A mysterious, profound force suddenly descended upon Jiang Yuan and Pudding the hamster. Both felt their bodies grow lighter, as if an enigmatic power from the high heavens above was pulling them upward.
"Jiang Yuan, I'm so scared!"
As their bodies slowly rose, Pudding the hamster suddenly spoke to Jiang Yuan with fear.
"Don't be afraid. Come here, let me hold you."
Jiang Yuan said to Pudding the hamster, reaching out to pull her into his arms.
As they flew higher and higher, fierce celestial winds from the heavens began to assail their bodies.
"Brother Jiang Yuan, I hope you'll choose the Hall of Longevity after ascending to the Immortal Realm."
Just as Jiang Yuan's body was gradually engulfed by the layer of celestial winds, the voice of the Star Lord of Fate suddenly transmitted into his ear.
Before Jiang Yuan could ask why, he and Pudding the hamster plunged headfirst into the cloud layer ravaged by the fierce winds.
The violent winds made it impossible for them to open their eyes. Fortunately, the light shield formed by the Nirvana Golden Seal protected them; otherwise, their bodies would have been torn to shreds by the winds.
After an unknown amount of time, the winds around them gradually subsided, and faint, ethereal celestial music began to play in their ears.
In the Immortal Realm, at a place called the Ascension Platform, two beams of white light suddenly flashed, and then Jiang Yuan and Pudding the hamster appeared there.
"Hey, hey, hey, stop sleeping! Someone from the lower realm has ascended!"
At that moment, two minor officials in black robes were waiting on the Ascension Platform. Seeing someone appear, one of them quickly elbowed the other, who had been dozing off nearby.
These two were the officials responsible for receiving those who ascended to the Immortal Realm. They had been stationed here for five hundred years, and in all that time, no one had appeared on the platform.
"Damn it! Five hundred years, and finally we see a living person ascending!"
The awakened official looked at Jiang Yuan and Pudding the hamster on the platform and blurted out a curse in excitement.
"Honored immortals, we have ascended from the lower realm. May we ask where we should go now?"
Since they had just arrived in the Immortal Realm, Jiang Yuan cupped his hands respectfully to the two officials, keeping a low profile.
"May I ask, fellow cultivators, are you the only two who ascended from the lower realm?"
Faced with the black-robed official's question, Jiang Yuan shook his head, thought for a moment, and said, "No, we were just a bit faster. There are at least a hundred more people in the lower realm about to ascend."
Jiang Yuan wasn't exaggerating. At that moment, several hundred players from the Dragon Kingdom server in the mortal world were nearing level 120.
"What! A hundred people?"
The two black-robed officials' eyes lit up, and they exchanged knowing smiles. Five hundred years—they had endured five hundred years of meager existence!
"Fellow cultivators, please be patient. Once all the ascendants from the lower realm have arrived, I will arrange everything for you immediately."
One of the officials smiled at Jiang Yuan, but the smile struck Jiang Yuan as strange—as if the official were looking at him like a starving beggar suddenly spotting a feast.
"Oh, should we tell the alliance brothers the trick for passing the third stage? They're probably getting wrecked by the Celestial Hound right now!"
Pudding the hamster suddenly thought of something and quickly said to Jiang Yuan.
"Right, it's been so long. Brother Cangsheng and Old Ding haven't ascended yet—they're probably stuck on the Celestial Hound."
Jiang Yuan remembered and quickly opened his friend list to send a message to Ding Cangsheng.
"Brother Cangsheng, haven't you finished your quest yet?"
"I'm about to lose it! This damn thing is way too troublesome!"
Soon, Jiang Yuan received a complaint from Ding Cangsheng. From the tone, he could tell that Ding Cangsheng had been tormented for a while.
So Jiang Yuan quickly shared the method he had taught Pudding the hamster with Ding Cangsheng. Ding Cangsheng immediately replied.
"Damn! You had such a good method, why didn't you tell me sooner! I've died to this thing five or six times already."
Seeing Ding Cangsheng's message, Jiang Yuan chuckled and told him to pass the method along to Ding Ye and the players from the Cold River City alliance who were still working on the ascension quest.
While Jiang Yuan and Pudding the hamster waited for the other ascendants, the two black-robed officials quietly slipped into a corner to discuss something.
"Big brother, over a hundred people this time! It's been ages since we've seen so many ascend together! How much should we charge?"
The shorter black-robed official asked the taller, more robust one.
"These people just ascended, so they probably don't have anything good. Let's take one immortal crystal from each."
The burly official thought for a moment and said.
"Big brother speaks wisely. One each, and we brothers can split fifty immortal crystals—that's two years' worth of our salary!"
These two were minor officials tasked with guarding the Ascension Platform in the Immortal Realm. The tall, sturdy one was named Jia Lang, and the short one was Wang Miao. They had guarded the platform for over ten thousand years, and every time someone ascended from the lower realm, they would squeeze them dry.
As time passed, many players from the Heavenly Wave Mansion and Cold River City, who had received Jiang Yuan's secret method, gradually ascended and appeared on the platform.
"Haha! Brother Cangsheng, Old Ding, Brother Yong, Little Whirlwind, Little Cloud, Brother Er Gou, Brother Qian Gu—you're finally here!"
Jiang Yuan saw a group of familiar faces around the Ascension Platform and happily greeted each of them.
Soon after, players from the Imperial Dragon Continent and the Ten Thousand Mile Alliance, like Proud Dragon Emperor, One Blade Breaks All Laws, and Call Me War God, also completed their ascension quests and appeared beside Jiang Yuan and the others.
"Ahem! Fellow cultivators who have ascended from the lower realm, please line up here."
Jia Lang and Wang Miao, seeing the growing crowd on the platform, stepped forward, cleared their throats, and said to the group.
Everyone followed the instructions and lined up. Jia Lang counted—there were about seventy or eighty people.
"First, congratulations to all fellow cultivators on completing your cultivation and ascending to the Immortal Realm."
Jia Lang cupped his hands to the crowd with a friendly smile.
Just as Ding Cangsheng and the others were about to return the gesture with a smile, Jia Lang's tone shifted. "Each of you must pay one immortal crystal as a teleportation fee before you can use the teleportation array here."
After Jia Lang finished speaking, everyone exchanged bewildered looks, none of them knowing what an immortal crystal was.
"Since you are new to the Immortal Realm and unfamiliar with many things, allow me to explain."
Jia Lang smiled and began to introduce the uses of immortal crystals.
It turned out that immortal crystals were a unique ore in the Immortal Realm, used both as currency and for cultivation—a hard currency in the celestial world.
However, immortal crystals were not cheap. Converted to the lower realm's exchange rate, one was worth ten thousand gold coins!
After hearing Jia Lang's explanation, Jiang Yuan sneered inwardly, thinking, "Damn it! Trying to shake me down, huh!"