Mad Immortal

Chapter 2 - The World of the Strong

Chen Taizhong saw that the three had received their identity jade tokens, so he stepped forward. "I'll take my jade token as well."

The man in white shot him a resentful glare, itching to make things difficult. However, since the identity tokens for the Nangong family had already been processed, he, as the guide, really didn't have the authority to arbitrarily make trouble for someone who had ascended from the lower realm—especially with the surveillance stone right there.

More importantly, Nangong Buwei was watching nearby. If he stirred up trouble, his petty behavior could easily be exposed. Reluctantly, he went ahead and processed Chen's identity, throwing him a jade token. "Starting today, you must pay a tax of five spirit stones every month. If you fail to pay on time by the end of the month, you'll be assigned to three months of menial service as punishment. Understood?"

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?" Chen Taizhong's eyes widened.

"Where'd this country bumpkin come from? That's the rule in the Fenghuang Immortal Realm," Nangong Shijian scoffed from the side. "You're so out of touch—do your elders even know how clueless you are?"

"Whether I'm clueless or not is none of your business!" Chen Taizhong glared back at him. "You're just a lackey, pretending to act like an elder?"

"You!" Nangong Shijian was furious, his hand itching to strike. As the Nangong family's personal attendant, he was refined and elegant, but the insult of being called a "lackey" was something he could not tolerate.

"What's this person's deal?" Nangong Buwei finally spoke, turning his gaze to the man in white.

In fact, he had noticed Chen standing nearby for a while. But given the Nangong family's lofty status, he usually didn't bother to ask about such insignificant people unless it became necessary. Now, though, his attendant had been insulted, so he had to speak up.

"Just someone who recently ascended, from a dying world," the man in white replied with a smile. "If it interests you, Nangong Gongzi, you could take him as a household servant."

"Take him? Someone as pathetic as this?" Nangong Buwei snorted disdainfully.

In the lower realms, ascension itself was a perilous ordeal. Most failed and perished in the attempt. But if someone successfully ascended, the Dao of Heaven would pour immense spiritual energy into them, cleansing their body and soul, granting them a full rebirth—only then would they be qualified to reach the immortal realm.

Thus, those who ascended typically arrived at the reception pools in a state of peak vitality, full of spirit, energy, and vigor. For someone like Chen to appear in such tattered clothes was nothing short of baffling.

"I ran into a giant spider in the ascension passage!" Chen Taizhong sighed inwardly.

The spider had been over 500 meters long and had attempted to devour him. It took nearly all of his spiritual energy to kill the creature. In fact, he still had the spider's corpse stored in his spatial ring. That was why his clothes were in such poor shape. However, from what he understood about the ascension process, the appearance of such a creature had been far too sudden, far too bizarre.

He had initially considered asking the guide about it—the information passed down to him was rather limited, and there were many things he didn't know. But after seeing how greedy and condescending the two guides were, he changed his mind.

So, he cast a cold glance at Nangong Buwei. "Even if you wanted to take me in, I wouldn't agree."

Nangong Buwei looked at him with a dismissive glance, too proud to even respond. His arrogance was written all over his face—someone like Chen simply wasn't worth his time.