Immortality Starts With Investment

”This is a top-tier enslavement technique. Consider it my gift to you. That way, even when I’m not around the Heavenly Desire Sect, I can rest easy.”

As Ye Chen spoke, he handed the jade slip he had just received from the Demon-Exterminating Great Saint directly to Fan Qinghe.

Fan Qinghe froze in place, staring fixedly at Ye Chen. Her beautiful eyes shimmered with nothing but pure shock and overwhelming emotion. Ye Chen had just faced two Great Saints charging straight into his domain. Even though he had hidden cards and ultimately suppressed them, the process must have been incredibly perilous. And yet, the very first thing he did after resolving the crisis was to worry about her safety.

The feeling in Fan Qinghe’s heart was indescribably moved. The three women standing behind her—master, grandmaster, and ancestor—each one more impressively endowed than the last like a set of nesting dolls—watched with open envy on their faces.

Their own protectors had clearly loved them deeply as well. Otherwise, they never would have willingly risked destroying their own futures to help them cultivate. But compared to Ye Chen… the gap was simply too vast. He was handing over a Saint King with a single gesture.

For the Heavenly Desire Sect, this was an enormous boon. The Ancestor was not skilled in combat. Because she hadn’t absorbed enough during her Third Heaven transformation, her evolution had been imperfect. As a result, her battle power was only average among peers of the same realm.

Moreover, she was already nearing the end of her lifespan. If the Heavenly Desire Sect could gain a new Saint King, its overall strength would rise dramatically. Still, they couldn’t help feeling a little worried. Fan Qinghe was only at the Third Heaven. How could she possibly control a Sixth Heaven Saint King? Just what kind of enslavement technique had Ye Chen given her that could make this possible?

Under everyone’s curious gazes, Fan Qinghe sank her divine sense into the jade slip. The next moment, her enchanting, expressive eyes widened dramatically.

The Desolate Seal!

This was the enslavement method created by the Devouring Immortal. As long as the Desolate Seal was planted deep within the target’s divine soul, the enslaved person could never break free—unless they became an Immortal. And the moment any thought of betrayal arose, they would instantly turn into a mindless walking corpse.

This was undoubtedly a supreme-grade enslavement art. If word of it ever leaked, countless major powers would fight over it. Ye Chen… had truly treated her too well.

Fan Qinghe’s beautiful eyes glistened with moisture. She threw herself into Ye Chen’s arms, expressing her deep, overflowing gratitude with every fiber of her being. If Ye Chen had been willing to accept it, she would have given him the sweetest honey right then and there.

At the same moment, a system prompt chimed clearly in Ye Chen’s mind:

”Congratulations to the host for successfully gifting an item…”

”Gift: Desolate Seal!”

”Four-thousandfold feedback in progress…”

”Detected that the gift is extremely important to the recipient, triggering intense emotional fluctuations in her state of mind…”

”Top-notch critical hit feedback triggered!”

”Feedback: Immortal Artifact — Conferred God List!”

”The Conferred God List, an immortal artifact from the Immortal Realm: It can seal an enemy’s divine soul within the list, imprint them, and achieve complete enslavement…”

”Anyone imprinted must obey the commands of the Conferred God List’s master.”

”Any act of defiance will immediately result in the tearing of their divine soul, leading to soul annihilation—eternal doom, no chance of reincarnation…”

”Can enslave True Immortals.”

”…”

Looking at the feedback, Ye Chen smiled. He hadn’t been certain whether the Desolate Seal technique contained any hidden backdoors. But by giving it to Fan Qinghe and letting the system provide feedback, he no longer had anything to worry about. And the result had far exceeded his expectations.

A single technique had actually netted him an immortal artifact in return. The Desolate Seal could only enslave those below True Immortal. But the Conferred God List could even enslave True Immortals. Most importantly, it had none of the messy requirements or restrictions—no need for specific divine sense strength, no limit on numbers. In every sense, this was an absolute blood profit.

”You go ahead and start cultivating the Desolate Seal technique. I’ll be right back.”

Hearing the voice transmission from Feng Baiyu, his own Holy Master, Ye Chen spoke briefly to Fan Qinghe. Then he flew straight toward Feng Baiyu.

Once Ye Chen left, both her master and grandmaster turned to look at Fan Qinghe with undisguised envy. Just from the look on her face, they could tell the enslavement method was undoubtedly top-tier.

In the future, Qinghe would likely become the strongest combatant in the entire Heavenly Desire Sect. And all of this… simply because she had a protector who truly loved her. So sour… Truly, painfully sour!

Fan Qinghe sat cross-legged with barely contained excitement and began attempting to condense the Desolate Seal.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The Ancestor, who had only recently emerged from seclusion and still looked somewhat pale, no longer inspired pity. Instead, her appearance stirred an even stronger desire to conquer.

Curious, she quietly asked the other two for details. So much had happened earlier that there hadn’t been time to explain properly. Her master and grandmaster immediately launched into animated, overlapping explanations, recounting every change that had come to the Heavenly Desire Sect because of Ye Chen.

The Ancestor listened with shining eyes, swallowing hard despite herself.

”The Heavenly Emperor’s heir really has such terrifying capital that he could perfectly transform all three of you at once? And afterward… he didn’t even need to rest before going straight into seclusion to break through? There actually exists a male cultivator this monstrous in the world? It’s simply unbelievable.”

Both master and grandmaster nodded deeply in agreement. Even though they had personally experienced that overwhelming satisfaction, even though they had felt Ye Chen’s prowess with their own bodies, thinking back on it now still felt utterly unreal.

The Ancestor was genuinely moved. She had been trapped at the Saint King realm for three thousand years already. Her great limit had arrived. If there was any chance at all, she too wanted to test whether Ye Chen’s foundation was truly as terrifying as they claimed. But then a trace of dejection shadowed her face.

Earlier, Ye Chen had merely given her a polite nod and a word of thanks. After that, his attention had remained fixed entirely on Fan Qinghe. Clearly, he had no interest in her. She was, after all, a six-thousand-year-old auntie. How could she possibly compare to a young girl like Qinghe, who was barely over a hundred?

Seeing the dimness in the Ancestor’s expression, the grandmaster felt a pang of heartache. Memories surfaced—of being raised by the Ancestor when she was little, those warm and gentle days. Quietly, she spoke: ”Master, please don’t feel sad. The Heavenly Emperor’s heir cultivates at an astonishing speed. At most a hundred years, and he’ll surely reach the Saint King realm. Qinghe has a soft heart. As long as you ask her properly, and she asks Ye Chen on your behalf… With how much Ye Chen dotes on Qinghe, he will definitely make room for you among his… lost ones.”

The Ancestor immediately gave her disciple a light, reproachful slap on the back.

”What nonsense are you saying? I am the Heavenly Desire Ancestor—how could I possibly covet my own grand-disciple’s protector? If word got out, I’d become a laughingstock. And more importantly… even if Qinghe is kind-hearted, and even if the Heavenly Emperor’s heir doesn’t mind this old antique, I no longer have the chance… Upon emerging this time, my life force has begun accelerating its decline. At most three years… and I will completely fall…”

By the end, her voice carried a faint melancholy. After finally glimpsing hope, she wouldn’t live long enough to grasp it. Truly, fate played cruel tricks. Perhaps this was simply destiny.

Hearing those words, the faces of the master, grandmaster, and others were also filled with heartache. In the cultivation world, life-extending treasures were the most precious of all. After the era of the Heavenly Emperor, immortal roots had vanished one after another into the river of history. Life-prolonging items grew scarcer by the day. The top great sects might still possess a few, but they guarded them jealously. No outsider could ever obtain one. The matter of the Ancestor’s lifespan limit truly seemed unsolvable.

For a moment, the women fell silent.

Fan Qinghe, meanwhile, continued condensing the Desolate Seal while listening to every word. She felt no deep emotional attachment to the Ancestor. But the Ancestor had emerged from seclusion without hesitation, disregarding her own great limit, the moment the sect faced disaster.

Fan Qinghe didn’t want to see her fall like this. She thought perhaps Ye Chen had some life-extending treasure. But almost immediately, she shook her head inwardly. How could she be so shameless?

He had already given her so much. She couldn’t possibly ask for more. She couldn’t rely on Ye Chen’s love for her. And then act without restraint toward him. Otherwise, Fan Qinghe worried that even the deepest affection would eventually be worn away to nothing.

Ye Chen arrived above the sky. Six captives remained. Feng Baiyu had summoned him specifically to ask his opinion on how to deal with them.

Ye Chen had no particular preference. He simply said he would defer to the Holy Master’s judgment. His gaze, however, lingered on the female Saint King cultivator, a bold idea forming in his mind.

If, a week from now, he presented this Saint King woman to Fan Qinghe as a gift… would the system trigger another critical hit? And if it was a top-notch crit… could it at least feedback something on the Quasi-Immortal level?

Ye Chen knew the odds were slim, but the temptation was hard to resist. Trying it cost nothing anyway. Besides, he had already planned to give her to Fan Qinghe as a guardian for the Heavenly Desire Sect. That lineage truly mattered to him. So he spoke up and claimed the female Saint King for himself.

Feng Baiyu raised an eyebrow at the request, glancing at the still-youthful face of the Saint King. A little surprised, yet not entirely. He had long grown accustomed to Ye Chen’s increasingly heavy tastes. From the human race to the myriad races, from the younger generation to the previous one, and now even the one before that. If he wanted to sample an ancestor-level figure next, well… there wasn’t much to say as long as he didn’t start eyeing men.

So Feng Baiyu only asked calmly: ”Do you need an enslavement method? I have one here, though it places high demands on the strength of the primordial spirit.”

Ye Chen shook his head. He already had one.

The Saint King, hearing herself being discussed like an object, felt a surge of profound humiliation. A dignified Saint King… about to be enslaved? And by a junior like Ye Chen, no less. In his hands, her reputation in her later years would be utterly ruined. Yet she also understood clearly: refusal meant certain death.

Moreover, she had come here to kill Ye Chen and had naturally done her homework on him. Ye Chen was extraordinarily generous toward his women. He even gave away the Sacred Spiritual Root without hesitation. And he surely controlled the Heavenly Emperor’s treasury—resources beyond counting. This… might actually be her opportunity. A chance to break through to even higher realms in the future.

With those thoughts, complex emotions churned inside her—humiliation mixed with faint anticipation. A faint blush even crept across her beautiful face…

…

”As for the rest—kill them all. When the time comes, take their corpses straight to their respective holy lands and have a proper conversation. They broke the rules; compensation is mandatory.”

Feng Baiyu showed zero mercy as he made the decision.

Kill them all. Eliminate any future threats.

Ye Chen had no objections. In fact, he volunteered to handle it personally. He opened the entrance to his cave heaven and began tossing the sealed cultivators inside one by one.

The Heaven-Devouring Demon Jar absorbed their origins. The Myriad Souls Banner collected their souls. A smooth, practiced routine. Only their empty husks were spat back out.

The process was swift. Aside from the female cultivator, soon only one captive remained. He was also a Saint King, but his expression had turned exceptionally ugly. He spoke in a dark, threatening tone: ”Though this matter started because of us, the Heavenly Emperor’s heir is unharmed. You’ve vented your anger. Let it end here! If anything happens to me, you will regret it for the rest of your lives. The entire Heavenly Evolution Holy Land—including the Heavenly Emperor Hall—will be uprooted and destroyed…”

Ye Chen had been happily harvesting the others. Hearing the threat, he turned with genuine curiosity. He wanted to know which faction this man belonged to—bold enough to speak with such arrogance?