Life span plundered, I became a detective and achieved immortality

Chapter 1028 Rules

Su Mo reached out and took the golden divine tablet. The moment his fingertips touched it, a stream of information flowed out of the tablet like a trickle, flowing into his sea of ​​consciousness along the meridians of his fingertips. Every character was clear and distinct, without the slightest obscurity.

This is an identity token issued by the primordial will of the Nine Realms Continent to all participating cultivators. It not only serves as identification for cultivators of the Profound True Immortal Realm but also records their battle achievements in real time. With this token, one can exchange it for a wide variety of rewards from the Continent's will—from rare and precious materials containing primordial laws to immortal artifacts of various grades, and even lost ancient cultivation techniques—everything imaginable is available. If you're interested, even exchanging it for some beauties from the various races of the Nine Immortal Realms for your amusement wouldn't be difficult.

Once the accumulated battle merits reach a certain value, the holder can choose to leave the Nine Realms Continent and return to their respective Immortal Realm. The battle merits required for return vary drastically depending on the cultivation level: the weakest First-Rank Void Immortal only needs to accumulate a hundred battle merits to escape; while those Half-Step Golden Immortals who have touched the edge of immortality are said to need trillions of battle merits to return, an astronomical figure that is enough to make countless True Immortals hesitate and despair.

More importantly, there are strict restrictions on acquiring battle merits—at the very least, one must kill an immortal of the same level to earn them. Apart from the lowest-level Void Immortals who can acquire battle merits by killing any immortal they have the means, Celestial Immortals can only acquire corresponding battle merits by killing Celestial Immortals and True Immortals from other Immortal Realms. True Immortals can only obtain corresponding battle merit points by hunting down other True Immortals.

Without this restriction, the previous Nine Realms Immortal Wars would have been a truly hopeless situation for Void Immortals and Celestial Immortals, with almost no one able to return to the Immortal Realm alive—they would all become objects for True Immortals of various realms to gain battle merits, without even a shred of room to struggle.

"I was hoping to slip through the cracks, but it seems I was overthinking it." Su Mo glanced down at the golden divine token in his hand, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes. If he could obtain a ninth-grade illusory immortal identity divine token, with his strength, he would have been able to use it to his heart's content.

While the battle merits of Immortals and Celestials may be few, their sheer number makes up for it.

Compared to True Immortals, Celestial Immortals are at least tens of thousands of times more numerous, while Virtual Immortals are hundreds of millions of times more numerous. With the accumulation of small amounts, the growth of battle merits may not be slower than that of hunting True Immortals.

Unfortunately, the primordial will of the Nine Domains Continent was as clear as a mirror, leaving him no chance to exploit. The identity tokens of the Nine Domains Continent were divided into three ranks: bronze tokens represented Void Immortals, silver tokens represented Celestial Immortals, and the golden token in his hand was the mark of a True Immortal. Seven dragon patterns were clearly engraved on the bottom of the token, branding his cultivation level—a seventh-grade True Immortal—exposing his strength completely, leaving no room for concealment.

"That's true. If it were that easy to get away with it, those ninth-grade True Immortals and half-step Golden Immortals would have used it long ago. Why would they wait until now?" Su Mo shook his head slightly, no longer dwelling on the matter. Originally, he was only trying with a sliver of hope and didn't have high expectations. He figured he'd give it a shot; success would be great, but failure wouldn't matter much. After all, with his current cultivation level, gaining battle merits wouldn't be too difficult.

At this moment, the silent Cloud Dragon Immortal Ship gradually became lively. The Cloud Dragon True Immortal and the group of Celestial Immortals and Void Immortals finally broke free from their blank, stiff state, their eyes gradually regaining their luster, their faces showing varying degrees of bewilderment and fear. Clearly, their experience of traversing time and space still lingered in their minds—that feeling of being completely controlled by the power of space, of having no control over their own lives, was enough to instill awe in any cultivator, making them dare not utter the slightest disrespect.

next second...

"Whoosh..."

The Cloud Dragon Immortal Boat slightly changed direction, its hull flashed with white light, and it quickly tore through the void ahead, flying towards a certain direction in the wasteland.

However, the speed at this moment was no longer as terrifying as when the Nine Realms Immortal Sect had empowered them; it had merely returned to the normal level of a third-grade True Immortal. The power of the Nine Realms Immortal Sect was only responsible for quickly guiding cultivators from the nine immortal realms to the Nine Realms Continent. Subsequent actions were left entirely to the individual forces to arrange themselves.

Of course, this refers to the speed of a third-grade True Immortal under the terrifying spatial barrier of the Nine Domains Continent. A single spatial teleportation cannot even traverse a hundred years of void. Compared to the speed outside, it is simply a tortoise's pace.

......

Spring goes and autumn comes, and three thousand years have passed in the blink of an eye.

The Cloud Dragon Immortal Ship traversed its course, finally coming to a stop above a mountain range that had stretched for hundreds of years. The mountain range resembled a giant python lying horizontally, its peaks steep and its exposed rocks gleaming with a cold, iron-like light. The mountain walls were covered with the marks of chisels and axes, and the deep and shallow ravines seemed to still hold the lingering warmth of past battles, clearly having endured countless carnage. Rows of dilapidated fortresses were built against the mountainside, their walls riddled with bullet holes and claw marks. Some fortresses had collapsed halfway down their roofs, revealing the blackened beams inside, yet they still exuded an indomitable fighting spirit, silently guarding this land like loyal protectors, recounting the past tragedies.

In the heart of the mountains, the largest fortress stands out from the crowd. Though weathered by time, the two characters "Yunlong" on the stone plaque atop it are still faintly discernible. The characters are mottled, and the edges have been worn smooth by the years, yet they still exude the majesty of the place that once guarded it, witnessing the rise and fall, glory and disgrace of the previous Immortal War.

The Iron Arm Mountain Range was the territory that True Immortal Yunlong was responsible for guarding during the previous Nine Realms Immortal War.

The Nine Domains Continent is subdivided into 15,862 major domains, corresponding to the various cosmic seas under the jurisdiction of the Nine Immortal Domains. The size of a domain depends entirely on the overall strength of the cosmic sea it belongs to—for example, the strongest being in the Azure Spirit Sea was previously only a sixth-grade True Immortal, which was only considered average among the 1,800 cosmic seas of the Profound True Immortal Domain. The territory of the Nine Domains Continent it was allocated was also like this, with a diameter of less than 100 cosmic years, far less than a small universe.

Besides hunting down immortals from the other eight domains, conquering the domains occupied by the various cosmic seas of the eight immortal domains is also an important source of military merit. As long as a domain can be completely conquered and all fortresses and resource points are occupied, a massive amount of military merit can be obtained; of course, there are gains and losses—the immortals of the cosmic seas whose domains are taken will have a large amount of military merit deducted according to their cultivation level. Once their military merit drops to a negative number, all that awaits them is the merciless obliteration of the original will of the Nine Domains Continent, and even their divine souls will not be able to survive, and they will be completely annihilated.

Soon, the Cloud Dragon Immortal Ship began to dock above the battle fortresses of the Iron Arm Mountain Range. The hatches opened, and squads of Void Immortals, clad in standard immortal armor, filed out under the leadership of Celestial Immortal Generals, descending on the solidified immortal light staircases and landing steadily on the open ground in front of the fortresses.

They moved swiftly, dividing into shifts to occupy the dilapidated yet still sturdy fortresses: some retrieved materials to repair the walls and fill in the collapsed gaps; others set up defensive formations on the city walls, their fingertips activating dormant runes with the immortal power flowing from their fingertips; still others climbed the watchtowers, gripping their immortal artifacts tightly, and vigilantly gazing into the depths of the mountains—where clouds and mist swirled, perhaps hiding spies from other immortal realms, spying on this newly reclaimed land.

......

A month later.

The hatch of the Cloud Dragon Immortal Ship slowly opened again, and this time, it was Su Mo's group's turn. He mingled among the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Void Immortals, stepping out with the flow of people, followed by ten composed Celestial Immortal generals. The cultivators descended the solidified immortal light staircase, landing steadily on the open ground in front of a battle fortress.

This fortress is about a million miles long and wide, with walls made of dark gray basalt rock. It is a thousand miles high and lies like a lurking beast in the mountain valley, exuding a heavy sense of oppression that makes people feel awe.

The fortress's top was covered with sharp spikes, each pointing skyward like a spear. Dried, dark marks remained on the spikes, resembling congealed immortal blood, gleaming eerily in the sunlight and exuding a bloody stench. Each of the four walls had three arched gates, crafted from refined immortal gold. Though covered with scratches of varying depths, they remained sturdy, with intricate defensive runes faintly visible flowing across their surfaces, radiating a faint spiritual light, telling tales of the countless attacks they had withstood.

"All soldiers, heed my command!" The leading seventh-rank celestial immortal stepped forward, his immortal power surging, his voice resounding like a great bell, reaching the ears of every cultivator. "This is Fortress No. 507 of the Iron Arm Mountains. The area within a radius of tens of millions of light-years is our defense zone. Over the next hundred years, we must complete the fortress's repairs, reinforce the array, and establish sentry posts. There must be no mistakes!"

"I will obey the general's orders!"

Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine illusory immortals responded in unison, their voices converging into a torrent that crashed against the fortress walls, creating a buzzing echo.

......

"That's about it, it's time to get the Spirit Illusion in motion!"

......