The Daily Life of the Immortal King

"Why is it… a mosaic?" Old Tang asked confusedly.

"At first I also wondered whether something had gone wrong, but then I discovered that no matter what material I used, it would become mosaic tiles once it came into my hands. So now I suspect that this senior has cast some sort of spell," said General Yi.

"What kind of spell?"

"I don't know yet." General Yi shook his head. "At first, I thought it was just a smokescreen or a hallucination spell. At my current realm, as long as I open my Heavenly Eye, theoretically there should be no spell that can be hidden from me… unless, the spell used exceeds my level."

Old Tang gasped. "A spell beyond True Immortal level?"

"That's right." General Yi nodded. "Soul Formation cultivators can at most use grade five spells, Perfected Beings grade six, Itinerant Immortals grade seven and True Immortals can use grade eight spells… Of course, this old man has also heard that grade eight isn't the limit for True Immortals, and a small number of them can discharge grade nine spells beyond that. The spell this Senior Ling cast is very likely a grade nine spell."

Old Tang understood immediately. "If even General Yi is unable to determine the deception spell this senior is using, then it's very likely as you've said: he's probably a great expert who can use grade nine spells. But has General Yi ever thought that there might be another possibility?"

"I know what you want to say."

General Yi smiled and pinched his moustache. "You think this Senior Ling might be a Venerated Immortal, right?"

"Mm." Old Tang nodded. "To be honest, I did think so."

"But this old man feels that you're thinking too much. It's absolutely impossible." General Yi lowered his voice.

"Can General Yi tell me why?"

"It's true that there are indeed Venerated Immortals in this world since they did exist before… But our Huaxiu nation has been working together with dozens of major powers for so many years to search for them, and we have yet to find any clues.

"Even if our nation has historical records of Immortal Zhenyuan, who stepped into the Venerated Immortal realm, it's only a legend. Until now, there's no proof that anyone has ever seen with their own eyes a living senior with this realm in this world.

"We cultivate realms to live long lives. While the concept of the Dao path of immortality has been spoken of since a long time ago, the reality is that there's no substance to it; it's impossible. Even seniors at Venerated Immortal level would now just be bones in the ground… What's more, no one in our time will ever reach Venerated Immortal level at all."

"Why's that?" Old Tang was confused.

General Yi said meaningfully, "The rumor is that if you want to reach Venerated Immortal level, you have to go through the Samsara Spirit Tribulation. But it consumes a tremendous amount of spirit energy from heaven and earth to get through it. In this era, cultivation rates have sped up, but the spirit energy of heaven and earth is not as abundant as before; it will be exhausted sooner or later, maybe in several thousand years, or ten thousand years later…"

When he heard this, Old Tang understood this. This was the "Theory of the Degenerate <anno data-annotation-id="b01e0335-cab8-4669-9022-6f4e04eab960">Age</anno>" that had been put forward in the present.

A singer had specially written a song on this "Degenerate Age," and the memory of it was still fresh in Old Tang's mind.

The <anno data-annotation-id="c4730862-6319-4825-a796-45a658cb78f7">lyrics</anno> were:

When the world loses its ridges

When spirit energy no longer flows

When time stops and night and day become indistinguishable

When the Spirit Energy era ceases to be…

...

Furthermore, the most important was that this "Theory of the Degenerate Age" wasn't complete nonsense; it was already supported by many leading experts in the world.

The subject, which was a little heavy and sad, caused the two old men in Elegant Little Pavilion to fall silent for a moment.

Although they held different positions, both of them had experienced many historical moments themselves, and had witnessed countless sagas in the cultivation world; they were people who had seen Huaxiu nation built one step at a time, spanning the ages up to the present.

The end was not what they wanted to see…

After a few minutes, General Yi's tense face finally relaxed.

He sipped his tea, composed his thoughts, and couldn't help laughing. "Old Tang, this topic is too heavy. We shouldn't discuss it. Who knows what will happen in the future… Maybe something will change."

"What General Yi says is correct." Old Tang nodded.

"Mm… on the topic of Senior Ling, there's something this old man has yet to mention," General Yi said. "There is actually a very simple reason for why I don't think this Senior Ling is a Venerated Immortal… Old Tang, you should know that Venerated Immortals are supreme beings who have something called 'vision' in their hearts… This kind of seniors have great ken, and if they really did get through that era, they basically wouldn't join chat groups."

Old Tang: "…"

"Old Tang, can you imagine a Venerated Immortal senior chatting online at home and eating cheap snacks like latiao and crispy noodle snacks everyday?" asked General Yi.

Old Tang shook his head weakly. "Indeed I can't…"

"So there's no way this Ling Zhenren can be a Venerated Immortal." General Yi was actually a bit depressed as he grabbed his phone. "If he is a Venerated Immortal with this kind of mentality… this old man would have gone through the Samsara Spirit Tribulation a thousand years ago!"

Old Tang: "…"

"If there is an opportunity, this old man will definitely find this Ling Zhenren and personally challenge him to a duel."

Deep in thought, General Yi quickly waved his hand after that. "Let's stop talking about it… it's so frustrating."

Old Tang smiled. "How about we play chess?"

"No, no…"

General Yi tapped open a music app on his phone. "Come, let's listen to a song and calm down! This is a song that my foster son Nine Times Man sang himself some time ago; it expresses his dream of pursuing a career in show business!"

"Alright! I'm all ears!" Old Tang nodded earnestly.

General Yi pressed the play button, and after a couple of seconds, the prelude started to play…

Then, a voice directly pierced Old Tang's eardrums like a thunderclap: Chase dreams, chase dreams, chase dreams in show business ness ness ness ness ness… We are pure pure pure pure <anno data-annotation-id="fca66b01-7b63-4502-986b-953d48e0ef98">youngsters</anno>…

...

Old Tang was directly dumbstruck. "…"

General Yi: "How is it, Old Tang?"

Old Tang: "…"

General Yi: "Tell me the truth! Or I'll get angry!"

After calming down from his astonishment, Old Tang rubbed his temples. "Well… the prelude is very passionate, the song's not bad…"

General Yi laughed. "Ha ha ha! I knew that you and I have the same taste!"

Old Tang: "…"

General Yi: "The song is very popular now online! And even you, Old Tang, think it sounds good! But do you know what its score is on <anno data-annotation-id="c4b65b11-4d60-4ab8-8023-fd85154c1ccf">Douban</anno>?"

"…" Old Tang shook his head, a little scared.

General Yi held up two fingers. "Only 2.0!"

Old Tang: "…"

"This old man was angry at that time! If my foster son hadn't stopped me… This Douban would have long become bean <anno data-annotation-id="b60f2f29-7b75-4a4f-8b12-cc5763a748a6">paste</anno>!"

General Yi sighed deeply. "Nowadays in society… when their own songs aren't as popular, they'll criticise other people's songs. When professional gamers can't win, they'll say the other party used cheats… This old man is very disappointed…"

Old Tang: "…"

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="b01e0335-cab8-4669-9022-6f4e04eab960">This is the third age of the Three Ages of Buddhism following Buddha's decline, in which it is believed that people will be unable to gain enlightenment.</li><li data-annotation-id="c4730862-6319-4825-a796-45a658cb78f7">Adapted from the song "Dang" by Power Station Season.</li><li data-annotation-id="fca66b01-7b63-4502-986b-953d48e0ef98">There is a movie called "Pure Hearts: Into Chinese Showbiz" and its score on the Douban review site is only 2.2.</li><li data-annotation-id="c4b65b11-4d60-4ab8-8023-fd85154c1ccf">It's worth noting that the 'dou' used here is 逗, which is slang for silly, instead of 豆 in the actual website's name.</li><li data-annotation-id="b60f2f29-7b75-4a4f-8b12-cc5763a748a6">The actual name for the Douban website, 豆瓣, literally translates to 'bean halves.'</li></ol></annotations>",