David Miller stepped forward and said, “Professor Sullivan, I’ve been wanting to visit you these past few days, but I was afraid of troubling you, so I put it off until now.”

“You, you’re being too polite!” The old man invited them into the courtyard to talk, shaking his head at the same time. “I really can’t help you. I was turned down.”

When David Miller heard this, he felt a rush of warmth in his heart and understood what had happened. He was very grateful—Professor Sullivan had even put aside his pride to ask for help, but the investors were tough and didn’t give anyone any face.

“I’m sorry to have troubled you,” David Miller said earnestly. He didn’t want to see Professor Sullivan being rejected while asking for favors, and he felt bad about it.

Professor Sullivan waved his hand, unconcerned.

The courtyard was small, planted with some flowers and plants. On the right side was a fish pond, water lilies floating on the surface, koi swimming with swaying tails, adding a lot of vitality to the little yard.

The lighting in the living room was soft. There was a photo album on the coffee table, a bit old and full of a sense of history.

The page that was open showed a woman in the prime of her youth, rarely beautiful.

“Professor Sullivan, who is this? She’s really pretty,” Brian Carter asked.

“A female painter, also a great singer. She was famous for a long time. People of our generation all liked her,” Professor Sullivan replied.

David Miller looked closely. The corners of the photo were worn, and it seemed to have decades of history, yet Professor Sullivan had kept it all this time.

Brian Carter naturally noticed too. Because he was familiar, he dared to joke.

“You’re really devoted—liking someone for decades and never changing.”

Professor Sullivan nodded. “Yes, I liked her when I was in my last year of high school. Now I have high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, but I still like her.”

David Miller and Brian Carter were stunned, left speechless.

“What are your plans next?” Professor Sullivan asked David Miller.

David Miller answered truthfully: he would go to work first, but also continue down the path of old techniques.

“You’re going to Newstar!” Professor Sullivan said.

Then he lowered his head to look at the photo album, thinking for a moment.

David Miller quickly said, “Professor Sullivan, you don’t need to go out of your way to ask people for me anymore.”

Professor Sullivan looked up and asked David Miller and Brian Carter, “Do you think the transcendent immortals ever really existed?”

David Miller keenly noticed that just now, Professor Sullivan hadn’t been looking at the photo of the woman, but at the one next to it.

It was a yellowed, timeworn old photo, poorly lit and very blurry, but you could roughly make out that it was underground, with a pile of bamboo slips on a stone table.

Such bamboo slips were often found in large pre-Qin tombs, which immediately sparked many associations in David Miller’s mind.

Before David Miller and Brian Carter could answer, Professor Sullivan spoke again: “What do you think was really discovered over at Newstar?”

Chapter 007: The Transcendent Immortals Do Not Exist

Regarding Newstar, it seemed that mysterious phenomena and supernatural powers had appeared, but David Miller and Brian Carter knew little.

Mainly, the information was asymmetrical. Living on the Old Land, it was hard for them to access the most cutting-edge secrets.

As for the transcendent immortals, they seemed even more elusive.

David Miller believed that long ago, there was a group of people who either practiced energy-cultivation techniques or focused on meditation, refining body and mind, and gained powers far beyond ordinary people.

This guess of his could be corroborated by some ancient texts.

David Miller had seen similar records in the “Huangdi Neijing”: “The people of ancient times followed the laws of yin and yang, harmonized with the arts and numbers, and thus their bodies and spirits were both strong.”

In ancient times, if a one-armed man who could subdue a tiger appeared in the wilds or marshes, he would usually be revered and worshipped by the early people.

But as time passed, the stories that were passed down might become distorted, gradually turning into myths.

Of course, it’s possible that among the ancients there were extremely powerful individuals who took meditation and similar practices to the highest level, nurturing themselves internally and thus gaining incredible powers.

For example, a few rare cases recorded in ancient texts described alchemists whose bodies and spirits were at their peak, able to throw an elephant with one hand.

David Miller thought that if one practiced the old techniques to the utmost, it might be possible to reach that level.

When an individual’s power reached such heights, what did it mean among the ancients? That was the embodiment of myth.

David Miller believed that there had never been true immortals or Buddhas—just a group of people who were once very powerful.

So, in the field of old techniques, he was not superstitious. He simply followed in the footsteps of those before him, exploring and seeking to verify this path for himself.

After sharing his guess, David Miller added a few more thoughts.

“Whether those who were deified had individuals who continued to improve, reaching levels of strength we can’t comprehend, is unknown. After all, the old techniques have declined and faded away.”

Perhaps the transcendent immortals were just those legendary extraordinary people and alchemists, further refined?

David Miller believed they were just rare and special individuals among humans.

After so many ages, whether myth or transcendent immortals, there are no traces left.

Professor Sullivan smiled at David Miller and said, “According to your guess, even immortals and Buddhas were just people, so the transcendent immortals and all the Buddhas have already faded away.”

David Miller nodded. “As long as they were human, their fate was already decided—they’ve all perished.”

Brian Carter listened intently, very interested. Then he felt it was a real pity and said, “If those extremely powerful individuals from ancient humanity had lived to this era, and with the help of advanced technology, could they, by tapping into the supernatural powers found on Newstar, extend their lives, or even, as the conglomerates desire, hope to achieve immortality?”