The First Immortal of Destiny

The Azure Heaven Cave, situated in a corner on the eastern slope of Five Dragon Mountain, is a Dungeon that descended from a cave paradise!

The entrance to the Dungeon is within a mountain cave, shrouded by a timeless great array.

Therefore, in Shen Mo’s sense, this place is hazy and seems to be enveloped in a thick mist.

This information was obtained from Lin Yuansong and Li Yun, disciples of the Azure Heaven Cave, when the Red Flame Sect hosted them.

At the same time, Shen Mo’s real body in the Green Cloud Cave, three hundred li away, secretly employed some ”little tricks” to ensure their words were true... These two cultivators, a man and a woman, both possessed the virtue of ancient gentlemen and did not deliberately hide anything from the others.

After an in-depth conversation with them, Shen Mo understood how their characters had been formed.

Over eight thousand years ago, the Azure Heaven Cave was unable to maintain the inner, hidden state of the cave paradise and fell into the mortal world, thereby forming a Dungeon.

Before this, the creatures living in this cave had thrived in the cave paradise for at least tens of thousands of years. Even after it became a Dungeon, few people left the Azure Heaven Cave, apart from those who went out to maintain the great array outside the cave. It could be considered an isolated utopia!

The current master of Azure Heaven Cave, Daoxuan Immortal Master, is also a Heavenly Monarch of the Divine Bridge Realm.

However, in the Immortal Realm, strong beings in the Divine Bridge Realm (the fifth Dao Realm, Class V) dare not call themselves Heavenly Monarchs. This is because the sky of this world is so high and distant that to do so would mean unknowingly embodying the phrase ”as parasitical as the heavens and as thick as the earth” in a very real sense!

Not to mention anything else, if anyone dared to claim to be a Heavenly Monarch, under the ethereal ”Heaven’s Will,” the Three Disasters and Six Tribulations would strike with exceptional ferocity...

It would be almost enough to annihilate any cultivator in the Divine Bridge Realm!

However, in other worlds like the Primordial Realm and the Cancering Realm, those in the Divine Bridge Realm can indeed be ”on par with the heavens,” and it is not an exaggeration to call themselves Heavenly Monarchs.

Learning this, Shen Mo’s real body in the Green Cloud Cave immediately issued a Sect Master’s decree, strictly prohibiting Red Flame Sect Disciples from adding the title ”Heavenly Monarch” to his given name or Dao title. After all, having entered the Immortal Realm, it was better not to commit such a taboo, lest he be targeted by ”The Heavens” when facing the Three Disasters and Six Tribulations in the future!

At the same time, Shen Mo and the others also learned the true name of the Immortal Realm: the Universal Realm.

However, the Universal Realm is indeed unique, as powerful beings from other worlds frequently ”ascend” to it.

After frequent exchanges, even the natives of this world rarely call it the ”Universal Realm.” Instead, like those who ascended, they call it the ”Immortal Realm”!

The causal mystery of this, even Shen Mo found astonishing...

The legendary ”Immortal Realm” actually came to be this way!

But if one thinks about it carefully, no matter from what perspective, the Universal Realm truly fits the designation of the Immortal Realm.

Daoxuan Immortal Master attained enlightenment about 1,500 years ago. In the nearly 20,000 years before him, the Azure Heaven Cave had also produced strong beings in the Divine Bridge Realm. However, these cultivators in the Divine Bridge Realm would leave the cave paradise not long after attaining enlightenment, rarely returning to the cave.

Yet, in the 6,500 years before the Azure Heaven Cave fell from grace and transformed into a Dungeon, not a single person had achieved this realm!

Furthermore, due to constant wars within the Azure Heaven Cave, many inheritances had been severed. Consequently, even the current cave master, Daoxuan Immortal Master, did not know which great power had originally established this cave paradise.

After Daoxuan Immortal Master attained enlightenment, he ended the wars within the Dungeon, established himself as the ancestor, clarified numerous inheritances, and re-established the Dao...

Unlike the sect system of the Red Flame Sect, the Azure Heaven Cave follows a master-disciple inheritance system.

The first-generation disciples are the Direct Disciples of Daoxuan Immortal Master; the second-generation disciples are those recruited by his disciples, and so on.

A new generation of disciples is recruited every hundred years, making all cultivators of the Azure Heaven Cave disciples and grand-disciples of Daoxuan Immortal Master!

To date, the Azure Heaven Cave’s Dao has been passed down for fifteen generations!

However, apart from Daoxuan Immortal Master himself, the highest surviving generation among his disciples and grand-disciples is merely the seventh, with only four remaining. They are all now old and frail, and could pass away from old age at any moment!

As for the sixth-generation disciples and those before them, most have already died of old age...

After all, even cultivating to the Golden Core Realm only grants a lifespan of a thousand years; there is no way they could have lived until now!

Lin Yuansong and Li Yun claimed to be eighth-generation disciples of the Azure Heaven Cave. Apart from Daoxuan Immortal Master and the four remaining seventh-generation disciples, they were of the highest living generation.

From this, it was evident that Daoxuan Immortal Master approached the Red Flame Sect with great goodwill and sincerity.

With the arrival of the Green Cloud Cave on Five Dragon Mountain, members of the Red Flame Sect gradually emerged from their Fairyland. They undertook various activities, such as constructing the Mountain Protection Array, slaying fierce demonic beasts, and collecting cultivation resources. Inevitably, Daoxuan Immortal Master, a powerful cultivator in the Divine Bridge Realm, detected these actions.

However, his learning of the surrounding changes only after three months indicated that Daoxuan himself rarely left the Azure Heaven Cave!

Even Ancestor Daoxuan was like this, let alone his disciples and grand-disciples. Almost all of them spent their entire lives within the Azure Heaven Cave, which contributed to Lin Yuansong and Li Yun’s relatively ”antique and simple” temperament.

”Replying to Qingyun Immortal Master, Five Dragon Mountain is located in a remote and desolate part of the Immortal Realm, with scarce traces of human activity!”

”On the contrary, demons are numerous. On the southern slope of this mountain alone, several demon kingdoms have been established. We rarely leave the Azure Heaven Cave—not because we are unwilling, but because we cannot.”

”Furthermore, according to an Immortal Master who once returned to the Azure Heaven Cave, it is not just Five Dragon Mountain; the surrounding great mountains are also dominated by demons, and the Human Race struggles to survive...”

”Therefore, Ancestor Daoxuan strictly ordered us not to venture out easily unless absolutely necessary.”

”It wasn’t until recently that our Ancestor noticed signs of you fellow Daoists traveling outside and concluded that your sect’s cave paradise, like the Azure Heaven Cave, has also fallen into the mortal world.”

”Considering that we all originate from the Human Race, our Ancestor dispatched the two of us to pay a visit. He also invited your cave master to meet with our Ancestor. This is to inform you in detail about the situation on Five Dragon Mountain and help you fellow Daoists adapt to the Outer Realm as soon as possible. Furthermore, our Ancestor also intends for the Azure Heaven Cave and the Green Cloud Cave to support each other and work together...”

As Lin Yuansong, his face weathered and his hair and beard streaked with white, spoke, he presented a beautifully crafted invitation to Shen Mo.

Shen Mo reached out and took the invitation. It bore a Divine Bridge Realm aura, conveying a kindly intention. Just as Lin Yuansong had said, the main purpose was to invite the person in charge to visit the Azure Heaven Cave.

Five Dragon Mountain, considered a remote place in the Immortal Realm. This is truly surprising!

Shen Mo handed the invitation to Yuan Heming. After Yuan Heming finished reading it, he passed it on for the others to peruse.

Daoxuan Immortal Master seems to misunderstand our origins, thinking that the Green Cloud Cave, like the Azure Heaven Cave, is a Dungeon that has fallen from a cave paradise. However, there’s no rush to clarify this matter before meeting Daoxuan himself.

After the Green Cloud Cave descended upon Five Dragon Mountain, it remained enveloped by Shen Mo’s magic and skill. Cultivators with a lower cultivation level than his would only perceive a shroud of mist when they probed with their five senses.

It’s not surprising that Daoxuan Immortal Master has this misunderstanding!