Evan Lin hesitated for a moment, just as he was about to channel his Chaos Immortal Force to see what would happen, Jiang Tao suddenly cut in, "Kid, you'd better not bother. Even if you try, it won't do you any good. At best, you'll make the Ascension Platform light up yellow. It's a total waste of time."
Evan glanced at him and saw the utter contempt on Jiang Tao's face. "Big bro, can you tell me how many colors the Ascension Platform can show, and what realms they correspond to? I'd really appreciate it if you could explain."
Before Jiang Hong could answer, Jiang Tao jumped in, "Kid, you need some self-awareness. The Ascension Platform has seven colors, each matching the highest realm you might break through to in the future. That's how the Imperial Palace recruits talent. Someone like you, who at most can reach Earth Immortal, do you really need to know all that?"
Evan wanted to say, 'You're just an Earth Immortal yourself, so what gives you the right to act all superior? If I wanted to kill you, it would take me less than a minute. If you piss me off, I'll slice you up and it won't matter one bit.'
"Second brother, this is our job, so don't say any more. If he really is only qualified for Earth Immortal, we'll send him to the mines to toughen up. If he has Heavenly Immortal potential, then we'll send him to the City Lord's Mansion," Jiang Hong said.
Evan gave Jiang Hong a grateful look. Jiang Hong continued, "There are seven colors: yellow, orange, red, green, cyan, blue, and purple. Yellow means Earth Immortal potential, orange is Heavenly Immortal, red is Golden Immortal, green is Great Luo Golden Immortal, cyan is Ninth-Heaven Arch-Immortal, and the last two are Immortal Lord and Immortal Emperor. Hopefully you can trigger orange, so you won't have to suffer."
Evan nodded and slowly circulated his Chaos Immortal Force, injecting it into the Ascension Stone. He was hoping for red or cyan light, but the result was honestly unbelievable—even Jiang Tao and Jiang Hong were stunned for a moment.
The Ascension Platform didn't light up purple or anything crazy—instead, it didn't show any color at all. No matter how hard Evan tried, he couldn't make it glow.
"Is the Ascension Platform broken or something? How could it not even show yellow? Is this kid just born trash, only fit for a basic Immortal? But he managed to ascend to the Immortal Realm, which is just weird," Jiang Hong said, totally baffled.
"Big bro, I told you this guy was a waste, but you still wanted him to try. Now look—he doesn't even have Earth Immortal potential. What a waste of time. Let's just send him to the mines already. He's held us up long enough, and just looking at him pisses me off," Jiang Tao said.
"Second brother, go check what's up with the Ascension Platform. Both things that happened today are super weird. No one's ever stayed in the Ascension Pool for a whole day, and the platform has never failed to light up. Even the worst ascendee can break through to Earth Immortal—it's an ironclad rule," Jiang Hong said.
"What a pain!" Jiang Tao shot Evan a glare, walked up to the Ascension Platform, and pressed his palm down while channeling his Immortal Essence. Instantly, the platform lit up orange. He was overjoyed. "Big bro, I triggered orange! Does that mean I can break through to Heavenly Immortal?"
"That's right, second brother, looks like you really do have talent. The platform's working fine, so this kid must actually be trash. Take him to the mines, I'll go report all this to the Coldriver City Lord. Stuff this bizarre only happens once in ten thousand years," Jiang Hong said.
"Don't worry, big bro, I'm in a great mood today—I'll handle this kid myself," Jiang Tao said. But then he noticed the storage ring on Evan's hand. Sure, most ascendees from the lower world only bring junk in their storage rings, but sometimes you find something interesting.
"Kid, you can't bring a storage ring into the mines. Hand it over and I'll keep it safe for you. When you get out, come find me to get it back. Otherwise, they'll just confiscate it at the mines, and don't blame me for not warning you," Jiang Tao said.
Evan hadn't expected this guy to go straight for his storage ring. He already didn't like him—just a little Earth Immortal power and he dares to act all high and mighty in front of me? Doesn't know his place at all.
"There's nothing valuable in my storage ring, so giving it to you wouldn't help. Just take me to the mines—I actually want to go and toughen myself up," Evan said.
Seeing how eager Evan was to get to the mines, Jiang Tao felt something was off. Maybe there really was something good in that storage ring. But he'd already made up his mind—if there was treasure, he'd keep it for himself. With big bro still here, he couldn't act yet, just in case.
"Alright, let's go! No one's going to ascend here for a while anyway. The mines are the best place for newbies to grind—lots of ascendees come out stronger, some even reach Earth Immortal and get promoted right away. Work hard, kid!" Jiang Tao laughed.
Jiang Hong went off to report Evan's weird ascension to the Coldriver City Lord, while Jiang Tao led Evan toward the mines. Evan realized that after suppressing his cultivation to ordinary Immortal level, he couldn't fly here anymore, which was pretty strange.
"Big bro, why aren't we flying? How far are the mines anyway, and when will we get there?" Evan couldn't help asking.
"Fly? Ha! Kid, you're hilarious. Only Earth Immortals can fly in the Immortal Realm. You're just a regular Immortal and you want to fly? That's a joke. You want to know how far the mines are? Fine—it's thirty thousand li away. At this speed, it'll take us half a year to get there.
But I've already thought of a great method for you, so you won't have to suffer the whole way. Shouldn't you be grateful?" Jiang Tao said.
"Oh? What method is that, big bro? I'd really appreciate it if you could tell me," Evan said, secretly laughing to himself. "So you want to make a move on me here? You really don't know your place. Who knows if the mines are really thirty thousand li away—I'll find out soon enough. Today I'll show you what happens when you mess with me. Want my storage ring? Dream on."
(Chapter update: 2 AM release)