Becoming an immortal against the will of heaven

"How many did you manage to save today?"

The night was deep, and inside a dilapidated thatched hut, two children huddled around a wooden table with an oil lamp on it. The slightly older of the two boys was asking the chubby younger child a question.

Hearing the boy's words, the chubby child hurriedly reached into his tattered clothes and pulled out two white things, placing them on the table.

They were steamed buns!

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, several dirty finger marks could be clearly seen on the buns.

"Brother Tian, this is all there is."

After putting down the buns, the chubby child gave the boy an honest smile.

Seeing this, the boy ruffled his head as if rewarding him, and then reached into his own chest, pulling out four white steamed buns.

However, upon seeing these buns, the chubby child was immediately surprised, looking at the boy and saying, "Brother Tian, those people only gave out four buns today. Didn't you eat any?"

"It's okay, Xiaolong, I'm not hungry." The boy smiled gently, and said, "I promised you that I would definitely take you out of here, so don't worry, I won't let anything happen to me before I fulfill that promise."

Although he said that, it was clear from the boy's sunken eyes that he was already very haggard.

However, he didn't rush to sleep, but instead took out a full bundle from under the bed, filled with the steamed buns that he and the chubby child had saved over the past few days.

After putting the white steamed buns from the table into it as well, he picked up the bundle full of steamed buns and walked out.

It was the cold winter month of December, and the night weather was even more bitterly cold. The north wind was whistling, and when it blew on people's faces, it felt like being cut by a knife.

However, the boy didn't pay attention to any of this, but instead quickened his pace forward.

The boy's name was Chen Tian, and the place he was in was a mine.

However, this mine was different from other mines, because it was a spirit mine that produced Celestial Crystal Stones.

What were Celestial Crystal Stones?

Chen Tian didn't know.

He only knew that Celestial Crystal Stones were a very peculiar kind of ore. They were neither stone nor jade, nor metal nor wood, but they contained powerful spiritual energy that could help those god-like figures accelerate their cultivation, and could also be used to forge all kinds of magical treasures that could fly to the heavens and escape into the earth.

Mining Celestial Crystal Stones from the spirit mine also required very special methods, which was that one could not use various metal tools to excavate them, because as soon as metal came into contact with Celestial Crystal Stones, the spiritual energy inside would rapidly leak out, turning it into a useless stone. Therefore, to mine Celestial Crystal Stones, one could only use human flesh, carefully and cautiously digging them out from underground as if they were precious treasures.

Therefore, every spirit mine needed more manpower than other mines.

Hence, thatched huts like the one Chen Tian lived in were not uncommon here. As he walked along, he could easily find thousands of identical dilapidated houses on the hillside.

And most of the people living inside were children not much older than Chen Tian.

After all, in the Qian Yuan Continent, the cheapest thing was human life.

However, Chen Tian didn't come here willingly, or rather, he was tricked into coming here.

Thinking of this, a trace of anger flashed across Chen Tian's face, and his thoughts began to churn, the floodgates of memory opening instantly.

Chen Tian was an orphan.

This was something he had understood since he was a child, but he was also considered lucky, because just when he was about to starve to death, he met an old Taoist priest, and was taken back to the Taoist temple to be raised.

However, not having parents also meant that Chen Tian had been subjected to discrimination and abuse from his peers since he was young.

But Chen Tian didn't care about any of this, because he still had a good friend, Xiaolong, by his side.

Xiaolong was a distant relative of the old Taoist priest. Strictly speaking, he was also an orphan. After his parents died early, the old Taoist priest brought him back to be raised together.

Because the two had similar experiences, Chen Tian and Xiaolong quickly became close. No one wanted to play with Chen Tian, so Xiaolong would always accompany Chen Tian, willingly acting as Chen Tian's little tail, following behind Chen Tian all day, calling out "Brother Tian", "Brother Tian".

And every time he encountered something delicious, Xiaolong would never eat it himself first, preferring to go hungry, waiting for Chen Tian to come back and share it with him.

It was precisely because of this bond that Chen Tian secretly made a vow in his heart that he would always protect Xiaolong.

Those days were bitter, but there was some sweetness in the bitterness.

If he could, Chen Tian would have been willing to live like this for the rest of his life.

It was just that things didn't go as he wished. In the year when Chen Tian was twelve years old and Xiaolong was nine years old, the old Taoist priest suddenly fell ill, and this illness never went away.

Finally, after a month of torment, the old Taoist priest left amidst reluctance.

And with his departure, Chen Tian and Xiaolong instantly lost their only support.

At the same time, the people in the town wouldn't let Chen Tian and Xiaolong stay any longer, because they felt that Chen Tian and Xiaolong were two jinxes, and staying here would only continue to harm the people in the town.

So, led by the town chief, the people seized the old Taoist priest's Taoist temple and drove Chen Tian and them out.

Although unwilling, although very angry.

However, Chen Tian still left behind a harsh remark, 'I will return one day,' before taking Xiao Long's hand. The two frail figures turned and left the small town where they had grown up.

The Qian Yuan Continent was extremely vast, and the Duomo Kingdom where Chen Tian and Xiao Long were located was merely a drop in the ocean.

The young Chen Tian and Xiao Long had no idea where to go and could only wander aimlessly around the world.

By chance, Chen Tian heard people mention that in the east of the Qian Yuan Continent, there was a Fengchi Kingdom, and there, there was a place called 'Xianyu Sect'.

Legend had it that there were countless living immortals in the Xianyu Sect, each with great supernatural powers and immense strength. If one could enter the Xianyu Sect to learn immortal techniques, then even ordinary people could fly into the sky, escape into the earth, split mountains with their bare hands, and be omnipotent.

Upon hearing this shocking news, Chen Tian was instantly excited. He began to imagine that if he could also learn immortal techniques, he would definitely return in glory and fiercely teach those who discriminated against him in the town a lesson, reclaiming the Taoist temple.

The more Chen Tian thought about it, the more excited he became, and he decided that he must join the Xianyu Sect and learn immortal techniques!

So, after asking people about the location of the Xianyu Sect, Chen Tian took Xiao Long and hurried towards the Fengchi Kingdom.

And this journey took them another two years.

In these two years, Chen Tian and Xiao Long traveled under the stars and moon, eating in the wind and sleeping in the dew. They didn't know how much they had traveled, but finally, they arrived at the Fengchi Kingdom.

However, after arriving here, the originally excited Chen Tian instantly became dejected.

Because Chen Tian learned that the Xianyu Sect only recruited disciples once every two years, and each time they recruited less than ten people, and these people were all children from nearby large families.

If ordinary people wanted to enter, unless they had very good cultivation资质, and were geniuses among geniuses, otherwise, it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

In short, it was a pipe dream!

So, after learning this, Chen Tian became extremely disappointed.

After wandering around in front of Jade Screen Mountain, where the Xianyu Sect was located, for two days, Chen Tian had no choice but to shake his head and prepare to take Xiao Long back.

However, at this moment, a middle-aged man with a mustache, claiming to be an elder of the Xianyu Sect, suddenly walked over and kindly asked Chen Tian if he wanted to join the Xianyu Sect.

Hearing this, although Chen Tian didn't know what he wanted to do, he still nodded.

The man smiled and said that he had a way to fulfill Chen Tian's wish, but there was a condition: Chen Tian and Xiao Long had to mine immortal crystal stones in the spirit mine under the Xianyu Sect for two years. Once the time was up, he would introduce Chen Tian and Xiao Long to join the Xianyu Sect.

Hearing that there was a chance to join the Xianyu Sect, Chen Tian, whose head was clouded by great excitement, instantly lost his ability to distinguish right from wrong. In addition, this person looked quite kind, so Chen Tian believed him and went to the spirit mine he mentioned with Xiao Long, full of hope.

On the way, Chen Tian learned that the name of this elder of the Xianyu Sect was Ling Yazi.

According to him, his status in the Xianyu Sect was very high. Even the sect leader had to give him three points of courtesy when he saw him, so with just a word from him, he could let people join the Xianyu Sect.

Chen Tian was stunned by what he said and didn't bother to distinguish whether it was true or false, but just became full of expectation.

After arriving at the spirit mine, Chen Tian found that thousands of children of about the same age as him had already gathered here. Everyone's eyes flickered with a desire for seeking immortality, and it was clear that they were all attracted by this huge temptation, just like Chen Tian.

Chen Tian thought that he must not lose to them, so he worked very hard with the others.

Although the huge amount of labor every day made the young Chen Tian and Xiao Long feel very tired and hard, they still persevered.

After all, when Chen Tian thought that he could join the Xianyu Sect to learn immortal techniques in two years, he felt that all this was nothing.

However, after working for three months, Chen Tian slowly began to feel that something was wrong.

The first was the food problem.

At first, there was fish and meat for every meal, but gradually the fish and meat disappeared and became rice and pickles. In the end, even the rice was gone, and they were only given a few steamed buns.

Moreover, the number of steamed buns also changed from four for each meal at the beginning to four per day.

And this was far from enough for everyone who had a large amount of labor every day and was in the stage of growing bodies.

Secondly, since arriving here, Chen Tian found that the originally kind-hearted Ling Yazi suddenly became sinister and fierce. He only knew how to make them work every day, and at the same time, if he was slightly unhappy, he would pick up a whip and whip everyone fiercely, and even kick and punch disobedient children until they vomited blood!

That look was simply not treating Chen Tian and the others as human beings.

Finally, under such oppression, some children couldn't bear it and tried to escape.

But at this time, Chen Tian and the other children truly realized the power of the so-called immortals for the first time.

Every time someone tried to escape, Ling Yazi would sneer, not in a hurry, but slowly take out a piece of yellow paper full of spells, recite a magic formula, and then flick it casually. The yellow paper would burn on its own, and at the same time, an eagle the size of several zhang would rush out of the flame and chase after the escaping child.

Seeing this magical scene, all the children, including Chen Tian, were immediately shocked.

Because they knew that this was the immortal technique they yearned for!