Chapter 3: Slaying Immortals

Rebellion?

Now, only five chosen ones remained, and except for Li Ji’an, all were trembling with fear.

“That’s an immortal! How could mere mortals like us ever resist an immortal?”

It wasn’t that they lacked strength to fight back, nor were they cowards by nature. Rather, they had been shackled since childhood by deep-seated beliefs instilled in them. Running and dodging were already acts of desperate defiance against the immortals.

“Rebel? Hah…” The masked figures all turned to Li Ji’an, barely restraining their laughter.

“Then let us show you the chasm between mortals and immortals!”

With a sharp sound, a flying sword and a blade of wind shot toward Li Ji’an at once.

“Brother Li, watch out!” Zhao Shuyao cried out in alarm.

The other three’s faces were filled with sorrow, sharing in the anguish of witnessing another’s doom.

Li Ji’an’s eyes narrowed slightly—not with fear, but rather a trace of hesitation.

Then, though he could have easily dodged, he stood firm, neither flinching nor evading, facing the oncoming sword and wind blade head-on.

“Has Brother Li given up as well?”

“Even someone like Brother Li—who made the top ten of the Grandmasters’ List at such a young age—has no power to resist?”

“This is the chasm between mortals and immortals!”

Despair deepened on the faces of the remaining three, their will to flee diminishing further.

“Dodge, please!” Zhao Shuyao’s features twisted with desperation as she screamed herself hoarse.

Seeing Li Ji’an unmoved, she rushed forward in panic, trying to shove him aside.

But she was a moment too late.

Two muffled thuds sounded in front of Li Ji’an.

“Brother Li…” The four were struck dumb, their minds blank.

But just as they thought Li Ji’an would be torn apart, he slowly lifted his head, lightly flicking the wrinkled edge of his robe where the sword and wind blade had struck. “Is this… the so-called chasm between mortals and immortals?”

His tone carried a hint of mockery and confidence.

From sensing the young immortal’s slap to the emperor, to witnessing the immortals’ spells lifting them into the air, up to the chaos moments ago—Li Ji’an had already gauged the strength of these cultivators’ powers.

He had instinctively wanted to dodge, but keenly sensed the weakness in the two attacks, so he summoned his vital energy to withstand the sword and wind blade head-on.

The result surprised him.

They were even weaker than he had imagined.

He estimated they were only half as strong as when he unleashed his full vitality.

The entire scene was stunned into silence.

The four chosen ones stared at Li Ji’an, calm as a breeze, and a strange fire began to kindle in their eyes as the shackles in their hearts started to tremble.

“Are immortals… really no different?”

“How could this be?” The two masked cultivators were equally shocked, staring at Li Ji’an in disbelief.

“You… you’ve refined your body to such a degree?” Sensing the forceful vitality surging through Li Ji’an, they were astounded.

Li Ji’an ignored them, turning instead to the four chosen ones. “So-called immortals are but cultivators—no different from us martial artists. They are not invincible. Do not yield without a fight!”

“Cultivators?”

“Not immortals?”

The four’s lifelong notions of “immortals” shattered in that instant, and their fighting spirit ignited.

“No different? Hmph! I admit you surprised me. I didn’t expect someone from such a forsaken land to refine their body to this degree before thirty. But… even if you’re a first-rank body refiner, how could you ever compare to us, the eternal spell cultivators? Die!” The two masked cultivators, though shocked, quickly regained their composure, their sense of superiority barely concealed.

This time, instead of flying swords and wind blades, they conjured great balls of fire, attacking with spells.

Roaring heat surged as two fireballs, each as large as a basin, hurtled toward Li Ji’an.

Li Ji’an did not meet the fireballs head-on—he was unsure whether his protective vital energy, which could resist physical force, would work against such concentrated spiritual power.

Besides, his earlier stand was merely to prove a point and awaken the others.

Given the speed at which the fireballs were conjured, and with his spirit sharpened by three cycles of “rejuvenation,” Li Ji’an easily anticipated their trajectory and dodged nimbly.

With a swift step, he became almost ethereal, his movements even more elusive and rapid than those of the two masked figures.

“Let’s attack!” Seeing Li Ji’an forced back, Zhao Shuyao’s gaze hardened. She charged, wielding the martial skills Li Ji’an had taught her, aiming straight for the two masked cultivators.

The other three reacted instantly, attacking from different sides.

“How dare you!” To see those whom they had treated as livestock now daring to rise up filled the two cultivators with fury.

There was a gap between spellcasting, so they reverted to flying swords and wind blades to fend off the four attackers.

But this time was different.

Previously, the “blood slaves” would have scattered in fear before the attacks even arrived, lacking the courage to fight back.

Now, despite lingering fear, the four dared to summon their vital energy to resist.

Thuds resounded.

“The flying sword only broke my skin!”

“I can withstand the wind blade.”

“Brother Li was right—their immortal arts are no different from our martial ways!”

Though each of the four sustained minor wounds, they were overjoyed, wild flames of hope blazing in their eyes.

The two masked cultivators shed their prior arrogance, now visibly unnerved.

With the four drawing their attacks, Li Ji’an no longer hesitated. Gathering his vital energy in his legs, he flashed like a ghost within thirty feet of the two.

With a whoosh, several golden needles formed of vital energy shot forth.

“Careful!” Only as the needles neared did the cultivators sense the danger, hurriedly warning each other.

Clangs rang out.

A gentle aura flared around both of them, forming a shield.

“A barrier of spiritual power,” Li Ji’an noted with a frown.

Though his attack was thwarted, Li Ji’an was undeterred.

Through years of research, he had long understood that to unleash the full might of one’s vital energy, it should be fused into the flesh for close combat, not scattered at a distance.

Moreover, with each wave of golden needles, he could feel the cultivators’ shields weakening.

So too were their wind blades and flying swords, now less threatening to the four.

This boost in morale spurred the battered four to fight all the harder.

Finally, Li Ji’an seized an opening as one opponent attacked Zhao Shuyao, and in a flash, closed the distance. With his vital energy concentrated in his fist, he struck.

As expected, the protective barrier shattered instantly.

“Help me!” The cultivator cried out in terror, just as, moments before, the “blood slaves” had pleaded for mercy.

With an explosion, Li Ji’an’s punch hit as if striking tofu—the cultivator’s body was so frail, no stronger than ordinary flesh. He burst apart in an instant, blood and flesh scattering like a rain of petals.

A gasp swept through the four chosen ones and the other masked cultivator, all frozen in shock.

“He’s… dead?”

“He was actually killed… by a lowly blood slave?” The surviving cultivator trembled, teeth chattering as he stared at the gruesome scene.

The four chosen ones were stunned, their blood surging with excitement.

“Brother Li… has slain an immortal!”