“Thump—!”

With a dull thud, Lin Chen's figure heavily fell onto the hard ground.

The scene before him was not the imagined ethereal palaces and jade towers filled with Immortal Qi, but a suffocatingly dim abyss mine. Three pale green moons hung in the sky, and the air was filled with dry dust and an extremely violent pressure, enough to instantly crush a mortal body.

“This is the Immortal Realm?”

Lin Chen frowned, attempting to circulate the spiritual energy within his body. However, he was horrified to discover that the Laws of the Immortal Realm were a hundred times more formidable than those of the Lower Realm. His spiritual energy, which had once surged like a mighty river, now felt as if it had been filled with tons of mercury, not only sluggish and heavy but also firmly bound by two dark red shackles that had abruptly appeared on his ankles.

Those were the Immortal Binding Restraints, unique to the Immortal Realm, specifically for those who had just Ascended.

“Hurry up! You dead dog, if you dawdle any longer, this old hag will turn you into fertilizer for this mine today!”

A shrill scream came from not far away.

Lin Chen looked up to see hundreds of ragged, expressionless men and women, like livestock, climbing steep rock walls with heavy ore baskets on their backs. These people might have once been Saints and Imperial Lords who looked down on all others in the Lower Realm, but in this Black Wind Mining Area of the Immortal Realm, they were merely the cheapest 'black miners'.

A woman dressed in dark green attire with the characters 'Black Wind' embroidered on her chest was wielding a long whip, frantically lashing at the miners. Whip shadows overlapped, and each strike carried a chilling lightning Spell glow, leaving deep, bone-scorching marks on the miners' backs.

“Heh, look, another tender-skinned new arrival has fallen.”

The female overseer noticed Lin Chen, and a hint of greed flashed in her eyes. She was a Human Immortal at the lowest rung of the Great Immortal Realm, as lowly as an ant higher up, but in front of these 'smugglers' who had just arrived and had their spiritual energy sealed, she was a Devil King who controlled life and death.

She swayed her snake-like waist, dragging her long whip step by step towards Lin Chen. The whip tip scraped sparks on the ground, and the surrounding miners cast sympathetic or gloating glances.

“Newcomer? Judging by your looks, you must have been a favored pretty boy in the Lower Realm, eh?” The female overseer stopped in front of Lin Chen, coiled her long whip, and aimed it directly at Lin Chen's Storage Ring, her tone as cold as a venomous snake, “Don't you know the rules here? First, hand over all your valuables, then kneel and kowtow three times to this old hag. If you serve me well, I might even give you a slightly easier job.”

Lin Chen slowly stood up, dusting off his clothes. Although his Immortal Power was suppressed, his Physical Body, tempered millions of times by the Ancestral Dragon Bloodline, burst forth with a terrifying vitality like an abyss under the Immortal Realm's immense pressure.

“Rules?” Lin Chen sneered, his dark golden eyes staring directly at the female overseer, “My fist is the only rule in these myriad heavens and realms.”

“You're courting death!”

The female overseer was enraged. In the Great Qian Divine Dynasty, men were subservient to women, let alone in this Immortal Realm mining area where strength reigned supreme? She violently swung her long whip, and the lightning instantly surged, transforming into a ferocious lightning python, striking directly at Lin Chen's throat!

With this whip, she intended to kill, wanting this ignorant newcomer to taste the crushing power of the Laws.

However, the next second, the entire scene fell into dead silence.

Lin Chen did not dodge; he simply raised his right hand and violently clenched his five fingers in the air.

“Zzzzt—!”

That lightning whip, capable of splitting ordinary Dao Integration Stage experts into minced meat, was actually grabbed by his bare hand! Violent electric arcs danced in his palm, yet they couldn't even scratch a layer of his skin.

“How is this possible?! Your Physical Body...” The female overseer's pupils contracted sharply, and she shrieked.

“The Immortal Realm's lightning doesn't seem as tough as I imagined.”

Lin Chen pulled hard, and that terrifying monstrous strength instantly dragged the female overseer in front of him.

In her horrified eyes, Lin Chen's dark golden fist sliced through the air, bringing with it a deafening sonic boom, and slammed heavily into her face.

“Bang—!”

There were no dazzling Spells, only the most extreme violence.

With that punch, the female overseer's head was actually smashed into her chest like a rotten watermelon! Blood mixed with fragmented immortal bones splattered everywhere, and the still-standing corpse twitched violently twice before collapsing limply to the ground.

The surrounding miners collectively gasped, and their previously numb eyes revealed unprecedented terror and shock.

Killing a Human Immortal with bare hands? Is this man a monster?

Lin Chen bent down, expressionlessly searching the female overseer's corpse. Besides a few Low Grade Immortal Stones, he found an identity jade token engraved with 'Black Wind Team' and a bag of 'Grain Abstinence Pills' that could temporarily suppress the heavy pressure of the mining area.

Just as he was about to leave this killing ground, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a small figure huddled in a corner of the mine pit, covered in foul bloodstains.

It was a girl of about sixteen or seventeen, an age that should have been as beautiful as blooming flowers, but she was now wearing tattered burlap clothes, and her exposed skin was covered in whip marks and grime. However, even in such a wretched state, her delicate face, like a porcelain doll, and her eyes, as clear as stars even in the abyss, still exuded a heart-wrenching beauty.

She was trembling as she stared at Lin Chen, her eyes filled with both fear of the recent violence and a glimmer of hope, as if finding a lifeline in despair.

“Ding! Detected a top-grade investment target: Yun Xi! Physique detected: Innate Chaos Immortal Physique (damaged state)! host suggestion: This girl possesses top-tier Luck in the Immortal Realm and is currently in a period of decline. It is recommended for the host to 'aid the poor' and subdue her. The return rate is... infinite!”

Lin Chen stopped, looking down at the huddled little wretch.

He slowly reached out and lifted the girl's dust-covered chin.

“Do you want to live?” Lin Chen's voice was low, carrying an irresistible magical power.

The girl trembled, tears welling in her eyes, but she still nodded desperately: “Yes... As long as Your Excellency can save Yun Xi, Yun Xi is willing to do anything...”

Lin Chen looked at her chest, which rose and fell slightly due to fear, not yet fully developed but already showing initial curves, and a meaningful arc appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“In this Immortal Realm, nothing comes for free.”

He casually tossed the bag of Grain Abstinence Pills into the girl's arms, then suddenly pulled her up from the ground and hoisted her directly onto his shoulder.

“From today onwards, you are my 'private property'. This mining area will be our first backyard to be taken over.”

...The night deepened. In an abandoned stone house deep within the mine pit.

Lin Chen roughly threw Yun Xi onto the stone bed covered with dry grass. Although the heavy pressure was still present here, Lin Chen, who now possessed the Ancestral Dragon Bloodline, was gradually adapting to it.

“Come here, take off your clothes.”

Lin Chen sat by the stone table, absorbing the newly acquired Immortal Stones while giving the command indifferently.

Yun Xi's delicate body trembled violently, her clear eyes filled with panic, her small hands clutching her tattered clothes tightly: “Your Excellency... I... I haven't...”

“I'm not discussing with you.” Lin Chen stood up, his domineering aura instantly enveloping the entire stone house, “Your Immortal Physique is damaged, and your Meridians are blocked by the cold mine Qi. If you don't clear them soon, you won't live past tomorrow. I am a healer. To be cured, or to wait for death, you choose.”

Yun Xi bit her lip, tears finally streaming down. In this cruel Immortal Realm mining area, she had seen too many tragic fates of her kind. Although the man before her was domineering, his eyes exuded a powerful strength that made her feel immensely safe.

She lowered her head, her hands trembling as she unbuttoned the few remaining rags of her clothes, one by one.

As the tattered burlap slipped away, a delicate body, like fresh snow reflecting the moon, slowly bloomed in the dirty, cold stone house.

What an extreme, fragile beauty it was!

Due to long-term malnutrition, her body appeared exceptionally slender, with prominent collarbones, exuding a sickly pallor. But beneath that pallor, the Innate Chaos immortal Physique's instinct caused every inch of her skin to emit a faint, dreamy glow. Her curves, like a budding flower, trembled in the air, her tightly pressed legs shaking with shame, making her appear like a pure white water lily struggling in the mud.

“Ugh...”

When Lin Chen's burning, powerful palm suddenly pressed against her cold abdomen, Yun Xi let out a delicate cry like a startled fawn.

A vast and scorching Yang Dragon Qi, flowing from Lin Chen's palm, brutally surged into her body.

“Endure it. The process of Immortal Physique recovery is much more painful than being whipped.”

Lin Chen leaned down, his nose touching her sensitive neck, feeling her heart pound almost out of her chest.

Outside the window, the black wind roared, and wails filled the mine tunnels, while the spring warmth within the stone house, following the Awakening of the Chaos Immortal Physique, slowly ignited the entire abyss.

“Congratulations to the host! Successfully invested in and initially controlled the Immortal Realm Prodigy: Yun Xi! Chaos Immortal Physique Awakening progress: 1%! Rewards obtained: Immortal Realm basic Cultivation Technique, 'Black Heaven Creation Scripture'! Divine Power blessing obtained: Strength to Uproot Mountains and Rivers! Next objective: Consolidate the Black Wind Mining Area, establish the first 'Immortal Slave' armed force, and counterattack the Mine Lord's Mansion!”

Lin Chen looked at the girl crying and trembling in his arms, yet clinging tightly to his neck, his eyes filled with the conqueror's exhilaration.

“Immortal Realm, I have arrived.”