Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Seeing Li Ji'an from afar, Ning Sujin's gloomy face darkened even further.

"Wu Yi!" She spat out the two words coldly, not even looking at him directly.

Li Ji'an sighed inwardly.

Was it really necessary?

It had been a month, and she still hadn't calmed down?

Women under heaven... are all the same.

He wondered if it was because Ning Yutan had gone to the cultivation world with the Immortal Master, leaving her without a competitor, and thus she had lost interest in him, or if she thought she no longer had a rival and didn't cherish him anymore?

Or perhaps it was because of that awkward incident in the pavilion that she no longer treated him like an outsider.

In the past two years, Ning Sujin had become much more casual with Li Ji'an, and many details that she would have been reserved about before were now undisguised.

A month ago, Duke Dingguo, Ning Haichan, had invited Li Ji'an to the Duke's mansion. Ning Sujin had clearly instructed him beforehand that if the Duke wanted to match them up again, he must be firm in his refusal, as she was determined to go to the Immortal Realm in this lifetime.

Li Ji'an nodded in agreement.

During the banquet, Ning Yutan's birth mother expressed her intention to match him with Ning Sujin. Li Ji'an, as instructed, resolutely refused in public.

However, because of this matter, Ning Sujin had not given him a kind look for a month.

When asked, she would say, "How could I be angry about this? That's what I wanted anyway. It's just that your refusal wasn't firm enough at the time."

Li Ji'an's mind was currently on his senior brother, and he had no intention of arguing with her.

"Thank you, Sister Jin, but I'm preparing to return to the Zixiao Temple. Will it still not change the outcome?"

"You're going to Qingzhou? You're usually so cautious, unwilling to step out of the Immortal Palace even half a step..." Hearing this, Ning Sujin, who was originally a little angry, suddenly changed her face, quite worried.

Two years ago, the Immortal Master reprimanded the Emperor. In order to not disappoint the Immortal Master for the next selection of Immortal Sprouts, the Emperor went almost mad, exhausting all means.

While doubling the resource supply to official martial academies across the country, he also increased the convenience granted to martial arts families, naturally at the expense of the common people.

This led to widespread resentment and complaints.

In many places, rebel armies had already emerged.

In addition, the relationship between the Emperor and Prince Yun was increasingly tense, and the world was becoming unstable.

However, after staring at Li Ji'an for a moment, Ning Sujin breathed a sigh of relief: "This trip is worry-free!"

"Thank you!" Li Ji'an cupped his hands, without any explanation or paying attention to her teasing, and turned to leave.

"..." Looking at Li Ji'an's unusually unrestrained back, Ning Sujin frowned slightly.

"What happened?"

Although she sensed that his trip would be worry-free, she was still subconsciously a little uneasy.

"Wait! I said it's worry-free if you travel with me, otherwise..." Although her greatest obsession was to successfully refine her organs in the Immortal Canon eight years later, and she hadn't wasted a single moment in these two years, she still decided to go to Qingzhou with Li Ji'an at this moment.

Li Ji'an stopped, turned back to look at her, smiled slightly, and nodded slowly.

That noon, Li Ji'an and Ning Sujin reported to the Immortal Palace, each mounted a precious horse, and headed towards Shangyi County.

The Duke Dingguo had bestowed the Ebony Light Steed, possessing the bloodline of a precious beast, capable of traveling eight hundred miles a day and eight hundred miles at night. Previously, the journey from Chong'an Prefecture to the Imperial City took the caravan two months, but now it only took five days.

"Sister Jin, let's rest here for the night." Seeing the precious horse under him foaming at the mouth and looking exhausted, Li Ji'an decided to rest in Chong'an Prefecture.

Ning Sujin, who had already stepped into Marrow Washing, had a strong blood energy, and coupled with her early involvement in external martial arts, her blood energy was ignited to perfection, so she was not afraid of the wind and frost along the way. However, now that she had returned to her old home, she also wanted to stay for a while and readily agreed.

"The dog Emperor is fawning over the Immortal Master, disregarding the people of the world in order to please the Immortal Master. He is unworthy of being a ruler!" Finally no longer rushing to travel, Ning Sujin vented her indignation about what she had seen and heard along the way.

Along the way, there were refugees everywhere and thousands of miles of barren land. They had seen too many tragic events.

Even at the gate of Chong'an Prefecture City, there were groups of refugees begging for alms.

Li Ji'an sighed slightly: "We can't completely blame him. In such a system of autocratic monarchy, anyone in that position would be the same. If this pattern doesn't change, the people can only pin their hopes on the descent of an enlightened monarch generation after generation."

This casual, ahead-of-its-time sigh almost crashed Ning Sujin.

The Immortal Blessed Dynasty has a very short history. Before that, it was just a division of vassals. Before that, it was tribal conflicts. Before that, it was survival in the wilderness.

Initially, in the wilderness, facing the power of nature and wild beasts, they could only huddle together for warmth.

After gathering together, the team needed strong individuals to stand in front and protect everyone in times of crisis and accident, so the team used mating rights and distribution rights to find strong individuals, and leaders were born.

As the team grew larger and larger, it became a tribe.

Tribal conflicts intensified. In addition to rights, tribal leaders were increasingly given the obligation and entrustment of protectors. Everyone was also willing to push out a leader to protect everyone and bear the greatest risks.

However, when tribes merged, and vassals rose up, leaders who gradually mastered the power of the group brought by power no longer rushed to the front to protect tribal members, but realized that they could completely use these forces to suppress tribal members and protect their own status and privileges, no longer needing to compete with others.

Until after the great unification, when there was no external crisis within a certain range, the original leaders fully enjoyed the status and privileges brought by power and allowed power to continue in a small range.

At this time, they only care about one thing: maintaining this power and continuing it.

Without major external crises and major opportunities, this pattern will only have two things for thousands of years: rebellion and suppression of rebellion!

However, because of the Immortal Master's arrival in the world, the Zhao clan had new opportunities and new crises, so they would only measure the material resources of the world to win the Immortal Master's favor.

In Li Ji'an's view, this was not too bad.

At least it was just suffering.

Otherwise, once the Emperor failed to please the Immortal Master, and the Immortal Master prepared to attack him, that would be the most tragic time for the people of the world.

At that time, he would definitely incite the people of the world to resist the Immortal Master in order to save his own life and status.

The result would naturally be rivers of blood and mountains of corpses.

Having lived four lives and seen too much, he had reconciled with himself. Li Ji'an maintained an attitude of not praising but accepting, adapting, and striving to transcend.

"Anyone who becomes emperor would be the same?"

Li Ji'an smiled awkwardly: "Why don't you try it?"

"Are you crazy?" Ning Sujin widened her eyes again. Such shocking words made her increasingly unable to see through Li Ji'an.

Li Ji'an didn't answer, and rode his horse through the long line of people entering the city.

In the Immortal Blessed Dynasty, the people were suffering, truly suffering.

Those who had the opportunity to become Immortal Sprouts or cultivate Immortal Sprouts really had privileges.

"Pa ~ You lowly commoners, don't you want to live? Why don't you make way for the Immortal Sprout?"

"Young master, please..."

Sitting high on his horse, he flashed the identity plate of a backup Immortal Sprout, and the guard at the gate hurriedly greeted him obsequiously.

Amidst the envious gazes of the suffering people at the bottom, Li Ji'an and Ning Sujin slowly drove their horses into the city gate.

"You... you... are you Chang'an?" Just as he was about to pass through the city gate, a guard stepped forward timidly to inquire.

"Uncle Ma." Recognizing the man under the horse as a deputy of Xiao Wu, Li Ji'an replied with a smile.

"Oh, it's really you. Quick, go save your Uncle Xiao, he's about to die." Old Ma was overjoyed and said quickly.

Li Ji'an frowned: "What happened to Uncle Xiao?"

Old Ma looked around, tiptoed, and whispered: "The higher-ups said he colluded with rebels and is going to be beheaded as a warning to others!"

"The truth?"

"The truth... the truth... alas, a beautiful woman brings disaster!" Old Ma dared not say more.

"Aunt..." Li Ji'an breathed a sigh of relief, guessing the reason.

Weak but precocious, poor but with a beautiful wife, powerless but wealthy... the three major... unsolvable original sins of feudal society!