"Senior Brother Qingfeng, what’s wrong with you?"

"Junior Brother, what did you do last night?"

"Qingfeng, did you stay up all night playing games?"

"Hurry up and use some hot water on that! If Senior Uncle Xuanming sees you, you’ll get scolded again!"

"Senior Brother Qingfeng, why do you look a bit weak?"

"I bet it wasn’t gaming all night, but watching videos all night, wasn’t it?"

The next morning, when Lu Heng showed up at the canteen with two black circles under his eyes, it immediately sparked a conversation among the fellow disciples.

Everyone had a pretty good relationship with each other.

Seeing that Lu Heng wasn’t sick, they couldn’t help but tease him.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, why have you turned into a panda?"

Little Junior Sister Qingyue came closer, looking at Lu Heng curiously and asked.

"Ahem..."

"Stayed up late last night researching some stuff."

Even though Lu Heng had dark circles under his eyes, he was still full of energy.

He had spent the entire night experimenting on his Shadow Beast.

Just as he imagined, the Shadow Beast could mimic forms based on his imagination.

He tried it many times, with people like Mo Mo, Ah Zhu, and Ji, and they could all be mimicked.

However, although the Shadow Beast mimicked the appearance well, it didn’t have substance.

That is to say, the Shadow Beast could only simulate the external appearance, internally it was still a mass of shadow.

This left Lu Heng somewhat disappointed.

Huh?

You’re asking how I know this?

Of course, it’s for exploring mystical knowledge!

In any case, the strength of the Shadow Beast is its realism.

When transformed, if people around didn’t know, they couldn’t tell it was fake at all.

As for the downside...

As mentioned earlier, it’s not realistic enough!

More importantly, every time the Shadow Beast transformed, it would draw a large amount of True Qi from its master.

This is why Lu Heng had those panda eyes.

No matter how strong a man is, he can’t stand that!

However, the existence of the Shadow Beast was like having a second avatar, allowing him to do many things.

"Don’t you all want to know my identity?"

"Then I’ll play a big one with you all!"

Lu Heng was already planning a big scheme.

He intended to shock the nation... no, shock the world!

"Senior Brother, you said you’d give me something delicious to eat yesterday, but I couldn’t find you at all."

Qingyue muttered with resentment while chewing on a bun.

"Uh..."

That sentence immediately extinguished Lu Heng’s lofty ambitions.

Yesterday he was so eager to go harvest and draw prizes that he forgot to make the Immortal Crystal Rice.

"Come to my room tonight, I’ll definitely have something delicious for you!"

He promised wholeheartedly again.

...

At nine in the morning, three Daoists sent by the Religious Affairs Bureau arrived at Dragon Tiger Mountain.

They came from Taiyi Dao, Jingming Tao, and Louguan Tao respectively.

The standing of these three Taoist sects in the country was originally on par with Shangqing Tao.

But ever since Shangqing Tao had an Immortal manifesting, it was clearly leading by a notch, attracting visitors and pilgrims from all over the country, and even foreigners.

This left the other Taoist sects somewhat embarrassed.

After all, it’s not the lack that’s worrisome but the inequality!

When people pray to gods, what do they seek?

Of course, they seek the manifestation of Immortals!

Shangqing Tao has an Immortal, but your sects don’t.

What does that prove?

It proves your hearts in cultivation aren’t pure!

It proves your faith isn’t strong enough!

Thus, Sect Leaders of various Taoist sects also tried to awaken the Three Pure Tao Venerate they worshipped.

But the result...

You call a figurine "wife", will she respond to you?

So, when the Religious Affairs Bureau proposed this exchange learning experience plan, it gained the strong support of sects like Taiyi Dao.

They also wanted to come to Dragon Tiger Mountain and see if Shangqing Tao was deliberately hyping things up, or if there really was an Immortal presence.

"Greetings, Senior Uncles and Brothers, Daoist Hua Ming from Taiyi Dao at your service."

"Yuan Ji, from Jingming Tao!"

"Poor Daoist Yu Yang, practicing at Louguan Tao!"

At the welcome meeting hosted by Xuanming, the three exchange Daoists gave a brief self-introduction.

These three were considered core members within their respective sects.

Initially, they had no special feelings towards Shangqing Tao.

In their eyes, Shangqing Tao was just like their own sect, a major Taoist sect.

There weren’t many differences between them.

The only difference, perhaps, was the Taoist Techniques they passed down.

But in the past three months, Shangqing Tao repeatedly reported occurrences of Immortal manifestations, even circulating relevant videos.

The videos seemed to lack any special effects.

Everything seemed so naturally seamless.

It was as if there really were Immortals in Shangqing Tao.

This made them take it seriously.

This time, they came to Shangqing Tao to investigate the so-called "Immortal."

If the "Immortal" was merely Shangqing Tao’s deliberate hype, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

They had done similar promotion for attracting tourists too.

But if there really was an "Immortal," it would be a big deal!

They needed to uncover the origins of the Immortal’s descent.

And see if they could invite the "Immortal" to visit their own sect...

With newcomers arriving, it naturally meant some of the old ones had to leave.

Qingming and the other two young Daoists left Dragon Tiger Mountain reluctantly after saying goodbye to everyone.

After the welcome and farewell parties, Lu Heng and others were dismissed.

Meanwhile, Senior Uncle Xuanming took the three new exchange Daoists to their dormitories for arrangements.

"Thank you, Senior Uncle Xuanming!"

After everything was settled, Hua Ming thanked Xuanming with a smile.

"We’re all family, no need to thank me!"

Xuanming chuckled heartily.

In his view, all of Taoism was one big family, no need for too much formality.

"The three of you have traveled long distances, you must be tired."

"Why not rest for now, and when it’s lunchtime, I’ll send a disciple to call you."

After saying a few words, Xuanming pushed the door open and left.

Seeing him leave, Hua Ming and the other two exchanged a glance.

"Did any of you sense anything special about this place?"

Yuan Ji, who hadn’t spoken before, suddenly asked.

"No!"

Yu Yang shook his head, frowning, "Everything here seems normal. It might be hard to verify the Immortal matter."

Upon hearing this, Hua Ming still smiled and said, "If there truly is an Immortal, would it be something we could speculate about?"

"Why not rest now, and after lunch, subtly inquire the disciples of Shangqing Tao?"

"That’s all we can do."

Yuan Ji nodded slightly.

So the three of them each returned to their rooms to rest before starting their investigation.

Hua Ming lay quietly on his bed, listening carefully to the sounds next door.

Once everything quieted down next door, he carefully sat up and tiptoed to the door.

The three of them, carrying responsibilities from their own sects and the Religious Affairs Bureau, came to Dragon Tiger Mountain to investigate the "Immortal."

Though they were united, competition still existed among them.

After all, there was only one "Immortal," and getting it to their own temple would be the best...