136: Chapter 136 Zombies? — The Five Immortals' Discourse

PS: It is too hot today. The highest temperature here is 35°C. There is no air conditioning at work, and I cannot even wear shorts. It is really hot to death; I do not even want to update, it is so annoying.

Uncle Nine stood frozen, eyes tightly shut, two trails of crimson blood slowly streaming down from his eyelids.

His already pale complexion was now white as paper, and even his lips had lost all color.

His body swayed twice, his knees went weak, and he looked as if he was about to collapse onto the floor.

Lin Zhe took a step forward, reached out to steadily support his arm, and held him up.

With his other hand raised, pure Ripple Energy drilled into his brow.

At first, the blood flowed fiercely, dripping down his cheeks onto his collar, spreading into a small dark stain.

After about half a minute, the blood flow slowly eased, eventually stopping completely, leaving a thin, light-brown scab around his eyes.

Lin Zhe helped him walk to a wooden chair nearby to sit down. He placed his fingertips on Uncle Nine's wrist pulse for a moment, confirmed that it was just a shock to his Divine Soul and not a fundamental injury, and then withdrew his hand.

After waiting for a while longer, Uncle Nine's eyelids twitched and slowly opened.

His gaze was vacant, as if he had not yet pulled himself out of the shock from just moments ago. He sat dazed for a long time before rasping out:

"Fellow Daoist's methods are truly unfathomable."

"How do you feel?" Lin Zhe withdrew his hand and stood to the side, asking.

"No major harm." Uncle Nine raised a hand to wipe the blood scabs around his eyes, seemingly unaware of them, just staring blankly ahead.

His tone still carried a lingering trance, "I have truly gained some insight today. I never expected that someone capable of reaching the heavens truly existed."

Lin Zhe raised an eyebrow: "Oh? How so?"

Uncle Nine was still lost in his own thoughts, muttering to himself, his voice as soft as a dream:

"Today, I have finally seen the legendary Heavenly Immortal who has merged with the Dao... The ancients did not deceive me. So, this is what the state of a Heavenly Immortal looks like."

Lin Zhe was confused.

He had only activated the connection between that zombie and Subspace; how did it become the state of a Heavenly Immortal?

"Why does Uncle Nine say that?" He pulled a stool from the side, sat down, and asked.

This seemed to be a switch; Uncle Nine's pupils slowly focused, and he finally snapped out of it.

He tremblingly reached for the teacup on the table, took a sip of cold tea to calm his nerves, coughed twice, and then recovered some composure, his face becoming more solemn.

"Fellow Daoist, are you aware that in ancient times, the Dao was manifest in the human world, Spiritual Qi was abundant, and Divine Beings appeared in generations?"

Uncle Nine set down the cup, his tone deepening, "Later, the Dao gradually faded, Spiritual Qi withered, and the traces of ancient True Immortals vanished completely. Only the lineage of the Queen Mother of the West passed down the method of External Alchemy, refining the elixir of immortality to seek eternal life. Later, the Queen Mother of the West disappeared without a trace, and the External Alchemy path declined. Only then did virtuous people create various paths like Internal Alchemy and the Yuanling Path, giving us, the Cultivators of the mortal world, a true path of cultivation."

He paused and looked at Lin Zhe: "Does Fellow Daoist know how many ranks of Immortals there are?"

Lin Zhe was slightly stunned, then said: "Five ranks?"

"Correct." Uncle Nine nodded, his tone filled with a trace of reverence.

"In the past, the two ancestors Zhong and Lü broke through the Dao and defined five ranks of Immortals: Ghost Immortal, Human Immortal, Earth Immortal, Divine Immortal, and Heavenly Immortal. These five ranks of Immortal stages are the ultimate goals of all practitioners from ancient times to the present."

Lin Zhe did not interrupt, listening quietly.

"Let's start with the lowest rank, the Ghost Immortal." Uncle Nine held up a finger.

"A Ghost Immortal is usually a Cultivator whose Physical Body has been destroyed, leaving only the Yin Spirit and yuan spirit in existence. The Yin Spirit remains clear, but without a Physical Body to rely on, they cannot attain eternal life, nor can they easily enter Reincarnation. If they have the support of Sect elders who bring the Yin Spirit into the Sect's ancestral domain and use the ancestral Immortal power to nurture it, they can survive for a long time. This is a Ghost Immortal. Ordinary Cultivators who reach the stage of Soul Emergence, if their Physical Body dies, can at most reach this point."

"Above that is the Human Immortal." Uncle Nine's tone paused.

"A Human Immortal cultivates both nature and life, focusing entirely on oneself. They do not rely on external Dao domains, relying only on their own Dantian, Qi, blood, Divine Soul, and Internal Alchemy to cultivate. The Internal Alchemy path primarily cultivates the Human Immortal fruit. Those who achieve the Human Immortal stage have Divine Abilities, are immune to all diseases, and have a Lifespan of five hundred to eight hundred years. They can travel the world freely without being bound by the laws of heaven and earth. However, the Internal Alchemy path is difficult to cultivate; nowadays, very few people in the world practice Internal Alchemy, and most have turned to the Yuanling Path."

Lin Zhe nodded thoughtfully.

He understood clearly that the "Dao" Uncle Nine spoke of was essentially Subspace.

In ancient times, Subspace collided and overlapped with the material world, and the energy of Subspace, which is Spiritual Qi, flooded into the material world in large quantities.

That was why there were so-called "Divine Beings," and it was no surprise they could achieve 'speaking the law.'

After all, Subspace is inherently a subjective world; if the will is strong enough, it can distort reality.

Later, the two worlds separated, and Spiritual Qi withered. Cultivators could not directly absorb energy from heaven and earth, so they had to think of other ways.

Those domains were, simply put, small Subspace anchors created by Cultivators themselves.

They connected to the larger Subspace, extracting energy to maintain their Lifespan and power.

"Further up is the Earth Immortal." Uncle Nine's tone grew heavier.

"This is also the highest Realm that Cultivators in the world can reach today. Yuanling Path Cultivators first temper their Qi and blood, visualize to establish their Foundation, and condense the yuan spirit in the main aperture. The yuan spirit absorbs Spiritual Qi and transforms it into magical power. Refining this to the extreme results in the Yin Spirit, then removing the Yin dregs to condense into a Yang Spirit. Once the Yang Spirit is formed, it can leave the body. Then, using the Physical Body as a Foundation, they refine a small domain, connecting it to the Dao. The Cultivator's own Yang Spirit resides within this domain; this is an Earth Immortal."

"From ancient times to the present, the vast majority of those who ascended to become Immortals in legends were Earth Immortals."

Uncle Nine sighed, "It's just that Earth Immortals must maintain the connection between their domain and the Dao to preserve their long Lifespan. They cannot easily leave their domains for too long, nor can they reveal their traces in the mortal world at will."

Lin Zhe understood.

In that case, the so-called Heavenly Court and Underworld were probably large joint entities formed by countless Earth Immortal domains connected together.

The fact that Spiritual Qi still lingers on the Divine Land to this day is not something generated by heaven and earth.

It is the energy leaking from these large and small domains, drifting into the mortal world.

Uncle Nine continued.

"The method of the Divine Immortal was also once very popular. After a Cultivator becomes a Ghost Immortal, they not only borrow the ancestral Immortal power to cultivate but also establish temples in the mortal world to collect incense and Power Of Will. By tempering the Divine Soul through the faith of the masses, they can cultivate from a Ghost Immortal to a Divine Immortal. However, success also comes from incense, and failure comes from incense. Once they receive incense, they must correspond to the divine office and territory given by the people, trapped in one place, held hostage by the Power Of Will, without any freedom. It cannot be considered true transcendence."

"As for the top-tier Heavenly Immortal..." Uncle Nine shook his head, his tone full of longing and melancholy.

"A Heavenly Immortal is one of those Divine Beings from ancient times who merged with the Dao. Legend has it that Heavenly Immortals are not bound by heaven and earth. They do not borrow external objects to rely on; they themselves are a Dao. They can break through the void and ascend, wandering freely in the Great Void. However, from ancient times to the present, very few have truly achieved the Heavenly Immortal stage. They merged with the Dao and never showed divine traces in the mortal world. Later, as the Dao receded, it became even harder for anyone to achieve it. Nowadays, it has almost become a lie in legends."

Having said this, he looked up at Lin Zhe, his eyes filled with undisguised shock:

"Just now, I saw Fellow Daoist activate that zombie, able to connect with the Dao without relying on a domain. It far surpasses any Earth Immortal I have heard of. Apart from the legendary Heavenly Immortal, I really cannot think of any other Realm that could have such power."

Lin Zhe did not respond, but he knew in his heart.

In the end, this world's cultivation system is essentially exploring how to utilize the energy of Subspace.

He thought for a moment and asked: "So, is the mainstream cultivation in the world today all the Yuanling Path? Does no one practice Internal Alchemy anymore?"

"The Internal Alchemy path has been in decline for a long time." Uncle Nine sighed.

"This humble Daoist knows very little about the Internal Alchemy path, only that it can cultivate into a Human Immortal, or even touch the threshold of a Heavenly Immortal, but no one has ever succeeded."

After saying this, the hall fell silent.

Uncle Nine held his teacup, taking sip after sip, his eyes occasionally glancing at Lin Zhe, his lips moving several times, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated, his face still showing a bit of embarrassment.

Lin Zhe looked at him for a moment, having already guessed eight or nine out of ten, and spoke directly:

"Uncle Nine, if you have something to say, feel free to speak directly."

The cup in Uncle Nine's hand paused, his old face rare in flushing. He hesitated for a long time before standing up, cupping his hands towards Lin Zhe, his tone solemn:

"Fellow Daoist, please do not take offense. This humble Daoist sees that Fellow Daoist's methods must have already reached the Human Immortal Realm. Even a mindless zombie can be enlightened by Fellow Daoist to such an extent. The Cultivation Technique created by Fellow Daoist must be a top-tier, heaven-reaching orthodox method."

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of pleading:

"This humble Daoist is thick-skinned and would like to ask Fellow Daoist to pass down the essential introductory principles of this method. Even if it is just a few words, I would be endlessly grateful."

Lin Zhe looked at his solemn appearance and did not hesitate much.

"A small matter." Lin Zhe stood up, walked to the table, and picked up the paper and pen on it.

"My Cultivation Technique is called the Sun and Moon Synchronization Method; it is something I created by merging several Cultivation Techniques. I will write down the Complete Manual, not only including the introductory Foundation Establishment but also the subsequent Realm deductions. You can study it yourself."

Uncle Nine's eyes lit up instantly, his face full of disbelief and joy. He quickly cupped his hands again: "Fellow Daoist's great kindness, this humble Daoist will never forget it!"