Starting with a Family System to Become an Immortal Official-Chapter 84: The Shifting Pagoda

The grand magic airship ripped through the void at a terrifying speed, so fast that everything outside the crystal windows turned into a flash of flowing spiritual energy.

No one could see a single mountain peak or even a cloud anymore.

It felt as if the entire world had melted away and left nothing but endless streams of qi.

Inside the spacious passenger deck.

Su Liyue walked slowly between rows of cushioned seats as her eyes scanned left and right.

"Hmm..."

She was searching for Li Qingmu.

Instead, a cluster of male candidates from their own sect spotted her first.

"Senior Sister Su!"

One called brightly, waving.

"Come sit with us! We saved you a spot."

Another grinned and patted the empty cushion beside him with so much eagerness.

"Yeah, come on. We’re just chatting about the trials. It’ll be more fun with you here."

A third youth leaned back, arms crossed behind his head and trying very hard to look indifferent.

"Or don’t. It’s not like we’re dying for your company or anything. Do whatever."

Su Liyue paused, offered them a small, polite nod.

"That’s all right. I’m just looking for Brother Li."

She turned and walked away without another word.

The nonchalant one immediately deflated.

He let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"...That stupid gimmick never works. I thought Senior Sister wasn’t with any man anymore. Guess she still has deep feelings for Chief Li after all."

The one beside him nodded slowly.

"Of course she does. She even broke things off with Elder Huo when he was still a peak master just to stay beside Chief Li. That guy... he’s really too lucky."

From the side, where he sat alone sharpening his sword with slow, deliberate strokes, Bi Haitao clicked his tongue in disdain.

From the side, Bi Haitao clicked his tongue in disdain.

"Li Qingmu isn’t anything special."

He spoke with little interest.

All his focus was on his treasure sword he’d sat to quietly sharpen with slow strokes.

"I’ll prove it clearly during this trial."

The others immediately turned on him.

"Bi Haitao, you’re too conceited."

"You must be crazy. You really want to go against the cultivator that Grand Elder Song personally respects and protects?"

Bi Haitao sheathed his sword with a sharp click.

He closed his cold eyes and stood up.

"Watch me."

He stepped away without looking back.

Meanwhile.

Su Liyue continued her quiet search through the airship.

At last she spotted him.

"Junior Broth—!"

He was standing in a shadowed corner, speaking softly with Grand Elder Song.

Song Yan looked up at him with an unusually gentle expression.

"I don’t want to pressure you... but many eyes will be watching you closely during these exams."

Li Qingmu scratched his cheek.

"Yeah... but why? I’ve never even set foot in the Lower Heaven Realm before. Why would so many people be interested in me?"

Song Yan lifted a slender hand and laid it softly against his cheek. Her smile this time held no seduction, no teasing charm or the likes... just warm, pure affection that reached her eyes and made them shine like spring water.

"Because you are precious to me."

The words were simple.

The look on her face was even simpler.

Li Qingmu felt something tight in his chest loosen.

He gave a small nod.

"...Fine."

Su Liyue watched the scene for a while longer then turned and walked away without making a sound.

Soon after, the airship began to slow.

They had arrived.

Before them floated was the Shifting Pagoda.

A majestic nine-story tower of red jade and gold.

It was gracefully suspended above Heavenly Moon City like a divine crown.

Countless other magic airships were already floating in formation around it.

Some were modest, about the same size as their own but many were far larger and far more ornate as each one gave off an oppressive wave of spiritual power.

Those grand ships clearly belonged to the proud geniuses of the Lower Heaven Realm.

The Golden Sun Pavilion disciples pressed close to the railings, as their eyes blew open.

"So beautiful..."

"Oh my days! I read that each floor contains an entire endless world of its own."

"They say Master Wen Jiuling created the pagoda the instant he stepped into the Ancestor realm..."

"I CAN’T WAIT TO GO IN!"

Su Liyue stayed silent.

『Is junior brother is really interested in a blood scorpion like that woman? Hmm.』

She was worried about his safety.

Many men who wanted a "special" relationship with Song Yan never survived.

She is a dangerous woman by nature.

Bi Haitao simply stood with his sword cradled between folded arms as he cast a cool side-eye toward Li Qingmu while heavy thoughts churned behind his calm face.

『He’s nothing without nepotism. Married to the patriarch’s daughter, doted on by Grand Elder Song... he’s had every opportunity handed to him. I’m sure he has never known suffering in his life! I’ll prove myself in these trials and rise to the top with my own strength!』

He was going for the top one hundred candidates!

Song Yan clapped her hands twice.

"No time to admire the view."

Spiritual light swallowed them all.

In the next instant they stood inside the first floor.

An endless yellow desert stretched in every direction.

Towering rock formations floated silently in the sky like inverted peaks.

Some were the size of small mountains!

Hot wind carried fine grains of spiritual sand that glittered under a merciless sun.

The candidates gasped and murmured in shock.

Song Yan snapped her fingers sharply.

"Focus."

Only then did they realize they had appeared just a few li away from the main gathering area.

Over one million cultivators already stood in neat formations across the dunes. The organizers had grouped disciples from the same sect or clan together to make it easy to spot banners, colors, and uniform styles.

But something made the Golden Core Pavilion group painfully uneasy.

The cultivation bases made no sense.

Core Formation... was the lowest realm present.

Nascent Soul disciples stood everywhere.

Some heavily refined auras already carried the faint pressure of Grandmaster realm.

Several of their group paled.

"This... this is insane."

"Lower Heaven Realm is terrifying. Can we even survive the first round?"

"How fast does it take them to form a golden core that it’s so pitifully common!?"

Some hands trembled visibly.

Song Yan’s brows furrowed with worry.

In her heart she had many thoughts.

『I knew they would be frightened. Cultivation here is simply no joke. They’ll be lucky to make it through the opening elimination with their lives...』

But before she could speak, an unfazed Bi Haitao stepped forward first. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"What matters in cultivation is not realm but the depth of one’s spiritual foundation."

His voice was calm and steady.

The others immediately brightened.

They hurried after him, praising as they went.

"Brother Bi is right!"

"So wise!"

"Such bravery!"

Su Liyue sighed softly to herself.

『They have no idea how much trouble this really is.』

She followed after them with unhurried steps.

Even when she was scared she still managed to look so elegant and refined.

That is the core strength of Su Liyue’s beauty.

Song Yan watched the scene and allowed herself a small smile of relief.

"Perhaps I shouldn’t worry too much... after all, they have someone as brave and fearless as Qingmu with them."

She turned to search for him.

Then she spotted him.

He was urinating peacefully behind a large boulder.

Song Yan’s face instantly darkened.

She marched over, seized him by the collar and yanked as hard as she possibly could.

"Junior Brother!"

Li Qingmu yelped, hurriedly tucking his meat back into his robes before anyone else could see.

"But it’s not really a building! And if it is a building where are the toilets, yunno?"

"You—!"

Song Yan dragged him forward like a furious mother.

"How can you be alright with relieving yourself inside someone’s pagoda!?"

"It’s an endless desert! There’s sand everywhere!"

Certainly she didn’t expect him to hold it in until they were finished with the exams.

"There are surely better places to do THAT!"

"Ehehe... does Big Sister want it in her—"

"If you finish that sentence I’m going home."

"..."

They bickered the entire way.

High on the central dais.

A peerless beauty with flowing green hair and golden eyes watched the entire farce in silence. Her face remained utterly expressionless. Those golden eyes were so cold they seemed capable of freezing the flames of the underworld.

『So that is the Song family’s new dog.』

Her gaze narrowed slightly on Li Qingmu.

As Song Yan pulled him through the crowd, countless eyes turned toward them.

Mostly from Lower Heaven cultivators.

Disgust was plain on many faces.

They could tell at a glance.

Mortal Realm robes.

Inferior spiritual fabric.

Shallow qi fluctuations.

"Pathetic. Wearing such rags to the grand exam?"

"How can they show such disrespect?"

It wasn’t disrespect.

It was just that their most luxurious robes back home would be considered beggar’s clothes to them.

The difference in silk quality between the two worlds was jarringly great.

Li Qingmu kept his posture elegant as he studied the sea of faces with calm side-glances.

The gossip grew louder.

"Look at him scanning the crowd. Probably plotting some dirty Mortal Realm trick."

"I heard those lower-world cultivators are shameless and desperate beyond belief."

Li Qingmu folded his arms behind his back and nodded to himself with deep satisfaction.

『So many sweet-looking beauties here... a top-tier sect beauty from the Mortal Realm is only average in this place. I should try to impregnate at least one and bring her home as a souvenir.』

He laughed a little at the inside joke.

He was still nodding contentedly when a very young lady in pure white clan robes stepped out from her group and blocked their path.

Her voice rang clear and cutting.

"Lower-world trash has no right to be here!"

She pointed directly at Li Qingmu.

Milky-jade skin that glowed under the desert sun.

A slender, fragile body that somehow made her curves appear even more devastating.

Breasts so full and round like perfect ripe oranges that they looked almost too heavy for her delicate body and too large to be contained in her dress. Such breasts would surely fly out of the dress the instant a button was touched.

Long black hair flowed like ink down her back.

Purple eyes that shimmered with cold arrogance.

A true goddess descended among mortals.

Xu Lingxi.

Ding!

[The system has detected an important encounter.]

[Official Xu’s beloved little niece, Xu Lingxi!]

[Host may proceed with caution... or great interest.]