Song Ciwan followed Xie Yunxiang’s direction, her gaze falling upon the Eternal Pavilion up ahead.

Inside the Eternal Pavilion, Xie Zhang had already entered a gamble with the withered-faced aberration.

The stakes were the ten Primordial Longevity Pearls that each of them held. The Cultivators who had been pursuing Xie Zhang didn’t dare to follow him into the Eternal Pavilion, so they stopped in their tracks. Instead, they gathered outside to watch the game unfold.

As for the Cultivator surnamed Xue who had been wielding the Cold Frost Mirror, he remained frozen in a block of ice, his fate—dead or alive—unknown.

Xie Zhang stood on the outer edge of the Eternal Pavilion’s terrace, facing the withered-faced aberration. The aberration raised a hand and spoke, "Traveler, the Eternal Pavilion stands for eternal fairness and justice in this world. I shall set the stakes, which you must accept. However, the method of the gamble is for you to choose."

As it spoke, it flicked its raised hand forward, sending dozens of shimmering white orbs of light flying toward Xie Zhang.

’These orbs of light must contain the various types of games,’ Xie Zhang thought. ’Different games are bound to have different biases. How can I pick one that favors me?’

Xie Zhang’s gaze sharpened. With his left hand hidden in his sleeve, he secretly circulated his True Qi to activate a Luck Charm. Then, he reached out and plucked one of the fluttering orbs from the air.

The moment the orb settled in his palm, the rest of them instantly dissipated like Light Smoke all around him.

Only the one in Xie Zhang’s hand remained. It transformed into a scroll, which then leaped into the air and unfurled on its own. A line of text in the Great Zhou script appeared before everyone’s eyes.

Game: The Eternal are detached from the mortal coil. Should you witness all the world’s sorrows and pains, the parting of friends and kin, yet remain seated upon the bright stage, neither speaking nor intervening, you shall be the victor.

Time limit: one stick of incense.

After reading the line of text, Xie Zhang quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

He understood. This round was a gamble on Willpower!

Once the timer began, all sorts of terrifying illusions would likely appear before him. All he had to do was maintain his composure in the face of any Illusion Realm, neither speaking nor intervening.

Once the incense had burned down, Xie Zhang would naturally be the victor.

That Luck Charm hadn’t been wasted, after all. In Xie Zhang’s view, a mere trial by Illusion Realm was nothing to worry about.

The power of many Illusion Realms lay in their element of surprise. But since he was already mentally prepared, how could he possibly be fooled?

A smile spread across Xie Zhang’s face. "I have chosen the game," he said, full of confidence. "We can begin."

There was no referee. Beneath the octagonal pavilion of the Eternal Pavilion, a stick of incense materialized, burning in the void.

The time it took for this incense to burn would serve as the limit.

Xie Zhang gradually felt his mind grow groggy. He couldn’t help but let his eyelids droop, his head nodding slowly.

A moment later, his body pitched forward, and he snapped awake.

’I... Where am I?’

He remembered. He had been gambling against an aberration in Illusory Nether City and had won twenty Primordial Longevity Pearls.

With those twenty Primordial Longevity Pearls, he had challenged the aberration to another game.

In that game, he wagered twenty Primordial Longevity Pearls, and the aberration in the Eternal Pavilion matched it. When he won, he received forty Primordial Longevity Pearls.

Xie Zhang won again. Now he had forty Primordial Longevity Pearls.

And so it went. Xie Zhang gambled against the aberrations again and again. The stakes grew higher each time, but Xie Zhang always won, and his pile of chips grew ever larger.

From forty Primordial Longevity Pearls, to eighty, to one hundred and sixty, to three hundred and twenty...

The winnings snowballed until, in the end, Xie Zhang possessed a staggering ten thousand two hundred and forty Primordial Longevity Pearls!

Inside the Eternal Pavilion, the aberrations who gambled with him were replaced one after another. Eventually, no aberration dared to take him on. Holding his vast fortune of Primordial Longevity Pearls, Xie Zhang laughed to the heavens as he strode out of the Eternal Pavilion.

The Eternal Pavilion truly lived up to its name. That small pavilion alone had yielded him ten thousand two hundred and forty Primordial Longevity Pearls.

’These aren’t just Primordial Longevity Pearls! This is more than ten thousand years of Lifespan! It’s a vast wealth of cultivation resources!’

Clutching his ten thousand-plus Primordial Longevity Pearls, Xie Zhang endured several more days of battle in Illusory Nether City. He was incredibly fortunate. Though he had been on his own before, not long after leaving the Eternal Pavilion, he ran into his father, Xie Yunfeng, as well as two Guardian Martial Artists at the Innate Second Transformation Opening Aperture Realm.

With their protection, he successfully survived in Illusory Nether City for the full fifteen days.

During that time, both of his Innate Martial Artist Guardians died saving him. But Xie Zhang had made them a promise: he would take good care of their parents, wives, and children back in the mortal world. He, Xie Zhang, would never forget their sacrifice!

After the fifteenth day, Xie Zhang emerged from Illusory Nether City.

He presented the vast majority of his Primordial Longevity Pearls to the Xie Family’s Earth Immortal Ancestor, keeping only a little over a thousand for himself.

The Earth Immortal Ancestor, who had been in seclusion for many years, was already troubled by his dwindling Lifespan. The Primordial Longevity Pearls Xie Zhang brought back were like a timely rain, stabilizing the Ancestor’s fading life force at the most critical moment.

The Ancestor immediately took Xie Zhang under his personal tutelage, providing him with countless resources and meticulously cultivating his talent.

One year passed, then two, then three, then ten. Xie Zhang advanced from the humble Early-Stage Qi Transformation, broke through to Qi Refining, and then, in his twenty-third year, he stepped into the Divinity Transformation Stage!

He became the youngest Divinity Transformation cultivator in the entire Great Zhou World.

He ascended the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List. Countless beings gazed up at him in awe and cheered his name.

The Celestial Prides from all one hundred and eight major Upper Sects bowed their heads to him in submission.