Gu Longyu had to restrain himself unless he wanted to kill the damn clerk. The open disdain almost made him lose control. Gu Longyu forced himself to calm down, and all this happened within a millisecond.

  Sporting a confused expression, Gu Longyu tried to reason. He even showed appropriate anger. “Immortal? Me? You must be mistaken. If I were an immortal, would I have to escape to another planet?”

  The clerk was having none of Gu Longyu’s nonsense. He sneered. “Don’t try to pull one over on me. In my senses, you are indeed a saint, but you can’t lie in front of this.”

  He raised and flaunted a Xiyi Talisman. “See this? This isn’t the usual talisman most people can get, and it is only handed out to members of the Temple of Death. It has a scanning feature to determine the cultivation of targets.”

  Once more, the clerk snorted. “So don’t try to pull a fast one on me. Pay the price or scram!”

  Gu Longyu considered whether or not he should just kill the clerk. He had not been so disrespected in ages, but reason ultimately won out. “Hmpf, who knows if that thing is defective or not.”

  The clerk’s face darkened. You can doubt his ability, but you can’t doubt the Xiyi Talisman. In his eyes, the Xiyi Talisman was no different from the Temple of Death to which he had pledged his allegiance. “Since you dare to doubt it, then don’t use the interplanetary teleportation array.”

  Gu Longyu wanted to leave more harsh words, but he felt a hint of death. He couldn’t help but stare at the clerk. Outwardly, the clerk showed only the cultivation base of a saint, but his keen senses detected his true realm: the Pathfinding Immortal Realm.

  Even then, a mere true immortal should not have been so confident in handling an immortal monarch like himself. And Gu Longyu wasn’t an ordinary immortal monarch. He could display the power of an immortal emperor as a two-step monarch. Since he felt a hint of death, didn’t that mean the clerk could contend against an immortal emperor?

  He left the Interplanetary Teleportation Array Outpost without another word. After hiding himself, Gu Longyu took out the Xiyi Talisman and stared at it with suspicion. Because of how pervasive the Xiyinet was, he had always treated it with caution. After accessing it the first few times, he only did so through a simple puppet, and he had never allowed his immortal sense to enter the Xiyi Talisman, not even using his qi. It was all manual input.

  If he had not guarded against the Xiyi Talisman, Gu Longyu would not have found it strange if the clerk could see through his cultivation base. It wouldn’t have been too illogical for the Xiyinet to record his qi signature and the talisman’s location, but the problem was that he hadn’t.

  Either it was as the clerk said—he used his Xiyi Talisman to scan Gu Longyu and determine his cultivation base—the Xiyi Talisman could automatically get his information just from the vicinity, or it was a combination of the above. If it were the second option, then it would be terrifying.

  Gu Longyu had purchased the most average talisman. He didn’t know how many Xiyi Talismans of such grade were on Planet Radiata, but estimating from what he had seen, it could easily be in the millions. Millions of talismans that even mortals were able to purchase could strip his concealment technique and see what he wanted to hide.

  That thought was terrifying. And that was only on one planet. Gu Longyu couldn’t imagine how many more such talismans existed in the whole Death Goddess Planetary Alliance.

  He glanced at the Xiyi Talisman in his hand. He strengthened his grip, and soon…

  CRACK!

  Gu Longyu threw away the fragments like trash. He couldn’t use the same Xiyi Talisman again. Soon, he returned to a mortal city and purchased a Xiyi Talisman. Once in hand, he used his puppet to create another account, and he succeeded, much to his relief.

  If it had directly signed on to his previous account, it would have meant that the Xiyi Talisman was as terrifying as he had imagined. The new account didn’t completely dissuade his suspicion, but it gave more credence to the clerk’s words that his Xiyi Talisman was special.

  He didn’t immediately return to test his luck. First, that clerk would likely use the Xiyi Talisman and recognize him again. It would be much safer to wait until the clerk was replaced. Besides, the new clerk would definitely check him, and he did not have one hundred million Xiyicoins. He had thought the six million Xiyicoins he collected would have been enough. Even if he converted all his wealth into Xiyicoins, it would only be a little over ten million Xiyicoins.

  If the Dragonbone Saber reached its peak potential, it could even reach the level of an emperor-level artifact, well over a billion Xiyicoins. Because time was too short, it was still only a true immortal-level artifact, but Gu Longyu would never sell it.

  That meant he had to continue exterminating bandits. He had already wiped out a good portion of them, and he doubted that even if he wiped out all the bandits, he could accrue a hundred million coins. That meant he had to shift his target to the orthodox forces or find resource points like spiritual veins.

  Of course, Gu Longyu also had another plan. He wanted to try flying through space to another planet. He was an immortal monarch with qi reserves far greater than the average monarch. Gu Longyu had some confidence. Of course, if he had an immortal boat, his chances of success would be even higher.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  High-quality immortal boats not only boasted powerful defenses, but also speeds far above the norm. Top-quality immortal boats even had an energy core to store qi that could run the artifact itself or restore the owner’s qi. Unfortunately, Gu Longyu did not possess such a treasure.

  Two decades later, Gu Longyu had wiped out almost all the bandits—at least the infamous ones. If the bandits were too weak, it would not be worth Gu Longyu’s effort. The number of bandits he plundered after the first few years could not compare to before then. It was one reason he chose to stop his actions.

  Gu Longyu’s actions raised overall public safety, but he was not pleased. He had only saved a little over thirty million Xiyicoins, not even half the required amount to use the interplanetary teleportation array.

  If he had accrued at least seventy million Xiyicoins, Gu Longyu would have chosen to become a bandit himself and rob one of the orthodox forces, but he hadn’t. So, he had to choose a different target.

  Gu Longyu left Planet Radiata. Compared to the dimensional boundary, the planet did not have any barriers stopping him, making it far easier. Once outside, Gu Longyu could feel an increased clarity of the laws. It was a bit different from what he remembered—another mystery he would have to uncover once he became powerful enough.

  Because of the increased clarity, many true immortals chose to leave the planet in order to comprehend the worldly laws. Although they still had access to the Xiyinet, they were much more remote, meaning that aid would take a long time to arrive—perfect for Gu Longyu’s actions.

  Space was not devoid of energy like the Vast Void, but it was incredibly sparse. Planets produced qi, but most of it never left the planet. Instead, most of the qi in space came from the stars. The closer one was to a star, the more abundant the qi became, but that didn’t mean it was viable to live near a star, or the sun of a solar system.

  The high heat of a star made the surrounding vicinity incredibly hostile, and even immortal monarchs would find it unbearable. Still, many immortals who majored in the Law of Fire, Law of Stars, and Law of Yang chose to live as close as possible to the sun.

  Gu Longyu did not target the immortals closest to the sun. Although it was still remote and aid would still take a while, the area around the sun had the densest population of immortals in the solar system outside of Planet Radiata.

  Soon, Gu Longyu found a target. These immortals weren’t exactly out in the open, but they weren’t hiding either. Most of them chose to land on an asteroid and enter secluded cultivation, and Gu Longyu’s target had placed an immortal mansion atop the asteroid.

  In terms of defense, immortal mansions usually boasted superiority compared to immortal boats. Because their location was static, they could use the stable environment to construct a defensive formation with the mansion itself at its core. It must have also been the reason the immortal chose a large asteroid. It would have been too difficult to create a powerful formation on a smaller asteroid.

  However, this was a nonissue for Gu Longyu. Immortal mansions were rare, and most of them could usually only sustain attacks from a true immortal. Some could also sustain attacks from immortal monarchs, but Gu Longyu’s attacks had already crossed the threshold of the immortal emperor level. Not to mention, he didn’t think that anyone from Planet Radiata would have such an immortal mansion.

  Gu Longyu was pleasantly surprised when he sensed that the immortal mansion had crossed the threshold of withstanding immortal monarch attacks. He had no intention of sneaking in. Compared to the effort of sneaking in, it was far more efficient to break in, kill the immortal, and leave.

  “Who dares attack me!?” a furious roar exploded from within the immortal mansion. Soon after, a woman who looked to be in her twilight years appeared above the mansion. She cast her gaze at her attacker. “Junior, if you leave now, I can pretend this never happened. Otherwise, bear the wrath of I, the Wraith Fairy of the Wraith Gang!”

  Gu Longyu only chuckled. Although she sounded menacing, she was clearly stating her title and the force behind her in order to intimidate him. Unfortunately, she was out of date. The Wraith Gang was just one of the many bandit groups he had wiped out.

  Perhaps if she had been a beautiful woman, he might have spared her, but he had no interest in old crones. Nor did he intend to waste any words. He clenched his saber and attacked. His earlier attack was nothing more than a probe to test the level of the immortal mansion. Since it was barely considered a monarch-level mansion, he didn’t want to damage it. If the Wraith Fairy had stayed inside the mansion, he would have had to damage it to kill her, destroying its value.

  When the Wraith Fairy saw the incoming saber slash, all the hairs on her body stood on end. She wanted to fly back into the safety of her abode, but just one glance at the saber intent caused her mind to explode. It was as if something had struck her head with a hammer. That, coupled with the attack’s extreme speed, made it impossible for her to dodge.

  The Wraith Fairy released a heart-wrenching shriek as the saber intent split her body in half at the waist. Contrary to her appearance, it was a soul-alluring cry, but Gu Longyu only felt disgusted.

  He watched coldly as his attack destroyed her from the inside out. Her soul didn’t even have a chance to escape. Gu Longyu attacked twice more, destroying her body and making sure she was dead. Only then did he land on the asteroid.

  His immortal qi of destruction and immortal sense covered the entire immortal mansion and invaded it. Without the Wraith Fairy present to guard it, he easily refined the immortal mansion and became its master.

  “Not bad,” Gu Longyu said. He used the Xiyi Talisman to appraise the immortal mansion, and it came to an astonishing three hundred and twenty million Xiyicoins. Just this one act was worth the effort, and he now had enough to use the interplanetary teleportation array.

  Still, Gu Longyu didn’t leave just yet. He wanted to hunt and gather as much wealth as possible before leaving. Besides, he wanted to test whether he could travel to other solar systems without using the teleportation array. A few years later, Gu Longyu’s wealth had increased substantially. Unfortunately, he did not have the good luck to encounter another immortal mansion or an immortal boat, which he craved.

  Gu Longyu chose to stop before the forces of Planet Radiata sensed anything amiss. With enough wealth accumulated, he flew toward the solar system with the brightest star. He had already researched ahead of time and learned that the Ninesong System was the closest solar system.

  Three decades later, Gu Longyu returned to Planet Radiata. He had given up. Despite flying straight at his maximum speed for over a decade, the sun of the Ninesong System remained the same. It wasn’t brighter or dimmer, meaning the distance he traveled was too insignificant. Plus, he had already spent a massive amount of qi, and it would be far easier and safer to just use the interplanetary teleportation array.

  After restoring his qi reserves, Gu Longyu appeared at the Interplanetary Teleportation Array Outpost. Although still disguised, he radiated the aura of an early immortal monarch. He stared at the new clerk. “Planet Heavensong.”

  https://discord.gg/WCTeWEH

  https://www.patreon.com/KaiserBlak

  topwebfiction.

  Volume 1 is now available on Amazon

  Volume 2 is now available on Amazon

  Volume 3 is now available on Amazon