Immortality Starts With Investment

”Bad news! The Heavenly Emperor’s heir actually opened his cave heaven? Those two charged right in!”

The onlookers had just marveled at Ye Chen’s ferocity. He wielded that massive staff, pressing three half-saints so hard they could scarcely lift their heads. Victory seemed plausible. But in a flash, the tide turned, enemies had breached his cave heaven. A single misstep could cripple his foundations. What had looked like assured triumph now teetered on ruin.

”What is Ye Chen doing? Didn’t anyone warn him? Cave heavens serve to bolster cultivation and empower the self—never let foes inside?”

The Little Peacock King panicked, deeming Ye Chen foolish. Yao Yuekong and Yao Yuezhi’s faces grew grave. Battles among powerhouses hinged on such slips. Even the mightiest could see outcomes flip on a moment’s lapse.

The half-saint left outside smirked coldly. With a raise of his hand, chains of divine patterns materialized in the once-calm void. In the next breath, the hundred li around Ye Chen transformed into a terrifying sea of fire.

This was their pre-laid Undying Fire Divine Array. Trapped within, even Ye Chen’s iron physique would melt away. Let alone his cave heaven under simultaneous assault. Assailed from within and without, death loomed inevitable.

...

”The Heavenly Emperor’s heir is still too green!”

”A cultivator’s strength isn’t just talent or arts—experience counts too.”

”Today, you and I shall school him properly.”

”I wonder how vast his cave heaven spans.”

”Our Celestial Prince’s reached a hundred thousand miles—the cultivation world’s pinnacle. This successor’s no slouch—perhaps fifty or sixty thousand?”

The two who plunged into Ye Chen’s cave heaven sneered. Yet they stayed vigilant, wary of any supreme kill array the successor might have arrayed. As the portal sealed behind them, they stood firm, scanning their surroundings.

In the next instant, their eyes bulged wide. No supreme array had betrayed them. It was the expanse—no end in sight. Even their divine senses, probing outward, brushed no boundary. Remember, Mahayana cultivators measured sense ranges in tens of thousands of miles. How could this be?

”Is this really a cave heaven?”

”Could Ye Chen have used some technique to teleport us elsewhere?”

Disbelief filled the eyes of the two men. From ancient times to now, a hundred thousand li marked the utmost limit for a cultivator’s cave heaven. Even the Celestial Prince had not surpassed it. How could Ye Chen’s extend beyond sight?

They scanned their surroundings more closely, only to gasp in astonishment. In the extreme distance, dozens of immortal peaks floated suspended in the air. Atop those peaks, faint sun and moon gleamed, illuminating the entire cave heaven. Beyond that, scattered across the earth lay myriad spirit plants and herbs—each rare, pulsing with astonishing spiritual energy. The two even spotted several extinct varieties. Their eyes widened further, greed flickering in their expressions. But that was not all. When they lifted their gazes, a chill seized their bodies.

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”Why does that blood-red longsword resemble our Undying Celestial Phoenix Clan’s legendary immortal artifact, the Undying Celestial Blade?”

”An immortal artifact—truly one! Beside the Undying Celestial Blade, that jar... and a ghost-faced mask...”

”That’s the Devouring Heaven Demon Jar and Ghost-Faced Mask that Devouring Female Immortal—both immortal artifacts.”

”And that cauldron—it evokes the carrier of the dao itself. Could it be the War God Clan’s immortal artifact, the Dao Cauldron? No wonder they view humans as inferior—yet their current princess willingly entered his harem.”

”Our clan’s Undying Celestial Blade was indeed secretly stowed by the Heavenly Emperor back then—never lost to the void currents.”

”The Heavenly Emperor was the epitome of evil!”

”The successor even inherited the Devouring Lineage—explains his monstrous talent and meteoric rise.”

”But what of that bronze coffin? Why does it suppress all immortal artifacts from above? Could it house the Heavenly Emperor himself?”

”Look there—that black cluster, like a starry mass. Why does it feel like... piles of Extreme Dao Weapons?”

Ye Chen’s cave heaven had shocked them to their cores. Amid the awe, terror gripped them utterly. So many secrets in his cave heaven—yet he let them enter freely. Was Ye Chen truly that naive and young?

In all, the boundless expanse, too vast to fathom. The absurd profusion of immortal artifacts. Even heaps of Extreme Dao Weapons tallied like common goods—all left them trembling in dread. How many Mahayana cultivators had the Heavenly Emperor slain back then? Too many Extreme Dao Weapons!

Something was wrong—terribly wrong. They now craved only escape. But the cave heaven portal had sealed shut. Ye Chen seemed to grant them a deliberate moment to absorb the shock.

In the next instant, the cave heaven stirred. Unimaginable terror surged forth—cave heaven power crashing down. It bore crushing suppression, ensnaring the two. They flung desperate defensive treasure techniques.

Yet Ye Chen’s cave heaven sprawled absurdly vast; its power roiled uncontrollably, a tempest beyond grasp. Trapped within, they felt like ships in an ocean’s fury—physiques on the verge of bursting under the strain. As the cave heaven power amassed ever denser, the pair buckled further—skin splitting with blood, organs fracturing...

”No—we can’t just endure this. The successor’s cave heaven power terrifies—we must act!”

”I’ll ignite my bloodline at full cost, unleashing our clan’s forbidden art, Undying Three Fire Transformations—to carve you a path. Fly straight to those floating peaks—the successor’s cave heaven core likely resides there. Burn it to ash with divine fire at any price. Only then do we stand a chance. Back to the clan—tell them Ye Chen defies heaven; even the Celestial Prince may falter. Dispatch supreme powerhouses to strangle him utterly—even razing Heavenly Evolution Holy Land if needed.”

The two, pinnacles among their kind, devised a counter in a heartbeat. One shifted to true form—a three-meter golden phoenix. Five colored divine fire blazed in his five orifices. He roared, aura exploding thrice in succession. A beam of utterly horrifying divine fire spewed forth, forcibly tunneling through the endless cave heaven power. The other wasted no moment, blasting forward—speed maxing to phantom blur. He streaked toward the suspended peak cluster...

”Ah...”

A wail erupted behind him. He glanced back, eyes cracking with rage. The lone defender buckled utterly under the pressure—his clansman’s true form warped grotesquely in the unrelenting cave heaven suppression. The phoenix head had twisted down to its rear.

Gritting his teeth, he accelerated further. Reach the suspended peaks—shatter them all—and rescue his kin. The nearer he drew to the peak cluster, the closer he approached those small sun and moon—perhaps forged from dao artifacts. But as he closed in, the small sun’s form sharpening in view, doubt creased his face—his eyes flashing existential disbelief...