Immortality Starts With Investment

”Brother Ye...”

Whether from Yao Yuekong’s recounting of the grueling ordeal to secure the Qiankun Cauldron, or from Luo Bingling’s earlier accusations, Yao Yuezhi felt Ye Chen’s favoritism toward her with aching clarity. Even after all Luo Bingling had poured in, in Ye Chen’s eyes, she herself remained the most cherished.

All of it moved Yao Yuezhi to her core, filling her heart with sweet bliss as she clung tightly to his frame.

”Alright, alright—hurry and refine the Qiankun Cauldron...”

Ye Chen stroked her hair with a beaming smile, his voice soft as he urged her on.

Yao Yuezhi needed to fully refine the cauldron first, fusing it with her heart’s blood, before she could claim it as her cave heaven’s core and begin the rebuild. That process would take time. So Ye Chen pressed her gently. After all, gifting the Qiankun Cauldron marked just the beginning. More offerings lay ahead.

Seeing how Ye Chen fretted over her damaged cave heaven even more than she did—urging her with such care—only deepened her emotion. Tears rimmed her eyes, her emerald gaze shimmering like rippling waves, though her willow brows curved in a joyful arc. She rose lightly on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.

Only then did she lean to his ear and whisper, ”Brother Ye, even after I rebuild my cave heaven, my words from before still stand. I want to bear your children, to stay by your side forever.”

When a woman offered to bear your children, that was love laid bare. Yao Yuezhi’s warm breath against his ear, laced with those tender vows, would stir any man’s heart.

Ye Chen chuckled inwardly: Nice try!

With Yao Yuezhi’s multiplier, unless she fell hopelessly behind, she’d have no shot at motherhood for him anytime soon. He gave her pert little rear a playful pat. ”Off to cultivate, now!”

Yao Yuezhi nodded. Hope flickered within her, though it tempered quickly. True, the Qiankun Cauldron would restore her core. But the cave heaven’s scale? That hurdle lingered. Still, reclaiming Half-Saint cultivation would be a triumph all its own. With lingering reluctance, she cast Ye Chen a few final glances before turning to leave.

Ye Chen called after her one last time. ”Don’t worry about the origin essence—I’ll handle it all.”

Yao Yuezhi smiled at that. Full restoration to her former self? Impossible. Unless they dragged Celestial Prince out from his divine source. Rumor held that the prince commanded a hundred-thousand-li cave heaven, pushed to its absolute limit. And that Seven-Crowned King likely matched it. But those figures wielded profound cultivations—some already deep in the Immortal Path, their power rivaling the ancestors of great clans. Ye Chen was mighty, yes, but such vast gaps left even him outmatched.

Yao Yuezhi voiced no doubts, merely beaming sweetly at him. ”Thank you, Brother.”

With those words, she slipped from his sight, soft and graceful. She headed straight into seclusion to refine the Qiankun Cauldron.

...

After sending Yao Yuezhi on her way, Ye Chen finally found a moment to check the system prompt that had chimed in his mind.

”Congratulations, host—gift delivery successful...”

”Gift: High-grade Extreme Dao Weapon, Qiankun Cauldron!”

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”Five-thousand-fold feedback in progress.”

”Detected: The host’s gift holds extreme importance to the recipient, triggering intense psychological fluctuations...”

”Max critical hit reward activated...”

”Feedback: Immortal artifact, Nine Transformations Heavenly Furnace!”

”Feedback: Immortal artifact, Sea-Calming Divine Treasure!”

The Nine Transformations Heavenly Furnace: An immortal artifact forged from the Divine Silkworm Emperor’s ninth-shed fleshly body. Cultivating within grants metamorphic enhancement to one’s aptitudes! Moreover, each breakthrough achieved inside bestows transformative power, yielding higher ceilings for gains. For members of the Divine Silkworm Clan, it amplifies the Nine Transformations of the Divine Silkworm even further, easing breakthroughs and elevating post-advancement limits to greater heights...

At that sight, Ye Chen’s lips curled into a sly grin. The Nine Transformations Heavenly Furnace had truly materialized as feedback.

Though Ye Chen suspected its aptitude-boosting cultivation effects would prove moot for him. After all, no matter how formidable the furnace, it remained merely an immortal artifact. But his Primordial Chaos Supreme Body had long surpassed the realm of immortal physiques. Still, the ability to raise combat ceilings on every breakthrough? That was a boon indeed. His ascensions came swiftly enough anyway. Effects would show soon.

What Ye Chen hadn’t anticipated, however, was the second immortal artifact emerging alongside it. This little green tea truly justified every ounce of his heartfelt performance. She outshone Luo Bingling by miles—the one who’d received a high-grade Extreme Dao Weapon in kind but yielded only four thousand pieces in return. Yet as he eyed the name of this second immortal artifact, Ye Chen blinked in utter bafflement.

The Sea-Calming Divine Treasure: In ancient days, upon breaking through to immortality, the Victorious Fighting Emperor discarded the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod and delved the Endless Sea’s depths, unearthing divine iron. The iron had yet to fully gestate, so he etched ultimate killing divine patterns upon it, baptizing it with his boundless slaughter essence! On the day its gestation completed, it would ascend directly to immortal artifact status.

Later, the Emperor departed this realm prematurely. Clan members of the Victorious Fighting Ape Clans extracted the iron once matured. During a deathmatch with the Divine Silkworm Clan’s true immortal, both perished together, and its whereabouts turned unknown.

The Sea-Calming Divine Treasure: An immortal artifact of supreme slaughter, its killing might is unrivaled among all in this world.

Ye Chen stared at the description, genuinely stunned. So, he’d tossed out the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod. Only to reel in an immortal-grade Sea-Calming Divine Treasure? Trading the staff for this treasure? Talk about absurd.

In the end, one supreme Extreme Dao Weapon had netted him two immortal artifacts. One of them could even serve for immediate cultivation, enhancing his own growth. The other? The foremost slaughter immortal artifact in this entire world. To call it a massive windfall would be no exaggeration at all. Yao Yuezhi truly deserved every bit of his devoted effort.

As thoughts turned to the cave heaven essence he still needed to bestow upon her, Ye Chen’s anticipation swelled. He might just end up with a pocket universe all his own. Who wouldn’t adore a little green tea like that?

...

Meanwhile, Luo Bingling at Ye Chen’s side seethed with envy, her face nearly turning green. She had just played up her woes moments ago. Failing to draw his pity was one thing. But to get shown up by Yao Yuezhi all over again? Unbearable.

Yao Yuezhi had been gone for ages now, yet she still stared dreamily at the doorway. Was she truly so worthless? Just where did she fall short of that Yao Yuezhi?

Ye Chen finally sensed Luo Bingling’s agitation and snapped back to the present. He glanced her way and couldn’t help shaking his head with a sigh. The multipliers between them differed by only a thousandfold. But the feedback rewards? Worlds apart.

That sigh from Ye Chen only hardened Luo Bingling’s fists further. She cared little for looks or romantic dalliances, her heart fixed solely on cultivation. Yet beside Ye Chen, she always felt every other woman mattered more. The injustice of it left Luo Bingling utterly aggrieved.

At this point, the Dao Cauldron or lack thereof scarcely registered. An obsession had taken root in her heart. She wanted Ye Chen to cherish her above all, not forever outshone by the rest. She recalled how, last time, Ye Chen had pressed to take things further, to claim her completely.

Luo Bingling bit her teeth lightly. She couldn’t help but ponder it seriously now. If she let Ye Chen have her fully, would she finally capture his heart for real? No longer eclipsed by anyone else? Would he even dote on her endlessly, pouring out everything for her sake?

Pride and humiliation urged Luo Bingling to yield. But the War God Clan’s ancestral precepts held her back, leaving her to waver. As she gazed at Ye Chen now, her expression flickered with uncertainty!