The next moment, Lucas Warren raised his hand and beckoned toward the clouds in the distance, which were drenched in the setting sun. Instantly, the wind surged and the clouds billowed; the thin cloud he selected rolled down like a dragon drawing water, wrapping around him to form a fitted, seamless white robe.

Lingshan Immortal Art, [Cloud Garment of Pure White].

Casually straightening his collar, feeling the unique texture of the material condensed from the clouds of Lingshan, Lucas Warren couldn’t help but recall the one who invented this immortal art and taught it to him—his fifth senior brother Matthew Reed—as well as his dual cultivation partner, fourth senior sister Stephen White.

Back then, Lucas Warren learned quite a lot from that pair of dual cultivation masters, but now the most practical thing was this unassuming little trick, which could be used with ease even during periods of depleted true essence.

Yet what was a mere trick to Lucas Warren appeared to Emily Stone as a miracle descending from the heavens. The girl stared wide-eyed at the sight of the clouds rolling down from the sky.

“You... who exactly are you!?”

Lucas Warren answered frankly, “The 84th Mountain Lord of Lingshan, Lucas Warren.”

Emily Stone was stunned, then sneered, “You might as well call yourself the Sincere Immortal Ancestor!” As she spoke, the iron chain in her hand flashed with a blue light, and combined with the fire in her dantian, her intent to intimidate was unmistakable.

Lucas Warren wasn’t surprised by this reaction. To be fair, if a stranger suddenly jumped out and claimed to be an ancestor from a thousand years ago, and Emily Stone accepted it without question, then her mind would truly be beyond saving.

But for Lucas Warren, rather than racking his brains to fabricate a more believable identity, it was better to simply tell the truth and let her digest it in her own time.

After all, as the Mountain Lord of Lingshan, there were plenty of ways to prove his identity to an outer sect disciple.

Lucas Warren glanced over and said softly, “Ascension Record.”

Accompanied by a flash of golden light, Lucas Warren’s Ascension Record appeared directly in front of Emily Stone, immediately drawing the girl’s attention.

Precisely because she was a loyal and dedicated talent, she could recognize at a glance this Ascension Record, which theoretically only existed in historical texts, and she couldn’t help but fall into confusion.

She subconsciously reached out, wanting to touch the Ascension Record, but her fingers passed straight through the pages as if poking a bubble.

She snapped out of her daze, took half a step back, forcibly averted her gaze, and glared at Lucas Warren.

“What a brilliant illusion...”

Lucas Warren said, “Is it really an illusion? Can’t you tell? As an outer sect disciple, you should know very well how to identify a Lingshan cultivator.”

Emily Stone pondered for a long time, then said, “That’s right, I know very well. But unfortunately, I’m not the only one who knows... Lingshan was the leader of the immortal sects in the old era, and even the guardian families were fabulously wealthy. So over the past thousand years, there have been far too many people pretending to be Lingshan descendants to swindle money, and some of them look even more like real Lingshan people than you do.”

She paused, then added, “Your only advantage is that ever since the Shi family fell into decline, it’s been a long time since a skilled con artist has shown up in front of us. After all, forging such a convincing Ascension Record can’t be cheap—at least, I couldn’t afford to make one.”

As she spoke, a hint of envy appeared in Emily Stone’s eyes.

“Honestly, with the money to forge documents and the cultivation to weave clothes from clouds, why bother being a con artist?”

Lucas Warren couldn’t help but be curious.

“Then in your opinion, what should I do?”

This counter-question made Emily Stone roll her eyes. “I recommend you turn yourself in to the Qingping Division!”

“And what is the Qingping Division?”

“The Qingping Division is... Don’t use these kindergarten-level questions to pretend you’re from ancient times! Even protagonists in popular transmigration novels don’t talk like that anymore!”

With that, Emily Stone sized up Lucas Warren again, reining in her temper a bit, and said, “Anyway, whether you’re a performance artist high on something and running wild in the mountains, a Taixu addict whose sense of self is blurred from reading too many novels, or just a particularly persistent con artist... please don’t try to find a sense of existence from someone like me, who’s fallen on hard times and is deep in debt, okay? Just go home, and I’ll pretend you were never here today.”

Lucas Warren caught a sensitive word and asked, “Deep in debt?”

Emily Stone gave a self-mocking laugh. “Yeah, millions in debt, and the daily interest alone is in the four digits. So if you really have the ability to squeeze more money out of me, you might as well go apply at a bank—they’re always looking for elite employees who can squeeze oil from a stone.”

“How did things get so bad? Back in the day, the guardian families were famous throughout the land for their financial acumen. Many Lingshan cultivators used to entrust their assets outside the mountain to your management.”

Emily Stone replied irritably, “Back in the day, Lingshan was the leader of the immortal sects, and every Mountain Lord was a terrestrial immortal just a step away from ascension. Now, look at the so-called 84th Mountain Lord in the mirror—does he look like a terrestrial immortal? So what’s so strange about the once financially savvy guardian family being deep in debt!”

Lucas Warren wasn’t offended; instead, he nodded. “You make a good point. Times have changed—even Lingshan is on the verge of collapse. The fact that the guardian family still has a single descendant left is already quite impressive.”

Emily Stone said, “So please, Mountain Lord, don’t make things harder for this last struggling descendant. Go home, get some sleep, and maybe when you wake up, you’ll really be the Sincere Immortal Ancestor...”