Chapter 420: Nine Times Man and His Dream of the Performing Arts

On a spirit mountain on the outskirts of Jinghua city lay Elegant Little Pavilion, which no one knew about.

The area around the spirit mountain was covered in a powerful barrier. Anyone under True Immortal level would be unable to spy on it by whatever means. They wouldn't be able to find any trace of this pavilion even with the most advanced equipment available.

That was because this was where one of the Ten Founding Generals, General Yi, spent his days.

But when it came to handling official business, he actually didn't have much to worry about. His situation was like Marshal Jiang with his family apartment. They were both of the Ten Founding Generals and had formidable strength. In terms of military force, they occupied first and second place among the ten generals.

Hm... In addition, they both thought they were number one...

They almost had nothing to do in their daily lives, and it was only when they were needed to help capture SSS-level wanted criminals like the old devil that they would take action after being invited to take the lead on the mission.

...

Twenty minutes ago.

A side table had been placed next to the window in Elegant Little Pavilion. The pavilion window was lower to the ground, and looking out from it was like sitting on the summit of heaven as the mountains around it looked small.

General Yi was holding a cup of tea and cracking sunflower seeds...

"The people in this group are so interesting." General Yi was playing with his phone. When Dharmaraja had set up the group chat earlier, he had also pulled in General Yi's Nine Times Man side account.

In addition, when it came to the origin of this chat group, that was a long story...

"I haven't asked General Yi; how are you acquainted with this group of juniors?" asked an old man with a grizzled beard and hair who was sitting in front of General Yi.

His surname was Tang and his first name was the single 'Chen' character. He was General Yi's trusted aide and also the housekeeper and gardener at Elegant Little Pavilion. Whenever General Yi received a mission from his higher-ups, he could be gone for more than half a month or even up to several months, and someone needed to personally tend to the gardens around the pavilion.

As people advanced in their years, they would especially like to take care of plants, which General Yi summed up as: old man's interest. But ever since he joined Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal's group chat, General Yi had developed a second hobby: disguising himself as a newbie and chatting with the rest of the group.

"I came to know them while I was running a mission. Since it wasn't convenient for my identity to be exposed, this old man pretended to be a junior from the younger generation with the Taoist name Nine Times in One Night. Actually, that is my adopted son."

Eyes fixed on the screen, General Yi couldn't help laughing. "But this kid has no interest in cultivation, so he has yet to move beyond the Golden Core stage. Because of that mission, I later made Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal's acquaintance, and I had to ask him several times before I could join the group chat. When this old man doesn't have time to meet him, I'll entrust my adopted son Nine Times Man to go in my stead."

"General Yi actually has an adopted son; this is my first time hearing of it..."

"It's not a big deal, this old man will introduce him to you next time." General Yi gazed at the screen.

Immortal Toya had just sent some news:Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal had already set foot on Chrysanthemum Island, and Immortal Toya was planning to use indirect means to ask him the truth about the ring... It was becoming more and more interesting!

Old Tang broke into a sweat. "But General Yi, your adopted son Nine Times Man is only at the Golden Core stage; wouldn't his cover be blown for certain?"

General Yi shook his head. "It's impossible to see through his appearance. Back then, I used a transfiguration elixir specially modelled on Nine Times Man's face, and no one under True Immortal level would be able to detect it, even with the Heavenly Eye. In terms of aura, he has my golden talisman on him. When it comes to personality traits, there's even less to worry about - this old man's adopted son Nine Times Man might not be interested in cultivation, but he's a qualified actor."

Old Tang wiped at his sweat again. "Ac... actor?"

"That's right; while he's not well-known in show business, he's very passionate about his career. Furthermore, he rejected me helping him to get a foot in the door... otherwise, this old man just needs to make one phone call to help him hit the big time."

General Yi said: "Earlier, the juniors in the group said that they wanted to come here to give me a gift. It's not convenient for me to leave right now, so I'll have Nine Times Man do it for me."

Old Tang: "..."

"All the people in this group are righteous juniors, I truly admire them. Furthermore, they're all of one heart and mind, and will stand together in times of trial and tribulation. In this current era, there are already not a lot of juniors from the newer generation who are like this. Listening to them talk in the group about gossip in the cultivation world is actually very interesting."

Old Tang nodded. "That's right... most of the juniors nowadays are too fickle and impatient..."

This current era could no longer be compared with the past when cultivation happened one step at a time. Nowadays, those with realms below the Golden Core stage could use all kinds of spirit elixirs to accelerate their progress, causing those rich second generation kids to feel a sense of natural superiority which would without fail have a severe impact on their mentality.

Before General Yi had relocated him here to be a gardener, Old Tang had worked as a researcher in the field of education and had been opposed to the use of acceleration drugs to advance realms.

But that was already a very old story...

As long as one had aptitude and resources, it only took a short twenty years to reach the Golden Core stage.

A thousand years ago, no one would have dared believed this was possible. For those cultivators who had cultivated painstakingly for hundreds of years to hit the Nascent Soul stage, but ultimately died without hope as Golden Core cultivators... Old Tang thought that if they were to learn about this acceleration after their deaths, they would probably be infuriated enough to tear off the lids of their coffins and jump out! Even Newton wouldn't be able to keep them down!

So listening to General Yi, Old Tang nodded his head non-stop. "It would be good if we had more juniors like these in our modern cultivation circle..."

"Old Tang is right. Although the people in this group are from the younger generation, all of them are outstanding juniors. I've heard about almost all of them. However..." Speaking up to this point, General Yi's gaze suddenly hardened a little. "Actually, there is one person in this group that this old man is very curious about, but I haven't been able to find out anything about his true identity until now."

Old Tang laughed. "Someone that can pique General Yi's interest? Looks like this person isn't simple..."

General Yi nodded his head. "Everyone in the group calls him Ling Zhenren, but he actually isn't at Perfected Being level; that's just what they are used to calling him.

"Every single person in the group deeply respects this Ling Zhenren and are afraid to offend him. This old man already assigned someone to make indirect enquiries and investigate his identity from all angles..."

Old Tang was very curious. "In the end?"

General Yi heaved a sigh. "It was all mosaic tiles!"

Old Tang: "..."